imrnjr wrote: Byron -- et al.... sorry 'bout the delay in getting back to this thread, but have been busy adding in a couple of sidings for a stockyard and town on the railway. To your specific question I'm running aristo stainless with a combination of SplitJaw and Aristo clamps. I think the biggest problem I've got now is I didn't use the clamps on both sides at every joint....so I get a cold spot at those joints with all the dirt from an unfinished garden and the way the track moves in the Texas weather 45 to 90 and back in the spring and 70 to 100+ in the summer. Then there is the dirt issue splashing up on the track and fouling the wheels or pickups on the locomotives as well......But with the completion of the sidings work will start on the water feature and final landscaping will begin so much of the open dirt will get plantings or stone mulch which should minimize the splash effects.... and clamps are being used to eliminate those cold spots as they show up. Now if I could just find the money to buy ...uh....uh...err..ummm.... my wish list is gettin' pretty dadgum'd long, so I think I'll concentrate on getting the railway near done..... and yeah I think I like building it more than running it!!!!Thanks for the spirited information dispensed here!!Mark
Byron -- et al.... sorry 'bout the delay in getting back to this thread, but have been busy adding in a couple of sidings for a stockyard and town on the railway.
To your specific question I'm running aristo stainless with a combination of SplitJaw and Aristo clamps. I think the biggest problem I've got now is I didn't use the clamps on both sides at every joint....so I get a cold spot at those joints with all the dirt from an unfinished garden and the way the track moves in the Texas weather 45 to 90 and back in the spring and 70 to 100+ in the summer. Then there is the dirt issue splashing up on the track and fouling the wheels or pickups on the locomotives as well......
But with the completion of the sidings work will start on the water feature and final landscaping will begin so much of the open dirt will get plantings or stone mulch which should minimize the splash effects.... and clamps are being used to eliminate those cold spots as they show up.
Now if I could just find the money to buy ...uh....uh...err..ummm.... my wish list is gettin' pretty dadgum'd long, so I think I'll concentrate on getting the railway near done..... and yeah I think I like building it more than running it!!!!
Thanks for the spirited information dispensed here!!
Mark
Say Mark,
I guess at this juncture in your endevor it would have to be a satisfaction from building more than running.....otherwise you'd have to say, what's the use.....hopefully your not being nagged----- why'd you spend all the time & money..Know what I mean ???
I always go with the adage of, "get something up and running ASAP", before the interest wanes. Either yours or-------......
That can definitaly happen when you invest this kind of money and effort, and can't see the fruits of your labors, any time SOON.......that of being able to "run a train"---trouble Free...
Isn't that really what this is all about though......After building 4 previous, actually 5, layouts in "G" scale, I decided I wanted this one to be built in a manner that it would eliminate those very frustrations you are experiencing, as well as others.
That is one of the main reasons I built this layout as I have this time around.....Mostly Elevated...Biggest problem I have is the Goofy squirrels thinking they are safe, UP in the air a bit, and the sand they get on the rail heads from their feet, it's only minimal though.
I usually just push the Aristo Track Cleaning Car around the layout a few times, with the first trains out of a day, and I'm off and running/operating......I love it this way.....and I don't have to take them on/off the track all the time.....what with the pull through storage room and all.
Takes me the most time, early in the morning if necessary, to blow the DEW and Debris off with the blower, we get really thick DEW of a morning this time'a year.
By building it UP, than adding the other things as I go, and building UP TO IT, the frustrations you are experiencing are almost virtually gone.....And I still get the joy outta modeling TOO.
I can sit back, of an early morning, and really enjoy sipping a cup/or two of this....
As well as few of my lady, AMBER, in the heat of the day.....Her daddy is Mick, brother is Bud, Last names Wiser......And I don't even have to worry about how they run either, cause they continue to, pretty much trouble free.....
But tell you honestly Mark, and I do believe, YOU TOO, will have to admit it, and agree, that everyone who see's it, wants to see you operating a train !!!!!! ASAP, might add.....
If'en you'd ever want to just communicate one-on-one some time, just drop me a line and I'll get back to ya.....
Have Fun,
Byron C.
EMPIRE II LINE,
Heck man, you still don't have your correct wires (size) connected to your track! You just still have the temp. wires hooked up....
ToadFrogWhiteLightn wrote: EMPIRE II LINE,Heck man, you still don't have your correct wires (size) connected to your track! You just still have the temp. wires hooked up....
All in DUE Time, All in DUE Time, Freaky Frog. At least it IS running though !!!!
EMPIRE II LINE wrote: ToadFrogWhiteLightn wrote: EMPIRE II LINE,Heck man, you still don't have your correct wires (size) connected to your track! You just still have the temp. wires hooked up....All in DUE Time, All in DUE Time, Freaky Frog. At least it IS running though !!!!Byron C.
Waiting for a large train shop to be built. And that IS the only way to get materials to where it goes is right over the RR, dip!
I run a small layout, maybe 4-500 feet, with track power and aristo RC. I'm pretty happy with it. I used a lot of clamps and conductive paste when I put the track together, and i don't have any continuity problems. I run an aristo track cleaning caboose for a few laps before a running session, and that fixes power pickup. I have two aristo steamers and a bachmann annie all with onboard 75 mhz decoders. It works quite well--range is fine, it's responsive, has been reliable after a few screwups that were my fault. You can run long trains with lights and smoke, athough my very unprototypical line has some very big grades on it. It's reasoably cheap and customer service is good.
For me it was easier to get a reliable track and the n do RC with track power. Batteries seem like a pain in the neck to me, much more so thatn cleaning track, but I'm going to convert an old LGB diesel 4 wheeler to batteries to see how I like it.
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