Garden Railway Power

[Anonymous]

I am new to garden railroading. What are my choices for locomotive power?
Are ther any battery powered locomotives?

[SteelMonsters]

The main choices are Track Power, Battery power, or Live Steam.

Track power tends to require a lot of cleaning track to keep good operation. Other than that, the options are about the same as HO (DC, DCC as well as some others) but with more power involved.

Battery power can either be done by conversion or you can buy locos already ready for battery power. They don't rely on track power so stalling and poor operation won't happen. They last for a few hours between charges depending on how many batteries and what type is used. The batteries themselves can be a bit pricey.

Live Steam is expensive but more fun.

[Curmudgeon]

I have about 17 locos converted to radio battery.
I have no track power outdoors at all.
Over 1400 feet, about 75 turnouts.
Manual switches except hard-to-reach, which use EZ-Aire.
We have regular operating sessions.
Where are you?
TOC

[Greg Elmassian]

I'd start by determining the type of operation you want from your layout when it's "done" [:D]

For example: If you will run just a few locomotives at a time, and never mu/doublehead dissimilar locomotives, then simple dc track power or battery power would be a good option. Further decision might be based on cost, for example, if you can afford stainless track and the wiring, or maybe you live where track cleaning would be too much trouble.

If you want to run multiple locos on the same track then try RC or the Aristo TE or DCC. More capability and functions.

If you are like me where you want all the "bells and whistles" and MU diesels or want to double head different locos, then DCC is about the only way to keep to pulling your hair out.

You might try to list up everything you want to do, and then apply each method with pro's and con's of each power delivery system.

I spent a long time reading forums and thinking about it before I made the decision, and it was the right one for me.

I wrote down some of this process on my site www.elmassian.com .

Regards, Greg

[bman36]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jdmusic

I am new to garden railroading. What are my choices for locomotive power?
Are ther any battery powered locomotives?

Hi there,
Welcome to the forum. Going to battery power here on my line this January. All it took was one summer of cleaning track to convince me to change. There are lots of different locos out there for you to choose from. All depends on what you wi***o model. Enjoy the forum. Great bunch here. Later eh...Brian.

[cacole]

The dirt here in Arizona is so hard that I would have had to rent a Ditch Witch to bury wire, so I use batteries only and the AirWire900 Wireless DCC System. If I had tried to use track power, I'd still be trying to bury wire instead of being outside running trains.

I also have a live steam Mimi locomotive, which leaves an oily film on the track that would have to be continually cleaned off in order to run track power. With battery power, I don't care how ditry the track gets.