Matt's First Garden Railway

[Gavin Sowry]

Good advice on that tool, thanks! That will definitely be useful for trouble shooting, I'll try to track one down.

One of the first things I learned after buying this train was REA=Aristrocraft, and shortly afterwards Aristocraft=out of business. Bit of a bummer. On that note, I think it may be challenging to standardize everything I buy to Aristocraft couplers since they'll eventually get hard to find. What's a good alternative for an operating knuckle coupler? Bachmann perhaps? I know Kadee is popular, but honestly I'm not a huge fan; I like the operating knuckle like you find on a Lionel train.

I haven't studied the newer Bachmann offerings of ex Aristo gear in fine detail, sneaky suspicion that they are still using the Aristo coupler, well at least they show in the advertising photos.
Mr Lehmann (LGB) to his credit, left his coupler mount system to the public domain, and is basically industry standard. When you get to go to running days, often the early activity is swapping an end coupler from one brand to another, so that you can join up with others. In reality, I actually have a few spare trucks/bogies with different couplers, as the trucks are faster to change over, one larger screw, rather than the smaller one that you will drop on the ground, and not find again.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Yes Bachmann is clearly making Aristo couplers, easily seen on the eggliner, and to be seen on the upcoming re-release of the Dash 9

 

[Riograndad]

Welcome Matt,great to see the younger modelers coming on board,

 

[mjotrainbrain]

It's been a while since my last update, but that's because finishing the trackwork was delayed due to summer college courses. With those finally out of the way I got things finished. In the meantime I've also acquired an Aristo B&O bobber caboose to compliment my little consist. I'll be preparing a running video once I've got a few little cosmetic things repaired on the engine. For now, here's some pics of the finished trackage. Despite some concerns, this gravel seems to have locked in the ties very solidly. Also, everything seems to have settled nicely after a few major thunderstorms last week.

 

[mjotrainbrain]

Unfortunately it has been some time since my last update, and that has been due to a frequently interrupted rebuild I've been doing on my Rogers loco. It was overall pretty dirty and had a lot of little things wrong with it, so I wanted to tear it down and give it some much needed attention. This is how it looked yesterday morning once all the small repairs and cleaning were FINALLY complete. It is now nearly assembled so I hope to share a pic of it on the rails soon.



I also picked up some stuff at a recent train show, the first one I've been able to attend since before Covid. This Monsanto single dome tanker really caught my eye and I had to have it.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

You really need different ballast, with sharp edges, not rounded stones... it will lock WAY better. Also, you will find the sharped edged stuff is cheaper. I have been able to find it at all the big box stores.

The rounded stones shift too much, being smoother, and no sharp points to lock/create friction.

Greg

 

[mjotrainbrain]

You really need different ballast, with sharp edges, not rounded stones... it will lock WAY better. Also, you will find the sharped edged stuff is cheaper. I have been able to find it at all the big box stores.

The rounded stones shift too much, being smoother, and no sharp points to lock/create friction.

Greg

I 100% agree Greg. However, this stone was chosen largely because it is an exact match to stone used all around the house as a part of the compromise to get this space. So far it seems to be performing acceptably for me, likely due to the small size of my layout and lightweight equipment riding the rails. I will see what effect a winter has on settling of the roadbed. I am slowly making plans to build a much more expansive railroad elsewhere on the property (however deer trampling the tracks will be a concern) for which I will absolutely be using better ballasting methods per your suggestion.

If needed in the future I will remove the top inch or two of rounded gravel and lay a more angular ballast, but that will be on an as-needed basis.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Yep, if it works well enough, then that is fine.... your track may move more, but I get it.

As time goes on, you will reballast, depending on weather, so plenty of time to experiment.

Another suggestion, which you probably already know, it's better to have one continuous curve of a larger radius, than 2 sharper curves with a straight in the middle of the curvve.

All that said, nice pictures, nice and sharp and in focus!

Greg

 

[mjotrainbrain]

As winter has settled in here in west Michigan, some changes have occured on the railroad. Firstly, a combination of changing weather and water dripping onto part of the railroad from between the boards of the deck above have caused some ballast issues, which I have been able to resolve despite the frozen ground. In the spring I have a fair few other issues to repair, and I've decided I'll be replacing the top 2 inches or so of pea gravel with chicken grit or similar; should have listened to y'all when the weather was nice! Ah well, what I have does function and allows me to run trains.

Additionally, by visiting a few fall train shows I was able to acquire a little bit more track, enough to put a loop around the Christmas tree and then some. When shows start up again in another month or so I'll be on the lookout for even more track, and especially 5' diameter curve track as I believe I can just squeeze that into the space I have.

I can't tell if my REA Rogers is bogged down by my small 4' diameter curves, if the plastic wheels on much of my rolling stock adds too much drag for it to handle, or if it's just getting weak with age, but it seems tired. It does the job, but I feel that I'm working it hard just to pull 3 cars for a few hours. Probably a combination of the three problems is at play here, and I intend to solve the first two to hopefully preserve the life of this old loco. This has also prompted me to casually keep an eye out for a nice 4 axle Aristocraft B&O diesel to add to the collection sometime in 2022 as the primary workhorse. The FA-1 and RS-3 both catch my eye and should be suitable for my small railroad.

And now, I shall attempt to add a variety of pictures. I haven't done a proper photoshoot with the railroad yet, but I may do so tomorrow as i just got dumped on with about 8 inches of powdery lake effect snow.

 

[phils2um]

Hi Matt,

Nice start. A couple of things only one train related. First, if you click on your name on the menu bar you'll see "Signature". You can add your name here that will be appended to all your posts. Second, I'll throw a couple of Split-Jaws in the mail you can use for power feeds if you PM me your address. You probably don't want it posted for any and all to see. Hover over the "P" to the left of this post and you'll see "Start Conversation".

The latest bout of white stuff is supposed to mostly miss us here in Ann Arbor - projected to get only about an inch overnight. We'll see!

 

[Paul M]

If your loco is struggling, running for a few hours isn't going to help! Have you tried servicing it?

 

[dunnyrail]

He

If your loco is struggling, running for a few hours isn't going to help! Have you tried servicing it?

He did that see post 25.

 

[PhilP]

Check the back to back on your rolling stock..
Then flick each axle in turn. - does it spin freely?
A bit of 'wobble' in bogie (truck) pivots, will also help.

But yes, the loco (motor) could be getting a little tired..

PhilP

 

[Rhinochugger]

As winter has settled in here in west Michigan, some changes have occured on the railroad. Firstly, a combination of changing weather and water dripping onto part of the railroad from between the boards of the deck above have caused some ballast issues, which I have been able to resolve despite the frozen ground. In the spring I have a fair few other issues to repair, and I've decided I'll be replacing the top 2 inches or so of pea gravel with chicken grit or similar; should have listened to y'all when the weather was nice! Ah well, what I have does function and allows me to run trains.

Additionally, by visiting a few fall train shows I was able to acquire a little bit more track, enough to put a loop around the Christmas tree and then some. When shows start up again in another month or so I'll be on the lookout for even more track, and especially 5' diameter curve track as I believe I can just squeeze that into the space I have.

I can't tell if my REA Rogers is bogged down by my small 4' diameter curves, if the plastic wheels on much of my rolling stock adds too much drag for it to handle, or if it's just getting weak with age, but it seems tired. It does the job, but I feel that I'm working it hard just to pull 3 cars for a few hours. Probably a combination of the three problems is at play here, and I intend to solve the first two to hopefully preserve the life of this old loco. This has also prompted me to casually keep an eye out for a nice 4 axle Aristocraft B&O diesel to add to the collection sometime in 2022 as the primary workhorse. The FA-1 and RS-3 both catch my eye and should be suitable for my small railroad.

And now, I shall attempt to add a variety of pictures. I haven't done a proper photoshoot with the railroad yet, but I may do so tomorrow as i just got dumped on with about 8 inches of powdery lake effect snow.

Plastic wheels on rolling stock aren't great. Metal wheels are better.

Of the most popular makes:

Bachmann - get rid of the plastic wheels because the back-to-back measurement is wrong, and the flanges are too large.

Aristocraft - the plastic wheels aren't too bad. Aristo metal wheels sometimes suffer with the axle splitting in old age and it can be difficult to use other manufacturers' wheelsets

LGB - the plastic wheels are OK, but it's better to change for metal or metal-tyred.

 

[AJtheTeacher]

Hi Matt. Welcome to the forum. It looks like you are starting well. I like the Aristo-Craft 2-4-2's for their simplicity and ease of maintenance. Please keep an eye on the rear traction tires on an older REA. They have a tendency to break apart. (I just replaced mine on a NIB REA 2-4-2!) but are very easy to replace and are frequently available on eVay. AJ the Teacher

 

[Paul M]

He

He did that see post 25.

Whoops, so he did

 

[Edgar]

Matt, I’m chiming in a little late here. You mentioned the engine bogging down. One end of my small loop has a two foot straight section in the middle of the half circle; this doesn’t seem to bother the stainz pulling two cars and caboose. But the negative effect on a mogal with two longer cars and caboose is obvious. The tight curve may not be helping. Straightening the twin axil trucks and having to turn them again maybe introducing extra stress. I had been warned about this at Greg’s site prior to installation, but it didn’t register in time to avoid the mistake.