Greetings from Canada

Greetings from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

I'm Gary

I'm interested in getting into this hobby, speffically the 7-1/4" gauge ride on/behind.
Thankfully there is a nearby club I can join. (the Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers)

If i get around to owning / building my own locomotive, I'm thinking of a smaller battery electric one, something I can tote around in my large hatchback, along with a 2 seat riding car. Something I can easily take to other meets.

Anyway that is my current thoughts, on joining the hobby.

Welcome to the forum Gary. Plenty of advice available here. There are many threads which will help solve problems. Or just ask away.

regards

Welcome Gary, If you have questions or need advice this is the place to be. One thing to think about in 7.25 is that everything is HEAVY very in many cases. This fact came home to me when I bought a smallish 5" loco. Best wishes Noel.

Hi Gary, Fellow Ontarian here. Some good ideas for a simple battery electric at the link below. It's Jan Eric Nystrom's Quickie. J-E is in Finland. He needed a quick cheap compact locomotive for his kids to run.

http://sparetimelabs.com/animato/animato/3003/3003bg.html

Engineering In Miniature magazine is currently running a series "Sub500" on the build of two "under 500 UK pound cost" battery electric locomotives at the moment. Authors are Rich Wightman and Julian Harrison. I'm sure someone at GHLS will be an EIM subscriber, maybe could lend you the mags to see the articles.

You might also search this site for Ron Laden's recent build.

Gary,

Welcome, lots of knowledge and advice on hers, as tou can see already..

Not a loco man as such, but involvement with our club's loco men confirms what Noel says, that 7.25" locos will be a lot heavier than 5" Possibly more than one person can lift and carry, even without batteries.

A 5" loco can be quite powerful, and suitable for passenger hauling.

A BB with two motors can haul two passenger cars behind a driving trolley.

Howard

Welcome to the forum

H

Hi Gary,

Just to repeat what's already been said about the weight, a 7.25" loco will be about 3x as heavy as an identical 5" loco. Just so you don't get a nasty surprise later on.

I do understand what you are all saying about 5" being much lighter than 7.25" but if i'm going to convince my wife at all to join for some rides it will have to be ground level. (also in the future if I ever own property large enough to setup my own track I'm going to want ground level)

I may have found a kit build engine that would meet my needs (i've seen this on a bunch of different youtube videos)
it is basically a 1' x 2' x 18" box on wheels with a little styling. can be assempled without any machining or welding (as I do not curreltly have access to any of that, or any experience with it if i'm being honest) it comes with everything needed to run it, (2x motor assemblies with wheels, suspention, electrionics board, tethered controler, , metal lower frame, even couplers but those are solid and otherwise nonfunctioning) I would just need to supply my own batteries (and possibly the wood for the shell, it is unclear if that comes with the kit)
If i went this route I would want to replace the solid non functioning knuckle couplers with functional ones and add hooks/eyebolts for saftey chains. but that is one thing at a time.

the only downside is this kit is aprox $2000USD plus shipping and that is higher that what I want to spend this early into figuring out if I am truley interested in the hobby.

The Kit in question is the Pine Cove Studios Generic Electric for those wondering.

who knows I may end up changing my mind, but for the time being this is my plan

I don't know how to edit my post but that is Plum Cove not pine cove. Serves me right for not double checking before clicking submit.

Gary You only have a limited amount of time to edit your posts on this old forum software. When it gets changed over to the new planned forum software not sure what will happen. Please be sure to note your username, password, email adress etc as you will need them on the changeover when it happens.

regards