Are there any British style G scale trains?

collectors said:
The original post was for somthing simple & somthing we all can afford. The Thomas collection is a great start at just s few hundred pounds with great business like Smallbrook doing conversions @ £25:00 to make them look a little more realistic & simply run on a 45mm track.
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Sir, you STILL have not told us what area of 'British train' modelling interests you.

Standard gauge or narrow gauge?

If standard gauge, then it's Gauges 1 or 3. Locomotives in either scale can go from simply 'quite' expensive to 'ludicrously' expensive, depending on your level of spending.
If narrow gauge, then the sky is literally the limit.

There are dozens of locomotives, ready to run or to build, and thousands of items of rolling stock. You can build a little loco for less than £100, and rolling stock for around £15 - 20 and up. If you are not too busy tomorrow, and live withing SAAF distance of Peterborough, the largest garden railway show in UK is on there at the Showground Centre - the last one ever
 
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tac foley said:
Sir, you STILL have not told us what area of 'British train' modelling interests you.

Standard gauge or narrow gauge?

If standard gauge, then it's Gauges 1 or 3. Locomotives in either scale can go from simply 'quite' expensive to 'ludicrously' expensive, depending on your level of spending.
If narrow gauge, then the sky is literally the limit.

There are dozens of locomotives, ready to run or to build, and thousands of items of rolling stock. You can build a little loco for less than £100, and rolling stock for around £15 - 20 and up. If you are not too busy tomorrow, and live withing SAAF distance of Peterborough, the largest garden railway show in UK is on there at the Showground Centre -
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Well, if you are willing to compromise on gauge accuracy as a few of us out there do, you
Can build standard gauge style British locos.
Indeed if you want gauge accuracy you could model RHDR prototypes which in reality were a third full size above the running plate and a quarter below.4F30998A-686C-4FE3-80F9-9816F6FEF4E6.jpegD2859300-6C57-4C23-B9BF-3B38693E3C1F.jpeg8F046A51-E064-424B-8BAF-59572FAC7392.jpegF0A2AEB0-477E-4A3A-976E-5B1148096C2A.jpegA35A7D1A-083D-48D6-92F3-BDDBD984E563.jpeg83D080EA-F7FA-4A0D-886A-2F1236242582.jpeg
 

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Flying15 said:
:)Well, if you are willing to compromise on gauge accuracy as a few of us out there do, you
Can build standard gauge style British locos.
Indeed if you want gauge accuracy you could model RHDR prototypes which in reality were a third full size above the running plate and a quarter below.View attachment 300640View attachment 300641View attachment 300642View attachment 300643View attachment 300645







View attachment 300646
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Absolutely stunning set of locos. I take my hat off to you sir (if I was wearing one).
I hadn't realised the RHDR used two scales for their locos. A clever solution. Come to think of it most of my locos are compromised below the running plate as I use the closest commercial motor block I can find which is seldom quite right. I hadn't realised I was in such auspicious company. I suppose I ought to have known that; my brother worked for Davey Paxman (though not until the 1960s).

Rik
 
Please remember, and after thousands of posts, G is NOT a scale of any kind. It is a GROUP of scales, all of which just happen, by good luck, to run on 45mm gauge track.

I'll keep this post to dealing with British standard gauge - 4ft 8.5in track - that runs on 45mm gauge track.

1/32nd - and its close brother, 10mm/foot - are the historical Gauge 1 railways. They are models of STANDARD GAUGE prototypes. Accucraft and Aster and a number of scratch builders operate in these two scales, which are, not to put too fine a point on it, pricey up to WTH?

The Aristocraft Class 66 was a very welcome anomaly, never to be repeated, and is actually modelled in 1/29th scale, a scale invented and developed by Lewis Polk in the 80's, and kept alive these days by USA Trains. A Class 66 loco, usually fitted with r/c and sound, can often be found for around £800 or so. Suitable modern-image rolling stock is another matter entirely - one of our fellow Gauge 1-ers has built a 12-car consist of two-truck buk liquid cars..... The Aristo flat cars are around £100 - 120 each - a half-way decent train is made of fifteen or twenty of them.
 
I did ask for a train of 'merry go round' hoppers, to go with the 66, but it appears that the person concerned got side-tracked by the Southern Region coaching stock?
:(

PhilP
 
tac foley said:
Please remember, and after thousands of posts, G is NOT a scale of any kind. It is a GROUP of scales, all of which just happen, by good luck, to run on 45mm gauge track.

I'll keep this post to dealing with British standard gauge - 4ft 8.5in track - that runs on 45mm gauge track.

1/32nd - and its close brother, 10mm/foot - are the historical Gauge 1 railways. They are models of STANDARD GAUGE prototypes. Accucraft and Aster and a number of scratch builders operate in these two scales, which are, not to put too fine a point on it, pricey up to WTH?

The Aristocraft Class 66 was a very welcome anomaly, never to be repeated, and is actually modelled in 1/29th scale, a scale invented and developed by Lewis Polk in the 80's, and kept alive these days by USA Trains. A Class 66 loco, usually fitted with r/c and sound, can often be found for around £800 or so. Suitable modern-image rolling stock is another matter entirely - one of our fellow Gauge 1-ers has built a 12-car consist of two-truck buk liquid cars..... The Aristo flat cars are around £100 - 120 each - a half-way decent train is made of fifteen or twenty of them.
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I do have a number of the intermodal wagons with various different container. However, doesn’t look out of place hauling the Piko G Gondola(box) wagons. I would like to fit DCC to my 66’s but at present run analog. The accucraft Mk1 are plastic and when you look at the same size carriages from LGB/Piko G are about the same price. Sadly the intermodal wagons now go for £200+ on EBay. The attached image is of a display I had at Pratts Bottom village hall in October at the Kent Group of the G Scale Society meet. Apart from the D&RGW all the sets could have been longer but was restricted in space as Kent Garden Rail had set up shop to the right of the photo. Lol
 

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38thfoot said:
If I were to start again I’d go RC from the outset; one of the RC options is Loco remote and their website has a link to compatible kits, a large proportion of which are British prototypes and not that expensive.


38
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I'd just add that the LocoRemote locos are of 2ft prototypes or less, where they model actual locomotives. Many are also free-lance and, like many of their ilk, based on nothing more than imagination. Their prime benefit is that many of them are designed to negotiate Chris Rennie's fascinating micro-scale tracked layouts, with 4" radius curves [yup, 4"].

The OP has been less than helpful to us in our attempts to help him - perhaps he is unaware that there IS matching standard gauge rolling stock for 16mm trains running on 32 or 45mm gauge track - it's called Gauge 3, and runs on 64mm gauge track.

THE nexus of all Gauge 3 in this country is Garden Railway Specialists in Princes Risborough.
 
Part of the problem is that this Forum is called "G Scale Central" so the onus is on 45mm gauge track, and (mainly) the commercial rtr offerings from the likes of LGB / Marklin, and Piko.

These are predominantly European prototypes, and metre-gauge, Piko supplying standard gauge continental models.

British outline, narrow-gauge, is catered for quite well, and much is available in a form allowing you to adjust the Gauge between 32mm and 45mm.

It also depends on the era (sic) you want to model?
The track from LGB and Aristocraft, is deliberately made chunky and robust, and nowhere near 'scale' for 4' 8.5" prototype.

If the OP wants scale, British outline, then there are three options:
O gauge on 32mm track.
1 gauge on 45mm track.
3 gauge on 64mm (rounded) track.

All of which cost:
Ouch!
Eye-watering!!
Where's the defibrillator?
(probably in that order)

You can, with some skill, and a little effort, create something approximating to a British mainline.
It will not be to the die-hards taste, but it is your railway, and your back-story.

With the sun behind it, if you squint a bit, a 'Whizzy-Cranks' could be a Class 25/6,repainted in DB Schenker livery!

PhilP
 
PhilP said:
Part of the problem is that this Forum is called "G Scale Central" so the onus is on 45mm gauge track, and (mainly) the commercial rtr offerings from the likes of LGB / Marklin, and Piko.

These are predominantly European prototypes, and metre-gauge, Piko supplying standard gauge continental models.

British outline, narrow-gauge, is catered for quite well, and much is available in a form allowing you to adjust the Gauge between 32mm and 45mm.

It also depends on the era (sic) you want to model?
The track from LGB and Aristocraft, is deliberately made chunky and robust, and nowhere near 'scale' for 4' 8.5" prototype.

If the OP wants scale, British outline, then there are three options:
O gauge on 32mm track.
1 gauge on 45mm track.
3 gauge on 64mm (rounded) track.

All of which cost:
Ouch!
Eye-watering!!
Where's the defibrillator?
(probably in that order)

You can, with some skill, and a little effort, create something approximating to a British mainline.
It will not be to the die-hards taste, but it is your railway, and your back-story.

With the sun behind it, if you squint a bit, a 'Whizzy-Cranks' could be a Class 25/6,repainted in DB Schenker livery!

PhilP
Click to expand...

Maerklin also have an ever-expanding range of electrically-powered Gauge 1 locos in steam and electric/diesel electric outline - all at eye-watering cost. See Youtube's Peter Pernsteiner for his report on the 'Schorsch' loco.......
 
tac foley said:
Maerklin also have an ever-expanding range of electrically-powered Gauge 1 locos in steam and electric/diesel electric outline - all at eye-watering cost. See Youtube's Peter Pernsteiner for his report on the 'Schorsch' loco.......
Click to expand...
But no (to my knowledge) British prototypes?

PhilP
 
PhilP said:
But no (to my knowledge) British prototypes?

PhilP
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No, nothing British by any stretch of the imagination. Ready-to-run Gauge 3 models are often available through the G3 Association, but deep pockies are needed for electrically-powered models, and extra-deep pockies for live-steam.

Nobody ever said that playing with big trains was an economical pastime... :(

Here's a little BR tank loco in Gauge 3 from Silver Crest - I think they were around 4-5K or so. The poor soul has obviously never heard of a barbecue lighter.


Here is their DDG 'GWR King Class' - drooble............................


GWR KING CLASS

50% OF BATCH ALREADY SOLD!
​

​
GWR KING CLASS

King Class in GWR Green Livery

Price £6,995.00 + £95.00 p&p​
 
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tac foley said:
I'd just add that the LocoRemote locos are of 2ft prototypes or less, where they model actual locomotives. Many are also free-lance and, like many of their ilk, based on nothing more than imagination. Their prime benefit is that many of them are designed to negotiate Chris Rennie's fascinating micro-scale tracked layouts, with 4" radius curves [yup, 4"].
Click to expand...

I’d actually forgotten about loco remotes own locos but was referring to the fact that on the compatibility page of their website they link to a number of other manufacturers who feature British outline kits, some of which are available in 45mm

38
 
tac foley said:
No, nothing British by any stretch of the imagination. Ready-to-run Gauge 3 models are often available through the G3 Association, but deep pockies are needed for electrically-powered models, and extra-deep pockies for live-steam.

Nobody ever said that playing with big trains was an economical pastime... :(

Here's a little BR tank loco in Gauge 3 from Silver Crest - I think they were around 4-5K or so. The poor soul has obviously never heard of a barbecue lighter.


Here is their DDG 'GWR King Class' - drooble............................

​


GWR KING CLASS

50% OF BATCH ALREADY SOLD!​

GWR KING CLASS

King Class in GWR Green Livery

Price £6,995.00 + £95.00 p&p​
Click to expand...
He also did not say what kind of water, I would have thought that a quite important consideration on a loco costing 4-5K. you certainly do not want to be adding hard water to it.
 
Flying15 said:
Well, if you are willing to compromise on gauge accuracy as a few of us out there do, you
Can build standard gauge style British locos.
Indeed if you want gauge accuracy you could model RHDR prototypes which in reality were a third full size above the running plate and a quarter below.View attachment 300640View attachment 300641View attachment 300642View attachment 300643View attachment 300645View attachment 300646
Click to expand...
Opportunity to boast yet again - I once rode on the footplate of the "Midland Spinner" in steam. 40 years ago? Now she languishes, immobile, in York Museum... oh, and I once took my small boy to York Museum. There was (presumably still is) a cutaway loco which we were looking at when a film crew appeared and asked if I would like to be on tv, showing my lad the engine. I did so. "Thank you," they said. ""Will it be on tv?" "Oh yes," they said. "In Japan."
 
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The sad thing is at Ellerman Lines 35029 was rescued from Barry Scrapyard and sectioned to show how a steam loco worked. It had a drive unit beneath it to simulate operation etc. A wonderful exhibit to demonstrate the simple science behind the steam engine. All the money spent on the ‘lab’ at York but none spent on getting this exhibit operating again! A real missed opportunity!
 
There are mutterings at the Nuremburg toy fair about the possibility of some british outline narrow gauge. Possibly a Double Fairlie and some L&B stock...
 
3 minutes of fame said:
There are mutterings at the Nuremburg toy fair about the possibility of some british outline narrow gauge. Possibly a Double Fairlie and some L&B stock...
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Roundhouse did a Double Fairlie and Accucraft did a LOT of L&B stock.

Unless, or course, whatever company it is intends to make 'em in 1/22.3 scale, to 'match' LGB.

What a total fiasco THAT would be.
 
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