Creating first layout in large garden

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Trevor McAlister

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Hi
I am looking of some pointers as to where to go for a large ish quantity of G gauge track, we are opting for 45mm Brass Track with code 332 rail.
I?m investigating for my Dad who is just retiring and has always wanted a G gauge layout, and he has a garden that is ideal for it. A single main line loop around 1/2 of the garden could easily use up 60m of track.
The budget is limited so he would probably start with a more modest main loop of about 20 - 30m, but we want to find a cheap source of large lengths of track new or second hand.

I have been looking at track on ebay but I am not shore what are bargains or nearly new prices.
For a 1200mm length of set track what is a reasonable second hand, and new price. Also what sort of price do you pay for turnouts?
Trevor
 
Hi Trevor and welcome to the forum. Track is notoriously now one of the most expensive components for garden railways. The best place that I have found for having a stock of second hand track at reasonable prices is Garden Railway Centres in Cheltenham. May be worth giving Andrew a bell to see what stock he has at the moment.
 
Welcome Trevor
Best place to look for track is......HERE on the forum....
Most of mine is from here little (and far too often for SWMBO's liking:rolf: ) for £3 to £3.50 a foot and points somewhere between £20 and £25 for R1's ;)
Hope this helps


You dont say where your from .......but if you near to some of the members on here,most will welcome you to have a look and see what they have done :bigsmile:
 
hello and welcome,

one possibility to get cheap brasstrack would be to look out for "R1 curves" (they make a circle of about 130 cm). because these curves are too sharp for bigger (longer) locos and cars, they are often offered at low prices.
it is relatively easy to straighten or rebend them to another diameter.
most of the track i am laying now on my new layout is from rebent R1 curves.
concerning turnouts - bite the bullet, buy the best and preferably new.
(and if your father plans to have big, long modern locos and cars, buy turnouts from "R5" and above)
 
Trevor McAlister said:
I have been looking at track on ebay but I am not shore what are bargains or nearly new prices.
For a 1200mm length of set track what is a reasonable second hand, and new price. Also what sort of price do you pay for turnouts?
Trevor
Click to expand...
Trevor

You'll find that for new track, the most economic length per foot is 600mm. No idea why. It just is! Looking at Dragon G Scale's prices, 600mm Piko track is £9.55 or £4.78 per foot (roughly). http://www.dragon-gscale.co.uk/piko-174-c.asp If you quote the GSC password, you get 5% discount of those numbers, so work on £4.54 per foot, plus a flat fee of £2.50 postage irrespective of quantity. LGB track is exactly the same in terms of rail section and sleeper height, but more expensive.

Second hand track varies in price considerably, but remembering that your target is under £4.54 per foot helps! £3 per foot is pretty good for LGB track: £3.50 per foot seems fairly typical, BUT watch for postage costs. G scale track is very heavy so postage can make or break the deal.

Curves vary similarly, but radius 1 curves (600mm radius) tend to be quite cheap as they are plentiful since they get supplied with starter sets.

If you find you need R1 curves, I have umpteen second-hand ones available. Just PM me if interested!
Good luck with your calculations and searching! :thumbup:
 
Do you know if he wants to lay flexible track or sectional track? Flexible track tends to work out cheaper overall than equivalent lengths of sectional track - but is a little more difficult to lay. As mentioned previously, Andrew at Garden Railway Centres is very reasonable when it comes to secondhand track - I found him cheaper than eBay. But it will depend on what he has in.

I've quite happily mixed LGB, Aristo and Tenmille. I bought whatever I could find cheap at the time. My main circuit is around 60m.

Rik
 
Hullo & welcome to the forum Trevor.

Last time I brought some lengths of 1200 mm LGB track (in Sheringham, on behalf of MMTS above as it happens!), it was £18 a length. This was about 2 years ago and shortly after the price of track rocketed, due to the rising costs of materials and LGB going to the wall.

So if you can get it at this price today, you are doing very well! As others have mentioned, I would look to pay around £3.50 per ft for 2nd hand LGB track. Might be worth putting out a request here on the forum, should you need to....
 
I have seen it all as an investment and bought new, from the same manufacturer in one go... expensive but if you're keeping something for 10+ years the price seems a little more palatable. I have found Jeremy at Dragon G-scale to offer an absolutely fantastic service - a pleasure to deal with... he feels like my 'local' garden railway shop despite being hundreds of miles away.

I initially found myself drawn to using R1 and R2 for cost and space requirements, however found that by tweaking plans that R2 and R3 along with R5 curves offered a much more realistic layout, without a great deal of extra cost per metre as the pieces are longer! Well worth getting some track planning software or templates to have a play and understand how the different radii play and fit together in different alignments!!

Good luck! I started the EJ&KLR project with my father - it proved to be a fantastic way to reconnect us both with a forgotten hobby of my childhood. I hope you both enjoy yourselves!
 
As you noticed - ebay prices are often high - higher than new in some cases - God knows why. Piko/Aristocraft/USA Trains/Trainline and LGB are all compatable. Tenmille and Peco are different but can be joined with special plates.
I keep an eye on the secondhand market (here, ebay, dealers, G scale society) and buy when available - but you need a plan in your head so you dont buy the wrong thing. One good thing - if you have the wrong piece it is easy to sell.:laugh:
Worth joining the G Scale Society for advice and sales.
http://www.g-scale-society.co.uk/membership.htm
 
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