Introducing myself & PIKO and LGB compatibility

Valthaer

Valthaer

Registered
Hello,

My name is Jesús Jaraíz, i live in Navarre, north of Spain, I´m new to this hobby and have been following youtube, books and magazines about it. I´m thinking in go real with it and buy my first brass tracks but have some needs and questions:

Railway data and plan
- I have a square garden of 300 square meters more or less. I want to run RC locos and Playmobil locos from my childs. Also i want to run track powered locos. My idea is have a track powered loco as the base, and other RC locos for operation.

Questions:
- I think to use LGB track but PIKO starters seems to be more interesting, starter locos seems to be at least more interesting /realistic. My question is, are PIKO track powered locomotives compatible with LGB power and control system? In that case i will run for a LGB starter and get one PIKO german style locomotive.
- Old Playmobil locos (Western train) track powered are compatible with LGB power system?. It´s a bonus question as Playmobil is not a model train, only a toy, i knows.

Thanks and regards!
 
They are compatible. The main difference is that most LGB stock is of narrow gauge originals, whilst Piko is of standard gauge originals..
 
Hello and welcome to the madness
 
Hello, welcome to GSC!

Piko and LGB will all mix just fine, both track and locos/rolling stock - Alan mentioned the slight scale difference, because Piko models are mostly of standard-gauge prototypes and are modelled to (approximately) 1:26 scale, but they will all couple up with LGB items, the models all look around the same size and pretty much look OK together..... I have some Piko locos and coaches, and they look just fine with all my LGB items.

As Playmofire says above, old Playmobil trains will run just fine on LGB (or Piko) track, but don't give them too much voltage - if you're running DC track power, just don't turn the throttle up too high!

Jon.
 
Hi Jesús and welcome!

I run Playmobil, Piko and LGB all together on LGB track in analogue. I have never used the Piko track but understand it is entirely compatible and has some nice curved points sections which I will get around to using one day. You have a nice large garden to make your railway, how big will your layout be?
 
Slawman said:
Hi Jesús and welcome!

I run Playmobil, Piko and LGB all together on LGB track in analogue. I have never used the Piko track but understand it is entirely compatible and has some nice curved points sections which I will get around to using one day. You have a nice large garden to make your railway, how big will your layout be?
Click to expand...

Piko also do some very useful curve Radii that fill in some of the gaps in the LGB range - for example, Piko's "R3" curves are just a useful bit bigger than LGB's R2, but smaller than LGB's R3 (to confuse things, Piko's R5 is equivalent to LGB's R3, so you do need to be clear what manufacturer you are talking about when you quote curve radius numbers).
Other track makers that use code 332 rail will also be mostly compatible, for example Trainline45 who make an R2 point (to fit LGB R2 curves), something that LGB have never done.

Jon.
 
Welcome to the forum Jesus.

I run both LGB and Piko trains together as can be seen in the photo below.

I also use Piko, LGB, Trainline and Aristocraft track on my railway. The track in the picture that the orange and yellow Shoema locos are on is Piko, and the other track with the TEE train is on is LGB.

I doubt if most folk would notice the differences....


2017-09-06 16.32.12.jpg
 
Hi!

Thanks for the welcome! And thanks for tracks info, i can go for my first tracks and starter with that info. I suppose i will start with LGB track, i think control system and power seems to be more advanced and user friendly than PIKO.

About layout, i have to think about it (and persuade my wife hehe). I have three tall pine trees at garden background, and i suppose the best place would be there, with a station in one side, and other in opossite, in a dog bone circuit.

A pair of images are the better explanation. I can´t use the center garden area, only under trees and sides.

Regards!

IMG_20180419_180821.jpg
 

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Hi Jesús and welcome

Your garden looks perfect for a garden railway ...
Looking forward to seeing how it progresses

Rik
 
Gizzy said:
Welcome to the forum Jesus.

I run both LGB and Piko trains together as can be seen in the photo below.

I also use Piko, LGB, Trainline and Aristocraft track on my railway. The track in the picture that the orange and yellow Shoema locos are on is Piko, and the other track with the TEE train is on is LGB.

I doubt if most folk would notice the differences....


View attachment 238399
Click to expand...
What apart from one being red?
 
Welcome to the Forum.

Your question is valid but of course Spanish Railways as you know are Broad Gauge so the difference if you go down the Larger Gauge route may be a problem for you especially with the Flexible Ruler that all manufacturers appear to use.

What may work better for you is to follow either Metre Gauge or 750/760 mm Narrow Gauge. Here you will find a wealth of suitable stock from both LGB and Piko. A few years back at Gerona Station I found an old San Fielou loco preserved, it was very similar to the LGB 0-6-2. The LGB Snouty Railcar has also had some real ones in Spain. I think that the Piko 218 may have a prototype in Spain but I have not been able to unearth it yet, in Germany there is at least one on Metre Gauge and Bulgaria has them on 750/760 gauge. The Piko one even has a revised Centre Buffer for just this purpose. There are also many further items from the LGB range that would work well in a Spanish Narrow Gauge Context.

I hope you have plenty of books on the Spanish Railways so that you can research the things that will work for you whatever route you take.
 
Hi dunnyrail dunnyrail . Indeed,i have no intention to follow any real railway. If a go for Spanish railway i will have selected H0 as there are a lot of Spanish Broad Gauge material in that scale. But as i have discovered, Garden Railways are less realistic appealing and more..."garden style"?, narrow gauge, smaller locos and vagons...a bit more nostalgic i think. Also, i don´t like the narrow gauge spanish trains too much, not very identified with it.

Anyway, my idea is begining with a small layout, with a small mix of locos and vagons that i like, no following any historical scheme.

Thanks!
 
A good choice, Valthaer! "Rule Eight" is the most important one, it's your railway and you can run whatever you like!
You are quite right about Garden Railways (and Garden Railway-ers) in general, most of us are much less concerned with accuracy and "realism", we just love seeing trains winding their way through the garden..... :)

Jon.
 
Beware of pine trees and what falls off them! They CAN play havoc with teeny train mechanisms. Maybe your Spanish trees are better behaved than ours in Canada and the PNW, who knows?

Lots of luck, and keep asking the questions - somebody here has always done it before, whatever it might be.

Best

tac
OVGRS.org
 
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