Hi all, Love your forums. and need help. I bought a New Bright Train set at a thrift store, and after I got it home I couldn't figure out why I bought this toy train. I've always been into trains at one time or another. I started to read your forums about Garden railroads.and thought this would be a good idea to see if I could set up a small layout outside. Now this is where you might think I'm off my rocker because I'm retired and a fulltime rv'er. I move around the country with my 5th wheel trailer and work at different places for months at a time. Right now I'm in North Carolina and will be here until Dec. I've read about getting rid of the plastic track and go to brass. What do you think about Lionel brass? it's a little cheaper than the other brass track.I don't want to invest too much, because I need to be able to pull up stakes and move on. so I need something easy to set up and store when I travel. Am I nuts? I hope so.
Richard...
Hi Richard,
Not to put a damper on your plans but the New Bright trains are not known to be reliable or run well. The other problem is the wheels are plastic and will not hold up very long on metal track (the Bachmann RC big haulers have the same problem). You might be better off investing in a starter set from LGB (Stainz or 2-4-0 locos), AristoCraft (the 0-4-0 and Lil' Critters are both nice and some come with the Basic Train Engineer radio control) or Bachmann Big Hauler/Annie set (though the Bachmann metal track is worthless outdoors and I have not heard great thing about the power packs). I have never seen Lionel track anywhere except on eBay where it is usually ridiculously priced. You can pick up Aristo or LGB brass track for $2-3/foot from online sources like Ridge Road Station - http://www.ridgeroadstation.com/trains.shtml and other hobby shops listed here - http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/353205/ShowPost.aspx.
-Brian
Thanks Brian for the advise, I will use my plastic track to layout my track disign, get my ballast down and replace it with brass when it arives. I am limited to run a 4' radius, and found an 040t loco that would be perfect.We'll se what the future brings.
Richard....
PS I like your web site.
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