First time running Standard Gauge this past weekend.

Never knew NCT had a Standard Gauge setup. There is nothing on the website.

Greg Nagy posted:

Never knew NCT had a Standard Gauge setup. There is nothing on the website.

That's because its very very informal, no modules, no standards, just track on a carpet, on conference room tables pushed together, its thrown together by a handful of trackers that like to run Standard Gauge together, just a few times a year.

Real trains for real men! 

Craignor, welcome to the world of Standard Gauge. Warning: there's no cure, so you may as well get ready to buy some more trains. 

Got bit by the SG bug once, stuck a whole foot into the water, and quickly realized I had nothing like the necessary resources to really swim.  A shame, too:  they have an unmistakable charm and ambiance that surpasses anything more realistic.

Tread very cautiously! It's easy to get sucked in over your head. But truthfully, I'm having a blast with our hobby again now that I'm collecting Standard Gauge. Wish you were closer to the west coast, I'd love to share some track time!

Very nice display .... thank you for posting the video ....  looks like Norm's articulated ? .... a Forney  diesel,   one of Jim's new Lee Lines Freedom trains ....   welcome to the the "big" standard world .

Cheers Carey 

My grandson and I run two standard gauge trains on the basement floor.  We usually setup the layout in November and keep it going for a few months.  We run a 1926 10E set with 300 series passenger cars.  That was our first SG set.  We also run a 390e steam engine with 500 series freight cars.  We have only one circle of SG track, so we alternate.  

You don't have to mortgage the house to do SG, but you do need some room.  That's why we use the floor.   You don't have to choose between tin and plastic.  You can run both.  We even throw in some 9 Volt Lego too and N gauge.

Enjoy.

Thanks for the nice feedback...I like NJCJOE’s the best.

I don’t intend on having a SG layout, already have a nice O gauge layout, I will run the set at public shows, and the rest of the time the set will be on display in my trainroom, on the nice Glenn Snyder racks I put up.

These are my current intentions, they could change.

Joe has an amazing layout as I recall.  There must be some nice pictures of it here on the forum.

Welcome to the  shiny side Craig!  

palallin posted:

Got bit by the SG bug once, stuck a whole foot into the water, and quickly realized I had nothing like the necessary resources to really swim.  A shame, too:  they have an unmistakable charm and ambiance that surpasses anything more realistic.

That may best describe my ventures into the realm of Standard Gauge as well.  The toy charm has an unbelievable draw to it.  And for awhile, I entertained the idea of a dual O-Gauge AND Standard Gauge layout.  However, the sheer size of the resulting layout meant I'd probably need to build a barn in our backyard , which simply wasn't in the cards for a variety of reasons.

If you think O-Gauge requires lots of space, that dilemma only worsens with Standard Gauge.  So at the end of the day, I opted to return to my O-Gauge roots when I designed the preliminary track plan for my new layout.  But we did include some really cool built-in shelving on one end of the layout that will house some colorful Standard Gauge trains for display purposes.  That's also the end of the layout where the O-Gauge accessories include a triple-span Hellgate Bridge along with the #840 PowerStation, Signal Towers, and Station/Terrace.  So we managed to include those tinplate accessories that can work well in either an O-Gauge or Standard Gauge setting.

Once the layout is complete and I select those Standard Gauge Trains for the built-in shelves, I suspect I'll have a few remaining Standard Gauge items that will be listed for-sale soon.  I've already started listing some Standard Gauge accessory items I won't be using on the new layout.

For many folks toying with the idea of big tinplate, I can easily see where being a member of a Standard Gauge modular club would be a GREAT way to satisfy one's draw to the shiny side of toy train life.

David

This is the tinplate layout I had in my apartment in Malden, MA for about two years.  It was a lot of fun.  It was a 4 x 8 layout, with a standard loop on the outside and two O gauge loops on the inside.  A bonus was I could look right out my window and watch the MBTA electric and diesel commuter trains running by.

Craignor posted:

Wow, what fun.

I am a noobie to Standard Gauge, long time O gauger. This summer I attended the TCA Convention in Pittsburgh, I saw the huge SGMA layout, and was blown away, so turned on that after the convention I thought about the layout and those trains daily for a month, then I decided I wanted to get involved, and bought the Blue Comet set, and joined SGMA.

I am fortunate to be a member of the National Capital Trackers. We are an O gauge club, we do 25 shows a year, but at a few shows we add a Standard Gauge layout, as some of the members are interested.

This weekend the Trackers had a show with O and Standard Gauge, I brought the Blue Comet and it was a great first outing. I do have to get used to coupling those latch couplers, I had a few break-aways.

 

 

wish I would have known  your were on my tuff in Pittsburgh we could have bent some track,that was my Milwaukee road standard set running on the sgma layout,,i was in heaven,but beware this could happen to you !!!  

How do you keep all of that dusted?

its not easy, I try to run several each week to keep them dust free and lubed ,dosnt always work

This all looks like great fun, and as much as I'm into restoration of Old Trains, I expect I will get into Standard Gauge in the future. I" ll have to make sure when I purchase my own home that I have PLENTY of room ,as in my current place, I've just barely got enough room for an 080" loop,as I have found out that many O gauge trains that say they will run on 072',really need more radius than that.

What is the radius of a standard gauge loop???

I have passed up on a lot of deals because I thought I would not have room to run Standard gauge. But after seeing that it can be ran on a 4'x8' layout,I am now wondering if perhaps I could get a standard gauge loop going sometime!!! Thanks for sharing.

On the 4 x 8 layout the outside curve is 042.  You can put a small spacer of 4" or so to stretch it out a tad.   MTH claims the largest locomotive ever made, the 400e will run on 042.  It's usually 6-wheel passenger car and loco trucks that cause the problems.   On my layout I was running a 390e steam locomotive with both 300 series passenger cars, and 500 series freight cars.  I ran the MTH New York Central 260 steam with freight cars.  And I usually ran a 252 tinplate passenger set on the elevated loop.  Now I just set the whole thing up on the floor as a temporary layout.   The wiring needs to be real simple and accessory wiring is really not possible.  So it works...quick, easy, and fun.  That's what trains are for, and this did not cost a fortune at all.

beautiful trains, glad you enjoyed them.

*bump*

Jim Katz, what are the pieces supporting the upper loop please??

@Carey TeaRose posted:

*bump*

Jim Katz, what are the pieces supporting the upper loop please??

Mth trestles