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4 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. | |
Tom Calvert: Operation was and still is my passion. Just watching garden trains going round and round does nothing for me at all. They must do something. Deliver goods, pick up products, switch and generally be a railroad.
Tim Blagg: Somewhere down the road (for me) I think that running garden trains is going to be secondary to building the structures. I do like watching garden trains run but there needs to be a mix of capabilities with a railroad so that it lends itself to whatever you want to do with it at any given time.
Dave Gill: I like building more than running garden trains. I make all types of structures from photos or magazines etc., also like to modify engines and rolling stock. I really like to have something different than any one else. I have a knack for making things from sketchy ideas.
Brad Bennett: I'm a builder. As an artist I found the construction of a garden trains layout in the garden to be an extension of my interest and ability to be creative. Although I work professionally in 2-D, I found the challenge of the 3-D of the railroad enormously entertaining. The side benefits thus far received are the joyful looks of appreciation on the faces of all who come to our home. The railroad seems to draw everyone in, regardless of age or gender, and then perhaps to a defined time in their childhoods when life was simpler.
Rick Henderson: Myself, I prefer branch line operations and switching. My garden train designs include a lot of industrial sidings where engineers have to pickup and deliver cars. I also like to put my structures clustered together around sidings and yards and not spread out over the entire railroad. This draws the focus of attention to the areas with the most operation.
Updated every 5 minutes
Important Topics
Bridges
Buildings
Couplers
Getting Started
Grades
How Garden Trains Work
Live Steam
Wheels
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.
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.