R1 points

[Tony]

Is it me or is it not strange that a manual R1 point is £35 yet a R5 is £109 when there isnt twice as much material in the later
And if the answer is because they sell more R1s then the reply has to be its not surprising
Tony

 

[minimans]

As everybody say's go as large as you can! I use a minimum of R3 thesedays but used to run R1's and they work most of the time but the larger Loco's do not like them at all. and now on the live steam track I have decided to use R5's just because it's easier on the track and loco's even though at present I only use short wheelbase loco's.

 

[Mez]

R5 is 4 odd foot radius im hoping

 

[Neil Robinson]

R5 is 4 odd foot radius im hoping

4 Foot ish radius is LGB R3 But Piko R5 !

 

[Mez]

 

[yb281]

All the points on my railway are R1, because that's all I've got room for. As everyone else has said, go for the biggest you can fit into your garden.

Just a slight warning if you do buy any LGB R1 points - if they have a "made in Hungary" sticker on the box, just be aware that these are from the early days when LGB was taken over by Marklin and some of us on the forum have had problems with the Hungarian jobs. It appears that their quality control was not up to the standards that we became used to in the days of Lehmann ownership.

 

[Gizzy]

Apart from 1 R3 point, which is in tandem with a 3 way point, the rest of my (28 or so) points are R1, and my curves are R1/R2. I too am restricted to a narrow strip of land by the Gardening Authorities.

This does restrict me to medium sized LGB locos and stock, and I made a consious decision to stick to this policy, following problems I had running a Bachmann 2-4-2 loco that I had purchased whilst working in the USA.

I too would advise go for R3 or larger if you have the space and the funds, but don't write off the humble R1 if it's all you have the room for.

Any model railway will always have to be a compromise, whatever resources you have. Just accept what is feasible, go with it and enjoy your G scale trains....

 

[Mez]

I will be using r1's as well.
Points and curves.
+ One full r5 line with a couple of r5 passing loops on it.

 

[vsmith]

Thought I'd pass along a little tip to save money on track from a friend who did this:

Buy R1 curves, they are cheap and plentiful, he bought them by the box full, invest in a Train-Li or similar Trackbender, he then used the track bender to straighten some of the R1s into striaght sections, and rebent the rest into R3 and R5 diameters. just make sure if your track powered to get a good clamp on the connections to assure good conductivity. He was RC/battery so he just made sure the connection was tight. then when the layout is finished sell the trackbender on Ebay or do like he did and "rent" out to other nearby garden railroaders. If there is a club nearby, join them as they usually will lend you tools like track benders to their members.

 

[Mez]

Apart from 1 R3 point, which is in tandem with a 3 way point, the rest of my (28 or so) points are R1, and my curves are R1/R2. I too am restricted to a narrow strip of land by the Gardening Authorities.

This does restrict me to medium sized LGB locos and stock, and I made a consious decision to stick to this policy, following problems I had running a Bachmann 2-4-2 loco that I had purchased whilst working in the USA.

I too would advise go for R3 or larger if you have the space and the funds, but don't write off the humble R1 if it's all you have the room for.

Any model railway will always have to be a compromise, whatever resources you have. Just accept what is feasible, go with it and enjoy your G scale trains....

Just went round your garden on the train .
Good use of track.
What control do you use?

 

[KeithT]

Can anyone tell me do all LGB locos have the center flanges removed i only have 2 x 0-4-0 LGBs so cant check

play in the axles.
"

Some of them do but the larger locos rely on clever articulation of the driving wheels at the mid-point and a lot of lateral play in the driving axles.
Some larger Accucraft and Bachmann locos have flangeless central drivers but a more rigid chassis. The Accucraft Caledonia has centre flangeless wheel which on an R1 runs beyond the inside/outside of the rail!

It looks extreme on an R1 but it runs!

 

[Mez]

Can anyone tell me do all LGB locos have the center flanges removed i only have 2 x 0-4-0 LGBs so cant check

play in the axles.
"

Some of them do but the larger locos rely on clever articulation of the driving wheels at the mid-point and a lot of lateral play in the driving axles.
Some larger Accucraft and Bachmann locos have flangeless central drivers but a more rigid chassis. The Accucraft Caledonia has centre flangeless wheel which on an R1 runs beyond the inside/outside of the rail!

It looks extreme on an R1 but it runs!

Simple but effective engineering.

 

[stockers]

Even the large LGB 2-10-2 has flanges on all wheels, as does the Rugen 0-8-0.
Go large , as they say.
If you consider the extra length of track you get in a large radius track section they are not actually any more expensive than R1's. Even an R3 point is nearly twice the length of an R1. So it can be a myth that large curves are expensive. (OK, all track is fairly expensive)

 

[Gizzy]

Apart from 1 R3 point, which is in tandem with a 3 way point, the rest of my (28 or so) points are R1, and my curves are R1/R2. I too am restricted to a narrow strip of land by the Gardening Authorities.

This does restrict me to medium sized LGB locos and stock, and I made a consious decision to stick to this policy, following problems I had running a Bachmann 2-4-2 loco that I had purchased whilst working in the USA.

I too would advise go for R3 or larger if you have the space and the funds, but don't write off the humble R1 if it's all you have the room for.

Any model railway will always have to be a compromise, whatever resources you have. Just accept what is feasible, go with it and enjoy your G scale trains....

Just went round your garden on the train .
Good use of track.
What control do you use?

I have a choice of either a 1A LGB controller for testing or shunting, or more usually, I use the Aristocraft Train Engineer with a 10A PSU....

 

[Mez]

Apart from 1 R3 point, which is in tandem with a 3 way point, the rest of my (28 or so) points are R1, and my curves are R1/R2. I too am restricted to a narrow strip of land by the Gardening Authorities.

This does restrict me to medium sized LGB locos and stock, and I made a consious decision to stick to this policy, following problems I had running a Bachmann 2-4-2 loco that I had purchased whilst working in the USA.

I too would advise go for R3 or larger if you have the space and the funds, but don't write off the humble R1 if it's all you have the room for.

Any model railway will always have to be a compromise, whatever resources you have. Just accept what is feasible, go with it and enjoy your G scale trains....

Just went round your garden on the train .
Good use of track.
What control do you use?

I have a choice of either a 1A LGB controller for testing or shunting, or more usually, I use the Aristocraft Train Engineer with a 10A PSU....

So on the run in the video did you have to change points?

 

[Gizzy]

Apart from 1 R3 point, which is in tandem with a 3 way point, the rest of my (28 or so) points are R1, and my curves are R1/R2. I too am restricted to a narrow strip of land by the Gardening Authorities.

This does restrict me to medium sized LGB locos and stock, and I made a consious decision to stick to this policy, following problems I had running a Bachmann 2-4-2 loco that I had purchased whilst working in the USA.

I too would advise go for R3 or larger if you have the space and the funds, but don't write off the humble R1 if it's all you have the room for.

Any model railway will always have to be a compromise, whatever resources you have. Just accept what is feasible, go with it and enjoy your G scale trains....

Just went round your garden on the train .
Good use of track.
What control do you use?

I have a choice of either a 1A LGB controller for testing or shunting, or more usually, I use the Aristocraft Train Engineer with a 10A PSU....

So on the run in the video did you have to change points?

Yes Mez!

The facing points on the main line at Weybourne are motored, as these are the ones which allow me to change the routing for the train.

For the trailing points though, I set these for the sidings. I let the train 'push through' the point blades on the main line, before setting the train back in the sidings.

Most of my points are trailing, so I only have about 7 or 8 motors, and some of these work in pairs from one switch, the crossover at Weybourne South Junction being one example.

At Sheringham, the terminus of my railway, I set the points in a similar fashion.
A train coming into the platform, will uncouple on the uncoupler, the position of which is marked by 'Brendan the Busker'. The released loco moves forward and pushes through the trailing point, which is set for the run round loop. The loco can then reverse round the train and the points at the other end of the loop are set so that the engine can move back onto the other end of the train and couple up.

It's an inexpensive way of 'automating' the points, without having the expense of additional motors, and it gives operational interest.

I've seen this 'pushing through the points' technique used on the prototype, on the North Norfolk Railway at Sheringham, when the loco runs into the headshunt. I've also seen it done on some narrow gauge railways. So I can't claim as having the original idea for this technique....