Power survey

Poll Poll How do you power your outdoor trains?

  • Total voters
    59
Mobi said:
I see that few members indicated both track power & battery.

I can understand when someone uses battery only - no need to ensure track conductivity, so less hassle with track cleaning.

But when you are already happy with track power and conductivity is not a problem, then what benefits you get with battery?
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Separate Power and Control.. Digital Control with high amperage motors which don't burn out track and wheel contacts.
 
ooooof, no. My skills don't go that far. I'm unashamedly an off the shelf person. I'd never get the build quality and paint job.....
 
duncan1_9_8_4 said:
I could never bring myself to buy a new LGB locomotive (we all know how much they cost) to 'convert' it
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Many LGB locos have sockets thru which you can feed battery power (from another wagon) and it will run it (with lights as well). This is a hack to convert LGB locos to battery without using any surgery on the loco. This method will send power thru track though and you can't really have any other locos on same track - but for simple layouts (like my main loop and some sidings) this works pretty well.

I think newer LGB locos are no longer offering these sockets - probably they don't want people to use this hack :think:
 
Mobi said:
Many LGB locos have sockets thru which you can feed battery power (from another wagon) and it will run it (with lights as well). This is a hack to convert LGB locos to battery without using any surgery on the loco. This method will send power thru track though and you can't really have any other locos on same track - but for simple layouts (like my main loop and some sidings) this works pretty well.

I think newer LGB locos are no longer offering these sockets - probably they don't want people to use this hack :think:
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Not sure that is the reason, these days they want you to use a chip to power the lights or they are connected via Ball Bearing wheels to the track. In days of old the connection was to power lights.
 
Mobi said:
I see that few members indicated both track power & battery.

I can understand when someone uses battery only - no need to ensure track conductivity, so less hassle with track cleaning.

But when you are already happy with track power and conductivity is not a problem, then what benefits you get with battery?
Click to expand...
Ah, when I can't be bothered to clean the track I can use battery ;)

But also, I only have track powered locos that have lots of wheels for pickups, including bogie tenders - this is because I am skate free ;). Locos with less wheels go battery :nod:
 
duncan1_9_8_4 said:
ooooof, no. My skills don't go that far. I'm unashamedly an off the shelf person. I'd never get the build quality and paint job.....
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And that's the beauty of this hobby in this scale - you can do what you like and what you're good at - there are plenty of options .................... probably less than there were 15 years ago, but still a fair few.
 
Mobi said:
I see that few members indicated both track power & battery.
I can understand when someone uses battery only - no need to ensure track conductivity, so less hassle with track cleaning.
But when you are already happy with track power and conductivity is not a problem, then what benefits you get with battery?
Click to expand...
You can put a loco straight on to the track and switch it on without having to worry about whether the track is clean.

Because I have only short wheelbase locos and love slow running and shunting, it was a no-brainer. I got fed up with locos stuttering and stalling over uneven track and dead frogs.

Rik
 
Rhinochugger said:
And that's the beauty of this hobby in this scale - you can do what you like and what you're good at - there are plenty of options .................... probably less than there were 15 years ago, but still a fair few.
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While it is true that the range a d availability of large scale product has shrunk from the maistream manufactures and red brick suppliers there has been an explosion from small independent operators, using 3D printing and laser cutting methods. Mostly in 16 mm scale here in the UK. Buy as a kit or pay a premium for an RTR in a lot of cases. And there is battery powered steam outline, not the far more costly live steam equivelent (nothing wrong with them). Use of various "on demand" production technologies are possibly not just the saving of our hobby but creating new growth areas. Ok, evangelical ratings over. Max
 
maxi-model said:
While it is true that the range a d availability of large scale product has shrunk from the maistream manufactures and red brick suppliers there has been an explosion from small independent operators, using 3D printing and laser cutting methods. Mostly in 16 mm scale here in the UK. Buy as a kit or pay a premium for an RTR in a lot of cases. And there is battery powered steam outline, not the far more costly live steam equivelent (nothing wrong with them). Use of various "on demand" production technologies are possibly not just the saving of our hobby but creating new growth areas. Ok, evangelical ratings over. Max
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No rants - quite correct.
 
I read on internet that battery power is almost unheard of in Germany! But they are very popular in UK. How it became a geography specific thing?

What is more popular in USA, Australia etc. where outdoor layouts tend to be much larger compared to countries with smaller gardens?

Those who are traders here, do you see demand for battery electronics varying by country?
 
maxi-model said:
While it is true that the range a d availability of large scale product has shrunk from the maistream manufactures and red brick suppliers there has been an explosion from small independent operators, using 3D printing and laser cutting methods. Mostly in 16 mm scale here in the UK. Buy as a kit or pay a premium for an RTR in a lot of cases. And there is battery powered steam outline, not the far more costly live steam equivelent (nothing wrong with them). Use of various "on demand" production technologies are possibly not just the saving of our hobby but creating new growth areas. Ok, evangelical ratings over. Max
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There are plenty of builders of good quality rtr and kits for battery powered locomotives, for my money Boot Lane does have a superb range for not in my mind silly money but there are others. Their latest a kind of shrunk Vale of Rheidel locomotive VALKYRIE is a wonderful little beast. You do need to add a power supply but other than that their kits are complete as are some other manufacturers offerings.
www.bootlane.org.uk

VALKYRIE | Boot Lane Works

32 & 45mm Gauge£215 (including P&P within the UK - for international shipping, contact us here) Released at the National Garden Railway Show 2026, Stoneleigh, in loving memory of Peter Binnie, who passed away Christmas 2025. VALKYRIE was named by Pete’s widow, Sheila and his love of Wagner...
www.bootlane.org.uk www.bootlane.org.uk
 
Mobi said:
Those who are traders here, do you see demand for battery electronics varying by country?
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I can only speak for myself, and I am a tiny unrepresentative sample:

(I will be talking in land-masses, no offense is meant, should I group you with a neighbour you have issues with).

I supply mainly to the UK. - Obviously!

A tiny amount onto the land-mass I shall call Ireland. - Though GPSR has technically stopped this.

I probably sell a roughly equal amount into the top-half of the Americas. - North America and Canada.

Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. - Less-so the latter, of late.

What I will call 'Near Europe'. - Again, technically, GPSR has supposedly killed this for the smallest of traders. - Though not for countries outside of the EU.

I have / do supply to the odd 'small lump of land in the middle of the ocean'.
Be it off the top and bottom of the UK, or somewhere a little warmer. :giggle:

Nothing into (again, being generic) Russia, China, Arabia) who arguably all have less trivial things to think about than toy trains in the garden.

But the sample sizes are tiny, and you could argue, not statistically relevant.

No offense is meant to any nationality, country, or whatever, in the above..

PhilP.
 
Mobi said:
I see that few members indicated both track power & battery.

I can understand when someone uses battery only - no need to ensure track conductivity, so less hassle with track cleaning.

But when you are already happy with track power and conductivity is not a problem, then what benefits you get with battery?
Click to expand...
Oh dear, I'd answered this already :oops:
 
Mobi said:
What is GPSR? Is it General Product Safety Regulation? How it affects trading?
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General Product Selling Regulations

To sell (legally) into the EU (and Northern Ireland) there has to be a 'legal representative' contact within the EU. Registered office, has to have documentation for the product, etc...
There are entities who will supply this service for around £1600.00 per year, which for less than a dozen orders a year, is just not viable.

Theoretically, goods can be intercepted and destroyed..

PhilP.
 
Mobi said:
Yes but most of them require assembly like Ikea furniture :think:
We have to do so much of DIY that our hobby may be renamed as "Garden Railway Surgery" :oops:
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Indeed so but making things is at the heart of Model Railways including putting kits together. When I was young it terrified me, but I had a go with encouragement from guys I worked with and never looked back even to the extent of later scratch building locomotives only buying wheels and motors.
 
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