Garden railways

I dont know much but G Scale is rather commercial and Gauge 1 is your starter at Model Engineering

In message , Brian Whitehead writes

Look up the US Garden Railroads magazine and I believe that there is one in the UK. If you live anywhere near the south coast there are a couple of guys that belong to South Shore Model Railroad Club (based in Worthing) who model G scale.

Contact me if you want further info.

G gauge is a mishmash of scales running on 45mm gauge track. Most of the equipment is based on narrow gauge prototypes (European metre gauge and US 3 ft gauge). Depending on the narrow gauge, the scales range from

1:20.3 on down. There is a huge range of equipment available, of generally good to excellent quality. There is also an increasing amount of detail and other parts for scratch building. Most garden railway modellers use 1:24 for buildings, as that is one of the two widely used a doll house scales, so there is an enormous amount of stuff available.

No. 1 scale is 1:32, as 45mm gauge in that scale represents 4' 8-1/2" gauge about as exactly as model gauges do. There is not as much equipment available for it, and it is pricey. It is a dying scale for operating layouts, but still quite viable as a model builder's scale.

1:32 standard gauge trains are actually smaller than 1:20.3 3ft-gauge ones, so they will look wrong next to each other. Don't mix these scales.

You can mix the narrow gauge scales because there was no universal standard clearance diagram for narrow gauges. This means that narrow gauge equipment varied a lot in size, the result being that 3ft gauge models at 1:20.3 scale and metre gauge models at 1:22. 2 look just fine next to each other.

Unless you are fussy about exact scale, go with G gauge, and buy what you like, in the best quality you can afford. Do not compromise on track or fixed structures such as bridges that must suffer the indignities of weather and wildlife. Use best practices to protect wiring and control element from the weather. You can go with cheaper rolling stock and buildings, since they can be brought indoors for protection. But if you spread out your purchases, the garden railway will cost you less than smoking. If you smoke, that's a good reason to quit. If you don't, it's a good argument if your other half objects to "wasting money." ;-)

The only area in which wheel standards of #1 scale conflict with commercial G gauge track is at turnouts (points). That is, 1:32 rolling stock built to NMRA or similar standards will not play nicely with commercial G gauge turnouts.

Googling on "G gauge" and "garden railways" will bring you lots of hits, and many hours of enjoyable surfing.

HTH

Thanks very much. I am not the least bit fussy about exact scale - I am intending only to build a simple, fun garden railway. Looks like G scale is the way forward.

In message , Brian Whitehead writes

Have you tried OO/HO in the garden? That's fun, too.

Wolf,

That might be the case across the pond, but in the UK, 10mm or 3/8" scale (Gauge 1) is still popular for garden layout operation, usually with live steam locomotives.

Jim.

Richard,

When I was in the G1MRA some years ago, the membership then always adopted a pragmatic approach to the values of rolling stock and refused to consider "Antiques Roadshow" prices. So I suspect that that attitude still holds firm and new, as well as second hand, prices are set to suit.

Jim.

And, rather bizarrely, Gauge I ready-to-run is often cheaper than O - if a little limited in range as yet.

Cheers Richard

True enough, but I didn't want to to confuse OP further. Anyhow, 10mm is a builder's scale, not AFAIK a ready-to-run one. (And 3/8" scale isn't the same as 10mm scale, either. Sigh.)

From what I've seen/experienced of Gauge One, the interest in in the individual models/train formations, not building a scale 'train set', so if one set of stock (train formation) is built to 10mm scale and another is built to 3/8" scale no one really cares!

Apparently 10mm has become the "standard" over here now (I nearly went for gauge 1, but chickened out at the last minute) hence the likes of Tenmille Products - those that do UK outline 3/8 have or are converting their kits to 10mm, or offering both. Aster don't actually say which they do on their UK site, but they do associate themseleves with the Gauge One Model Railway Association - who don't make it clear which standard to use.......!

Cheers Richard

=BD10mm or 3/8"

That is the reason I ruled out O gauge - the incredible price of rtr locos.

I feared that it might be a little fragile for my garden, given that I share it with a toddler, a dog and a cat.

I hope that G1 is not going down the arguments that lead to much 4mm

18mm vs. 18.83 track gauge and P4 vs. S4 nasties, it would be a real shame.... :~(

I thnk that may well have been true until quite recently, but I remember reading a forum somewhere where the debate was getting a little heated!

Cheers Richard

I feared that it might be a little fragile for my garden, given that I share it with a toddler, a dog and a cat.

Send a live steam loco around every so often. The cat and dog will soon learn to leave them alone.

cheers, Simon

Richard,

I can remember debates on 3/8" scale in the G1MRA newsletter getting heated in the 1970s, requiring the editor to apply some heavy moderating. :-) At that time the general feeling was that there should be one scale in Gauge One, and that should be 10mm. However, I believe that 3/8" scale is becoming more popular since its more accurate scale/gauge ratio attracts people who want to model to finer standards.

Jim.

Also, that's the international standard of 1:32 (cp. 1:30.4 for 10mm).

FWIW, Aristo Craft offer 1:29 models for G gauge. This scale was chosen so that standard gauge models would look suitably bulky next to narrow gauge. See

for more information.

HTH

ISO or UN?

Cheers Richard