I Need Help

[Cascariok]

I just picked up a older Bachmann's Big Hauler item number 90-0100 and I was wondering if anyone knew the Scale of the train so I could look for parts. I am new at this and I am also looking in to where I could get more track for it!?!? Any help is great, Thanks! my email is kevin.cascario@gmail.com.. thanks again!

[ABC]

It is a radio controlled G/large scale set that has been out of production for a long time.

[Pacific Northern]

Checkout E-Bay,

Is this the set?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Bachmann-90-0100-Big-Hauler-Freight-Train-Set-LN-Box-/330444393355?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item4cf0054b8b

I ran across a collectors group of these G scale radio control/battery operated engines.

[Jim Banner]

The track that came with that set was plastic, rails and all.  But track with metal rails works just as well.  If you are using it indoors, Bachmann's large scale track works just fine.  Outdoors, you need a track that does not rust.  Aristo-Craft and USA Trains both produce such track.

When I started my outdoor railway, I used aluminum rails laid on cedar ties which was a whole lot cheaper than commercially made gauge 1 ("G gauge") track.  I got to like hand laying my own tracks and still do so 2 decades later.  Here is an article on how we do it up here in Saskatoon:

http://members.shaw.ca/sask.rail/construction/lsbuild/lstrack.html

Along with hand laying track, we also learned to hand lay turnouts ("switches") and crossings and the like.  Here is an article on how we did that:

http://members.shaw.ca/sask.rail/construction/lsbuild/lsswitch.html

The scale of the Larger Haulers is 1:22.2 but there are also other scales that can run on the same #1 gauge track.  Unlike the smaller scales where the scale stays constant but the track gauge (distance between the rails) changes. in large scale the track gauge stays the same but the scale changes.  Thus gauge 1 track with the rails 45 millimeters apart can represent the following:

2 foot narrow gauge track in 1:13.5 scale
2.5 foot narrow gauge track in 1:16.9 scale
3 foot narrow gauge track in 1:20.3 scale
1 metre narrow gauge track in 1:22.2 scale
3.5 foot narrow gauge track in 1:24 scale
4'-8" standard gauge track in 1:29 scale
4-8" standard gauge track in 1:32 scale

This is done because on anything but a small garden layout, the track that the trains run on can easily cost more than the trains themselves.  Thus it is more economically feasible to run various scales on the same size track than to run the same scale on a whole lot of different gauges of track.

Jim

[Doneldon]

Cascariok -

The plastic ties on the Bachmann steel rail track will disintegrate pretty fast if you use it outdoors, possibly before the rails rust out.  The plastic isn't UV resistant so even a few sunny days can damage it. 

If you want to run this outdoors you may want to eventually re-motor it.  The battery motor doesn't have much power and your range with the controller is limited.  The set was really designed for indoor use.

                                                                               -- D