I am about laying the track down on my garden railway and I don't have good idea of wiring track. My track is old Lionel 0-27 track, which is stainless steel and I am going to use 10 gauge wire. I will have 2 switches on my layout (hopefully more soon) and a turntable. Would you solder wire feeders from the main wire and then put that in PVC below the track and then drill holes in the PVC for the feeders and solder then attack the feeders to the track? Thanks for all the help. - Peter
Modeling the Bellefonte Central Railroad
Fan of the PRR
Garden Railway Enthusiast
Check out my Youtube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PennsyModeler
The old lionel track is NOT Stainless Steel and is NOT intended for outdoor use
Dave
The head is gray, hands don't work , back is weak, legs give out, eyes are gone, money go's and my wife still love's Me.
I know O-27 is not intended for outdoors, but I have a lot of it and a narrow gauge railway popped into my head. I'll just use an anti-corrisive spray or product on it. I read that 0-27 track is steel, but if it isn't, would it be aluninum? - Peter
First off let’s get a solid confirmation as to which track you will be using. Is it made of solid material, or is it rolled and hollow using "pins" as joiners. If it is hollow, depending upon your local environment, it will be usable outdoors for about 3~6 months, then deterioration will set in. After that the paper isolators will deteriorate and you may have serious electrical problems as shorts will jump across the tin ties.
Tom Trigg
Darn, you got a point there. I thnk now I would be better of just making my own track from brass rails and ties. Thanks for all the help in this critical stage of development. - Peter
Jerry
web site:
http://thescrr.com/
Well I need to act dumb and I can't distinguish what Narrow Gauge 1 track and what Narrow Gauge O is. The Narrow Gauge O says 16mm somewhere and that is screwing my up alot. So which one of these is 32mm track? (and yes I know this is an Aussie site, but it is the only way I can view the track because my computer needs to be bad and no let me to SVRR site.) - Peter http://www.argyleloco.com.au/svtrack.html
Peter,
The 'narrow' in that site refers to the tie spacing. 'G' is 45mm gauge. Narrow 'G' has fewer ties per foot than mainline 'G', but is still 45 mm gauge. The same applies to 'O' track. which is 32 mm, whether it is 'O' mainline or narrow gauge.
On this subject, this is what makes garden railroading so confusing to modellers who move up from HO or N. HO is a scale (1:87) and you use different track gauges to model mainline or narrow gauge. Eg: 16.5mm for standard gauge, 10.5mm for 3 foot and 9mm for 30 inch gauge narrow gauge.
Garden railways use 45mm gauge track for a large number of scales, then build the equipment very large to represent narrow gauge (1:20.3) or smaller for standard gauge (1:32). Then to confuse everything some more, we get manufacturers who mix scale and come up with 1:29 to blend the standard and narrow gauge together, in the effort to sell their products to more people. So you end up with GP9's or GG1's pulling Denver and Rio Grande cattle cars with 100 ton ore cars followed by a drover's caboose!
If this makes you happy, great. But if you want to follow a prototype, you will need to do your research and be judicious when you purchase equipment. Or like me, you buy 'G' guage power bogies and scratchbuild to match your favorite prototype.
Good Luck,
Mick
Chief Operating Officer
Northern Timber Company - Mt Beenak
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