I have been working with HO, N and Z scale model railroading. But I decided to get into G scale as well. My current setup consists of:
- LGB 72441 Santa Fe Steam starter set
- upgraded the tender to a sound enabled tender with the LGB 65000 sound system
- added the LGB 65011 Sound Unit Power Storage to the LGB 65000 for standing sounds
- added the LGB sound whistle trigger and LGB track magnets for the LGB 65000
- upgraded the LGB starter set throttle to the LGB 52120 5 Amp indoor/outdoor throttle and added storm windows to the window frames and added a white LED internal roof LED to light up the dial
- added a set of LGB ball bearing metal wheel sets with power pickups to the Santa Fe caboose with yellow LEDs installed and added lights to the cabooses marker lanterns.
- have 3 boxes of 11000 R1 curves, 3 boxes of 10000, 2 10320 bent rail bumpers, a 19902 station track add on kit
- added a LGB 20010 Inspectors Handrail car for my kids to run
- added a Brekina Draisine Klv 20 VW van converted to rail use model for the kids to use
- added a LGB 37075 passenger car to the consist
- added a LGB 3907 limited edition passenger car to the consist
- added a LGB 4131 beer car to the consist also added the LGB car mounted track cleaning accessory to this car to keep the track clean
- added a LGB 4228 beer car to the consist
- will be adding LGB ball bearing wheel sets with power pickups and yellow LEDS to both the passenger cars as well as passengers and a engineer waving a lantern on the back of the caboose
I use this setup in my house, I set it up in a large oval that covers my entire living room and then I have two sidelines that end with the bumpers. One sideline goes to the hallway and stops in front of the bathroom with a track magnet to activate the train whistle and the other goes into the kitchen with a bumper and magnet. I have a sideline into the kitchen so I can deliver food and drinks to the kids in the living room on the flatbed car. Looking to get another flatbed car to increase the food/drink delivering capacity.
This is not a permanent layout just a put up and takedown arrangement. On Sundays I go to the park with my kids and setup this layout in the middle of the park and power it with a 175w 12 volt inverter connected to my LiFePO4 Eagle E-Bike and run the train while listening to the Kenwood Audio System installed on my E-Bike. I can run for several hours on this setup and still have plenty of power to get home with.
Any suggestions on further upgrades or improvements and comments good or bad are always welcome by me.
Kenneth Finch
That all sounds good to me. Pretty neat idea setting up in the park. I bet you gets lots of folks coem by to check it out. What a great way to promote the hobby.
Happy RRing.
Yes lots of children and their parents. This coming payday looking to buy another box of 10000 straight tracks and maybe the LGB Inspectors pickup truck if my budget allows or it. So far the stock LGB 1 Amp transformer that came with the starter kit is working fine, but had to upgrade from the stock 1 Amp throttle to the 5 Amp throttle.
You might be better off getting longer sections of track like 2' 3' 4' or even 5' The reason being is with all the connecting disconnecting of the track you are doing you will be stretching the rail joiners. Loose rail joiners equal bad electric dead spots. The longer pieces of track will give you less rail joints to potentially fail.
That LGB rail truck is nice but expensive.
Keep up the FUN
Yes the truck is $299.00 plus taxes. But it is sort of a collectors model, it is the red one with the collapsible rear fences on the cargo bed. I feel it is worth it. I will look into longer track that is a good idea thank you for the helpful comments. Yes I find myself tightening rail joiners on a regular bases.
Welcome
I noticed that you didn't include your location in your bio!
Were are you from?
If you told us ,some might visit park.
Would also love to see pics of the set up in the park!
Also check out this forum :http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums
Well I live in North York Ontario. Will get pictures next time I have the set in the park
Well this coming Wednesday when my paycheck is deposited in my account I will be going to John's Hobby Shop to buy some seated passengers to put inside of my coaches. I will also be getting some fencing but that is for my Noch Z Scale Briefcase Layout and that will complete my Z scale system. My next project is to finish my 2 piece 3' X 7' N scale train layout a little later when Atlas begins shipping track again. Then I will be left with my LGB G scale train to work on. The next upgrades will be installing LGB Ball Bearing Wheel Sets with power pickups and some yellow LEDs in my coaches. Then I will be ordering some Pola G Beer Keg and 12 Pack Beer container kits to put inside the doors of my beer cars.
Sounds like you have a great start in G scale. Here is a pic of my engine to give you some food for thought, its a Roundhouse Lady Anne that I built from a kit(can also be bought RTR and RC controled), it burns butane gas to create steam. No need for any power on the track. I, like you, started with all LGB stuff but moved away from track power once I put up a perminant outdoor layout. I run live steam only at the moment but plan to get a diesel that will have onboard battery control in the future. I also model in the smaller scales, but only have a small HO/OO layout now thats mostly for testing models I have repaired for others. My main interest is in UK/European style narrow gauge trains. This engine looks stunning pulling my LGB blue/cream 2 axle passenger coaches ! Cheers Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
That is a beautiful Live Steam Locomotive for sure. Congratulations. I am just starting out and not building a outdoor layout. I setup my G scale and take it down currently. I just bought 4 painted seated passengers and put them in my red coach. I also bought some tools and glued them on my Locomotive, tender and caboose for a more realistic look. Asked my local hobby shop to see about getting more passengers for my coaches. Also picked up the fencing for my Noch Z scale briefcase layout and finished it off and closed off that layout as finished.
Well last Tuesday I picked up the fencing kit to finish off my Noch Z scale briefcase layout. I also picked up 7 figures (4 seated, two standing and one walking) for my coaches. I also picked up a Bachmann Track Tools Kit and detailed my locomotive, tender and caboose with that kit. I also picked up the last full box of 10000 R1 straight tracks. But when I am ready the hobby shop has stock of used tracks that just needs cleaning from being stored in a unheated shed, the brass rails are tarnished but in good condition. They will give me a good price on it because they know I will have to spend time cleaning it up before I can use it. By the end of this summer I want to have 12 complete boxes of 10000 R1 straights and 12 complete boxes of 11000 R1 curves. I currently have 4 complete boxes of straights and 3 complete boxes of curves. I also want to get some more track magnets and more manual R1 turnout left and rights probably 2 more of each. If my LGB 1 AMP Transformer becomes no longer powerful enough for the larger layout then I will replace it with the older Lionel 18V AC 40VA Transformer I have on my N scale layout and use the LGB 1 AMP Transformer for the N scale layout. I also ordered more LGB Ball Bearing Wheelsets. Over time I am going to replace all the plastic wheelsets with LGB Ball Bearing Wheelsets to have the least amount of rolling resistance to prolong the life of my locomotives gears and motor. Also metal wheels look better as well.
Well I upgraded to a LGB 6 Amp Transformer, picked up some Ball Bearing Wheel Sets and LEDs to light up my coaches. Also picked up a used LGB 20020 Fortuna Flyer for my kids. Cleaned it up and the kids love running it on the track.
Ken Finch
Well I picked up another set of spoke metal wheels and two sets of solid metal wheels for my train set. The spoke set is for my Nestle car and the two solid sets are for my 4 axle flat car. I also picked up another used LGB #3 passenger coach in beige and orange. I will be adding LGB Ball Bearing Wheels and a LED as soon as my hobby shop gets them back in stock.
when will we see pics of your set up?
When I read about the evils of drinking I quit reading.
Added a capacitor to each of the lighted coaches to prevent flickering. Waiting for the LGB Ball Bearing Wheel kit to arrive to light up my last coach and also will add a capacitor to that coach as well and then my complete train will be on metal wheels. Then all I need are more seated passengers for the coaches and some beer bottles and cases for my beer cars.
try online you may be able to fine Bud truck complete with case's of bottles the larger the truck the more bottles ( that's 1 ton and up ) they are 1/24 scale. the manufacture 's name slips my mind . darn old age.....
Dave
The head is gray, hands don't work , back is weak, legs give out, eyes are gone, money go's and my wife still love's Me.
Will be picking up soon a LGB #2051 used Diesel with sound from my local hobby shop to add to my setup.
I would love to see some pics please
I have n scale and G scale
Here is a link to a post with some photos of my steam train on the first page and on the third page is pictures of my LGB #2051 S Diesel Locomotive.
http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?151012-New-to-G-Scale-Model-Railroading!/page1
thanks for the pic
You are welcome.
I have decided to split my cars up between the Santa Fe Steamer and the DB Diesel. The Santa Fe Steamer will be a passenger train and the DB Diesel will a freight train. So I will put all the freight cars and the lighted caboose on the DB Diesel. And the Santa Fe will get the lighted carriages. I have a 4 axle flatbed, 3 2 axle box cars and a 2 axle lighted caboose for the freight train. For the passenger train I have 3 lighted carriages with passengers. I will be getting another carriage tomorrow with more passengers for it. I already have the LGB Ball Bearing Wheel Set with Power Pickups and a white LED for it to light it up. That will give me four lighted coaches for my Santa Fe Steamer. Later on I will get a fifth coach and lighting parts and passengers to complete the passenger train. As far as the freight train goes later on I will pick up a crane car to complete the freight train. Then I will see about getting more track for when I setup outside.
Ken,
Neat idea with the capacitor. I have a couple of Bachmann coaches that could benefit from your idea. Can you show me where you hooked this up?
I used two small gauge wires to connect directly to the LGB Ball Bearing Wheel power pickups in parallel with the wires going to the LED light.
Thanks Ken. I will give it a try.
Well I had my first fatality running my train set. I setup my starter kit steamer with it's tender and four lighted coaches going around the layout fine. I left it running at about half speed for a few hours. Then I fell asleep for the night. I woke up at 4:30am this morning and heard the engine puffing away. But then I noticed it was puffing away sound wise and the lights were running but the train was standing still. I turned off the throttle and checked everything. No derailment no track blockages nothing. When I picked up the engine I noticed the bottom was very hot and I smelled a hot electrical and hot grease smell coming from the bottom of the engine. So I disassembled the engine and extracted the drive motor. A bearing on one side of the armature had failed thus disabling the drive motor. So the steamer is out of commission until a replacement is available from LGB at my local hobby store.
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