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NazarethRailways

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Hello!
Christmas has been & gone and deposited our first G scale experiences. We have 00 & N scale stock and layouts already but we have no real knowledge of the intricacies of bigger gameplay.
We have a loco, we have track, and we have power units. They were bought as a job lot and need bits of tlc, but in our amateurish way we have had the engine running up and down the straight track. We have points & curves, but we soon realised they have different rail profiles Is this something we can overcome or should we decide on one sort & rehome the other?
The power unit has crocodile clips we attached to one end of the rail, obviously that would give us issues if we connected the curves into a circle so can anyone suggest webpages or books that will improve our knowledge?
We are keen, as with any rail related item, I love the ‘hands on’ feel of the 45mm track and running stock though!
Thank you fin advance for any help

Emma (mum/partner of the ultra keen ones!)
 

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Hey there! Right now I don't have sources handy but there are several ways of attaching power wires to the rails, they range from soldering wires to the rail joiners to buying screw-on clamps made by manufacturers such as LGB and Bachmann.
 
NazarethRailways said:
Hello!
Christmas has been & gone and deposited our first G scale experiences. We have 00 & N scale stock and layouts already but we have no real knowledge of the intricacies of bigger gameplay.
We have a loco, we have track, and we have power units. They were bought as a job lot and need bits of tlc, but in our amateurish way we have had the engine running up and down the straight track. We have points & curves, but we soon realised they have different rail profiles Is this something we can overcome or should we decide on one sort & rehome the other?
The power unit has crocodile clips we attached to one end of the rail, obviously that would give us issues if we connected the curves into a circle so can anyone suggest webpages or books that will improve our knowledge?
We are keen, as with any rail related item, I love the ‘hands on’ feel of the 45mm track and running stock though!
Thank you fin advance for any help

Emma (mum/partner of the ultra keen ones!)
Click to expand...
Hello and welcome.
If you were to include a point in a circle (or oval) of track and create a siding you could feed the power with the clips on the end of the siding. The would definitely work with an LGB brand point, and maybe others, as LGB points are non-isolating. This means all rails are powered regardless of the way the point is set.
 
Southwestforests said:
Hey there! Right now I don't have sources handy but there are several ways of attaching power wires to the rails, they range from soldering wires to the rail joiners to buying screw-on clamps made by manufacturers such as LGB and Bachmann.
Click to expand...
Indeed and some manufactures used to produce, and may still, clamps to join rails of different profiles.
Another way, using a split jaw type of clamp is shown below. Note the foot on one side only has been filed to match, the difference on the other side is taken up with the split jaw.

One supplier is Garden Railways Ltd Split Jaw Clamps 10 pack - gardenrailways.co.uk

PICT0001.JPG
 
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Welcome to the forum, Emma and co. Where abouts are you based? That's a lovely looking loco you have there.
Certainly there are power clips for all makes of track, the Internet is your friend here. I have just folded the control wires over and sneezed them between the bottom of the rail and the sleeper fret as a temporary measure.
 
LGB 50160, PIKO 35270, BACHMANN 94662. All very similar in appearance and price, usualy no more than £15.
 

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Probably the simplest, but not necessarily the cheapest, is to settle on one track profile.

The most common is code 332 which is LGB, Piko, Trainline and Bachmann / Aristo (Accucraft if you can still get it). Not all of the rails are an exact match, but generally you can get by.

In the UK, the other major player is Peco which is code 250 - and that may be your major discrepancy. Tenmille supply both profiles but, as their track is mainly component built, you are unlikely to have that ...... although you never know.

And yes, the best thing to do is play with it, ascertain the issues, and then slowly sort them out >:) >:)
 
Paul M said:
Welcome to the forum, Emma and co. Where abouts are you based? That's a lovely looking loco you have there.
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Well that loco is based on a Festiniog "England" they say they're in Wales and there's a village called Nazareth on the A487 Portmadoc to Caernarfon road.
 
Paul M said:
Welcome to the forum, Emma and co. Where abouts are you based? That's a lovely looking loco you have there.
Click to expand...
Thank you, we are very close to the Ffestiniog Railway & this loco is based on my sons favourite ‘Palmerston’.
Nazareth because my 10yo decided his train layouts needed a name, the chapel behind us has that name. All his choice!
Without the actual names of the required items, Google isn’t much help. I tried ‘rail clips and links’ and even fishplates but it kept sending me back to 00. I have plenty of those
 
Palmerston is likely to be a GRS kit on an LGB chassis - it looks very nicely done :clap::clap:
 
HI Emma,

Welcome to the forum. Nice loco you've got there.

There are three somewhat common "G gauge" track sizes, code 200, code 250 and code 332. The code number refers to the height of the rail (just the rail not including the sleepers) in thousandths of an inch. The three rail heights in metric units are roughly 5mm, 6.5mm and 8.5mm so should be easily distinguishable. Code 332 is by far the most popular size and is made by multiple manufacturers. All of the solid profile code 332 rail can be connected together with out too much trouble. There is some "tin plate" code 332 track out there that has the rail profile made of formed steel or brass sheet metal. I'd seriously consider not using it If this is some of what you have. I don't think you're likely to have any tin plate track though based on the loco.

Code 250 and Code 200 track is much less common. Special connectors are available that allow these rail sizes to be mated up with code 332 track if you have a mix of both.

Perhaps you could take a few side-by-side pictures and measure the rail heights of the different types of track you have. We could then give some more directed advice.
 
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Welcome to GSC. Hope our sense of humour is compatible with yours:)! But, seriously it's all a learning curve and there are plenty of answers available when you pose a question. We love pictures (of course) and I just love that loco!

Will you just be running inside or will you be building a line in the garden?

Also, if it were me, I wouldn't get rid of anything (born in Yorkshire so my arms are short and pockets deep) - you never know when something will come in handy!
 
Emma, welcome to the forum, as you have already seen, wealth of knowledge, here, we love photos, but the humour can be dire :)
 
Welcome to the Forum..
Funny things happen here, but occasionally, we give advice as well..

If searching for information:
Try adding 'large scale' or 'g scale' to your search.

A bit of lateral thinking, can help, as well :
Track clamp - you will mostly get things for joining rails.
Track connector - you will get the joiners, but also things to connect the wires.

Smaller scales being more prolific, you will get many results for them, unless you add the 'large scale' into your search.

Poke around the Forum, and ask questions..

Has anyone mentioned we live photos yet?

PhilP.
 
Welcome Aboard Emma.
 
Welcome to the forum Emma.

Someone here may even have some spare rail connectors that they can send to you....
 
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