New Sydney Australia Garden Railway!

[Monty]

Hi Phil, welcome to the forum.
There is a model engineering club not far from Hornsby [Hornsby Model Engineers at 29 Mid Dural Road, Galston] which has a largish 45mm elevated track [non powered] as part of the infrastructure, they also have nearly 1 km of 5” gauge track on the site.
Good mob of guys, check out the web site at www.hme.org.au or email the Secretary at info@hme.org.au if you want to know more.

Regards
Monty

 

[Phil_Vincent]

When shopping for supplies I mostly use these 3;
Pamak
Allaboard at Mittagong, they are an importer of LGB and have a display track so you can see stuff running.

https://www.allaboardexclusive.com.au/

Trains for the Garden they have Piko points they supply Ausrail

index.html

Seen both of those stores too, but Pamak has always come in cheaper so far, not by much.

What I really want is someone to make cheaper live steam kits. Mamod seem a bit too cheap but roundhouse and accucraft just seem a bit too much.

My kingdom for an affordable (ish) steam tram.

 

[Paul M]

Seen both of those stores too, but Pamak has always come in cheaper so far, not by much.

What I really want is someone to make cheaper live steam kits. Mamod seem a bit too cheap but roundhouse and accucraft just seem a bit too much.

My kingdom for an affordable (ish) steam tram.

You pay for what you get. Mamod are fine as something to run and have fun with, but obviously if you want something that looks and runs better, you're better of with Roundhouse. Although my Accucraft Dora is great

 

[Phil_Vincent]

You pay for what you get. Mamod are fine as something to run and have fun with, but obviously if you want something that looks and runs better, you're better of with Roundhouse. Although my Accucraft Dora is great

but there must be something in between. I want the Ford Mondeo of steam trams!

 

[JimmyB]

Phil, just reading the thread title again, where in Australia is "New Sydney", can't seem to locate it

 

[Phil_Vincent]

Phil, just reading the thread title again, where in Australia is "New Sydney", can't seem to locate it

Did I say new sydney? Thought it was northern sydney?

 

[Gizzy]

In the title; New. Sydney Australia Garden Railway.

In post #1 Phil states that he is in North Sydney....

 

[PhilP]

Phil, I think Jimmy may be 'pulling your leg'?

Anyway... Sydney is new? - In comparison to 'Us' in the Old-World..

 

[Paul M]

Phil, I think Jimmy may be 'pulling your leg'?

Anyway... Sydney is new? - In comparison to 'Us' in the Old-World..

I think Phil has fallen foul of one of the awful jokes that dwell on this forum

 

[Paul M]

but there must be something in between. I want the Ford Mondeo of steam trams!

Not really anything in between, have you tried used?

 

[PhilP]

have you tried used?

Who on earth would want a 'used' Ford Mundane-o?

 

[Tony Walsham]

How dare you knock the Mondeos!!
The turbo diesel S/W I used to own was perfectly good up to around 150,000 km, whereupon it started to disintegrate and return to completely knocked down kit form.

 

[JimmyB]

How dare you knock the Mondeos!!
The turbo diesel S/W I used to own was perfectly good up to around 150,000 km, whereupon it started to disintegrate and return to completely knocked down kit form.

Bio-degradable

 

[voodoopenguin]

but there must be something in between. I want the Ford Mondeo of steam trams!

There used to be several small companies that marketed add-ons to Mamod to make it better, don't they still exist?

Paul

 

[Moonraker]

but there must be something in between. I want the Ford Mondeo of steam trams!

I think that a good option is to make one of the Roundhouse kit locos. They are reasonably priced and you can enhance them later with radio control, chuff pipe, whistle, etc. At the same time you learn a lot about the workings of steam locos. I'll bet there is someone on this forum who has build a tram body onto a Roundhouse chassis/boiler kit.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound

 

[dunnyrail]

Seen both of those stores too, but Pamak has always come in cheaper so far, not by much.

What I really want is someone to make cheaper live steam kits. Mamod seem a bit too cheap but roundhouse and accucraft just seem a bit too much.

My kingdom for an affordable (ish) steam tram.

Regner prices for their geared locomotives used to be sort of in between, not sure how they will come out cost wise these days. I have had a couple and both being geared were superb little runners. One was sold on as it did not continue to fit in with what I want these days, but the geared drive Steam Tram is still in my possession and gets a run out now and then.

As Peter says a Roundhouse kit is a good option and many a beginner has managed them with few problems. Also you can get an add on Steam Tram body that fits a Roundhouse Berta Chassis, even cheeper as you do not need to fund the RH bodywork.

Tram Body Kit | Mysite

Due to the extream cost of etch brass now, we no longer hold this body instock. If you would like to buy one, please allow about 4 months delivery, as can be the time needed for our etcher to fullfill orders. Also there is a 30% nonrefundable deposit on this body kit if ordered. For more...

www.swiftsixteen.co.uk

 

[Phil_Vincent]

Thanks for the pointers everyone.

I have decided to scratch build a tram body to replace the body on the GE loco that I have.

I've never really liked the shunter look, didn't really fit in with the vibe I was going for. I'm going to be posting weekly videos of what I've been doing each week on the V.L.R. Is it best to post a new thread each week or chuck it under the "what have you been doing on your railway this week" thread?

 

[Phil_Vincent]

New Vid up today

 

[Phil_Vincent]

This weeks update....

Make sure you subscribe to the channel to miss no future updates!

 

[GAP]

Phil,
For an entry level steam engine may i suggest looking at the Accucraft "Ruby" locos, I have one and I added radio control easily using a kit I found on the net.
Comes in a kit form or ready made, I chose ready made it's a good learning loco for live steam.