Hello from Sarnia

Greg Elmassian said:
I'm a very strong track power advocate, I could not afford battery power given I need remote control and desire the best sound and long run times.

You might be able to run steel strap, but you would need a thin preservative coat of a very light oil/solvent, like kerosene. It has been done.

One thing might be to make a small test oval and try a few things out. The climate makes a big difference.

Another item: you don't need to fix rails/ties so they cannot move, it turns out that causes more problems. The easiest is letting the track "float" in ballast like the real railroads do. the only difference is you need larger size ballast (hint: a real raindrop scales to about 8 inches on our models). So the coarser ballast says put and does not wash away as easily with rain.

Lots of ideas here.

Greg
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Greg Elmassian said:
I'm a very strong track power advocate, I could not afford battery power given I need remote control and desire the best sound and long run times.

You might be able to run steel strap, but you would need a thin preservative coat of a very light oil/solvent, like kerosene. It has been done.

One thing might be to make a small test oval and try a few things out. The climate makes a big difference.

Another item: you don't need to fix rails/ties so they cannot move, it turns out that causes more problems. The easiest is letting the track "float" in ballast like the real railroads do. the only difference is you need larger size ballast (hint: a real raindrop scales to about 8 inches on our models). So the coarser ballast says put and does not wash away as easily with rain.

Lots of ideas here.

Greg
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Greg Elmassian said:
Bachmann track is hollow tin plated steel, so fragile, bends easily, does not connect to other track and rusts easily.

Do not buy it for outside.

greg
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Ok how about the Lionel freight car? I like it and will order one to try it out. If I like it I will order more. I want to see what the check out price is before I order one ..ya
 
So it looks like that car is not "G" scale.

You need to consider what scale you want, and then find the manufacturers that make what you want.

The easiest thing to find in a consistent scale is 1:29....

Some of the Lionel is G scale, but 1:32

The Bachmann steamers vary all over the place from 1:20.3 to 1:22 to 1:24.

LGB is nuts if you are looking at North American prototypes....

I appreciate you are eager, but you need to read some more:

Go to this page:

Beginner's FAQs

Greg Elmassian web site on large scale trains and garden railroads, cigars, and computers
elmassian.com elmassian.com

After you read that page, at the very bottom are links to TEN more pages for beginners. One of them addresses scale.

This is not the be all end all authority, but I have worked hard to make it helpful, it is based not only on what I have learned in 30 years, but what people have asked when starting, and the confusion that has happened.

greg
 
HI Jim,

Did you check with the two US sources of track that I sent you in the PM? Also, there are a quite a few others from north of the border on the forum. Perhaps they could chime in with some reasonably priced sources in Canada. Knowing what your climate is like, pretty much identical to mine except maybe a bit more lake effect snow in Sarnia, I can't recommend trying to make your own track. You'll most likely be disappointed with the results and it may even cause you to give up on your outdoor trains before you even really begin. I do recommend you read Greg's pages. There is a lot of confusion about the scale of trains that run on G gauge track. You want to make sure whatever wagons you buy closely match the scale of your FA-1.
 
Greg Elmassian said:
So it looks like that car is not "G" scale.

You need to consider what scale you want, and then find the manufacturers that make what you want.

The easiest thing to find in a consistent scale is 1:29....

Some of the Lionel is G scale, but 1:32

The Bachmann steamers vary all over the place from 1:20.3 to 1:22 to 1:24.

LGB is nuts if you are looking at North American prototypes....

I appreciate you are eager, but you need to read some more:

Go to this page:

Beginner's FAQs

Greg Elmassian web site on large scale trains and garden railroads, cigars, and computers
elmassian.com elmassian.com

After you read that page, at the very bottom are links to TEN more pages for beginners. One of them addresses scale.

This is not the be all end all authority, but I have worked hard to make it helpful, it is based not only on what I have learned in 30 years, but what people have asked when starting, and the confusion that has happened.

greg
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Ya it is hard to tell if their stuff is g scale or not. I was about to order ...it is old stock from a us store...I rarely back out and hate it when I do just there was a lot of extra costs piling up. I hope they did not trick me into ordering it.
 
phils2um said:
Have you checked here. Marklin Trix Roco Fleischmann Faller at Euro Rail Hobbies & More I think they may be in Vancouver so no duty for you. I've bought some items from them before that I couldn't find elsewhere and can recommend them.
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Around 7 years ago I was about to get into battery powered vehicles on my lay out. I contacted them because they carry it. I did buy a red bus. You hide a wire on the road and the magnet in the bus follows the wire. I am working on an order of track. 3.50 c per foot of LGB brass track plus shipping from Niagara Area. I love to travel so in the future will be picking up G stuff on my travels. Save on shipping
 
TTaannggss said:
Around 7 years ago I was about to get into battery powered vehicles on my lay out. I contacted them because they carry it. I did buy a red bus. You hide a wire on the road and the magnet in the bus follows the wire. I am working on an order of track. 3.50 c per foot of LGB brass track plus shipping from Niagara Area. I love to travel so in the future will be picking up G stuff on my travels. Save on shipping
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Downtown Sarnia does not get much Lake effect snow. In the winter the winds generally blow from the north west. North west of me is Michigan. Winds have to come straight from the north to get Lake effect which rarely happens. Lake Huron is a cold Lake. People only swim on it for 2 or 3 months of the year comfortably. But it does help keep the temps from falling much over night. Still thinking about what to do about building my own track. Hmmm.
 
TTaannggss said:
Downtown Sarnia does not get much Lake effect snow. In the winter the winds generally blow from the north west. North west of me is Michigan. Winds have to come straight from the north to get Lake effect which rarely happens. Lake Huron is a cold Lake. People only swim on it for 2 or 3 months of the year comfortably. But it does help keep the temps from falling much over night. Still thinking about what to do about building my own track. Hmmm.
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I think I have given up on buying new track. Looking for a good deal on good quality used track and/or build my own... Now thinking about trying platinum on a straightaway.
 
Greg Elmassian said:
so aluminum will oxidize, and will require frequent sanding. There is someone in Australia that does this, but it's a much more arid climate than yours.
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Melbourne isn't really arid, we get more than 130 days a year when at least some rain falls typically. Aluminium is definitely LESS good than brass is those conditions, but not unworkable at all and much better than nothing. I had the advantage of using overhead power so effectively twice as many wheels for pickup but I would think running an LGB track cleaner or similar once would be all you'd need to make it work with conventional track power. Even in a favourable climate you still have to do some sort of manual clearing of the track either for oxide or to remove debris unless you run every day. Inversely if you used conventional track power even brass would probably need a manual clean if it has been a few months since last operation, so if you're cleaning any way your choice of track material might not matter as much.
 
Melbournesparks said:
Melbourne isn't really arid, we get more than 130 days a year when at least some rain falls typically. A
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I know, though experience!
Ttaannggss, what people have been saying about the rubber rulered G Scale is right, but remember rule 8, itsyour railway, run what you like
 
Melbournesparks said:
Melbourne isn't really arid, we get more than 130 days a year when at least some rain falls typically. Aluminium is definitely LESS good than brass is those conditions, but not unworkable at all and much better than nothing. I had the advantage of using overhead power so effectively twice as many wheels for pickup but I would think running an LGB track cleaner or similar once would be all you'd need to make it work with conventional track power. Even in a favourable climate you still have to do some sort of manual clearing of the track either for oxide or to remove debris unless you run every day. Inversely if you used conventional track power even brass would probably need a manual clean if it has been a few months since last operation, so if you're cleaning any way your choice of track material might not matter as much.
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How about platinum?
 
Melbournesparks said:
I think platinum is a very unreactive metal so it would probably work great, isn't it really expensive though?
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It is conductive and does not corrode. It is a soft metal though. I saw what said to be platinum yesterday at Home Depot and it looked reasonably priced.
 

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TTaannggss said:
It is conductive and does not corrode. It is a soft metal though. I saw what said to be platinum yesterday at Home Depot and it looked reasonably priced.
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Hm i wonder if it is anodised or coated Ally? This stuff, if that is what it is will not pass electricity between wheels and the track. You should also note this if you source any ally as I did for cassettes (for a smaller scale) and found that I had remove the coating/anodised surface from the ally, this did not leave a smooth surface thus being totally unsuitable for track power.
 
dunnyrail said:
Hm i wonder if it is anodised or coated Ally? This stuff, if that is what it is will not pass electricity between wheels and the track. You should also note this if you source any ally as I did for cassettes (for a smaller scale) and found that I had remove the coating/anodised surface from the ally, this did not leave a smooth surface thus being totally unsuitable for track power.
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Ok something to think about. So with aluminum are you sure I will have to sand it in order for the train to work? Not just a wipe with a cloth. Wipe with a cloth is fine... Sanding it every time I use it does not sound viable. Then there is galvinized steal with an oil coating. If I just have to wipe it off where the wheels touch the galvinized steal then it may be viable.....Jim
 
TTaannggss said:
Ok something to think about. So with aluminum are you sure I will have to sand it in order for the train to work? Not just a wipe with a cloth. Wipe with a cloth is fine... Sanding it every time I use it does not sound viable. Then there is galvinized steal with an oil coating. If I just have to wipe it off where the wheels touch the galvinized steal then it may be viable.....Jim
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Ok so some ally as I said is coated some not. Look carefully at what Melbourne sparks says about ally track. However for external use all track needs cleaning unless you are a very regular almost daily user. That is why I turned to Battery Power on my line, but I am 73 and track cleaning became a chore, worse with sound locomotives as they do need good trackpower or the sounds go quiffy and it sometimes gets tricky to call a particular sound.
 
TTaannggss said:
It is conductive and does not corrode. It is a soft metal though. I saw what said to be platinum yesterday at Home Depot and it looked reasonably priced.
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Since Platinum is currently over $1,000 an ounce this must be a color description rather than the metal!
 
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