Which vendor makes the best detailed HO scale France TGV trainsets? I will purchase a TGV trainset. If you were to compare the different brands like Jouef Trix IHC and Mehano which vendor is the best.
TGV trainsets are available from Trix and Mehano.
Take a look here Trix or here Mehano
Also Jouef, in France. Now part of Hornby I believe. Last year I bought the very nice DC SNCF V150, the world record setting TGV.
http://www.reynaulds.com/products/Jouef/2058.aspx
Dave
USAF (Retired)
I had a Kato unit, the old gray and orange paint scheme.
Due to an accident caused by the cat getting into the train room, I no longer have said unit (they explode very nicely, if you want to know).
I have been looking ever since and haven't found one I liked, so if you find one, let me know!
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
The resurrected IHC in TX is importing and selling the Mehano TGV for $200 for a set http://www.ihc-hobby.com/category/33155438 I have a hard time believing that it is the most detailed, but may be worth a look.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
I thank you all for the information you have provided for me.
simon1966 The resurrected IHC in TX is importing and selling the Mehano TGV for $200 for a set http://www.ihc-hobby.com/category/33155438 I have a hard time believing that it is the most detailed, but may be worth a look.
The IHC sets are made by Mehano which are pretty well deailed.
Jay
C-415 Build: https://imageshack.com/a/tShC/1
Other builds: https://imageshack.com/my/albums
So - is there a way to connect two Atlantique or other TGV train sets together - since there are no intermediate cars for sale?
Hi there,
I doubt that there are a whole lot of modelers here that have purchased one of these models. I took the TGV a few times in France myself and the real one is a superb piece of work... Anyway, I would suggest you look up some of those European forums on model trains and read up about the different models. Being Francophone and having an interest in this prototype, I read a few threads in two French forums to seek some answers. One thing you don't indicate in your question is if you are thinking of buying new or used stock. I'm asking because there have been quite a few mergers and acquisitions in the European train set industry from what I understand - Jouef and Rivarossi, Rivarossi and hornby, etc. IHC is likely to be Mehano. I also read that Mehano built some TGV sets for Jouef at some point. What I also read is that the quality of the Mehanos varies according to the generation... Mehano produced some toy quality sets from what I understand, including some with the Jouef Label. Marklin and Trix appear to get good reviews, but watch out for minimum radius, they apparently require large radius (no indication of what that exactly means in the threads). They also have more detail than Mehano. But there are some good words for Mehano, I believe for the higher priced models. Anyway, there might be some British forums that can help you out.
Let us know what happens, these are cool engines, both the big and small ones!
Simon
Mehano TGV´s are of the cheaper, but still rugged train set kind. They don´t have any couplers in the front or rear, so you won´t be able to run them in multiple units, which the prototype does.
They are also no intermediate cars available, but you may be able to cannibalize a second unit for that purpose.
If you are prepared to pay about 14 - 15 times the price of a Mehano TGV, you could get yourself a Trix TGV, which allows for adding intermediate cars, but not mu´ ing.
I purchased a Mehano TGV Atlantique at a Paris shop in spring 2008. It was a simple set, an oval with a plastic controller, for about 120 Euros, including a powered unit, two cars (I believe), and a dummy on the other end. The quality is decent for a "toy train set" type of model. It took a tumble to the floor and survived, but a couple of years later two of the wires disconnected in the powered unit when the solder failed. I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet--too busy with layout construction. It's a nice model for the money.
Someday the TGV will blast through my Iowa layout landscape, I'm sure. But without the catenary. Although I can concoct a far-flung rationale for the Mallard to show up in Iowa, I'm having a harder time with the TGV.
I do enjoy picking up locomotives from our international trips. Here's a Hornby Mallard that I purchased at the National Railway Museum in York, England in 2013:
The Mallard is quite useful for testing out some of the more intricate trackwork on the layout, due to its long driver wheelbase compared with the diesels.
My wife and I are going to Japan this October for two weeks, so I'll be on the lookout for a bullet train in HO scale.
Thanks all for the info. Considering this thread was started over 4 and a half years ago, I was surprised to be able to find that the Mehano TGV Atlantique appears to still be available. I had hoped that maybe the end car couplers were "hidden" as they are on the real trains. It's a shame two or more trains can't be connected, and that there are no intermediate "add-on" cars. I take it that in the numerous videos I have watched, more talented operators have indeed canabilized and kit-bashed trains to make longer and connected consists possible.Still, I may be purchasing a set - having seen these trains in action on business trips to Paris. I do prefer the styling of the older models, like the Jouef La Poste version. Unfortunately, it appears to be a cargo train, and I am looking for a passenger version - otherwise, I'd purchase that set.I can appreciate how most U.S. modelers wouldn't be interested in a TGV - but I could find a "reason" to put one on a future American layout, just so I could watch it operate! ;) (Maybe a demonstration model to promote passenger rail travel in the U.S.?? haha)