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2 minute informational video
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 Jon DeKeles Editor in Chief | He may seem like big bad Jon, but that’s because he’s a man of steel – born with trains and technology in his blood. No surprise he engineered the gene splice that gave birth to LSOL.com. | |
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 JD Miller Reviews Editor | The original tinkerer, JD took apart his first watch in 4th grade and now he’s having the time of his life taking apart trains to show you what’s inside. | |
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 Rick Henderson Associate Editor | Rick has more model train experience than Jon has years. He's LSOL.com's jack-of-all-trades from almost day one. He's reviewed, sold retail, and built trains, too. He's not grumpy, just focused. | |
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 Noel Widdifield Managing Editor | Since he’s a card-carrying member of the NMRA and TCA, we all yield right-of-way to Noel’s expertise when it comes to model railroading. | |
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 David Bodnar Electronics Editor | When you’re ready to “Bodnarize” your railroad, David’s the guy who puts the pedal to the metal. Our resident power ranger is all about automation and remote control. | |
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 Jo Anne Sales Manager | What’s a nice lady like her, doing with a crew like this? Joanne is the grand dame of discounts. Better yet, she’ll keep your large-scale spending on the QT from spousal units if you ask politely. | |
Mike Evans: It's hard to single out only one manufacturer for best products, price, etc. Certainly LGB maintains the lead in overall quality. But I own several Bachmann locomotives and am pleased with both their detail and low cost. For track and control components, AristoCraft can't be beat. Garden trains may soon rival HO for variety and the numerous small firms getting into the more specialized areas. There are also many links out there to a lot of information, particularly LSOL with their weekly informative articles.
John Pletcher: I have garden trains from Bachmann, USA Trains and AristoCraft. As of yet I have not had to call customer service for anything as all has worked beautifully. It is really nice to see a ever expanding product offerings with great detail. As far as picking a best manufacturer of the year, that is tough since each garden trains manufacturer is tops in their prospective product nitches. One thing for sure, with all the wonderful offerings, it will give the large-scale railroad community more ammunition to attract more people into the hobby.
Jon D. Miller: Since I model in narrow gauge, Bachmann gets my vote for the best garden trains. The attention to detail on their Spectrum line is without equal. Dollar for dollar when comparing detail and fidelity to a prototype then Bachmann is great value for out of pocket cost.
Important Topics
Bridges
Buildings
Couplers
Getting Started
Grades
How Garden Trains Work
Live Steam
Wheels
Bud Steinhoff: I use Aristo knuckle couplers on all my various brand 135 cars and 25 engines. I started with the Aristo coupler and stayed with them because to me they are reliable and inexpensive for my garden trains, especially that the Aristo equipment come with that coupler. I modify the couplers so they do not look so clumsy. Kadee's are great, but expensive and even if I wanted to change, it is too late now and I am satisfied with what I have.
James Scofield: I use Kadee's as a holdover from HO. I like to operate and there is nothing better than the knuckle coupler with delayed coupler action. The delayed action is great in Garden Trains and eliminates a lot of uncoupler magnets on every track. Kadee is also very helpful in answering questions when I have had a problem in the past with installation. They have always been the premiere coupler for many, many years.
Walter C. Bringsauf: Granted, KD couplers are a bit more expensive then other Garden Train couplers, but the reliability and ease of use more than makes up for the higher price. Also the wide variety of shanks offered by Kadee makes it easy to custom fit any type car or Loco. I have used Kadee's since they first came out in HO and have never considered using any other coupler, and I have used quite a few in the past 50 years.
Come see the first, the original and the best web blog dedicated to Garden Railroads. Remember: Some people talk about what they are going to do, and others actually do it. Come show people what you have done.
