MTH - Outdoors

The G&O garden railroad G gauge line uses LGB brass track.  We mostly run track powered trains.  The power supply is Bridgewerks.  We run battery and live steam trains once in a while.  

We run LGB because it was an affordable option when we bought it on the used market.  The track had been outside for 10 years before we got it and we have been running it for 8 years.  This track has held up very well.   We do need to clean it before a run.  This can easily be done using a track cleaning car or by hand.  I prefer a track cleaning car pushed by a track powered engine.  

I suggest that you contact your local garden RR club to see what is for sale.  Garden RR's are always selling both trains and track.  

The G&O runs DCS on its O scale line.  We had issues getting it to work but now it runs fine.  

Here is a link to the G&O Story on this forum:  https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/.../the-gandamp-o-story

NH Joe

Joe

Granted it  would not be real, but really it’s not that important to me. Clinchfield    on it would be.😉

I have to mess with you. You are passing me in the number of trains and......I ...... I can't take that!

Larry Sr. posted:

Joe

Granted it  would not be real, but really it’s not that important to me. Clinchfield    on it would be.😉

Larry Sr. posted:

Jacob

I'm darn sure gonna find out. Probable this engine and the MTH G Delaware & Hudson Challenger will be Clinchfield. The Challenger has  not been on the track yet either.

Joe, I'm going to  have some  Clinchfied  engines running around outside next spring even if it's a fake. lol

Larry

 

Holy ----!  That's a lot of locomotives.

Very excited.  Got a Hudson in-bound...

New toy day!  Looks pretty solid. Missing front number board under light but otherwise looks to be in mint condition. 

Checked and I have roughly 120' of brass track - mostly 4' LGB.  Alot of it is pretty brown - obviously not the piece in the picture.  Going to try and get 2 cases of R5 18000 and go with that.  

I'm going to start with just the TIU and a power supply.  As far as supplies go, better DC or AC? Are there generic bricks that would work or should I only consider controllers from bridgewerks / MTH / MRC

You can use the page in the back of the MTH manual for a guide on power. Many will say that DC is better. I found them equal, as long as they are a quality pack. For that reason, AC is usually less money. The AC models like the MTH Z packs or Lionel, you only need the brick when using the TIU. Don't use the controller. With AC, you can use all four channels of the TIU. With DC, only 2.

 You need at least three amps to run that engine alone. It goes up with more engines and especially older lit passenger cars. I'd recommend a MTH Z1000 brick, Lionel PH180 brick, or most of the Bridgewerks line-up. They make a smaller mag15 DC brick that the MTH engines don't like I've heard?

http://www.rayman4449.com/DCS_Tips.htm#Quick Checklist

here is the manual

https://mthtrains.com/sites/de...ction/70st14507i.pdf

for this engine

https://mthtrains.com/70-3008-1

on pages 26, and 27

" DC transformers employing PWM (pulse width modulation) should not be used with the separately sold DCS system."

I'd recommend keeping the brass track clean using the green side of the back of the kitchen type sponges, or the green scotch bright cleaning pads. Other methods are good but don't use sand paper!

Engineer-Joe posted:

You can use the page in the back of the MTH manual for a guide on power. Many will say that DC is better. I found them equal, as long as they are a quality pack. For that reason, AC is usually less money. The AC models like the MTH Z packs or Lionel, you only need the brick when using the TIU. Don't use the controller. With AC, you can use all four channels of the TIU. With DC, only 2.

 You need at least three amps to run that engine alone. It goes up with more engines and especially older lit passenger cars. I'd recommend a MTH Z1000 brick, Lionel PH180 brick, or most of the Bridgewerks line-up. They make a smaller mag15 DC brick that the MTH engines don't like I've heard?

http://www.rayman4449.com/DCS_Tips.htm#Quick Checklist

I'm new to this with the TIU so bare with me - I can buy a Z1000 brick and stack bricks as I need more power? 

Yes, you can add them to the TIU channels.

The large DC Bridgewerks packs are expensive. They can handle more trains. The largest I have runs everything I throw at it. So you could buy the smaller AC bricks and use more of them, or you could buy one large DC pack from Bridgewerks.

I had a line on some Lionel Bricks for reasonable price but I think I'll hold out for a Bridgewerks 15.   

There's some stainless track on Trainz right now so if the bids don't drive it up, I'll pick that up and sell off the brass.  

Discover of the day - MTH did produce a correct ATSF boxcar for steam era.  It was in the first run.   Only 2 road #s... https://mthtrains.com/70-74004



It's near impossible to navigate their website. As a librarian, it makes me very sad. 

I've got a 20' diameter stainless aristo circle in bound. American ties.  Waiting for the DCS Explorer to be available.  I assume 6amps should be enough for the Hudson.

Was able to get one of these this week. On the lookout for more.  Very nice model of a '37 AAR.

https://mthtrains.com/sites/de...ction/70st19658i.pdf

look at pages 25 and 26 for what are recommended transformers. 

What 6 amp supply are you talking about?

Hi Joe, I was referencing the 6 amp limitation of the DCS Explorer.   My plan was to plug a z1000 into the DCS Explorer for the short term.  Long term, possibly converting the DCS Explorer into a boxcar / battery setup.  

Cool! I thought I had missed out on what power you had decided upon.

Engineer-Joe posted:

Cool! I thought I had missed out on what power you had decided upon.

Based on some of your past comments Joe, I've been leaning towards battery power.  Our propensity for moving combined with the regular problems like freeze, debris, deer also make battery power logical.   I already wanted to do wi-fi or bluetooth control.  The TIU / WIFI  boxcar stuffing wasn't really an option but the DCS explorer seems like a viable alternative.   

JACOBPAUL81, check out Sunset Valley RR Track, they make aluminum, brass, stainless and nickel silver rail in 6ft lengths.  They have both Code 250 and Code 332 rail (Code 250 is a more scale like)  They sell plastic tie strips in one foot lengths which are extremely UV resistant (sunny and 115 degrees here in the summer-no problem) that just slide on.  You have to bend your own curves, but that is really easy with their cheap bender.  If you stagger the joints (don't make both rail joints in the same spot) you can get some super smooth curves.  I use Splitjaw ss Railclamps which are bulletproof and make for great conductivity.  I run Track Power and I lose only about 0.5volt in half of a 135ft loop.  I still ran subfeeds every 25ft or so and now cannot even measure the drop.  I power each loop with it's own DC computer power supply (about $50 each).  I use the G Scale Graphics Railboss Trackpower controls on each loop (RC wireless control).  Be careful to leave some room for expansion in your loops, they will get longer in the summer and shorter in the winter.  I let my track float, held only with 5" roofing nails every 8ft or so.  It allows the track to expand and contract without raising up or kinking.

I am running Track Power so my friends can run their stuff on my layout, it runs all my equipment fine and the guys with Battery Power can run on it also.

Chris Sheldon

Hi,

I have a question, are MTH Railking 1 locomotives waterproof like LGB?

No loco that I know of is waterproof??

 If you mean can they take moisture, yes, I'd always side with caution. The electronic boards of any brand should not be exposed. The smoke units should be covered. Most of the MTH one gauge comes with smoke covers or caps.

No loco that I know of is waterproof??

I'll second that remark.

Larry