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Thanks, musicancars - I will try to find that grease you and nick recommend. 1/2 of the track I have is new and completely uncorroded - the rest spent a couple of years getting corroded. As to the corroded rail sections, their joiners are most likely going to be replaced by a bunch of Trainli brass clamps I am going to get. I have all of the PVC I should need to make a 22 foot long figure eight and about a fifteen foot spur section to connect with a low retaining wall that goes around the entire yard - that is a project for later, however, lol. Next I have to either get some pressure treated wood 2x2s to use as spacers along the stringers and also as stakes/posts -- or alternately I could use pvc - or perhaps use the wood in hidden sections and the pvc in facing areas - not sure yet. Anyways, I am kind of excited about it even though actual work is on hold until i figure out what to use for spacers and posts. In the meantime, we spent part of Easter working on our AMR RR pet cemetery

I have drastically re-imagined the AMR RR - I would like to incorporate height into this by using pvc to raise a figure 8 layout. Is there a tutorial or pictures of how to do the pvc layout method? UPDATE: Found an article about using HDPE (high density polyethylene) plastic lumber 2x4s and cutting them into two sides, stringers and posts - looks pretty doable and durable - Now if I can only find a source for this stuff in Los Angeles area.

Yes I built it following the layout design and discovered the problem of the angles not being correct - today I am going to do some measuring out there - and get some elevation readings since the yard slants a ways. I think the new design will work. *crossing fingers* Oh man - I checked outside ----- back to the drawing board!

That Train-li does look great - kind of outa my budget at the moment though ----- although, if i could re-bend the 18 feet of curves I have left over perhaps I could do something useful with them and save money! I went out today and actually tried to follow the track layout we designed - it was incorrect at the facing side and I had to recalculate it to follow the inside countours of a small retaining wall more closely. Looks like I can almost get away with not bending the last rail as much as I had initially thought - probably still need a bender though. It is the rail on the bottom right area - 5th piece of track south of the turnout. Do you think I can get away without a bender? --- at least for now, lol.

Flex Rail -- wow, that opens up a whole new can of worms if I need to buy a rail bender to just bend ONE piece of rail to complete that layout, lol

I just looked at the manual - I was definitley confused about putting conductive grease on the wheels --- the manual says to put a single drop on each of the wheel teads of EZ Lube Conductive Contact Lubricant --- not grease, lol.

Thanks - yes i did check out the manual and several sites online that discuss the crest trackside - I don't recall reading anything about the smoke - except for the onboard units it mentioned that you need some adapter board for the smoke to work. Regarding the trackside one - I have been looking everywhere i can find to figure out about smoke generation - Due to lack of finding any information I had started assuming that with the trackside one i could not use the smoke function of the engine - and that the smoke board was a necessary add-on to make the Onboard receiver capable of having the engine produce smoke. Yes i do understand that the sound will come from trackside and that the engine itself produces the smoke. I will look at the manual of the engine closely also to learn about how the smoke works.

I tried to get onto that site you mention about 3 weeks ago - they never activated my account or anything - weird. Either it takes forever or they forgot about it.

Oh ok - thanks for that. That makes sense to put the grease there. Yet I must be confused - i lust saw the lube dvd that came with the engine a couple of days ago with my kid and i thought it showed him putting some of that conductive grease on the train wheels - i'll look at it again and see what they were talking about. I still have to buy the conductive grease - I have some Labelle 108 light oil, and 102 gear lubricant - but I do need other stuff. Glad it is easy to remove the joiners from this track - that will come in handy. I am trying to find the last couple of track pieces i need -but I can't seem to find any LGB Flex Track anywhere onlin - they only seem to sell plastic tie sections and brass rail lengths ---- man, I am starting to think that Flex Track means I have to bend it and attach the plastic ties to it myself.

Conductive Grease - I know I need to put some on the Bachmann Shay wheels - I am also supposed to put this same type stuff on the tracks themselves? I am thinking I may do a combination of brass rail joiners where needed and using the regular stock slide on rail joiners for the new track pieces and other areas if I can get away with it - and then eventually replacing all of the slide on rail joiners. I have to figure out how to remove those slide on rail joiners - they seem on there pretty good! The track will not be subjected to snow or rain or ice or anything - just California sunshine in the partial shade.

My son and I finally completed layout design for the initial loop of our track - very excited! After discovering that closing the loop would much more difficult than we had initially interpreted, we spent the day in the garden and on the computer and were finally able to come up with a layout plan that hugs natural curves from walls and existing large trees represented on the layout by dark circles. I need to buy 2x 15 degree curves, a 6" straight piece, and a "short flex-track" --- can the flex track be shaped by hand or do I need some special tools or something? I am thinking that this layout will not work for larger engines because of the turn radii - is this likely?

Yes I am somewhat confused about smoke and sound with the Trackside one - If I can use the Bachmann's smoke and trackside sound from the receiver that would be awesome! Where could I find out more info about this?

That makes sense. The way I understand it now, please let me know if i'm wrong, is this. TRACSIDE RECEIVER - I will install this and my kid will be able to run his Ariso-Craft PCC trolley off track power, and can also run shay on track power - and for the shay he can use the steam stound from a trackside speaker connected to the MW 240-24 power supply and Trackside Receiver. ONBOARD RECEIVER - I need to get one of these for the shay if I want the sound to come from the engine itself and if I want it to have smoke (I think i need an adapter to run the sound sytem and also a smoke board?).

I would like to start figuring out how to get sound from a Bachman 2 truck Shay engine. Will use TE Revolution controller and Track-Side receiver (allegedly comes with steam engine sound). I am fine with the lower quality sound from this unit and do not feel the need to get better sound. What do I need to buy and how do I install it? Is there any tutorial for this? I hope that all i need to do is buy a small speaker and install it into the Bachman - but I bet that level of simplicity is unlikely, lol. Thanks.

Thanks for the ideas! About 1/2 of the tracks are new and the other 1/2 are oxidized from laying out in the yard for some time. If i use some rail clamps, am I correct in assuming I must remove the LGB rail joiners somehow? or do they fit over it? Today i just found the SCARM layout program - now I can finally figure out why all the track I laid out in the yard doesn't fit!

Started laying out track with my friend. It is probably around 30 feet of track laid out in a shape on the ground. I want to include my sons in the final layout selection as I am hoping they will take an interest in it. Issues that have come to my attention: -Half of the track was exposed to the elements for some years so I need to figure out how to remove the oxidation from the LGB rail connectors. - It is an area which is partly shaded so I need to plan the plants a bit. - It is a mostly flat featureless area where I am laying out a first circle of track - I plan to expand from there. This little pond bounds the train area on the right. Toward the back of this picture, the area slopes downward a bit to the area where the track is laid out. Later it could expand into this area perhaps. In the center of this frame there is a dirt patch - that is where i eventually want a station to be - and an area for loading engines. Well - that is what i have so far. It will be used for running a couple of Bachman gear drive engines and PCC Trolley!

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that is a nice design - i like the stackability of it also

Jens, that is a nice carrier - and practical also. I would like to try to build one like that.

Hi and thanks. I am looking to construct a fairly simple layout at this time - about a 20' loop - and I have a couple of switches (2). The line will be expanded as I am going to start collecting track again once i get this part up and running. Trains will be run by Crest Base Station set receiver/transmitter and Meanwell SP-240-24. I have 2 Bachman gear drive engines kept about 100' from the track. Definitely I will make a track cleaner - I think I have a swiffer thing I think I can attach a scotch brite pad to

Other than controller, power source and track -- I am wondering what accessories are recommended / needed to run a garden railroad. - Stick for coupling/uncoupling cars - is this a necessary item? What is it called - Engine track aligner to place engine onto track - is this necessary? If so what type is recommended? -Carrying engine to track from home - what is the best way to do this? Is there something for this purpose or just carry it by hand? -Anything else? Thanks for your help! (sorry, i just realized i should have put this in the Accessories subforum)

will do!

Yay! I ordered the Controller and Power Supply (+ power cord and fan) - Thanks for your help, everyone! One last question! (for now,lol) - I saw in a magazine a stick to switch engines, and a device to align the engine to the track --- are these things necessary or recommended? Do you use an 'aligner' - and how do you carry engines to the track?

Oh man - this could be a dealbreaker --- Can Meanwell SP-240-24 run off of normal house power (120volts) ?! I am pretty sure it does - just making sure

Thanks! Tentative Shopping List: MISC. - Landscape Lighting Wire (Home Depot) - AC Wall Plug (1 side is 3 prong plug, other side is 3 bare wires) -18ga Wire -2 clamps - power supply connector (standard) brass (does it matter get stainless or brass even though rail tracks are brass LGB?) CONTROLLER: -CRE57004SS BASE STATION SET SUPER RECEIVER W/TRANSMITTER -CFE 55499 Cooling fan for base station DC POWER SUPPLY: -Meanwell SP-240-24 or.... still looking for exact one and rereading above post --- Wow - they have a dizzying array of products - not sure exactly what I am looking for. I believe the one i listed is max 240 volts - so i am trying to figure out what is the next model up from the one i listed.