track question..need help

[medic_149]

Hi, I am a very newbie to the the hobby of model railroading..am wanting to do both..ho and garden railroading...however am on a limited budget...I am spending most on ho. I did get a couple trains at a trhift store dirt cheap for my garden railroad.., however, the track is no good. the engines and cars are in great shape...my question is this...I dont know what scale it is to buy new track for it..the old track has a inside spread(between the rails) of 4 and 1/2 inches...can anyone tell me what scale it is so I can get some new track. I would greatly appreciate it.

[bman36]

Hi there,
Welcome to the forum! Not sure what it is you have there. The track we use is 45mm between the rails. This is what is known as Guage 1 track. Did you find any kind of brand name on the loco or any of the cars? See what you can find and let us know. We will try our best to help you out. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

Hi medic,
Welcome to the hobby. 41/2" inches between the rails? Wow, that's roughly 21/2 times wider than the track we use. If the Bachmann Consolidation is 2' long in G it will be 5' long in 41/2". I think you have yourself some model engineering there mate and it could turn out to be quite valuable. What loco have you got? Are the cars freight or passenger? Is it electric or live steam? Does the track have insulated ties or is it steel rail soldered/welded to metal ties? Lots of questions but you have got me interested.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Kiwi Down Under]

Medic-149 your profile does not say where your located. If your track is different from the norm or you cant get it cheap then my web site at
www.gscalechuffchuff.com
may be of some benifit. Anyway it may give you some ideas of what can be done

[medic_149]

hi, its an older model battery operated train..the brand name says pioneer. the caboose has Sante Fe on it..is a 2 shade red...the loco number is 999..howevere I think that is just a mdae up number...I dont think this set is a prototype of any real train..but it looks nice tho....the track however is made of plastic...rails and ties...that is my guess as to why most of it is broken...I am hoping to get new track and have it running soon..If the sticker on the box is correct, the train originally came from k-mart at a price of 59.99. however..for 2.00 at a thrift store..i figured it couldnt hurt none....even if it doesnt run...again thanks for any help

also..I am from Alabama, usa...I will have to change that on profile

[Anonymous]

Hi medic,
2 dollars, watch that budget mate!! If it's 4 and a half inch track you may have some problem finding that, as Brian says we all run on 45mm which covers a multitude of scales. Good luck mate.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[s51flyer]

I don't know for sure, but I would venture a guess that you'll find it rather difficult to find the track size you need. Based upon what you've described, this set may have been a kids playset you could purchase from Kmart. The track "gauge" may be unique to that set. If you could identify a web site for the manufacturer, you might have a chance of finding plastic replacement rail. I did a quick web search for "Pioneer Train" but did not get any obvious hits.

I would guess metal rail would be fairly pricey if you could even find it. I thought some of the ride-on gauges had 4-1/2" rail, although I'm no expert here. But, if you're looking to be cost conscience, you're best bet may be to lay your own rail. You could lay it on PT 2x2's. However, finding the rail will be another trick altogether.

Bob...

[RhB_HJ]

QUOTE: Originally posted by s51flyer

I don't know for sure, but I would venture a guess that you'll find it rather difficult to find the track size you need. Based upon what you've described, this set may have been a kids playset you could purchase from Kmart. The track "gauge" may be unique to that set. If you could identify a web site for the manufacturer, you might have a chance of finding plastic replacement rail. I did a quick web search for "Pioneer Train" but did not get any obvious hits.

I would guess metal rail would be fairly pricey if you could even find it. I thought some of the ride-on gauges had 4-1/2" rail, although I'm no expert here. But, if you're looking to be cost conscience, you're best bet may be to lay your own rail. You could lay it on PT 2x2's. However, finding the rail will be another trick altogether.

Bob...

The closest to this gauge is 1" scale which has 4.75" track gauge.

There is lots of rail profile around, just depends what the height is.

BTW if it were me (yeah, yeah I know [;)][:)]) I'd keep it as a conversation starter; get a starter set with 45mm track and then get cracking.

Bet you get two bucks of talk out o' that one.

[cacole]

medic_149:

What you have is an el-cheapo children's train set that is not to any scale. As other members have pointed out, G scale is smaller than the train you have. Your train was meant to be run indoors only. We had one of those sets given to us a couple of years ago during one of our club's open houses, and we turned around and gave it to one of the member's young child.

[Anonymous]

Medic

I had a bought a train, older set, for "el-cheapo" $25.00 and sold it for 175.00.
Remember you can mold yourself some track, pain in the back side but it CAN be done. [8D]
We need more Medics, I loved them, as I was a Peace Officer [:)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by medic_149

the old track has a inside spread(between the rails) of 4 and 1/2 inches

Medic_149
you might want to look at www.ridingrailkits.com. Their trains run on 4 3/4" gauge track but since the trains were only $2.00 you could try widening the gauge to 4 3/4" as well
Scott