Loco Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman4449 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Hi there, I would say on some of these items it really depends on what you want. As far as a stick for uncoupling cars that's not something I would ever use regardless of the type of couplers I use. If I have anything that needs to be coupled or uncoupled I do it by hand. Since I use Kadees, I can just lift one end of a car up just a little to uncouple two cars or just push them together to couple them. As far as a railer, that is something I only use for rolling stock. Engines to me really require direct handling to put on the track. On Engine carriages, I would say it probably depends on how far you have to carry it. If you have a long way to carry it it might be handy. I made a few at one point to transport engines to trainshows but in the end scrapped them because they weighed too much and took up too much space. This one will be very much a personal opinion thing. Jerry Barnes has posted pics on here of one he made. One thing I made early on was a track cleaner which was a pole sander from the hardware store with scotch brite pads on the bottom. In the end I never really needed it because I run stainless steel track but that might be something to consider. What kind of layout are you looking to construct? How will you run your trains? Just in ovals or will you do a lot of switching? Raymond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loco Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Some sort of carrier for the locomotives is highly recommended. On the club layout, we have a track specifically for connection to carrier cases. See 5:11 in this video. The Swiss electric had decoder problems at that particular time, so it needed a little help from my BR50, but normally we can run the engines right into and out of the cases. Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loco Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Jens, that is a nice carrier - and practical also. I would like to try to build one like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 There are different approaches. The one you saw on the club video is home made and the wall, ends and top flips to one side. A lugging handle is on top, which means you can't stack it. I prefer cases made by a Dutch gentleman, Ernst Jorissen. Below is one of his presentation videos. He's designed an entire section of his layout to fit the cases, but the point is that the cases open on both sides and the handles are attached to the loose ends. This way the cases can be stacked. I still only have one engine (cancelled my order for a second BR50 recently), so I only have one case, but I like this design better. Jens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamPower4ever Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Not sure what happened there. This was the video I meant to show you up there. Not that the other one is bad, but this one shows the design of the case better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loco Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 that is a nice design - i like the stackability of it also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benshell Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I don't think a carrier is necessary. I have three carry boxes for traveling to shows (two homebuilt) though. And I have an enormous shelf cart I can use to bring like half my collection out to the yard all at once. However I built it too big so I use it maybe twice a year. A small cart holding about 10 cars would be the most useful. I think it's easy to be really careful carrying your prized locomotives out, but on the 10th car you carry out it's easy to start getting careless. That said, I've heard of people dropping nice engines, so if you would feel safer having a carrier then definitely get one. There's a local club member named Earl Martin who makes a nice carry tote which all the live steamers around here seem to love. I think he has a Garden Railways magazine ad for it, unless that's a similar competing product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Miller Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 If your layout will be under trees you could use a RailBroom to remove twigs, acorns, leaves etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_LgaUs2bUw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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