new garden railway

[hackmo15]

Hi,
I'm considering starting a garden railway. I have a real nice space and want some input on size and type of trains to use. It seems the G scale is the size to use outdoors, but could the O scale be used? Should I use track powered trains or battery powered trains. After that I need to decide on brands. Are all the track sizes the same?, so that any train can run on any track?
I know this is a lot of info I'm asking for, but all help will be appreciated.
Thanks
hackmo

[mhampton]

Theoretically, any scale can be used outdoors, but most models smaller than G do not have any kind of UV protection and would suffer greatly from prolonged exposure to sunlight. Bachmann's G track should not be used outdoors, either. All G track is 45mm between the rails, but not all is the same height (referred to as "code" or the rail's height in thousandths of an inch. i.e. code 250 is 0.250 inches high). Brands of equipment and types of power are highly subjective and will likely elicit opinions in all directions.

[Anonymous]

Cor that is one great sheet of plain paper you are about to write upon, where do you put your first line? I think really you have to decide what sort of railroad you want I am for the quaint and rustic but I think most rail buffs are for copying the more normal railroads. These are the sort of issues you must get fairly clear in your mind if you are to avoid expensive disappointments. If your interests are in long freights or fast expresses then I would suggest that 1/32 scale is for you using a track gauge of 45mms which relates almost exactly to 4'81/2" in full size. However; if you are interested in the quaint and cuddly then there are several scales and gauges to follow, the most popular your side of the pond is 1/20 using 45mm gauge track which equates as near as it makes no difference to 3' gauge full size without doubt the most popular narrow gauge in America. Again in the U S if you look in the store ads there is a whole gambit of scales all using the same 45mm gauge my one serious piece of advice is to avoid mixing the scales and stick with the chosen one, to see a car driver towering some 10' over his car destroys all that you are trying to achieve. Equipment wise I really envy you folks and I believe that most of your manufacturers are aware of the problems involved in using their kit outdoors. Bets of luck with your endevours and I look forward to seeing your progress and comments in this forum Brian Goring