The Aristo mallet is a monster at close to four feet long and needs 12 foot diameter curves to look decent.
picture of a mallet from a display from my club
Its a good runner, utilizing the same prime mover gearboxes as their Pacific and Mikado. Cheap is a relative term. Their bodies and detailing are primarily plastic which cuts down on cost. They compensate with leads weights inside. LGB and Bachmann locos are set up to be used with DCC. I have never seen a large scale DCC system work properly but I'm sure they exist.
AristoCraft invested their Train Engineer (TE) system with both track power with RC and battery powered RC. The track powered RC comes in two flavors with RC controlled voltage to the track or a plug and play on board controller (similar to DCC). Their locos are also equipped with a track/battery power switch to use either. They also sell their own battery systems.
There are also other companies like RCS (a system I use - http://www.rcs-rc.com/) and AirWire that are popular.
Track prices have (or will) dramatically increased recently due to large increases in metal pricing. If you decide to invest in battery power you can use just about anything. Aluminum track is a nice lower cost alternative. If you decide on track power I would suggest stainless steel track made by Aristo (what I use) and another company in France (I do not know the name).
-Brian
Say Magnus,
Here is a few shots of my USA stream liners, The 'Empire Builder', in Great Northern livery with an, ABBA F-3 consist pulling them. Mind you that train is about 60 foot (20 meters ??) or so long. Also a shot of my Aristo, 2-8-8-2, Mallet, steamer pull'in a heavy Freight consist on the high trestle. The Mallet with tender is about 5 foot long (1 1/2 to 1 2/3 meters ??).
Mind you, I have minimum curvature track of 10 foot diameter in the yard areas and the mainline is minimum of 11 1/2 foot diameter. These USA streamline cars are about 32 to 33 inches long, so would that be about one meter ?? In metric terms ?? Is that what you are familiar with ??
Hope this helps you a bit, to get a perspective of how these type cars do look. As well as the space needed to do something of the magnitude here shown. And note that these long cars do look nicer on the wider radius curve track, 10 foot and larger, as has already been mentioned.
USA does produce these in the B&O livery, or anyway they have, you may have to check around at variouse sights that have previously been suggested by others here to locate them....
Byron
Given the recent antics of the commodities markets, the manufacturers ar starting to have to increase prices. Track is getting pretty expensive. I'd expect that with VAT most countries on that side of the pond seem to have, + shipping, it's going to knock your socks off!
The important thing is to get something going and expand on it as time and money allow!
You are right to use the biggest radius curves you can. You can also buy track in the 8' sections and bend it yourself to get even bigger curves. The Train Li bender from Germany is a beauty!
Considering the current time of year and the length of your outdoor season, you might want to subscribe to the magazine, a couple of other publications you might be able to get at your hobby shop and watch some of the forums like this one, Aristo-craft, LSOL, and others you may find. They will be a wealth of information.
The Home of Articulated Ugliness
I was searching the internet while my kids fell a sleep and I noticed live steam. Do anyone of you have any experience with it? Are they hard to maintain and operate. Because it seemed like such a fun thing to do and one of those things that my kids would just love.
Magnus
Wow, guys, great help. That helped a lot. I love that E-8. I will start making a survey. I won't be able to lay any track until next year if I ever get going since I right now have my hands full with my HO layout and the wife would kill me if I bought more track. But I can start building up some rolling stock since I like to look at them if nothing else. Since I live in northern Sweden winter is not very suitable for laying tracks. But I can make a plan.
What power pack do you recommend? How many volts do they run on? Battery power and radio seems good since that must be great for reliability I suppose. I liked the looks of the B&O heavyweights on Walther's page. I got something like 20 of the in HO so I might confess to being something of a nut when it comes to those.
Would this be a good loco? http://www.ridgeroadstation.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=25521608!255
Whats the detail level on one of these? How long is it?
This is as already mentioned a nice one http://www.ridgeroadstation.com/istar.asp?a=6&id=25523605!255
I can't understand how cheap they are. What I'm missing here? Is anything else needed to run them?
How common is DCC? My HO layout is DCC but I recon that this won't be(if I build it) since I will be running one train at the time.
I think I would like to go with fixed curves. As big as they come since my available space is pretty much as much as I want since I live in a rural area. What brand is best and what material should I go for?
And once more, great help guys. I'm truly impressed.
I'll add one more source to GB's list (Ridge Road is my favorite and I have heard good things about their international shipping - http://www.ridgeroadstation.com/trains.shtml). Nicolas Smith trains specializes in Aristo trains. Great service, has a pretty good inventory, website is usually up to date but is just a bit more expensive than some of the others - http://nstrains.com/
Hi Magnus
I too am a Baltimore & Ohio RR fan and collect large scale equipment for that (fallen flag) line. Aristocraft and USA Trains make a scattering of engines and rolling stock with B&O schemes, and they are 1:29 scale as the previous post mentioned. LGB (no longer in operation) made a B&O F7 A-B-A in 1997 or 98 which is a real beauty, and they made a very good-looking set of streamline passnger cars that go with it (I have the whole train). They also made a Mikado steam loco in B&O markings which is still available from some dealers. LGB usually did not declare a specific scale, although their American engines & rolling stock look OK with 1:29 equipment. Unfortunately you have to suffer through some mfrs putting "Chessie" logos on B&O-marked freight equipment...pure heresy to any true B&O fan....
If you collect a inventory of cars & engines from different mfrs, be prepared to deal with coupler mismatches every now and then. You will get a wide variety of advice from this and other forums as to how to do that. Some prefer Kadee couplers (you would need to convert all coupler since Kadee is an aftermarket product), others prefer Aristocraft/USAT couplers, still a few others use the hook-n-loop that come standard on LGB (it's not American prototype though).
A lot of B&O-marked large scale equipment is no longer manufactured among these companies so you have to check a large number of online stores and visit a lot of large scale hobby shops to find an occasional unsold older item. I have done that and over thee years been fairly successful in amassing a lot of B&O items. But first check the above-listed manufacturer's primary websites for an idea as to what's current. Then go to the big online e-tailers' sites (Ridge Road Station, Trainworld, Legacy Station, Southeast Trains, H&R Trains, Pizza Trains, etc. - look in Garden Railways magazine for a pretty comprehensive list -most of them advertise in this excellent mag.).
Of course you can also risk your money on Evil-Bay (eBay) as there are *occasionally* good deals to be had there.
And you can get into re-painting equipment if you like the modelling aspect of the hobby. Sometimes that's the only way to get what you want.
-GB
Welcome Magnus,
I am a former HO guy myself. I think 1:29 scale trains will be your best bet. The two big manufacturers are AristoCraft and USA Trains. My suggestions on some of the AristoCraft you may like (all available in B&O)-
Pacific and Heavyweight cars for 20/30's era
The E-8 and either Smoothsides (30/40's) or Streamliners (50's on)
Most of these require 8 foot (~2.5m) diameter track but really need 10 foot (~3m) diameter or larger track to run well and look good, especially the big passenger cars. Availability of finding certain cars in certain road names can require a bit of hunting.
Here's a pic of my Pennsy E-8 with smoothsides in tow -
Welcome, I been on here a bit lately, noticed your plea. You say you wanna build a small line. Well Radi of your curves might dictate the length of engines and rolling stock you purchase. I'd first give some thought to a basic track plan/sketch and try to determine the shortest radi of curve you will have to incorporate into your design and available space, than purchase equipment designed to negotiate your design.
By the way, I believe there is a pretty good selection of B&O rolling stock available in most all manufactured lines.
Gott'a green signal, so I'm a leaving the station for now......Show in Deltona today.
Later,
Hi everyone, I have an HO layout but I have been thinking about using my large garden to perhaps install a small garden layout. But, I do not have a clue of what scale is suitable or what is needed to start? Could anyone here point me in the right direction? What do I need?
I would be looking for preferably B&O, 50's, either a steam engine of some sort or an E or F unit. Union pacific might be a ok as well but B&O have my heart.
So guys, please help me out since I'm at a loss here.
Thanks, Magnus
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