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Matthew Loves Trains

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Hello to all. I found this link to here from the old delphi Model Railway Forum.
My son Matt has been interested in trains from toddler age on. He will be turning 8 soon, and will get his first "big boy" train for Christmas. He has a vast variety of Thomas stuff now. He has a collection of the "I Love Toy Trains" movies by Tom McComas and we've been to his store in New Buffalo Michigan and the Heston Steam Museum near by.
What has caught his/our interest is G scale/garden trains. I know this is a bigger size, but it's easier to handle (his brother is a special needs guy who is intersted also) and it can run outside of which we have the room.
We have purchased a G scale "Christmas Train" made by EDIT: "New Bright", which as I recall is a China based company at Costco. The price was right ($120.00 CDN). We have bought other products by them and did well under constant play by both boys. It is a 120 volt transformer train and has "push button" style of speed control (like a tv remote) not the dial control along with other controls for the train and scenery. He was there when we we purchased it (talk about motivation to do well in school!) but I told him if it is not suitable for extended use with other G trains, we would return it and buy something more suitable. We have seen sets by LGB, Bachman, Lionel and MTH.
Question: Does anyone know if this set is alright to expand with (tracks, trains, updated controller) or should we start him of with one of the a/m brand name Christmas sets?
I appreciate any info. I'm an old slot car kid myself from the 60's, so this is new to me. Thanks. Gord.
PS: I can feel my wallet getting lighter already!
 
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Welcome to the forums! Matt and his brother are lucky young men! I'll let the more experienced large-scalers here answer your power questions, but I'll agree that large scale is an excellent choice. As you said, the big trains are easy to handle and work with, and they're very durable.

My train is an LGB "starter set" that I bought used, and I'm very happy with it since I'm at the other end of the age spectrum where handling ease is important. Have fun! :)
 
Hi Gord, Matt and Special Guy, welcome to the forums. Sorry can't help with the G scale trains, I only deal with the ones I can lift HO :D We do have members who have outdoor railroads so they may have some answers to your questions, but in the meantime have a look around.
I'm an old slot car kid myself from the 60's,
Click to expand...
You too eh! :D was 1/32 scalectric for me
Cheers!! Willis
 
Gord, I'll add another two cents to my earlier post. This will involve further "lightening of your wallet," but I bit the bullet and opted for battery power and radio control for my train, because I run it outside. I wasn't successful (or willing) to deal with the track cleaning and integrity requirements for track power, especially since my layout "lives" in an active garden working area.

I considered installing rail clamps, but they're not cheap either, so that partly offset the cost of the battery system.

I know you and the boys will have a great time with your trains no matter how you decide to set them up though, so go for it! :)
 
Let me chime in also have you looked on ebay under model railroad and then goto G scale and then type in Train Set you will get about 2 to 8 pages depending on time of the year and you can get used and new battery and electric . I had both new bright and bachmann electric G scale and found new bright to be on the small size compared to bachmann and some of the others all though the track was same with. also I had problems with my track as it was cheaper track and my cat did it in one day by accident when it tinkled on the track the acid ate it I didn't notice for about 2 days then discovered it. My cat use to love to sit on my bachmann boxcar wouldn't ride but loved to sit.

RT
 
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