not having any of these cars my self and been scratch building rolling stock. are these lights exposed led or is there a little shade lens. translucent paint may work to darken the light but will eventually fad away. on my cars i found that yellow leds give enough light to illuminate the interior of the car but not blind the person looking in. when my newest project is wired up i will post a youtube video.

Wow i did not know that at all till you posted the link. price is a little high but will look really good with a string of talyllyn coaches.

They have released hon30 locos and cars but not the Thomas range. What they are releasing is WW1 locos and cars. you can find it on bachmann eruope.

I have seen this thread for narrow gauge Thomas plenty of times over the years. First bachmann is relishing hon30 WW1 locos and cars. There is a web page that you can find all the equipment. Parkside Dundas has everything you get most are kits and not all the cars had faces in the 4th series. I have been planing to build a welsh narrow gauge with my exciting american hon30 railroad, but as always that will take some time.

You can start purchasing PECO hon30 track and find some cheap N scale locos for scratch building mostly you need the mechanism.

good luck with your hunt

With the two bobber that were built by the D&RG and the DS&P. I have pictures of both and have done alright with eye work. But could those prints be in Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette.

My g scale track is just a loop for testing scratch built cars and engines. Squirrels aren't a problem since the nearest tree is 80' away and the track is on a hill. I also have the track raised with stepping stones. To protect the rails and ties you can paint with uv protective paint. Electrical still might be a problem later but being in the cheese state, we will remove the HO track before winter.

My brother and I have been working on running our HO trains out side. I already have a loop of G scale track and were going to run the ho on the G ties. using peco track would that eventually rust or tarnish. We won't keep the trains out side but the track will stay. Figuring we don't have the space to run long trains indoors with a 4x6 layout, and I have 38 feet of track out side. We figured after finding several OO layout in England that are outdoors we would try the same but in Wisconsin.

Welcome back. I have not laid any hand laid track in scale but have laid real track. I belive there is a company were you can get the rail and components for switch frogs and points. For wood ties you can use wood rubber and even concrete, but then you would have to replace bad ties every 5-20 years.  Track plates are a simple bar with 4 holes to join the track and hold electricity if needed. There is a lot to worry about with scratch built roadbed drainage, fixed structure, cleared right of way, rail gaps for expansion and more. If you want I can scan my FRA track codes book for you.

laying rail is a time consuming task but well worth it in the end.

http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/uscgtanker/library/?view=recent&page=1

Well with my scratch building work on TM and South Shore cars at a halt I have built one 1:30.3 bobber caboose. I also have the chassis for a second. I will be posting pics on a later post. With the info on later posts I'm the only one currently building these little guys. If anyone is interested I will be selling these as soon as I build them.

I have been looking for a 2 axle bobber caboose in 1:20.3 scale. I have found the RGS 2 truck design but not what i'm looking for. Besides scratch building the car my self is there some other source to look at?

From track work experience and historical reference a 4% grade is very rare. only found at grade crossings and logging railroads. On the 7 mile line I work on or largest hill is close to 3%. but we run streetcars and interurbans so usally double powered units are run though we can handle more. The DM&IR railroad solved there problem with lower gear ratios on there engines, slower speed but more tractive force. CN found that out the hard way when 3 units couldn't pull 80 ore cars up a particular hill. fortununtly they had a old DM&IR unit as power. that unit alone pulled them all up the hill. weight is also concidered in play the heaver the better but to heavy will break rail so a equalizing has to be done.

Love that your having fun with your grandson on the best hobby in the world. Were else can you do so many things in one hobby.

The sets are still around but getting harder to find.

I have been experimenting with battery powered led's in my scratch built rolling stock. know the model is a 2 axle street car just like car 21 at east troy trolley museum with sides. there would be space to hide the battery. and don't worry about the dim head light street cars never had bright lights to begin with, they would blind people and auto drivers if they were too bright. good luck with the project you set your self.

Let a scratch builder jump in this topic, and a member of a electric trolly line in EAST TROY Wisconsin. When people think of trains they see a diesel or steam loco! When you think PRR you see a K4 GG1 and the streamlined diesels. There is a small market for electric street traction but very few actually dive in a history book to find they can haul freight. In my area we had the The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Company a extensive 500 miles of interurban freight haulage and street cars. Simply said the history on electric is really covered with dust! In a scratch builders point of view I have been building a TM steeple cab in G scale. I can make the same thing in HO if I change the drive train and weight. Building a little joe takes a lot more curvature in your material, sure I can carve and then plaster mold the shell but that takes time. When you have the blue prints to copy or the real thing it makes it easier to build. Given time and experience I can build the electrics you ask for, but till then the steeple cabs and interurban cars are what I can do. Though I will tell you on of my co workers at ETTM is building a N scale electric line with operational overhead wire. just to say how hard it can be. You can find my post of my steeple cab in the large scale pages.