General Discussion (Garden Railways)

Truth: (just my 1/2 cents) Buddy L not a wise choice in G Scale.

William

I certainly agree that the best way to break into G guage on a budget is to go with Bachmann, not Buddy L.  I don't like the Buddy L locos, they are OK for when you have kids over and you know the railroad will be trashed, but they are not so good for everyday use.  Get a Big Hauler or one of the very nice Shays from B'mann for a good start.  Check out Heartland locos also, made in USA and extremely well built and run great for a competative price.

OTOH, I love the Buddy L cars, they have passable detail, are nice and durable, and very, very inexpensive.  I think from Ridge Road I paid $40 for a set of 4 cars, a box, a gondola, a caboose and a flat.  At that price you can bash, paint and detail the cars at will.  I would never consider repainting my Dogfish Brewery limited edition box car (horrors upon horrors!), but repainting a $10 Buddy L box into the Dixie D SL colors and logos?, dude I'm there!  Put on a set of Kadees and you are rolling with the best of them.  Luckily the Buddy L's are the same scale as the Bachmann Big Hauler locos, so off you go!

Buy Bachmann.  The locomotives are waaaaaay better than Buddy L.  If you want to go outdoors, then you must replace the Bach track with a better quality track such as brass, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, or nickel silver.

Ok, true Aristo track is better than Bachmann.  But, you will have to replace EVERY railjoiner as they will rust and then you will have to replace them anyway.  Save time and money, buy LGB track, they last much longer.

Aristo is ok for just running trains, but try to take a Aristo C-16 up a 25 yard 2% grade with 15-20 cars, it can't, I repeat CANNOT, do it.  A Bach 2-8-0 will, I repeat WILL, do it.  Now, I am speaking from personal experience as it was my own 2-8-0 pulling up a hill.

If you want a good layout to last.  Buy a Bach or LGB locomotive and LGB track.  I would stay away from starters sets as they are a little ify.  Some are great, and other just are just plain crap.

James,

Stay away from Buddy L. The cars are ok and that it. You might want to check into your local SAM's club and see if they have any of the Chritmas sets left. Very good price on a Bachmann starter set. You would need to buy Atristo, USA or LGB track for outdoors.

You should also try and think ahead a bit. I built my layout with 6 feet diameter curves and now wish I had gone to 8. At the time I was only interested in running the smaller engines, but my interst changed and found out I was now limited by my curves.

Good luck and have fun. Get something down as soon as you can. That is the hardest part.

Regards,

Mark

Snoq pass,

I've had Aristo track down for 5 years, how much longer before my rail joiners rust away?  I just checked them a few minutes ago and they are black, but show no evidence of rust. 

Ok, I am sorry for being a little flip about the Aristo track.  The guys in my model train club all told me about how much they disliked Aristo track because the railjoiners will rust.  Now true, this may only happen in certion areas.  I live in the Pacific Northwest and no one, that I know of, uses Aristo track, heck even the hobby store doesn't have them in their personal stock.  I was told that LGB was a better option than Aristo.

Again, I am sorry for being flip about the quality of the Aristo track.

No problem, Snoqpass, just being flip myself

I live in Virginia Beach with sun, salt and rain, very similar to the PNW only warmer.  I've yet to see any problems with Aristo track.  BUT with that being said, every area has it's own unique conditions and what works in one area may or may not work somewhere else.  It's always best to see what the local railroaders are doing before making a big purchase.