Wild West trains

[daddio]

Hi all,  Dixons and Redoubt both do a train model.  I am seeking info on them both, quality of castings etc and what width tracks are they placed on.  It's a lot of cash to lay out and there is very little info out there

The Redoubt one looks very nice but the photo on the Dixons site is abysmal

[archangel1]

Those horrible Dixon colour photos were one of the reasons why I didn't order their kit.  Looks like they painted it with a roller! Didn't like the flat-faced wheels on the front idler truck, either.

[Ramirez Noname]

Hi Daddio,

Just to confuse matters, IMHO I dion't think you can go far wrong with the Bachmann ON30 narrow gauge trainsets in 1:48th scale. I use mine quite a bit for Wild West skirmmishing.

You can sometimes pick up the complete set of 2-6-0 tender loco and 3 Coaches on ebay. The locos can be as little as £30 and the coaches about £20 - all built up and painted, and running on Hornby type track (16.5mm gauge).

Check out -http://www.jackymolinaro.com/reportages/2007/Reading/Reading2007_fichiers/Reading2007p2.htm

for some photos of my railroad layout. The figures are HLBS 40mils, but the whole thing works just as well with 28s. Most of the stock is Bachmann and the adobe buildings are by Snapdragon Studios.

Ramirez.

[Ramirez Noname]

Oops,

Forgot to mention, mine is "The Layout With No Name" at the top of the link

Ramirez

[Michi]

Oops,

Forgot to mention, mine is "The Layout With No Name" at the top of the link

Ramirez

Just checked it. Top stuff! I have started collecting these Bachmann 0n30 trains too, due to their perfect campatibility with 28mm wargaming (I usually fancied H0 and G scale for model railroading, but as I have no layout yet, I can think about a gameable board too...)

[Ramirez Noname]

Hi,

Michi - thanks for the nod. The work you have put into your wild west buildings and locos is pretty amazing.

Daddio - I've just managed to set up a "Flickr" account, so check out this -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25969950@N08/3870512064/

A quick shoot from a LoTOW game my son and I played a while ago - the railroad track in the background has a Bachmann On30 Stock Car just visible on the top left (the red thing).

For track I use the Peco 0-16.5 narrow gauge stuff but any OO/HO would work just as well. I mount the track on 600mm long lengths of "plastic type" mounting board. The edges of the mounting board are rounded off and the whole lot is given a scattering of dried sand which I then glue in place with 50/50 water/white pva glue (with the smallest drop of washing up liquid in it to break the surface tension).

Ramirez

[former user]

Oops,

Forgot to mention, mine is "The Layout With No Name" at the top of the link

Ramirez

but the figures are 1:48 right?

[Ramirez Noname]

Hi former user,

Yeap, the figures on the  "model railway layout" are the HLBS 1:48 (40mm); the ones in the skirmish game are the Artizan and Dixon old west 28mm.

Ramirez

[former user]

seems I overlooked the skirmish game...
anyway, your model railroad is cool, gives me a lot of input for my own project
sad enough, I had a lot of useles discussion with fellow wargamers on scale issues, but I stayed firm with my 1:48 trains
the track however...
I had a lot of thoughts on scale 0 and scale S tracks
the first would be 1,79 m
the second 1,232 m in 28 mm scale - which is either too narrow or too wide for standard gauge (1,49 m)
0n30 or HO track would be however 0,924 m
which is definetly narrow gauge

why did You choose that?

[Ramirez Noname]

Hi former user,

Thanks for your comment about the layout -

"0n30 or HO track would be however 0,924 m which is definetly narrow gauge why did You choose that?"

I've model the narrow and standard gauge railway/road scene in one form or another over the past twenty plus years. When Bachmann brought out their ready-to-run On30 stock I was impressed. Before Bachmann, there really was only brass kits in On3 - something I found daunting and way out of my price bracket. Bachmann produced all the items I had dream't of and more. The 30inch track gauge (hence On30) is unusual in the States, although there were a few prototype railroads around. A couple of railroads in Arizona used even narrower gauge track, only 20"/approx. 500mm for some of their mining operations.

But to get back to your original question, when LoTOW came out, The Somnambulist (my regular opponent) and I wanted some quick scenery including a railroad, therefore my railroading stuff was raided and the result is what you see in the photos.

As an aside, I regularly exhibit "The Layout with No Name" at UK Railway Shows, so photos of it turn up on the web occasionally.

Ramirez

[former user]

I see

so you simply had it - best solution
0n30 is almost (sometimes on ebay) unavailable in Germany, but 0 is rather usual in Britain and US (here I get old Lima and Faller stuff on evilbay, apart from the toytrains at Toys'R Us)

so why, as a railway modeller, did you choose the narrow gauge in the first place?
is it so much more detailed than the 0 gauge stuff or is it cheaper?
I am asking because converting 0n30 to 0 shouldn't be that problematic (for me (-;)

[bandit86]

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=3598.msg37821#msg37821
see my posting the one I bought was very nice and only $24

[former user]

very good pictures, thanks
at last I see one  - would be certainly nice for some conversion, but looks rather toyish

but a true bargain in any case

now, what is the actual track gauge??? 32 mm???
because if, cheapest way to get extra tracks is ebay
the old Faller HitTain are rather common and cheap

[Michi]

0n30 is almost (sometimes on ebay) unavailable in Germany

Look here: http://www.us-train-store.de/index.php/cat/c277_Spur-0n30.html
There are several other model railway shops in Germany that offer 0n30 as well. I have also purchased some of the really good Micro Engineering track.

3ft narrow gauge is not too unusual. Many of the Rocky Mountains railways were such (and some still are) because of the cheaper trackbuilding and tighter curves possible. Much the same as the "Meterspur" in Germany.

[former user]

indeed

so this might be the reason, since his is a western train