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Note: Since I recently moved house, work on this railway, and these pages, has ceased. I am currently working on a new G-scale railway, taking into account what I learned from this one.
G-scale locos are available in a number of different drives:
battery power, track power, live steam, even clockwork. All have one
thing at least in common -- they are expensive. The great advantage of
keeping away from track power is that you don't have to worry about
keeping the track perfectly clean, and ensuring electrical
conductivity, which are major annoyances. However, track power is
convenient, and a wider range of locos is available than the other
formats. In addition, it is generally cheaper because you don't need
on-board radio control equipment like you do with battery or
steam power. If you go for track power, you'll need a heavy-duty
power supply - even a small loco draws about an amp under load,
and needs about 18 volts for full power. A small OO-gauge loco, by
contrast, will typically expect a maximum of 12 volts, and draw
about 100 milliamps.
Prices for G-scale locos, with electic drive, range from about one
hundred to several thousand pounds. For live steam, prices start
at about £300 if you are prepared to construct from a kit, or about
£1000 if you want a ready-built one. Prices go up to, well, I haven't
found an upper limit yet. There is a thriving second-hand market
in live-steam locos, and it's worth having a look on eBay auctions
for the occasional bargain.
While I like the idea of running a real steam loco, at the moment we
are using an LGB starter set (see photo). This set offers surprisingly
good value for money (comparatively speaking). For £140 you get the
loco, two coaches, a four-foot circle of track, a 1-amp power supply,
and a few figures. Given that the power supply and the track would
cost about £100 if ordered separately, and the cheapest LGB loco is
about £70 alone, this set represents quite a saving. The loco doesn't
look half bad -- it's reasonably detailed, including full valvegear,
front and rear lights, and glowing firedoor. It even has a `chuff
chuff' sound generator, which can get a bit annoying after a while.
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