Just wanted to tell you this totally inspired me. Over the last three days I’ve been out in my garage with foam board and 6” radius Unitrak (the last remaining train shop in my area had some, luckily) and have been building a small circular Christmas layout for Thomas, Annie and Clarabel! I’m powering it with 8 AAs, a switched pot and a toggle switch for direction. Absolutely would not have done this if it weren’t for your video, so thank you!
Oh, I forgot about that older Christmas layout. I'm also building one on a tray. In my case a bamboo serving tray with straight sides. Will be battery operated but regulated with a motor driver and raspberry pi pico. Im hopeful the batter pack (6x or 8x rechargeable AAs) will be able to throw a turnout.
Hard to say. It should be fine except that with limited power pickup it will eventually stall out as you get oxidation, dirt, etc on the wheels and track. So it will only work well at low speeds as long as everything is very clean.
Love your video, thinking of getting a set. N-scale im sold with from watching your video for detail/ limited space. Do you recommend Kato or Hornby as a beginners set? Thank you
Kato 1000000%. From what I've seen Hornby's mechanisms are still stuck in the 1970s whereas Kato has smooth, quiet, low-friction drives. The noise in this video is predominantly coming from the track base, not the mechanism itself.
It should run for hours ok, the main issue is that since it is very light it could derail easily. Also, the shirt wheel base and limited power pickup will eventually cause it to stall out once the track or wheels get dirty in a spot if it is running slow. I don’t know if there will be any heat build up issues in the mechanism, but I haven’t had any issues with other pocket line type trains using the same mechanism.
are those couplers normal Kato couplers? they look like old couplers from the 80s/90's, i think they are called Rapidos.. I'm just getting into the hobby and bought a Kato train set and the couplers look different.
US Kato products normally have the knuckle couplers. I don't know why this set uses the old style. It might have something to do with this product being intended for the Japanese market but offered in the US without even changing the packaging.
Yeah, I’m not sure why they are using the cold style couplers on here. I might change them out at some point but I’m not going to ever run this train with anything else so not a big deal.
I ordered this but am still waiting for it to come in to my local hobby shop. I am a little disappointed in it already. The decoration is pretty generic. Kato should have hidden the drive mechanism in a locomotive tender, instead of the passenger car. A L.E.D. head light would have been nice too. I guess for just a loop of track, pushing the train shouldn't be a problem but anything more complicated might have derailments. Cheers and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I have this train running on this same layout and it is kind of plain looking for a Christmas set and it is kind of noisy but it is still kind of neat for the price. Also I think it will do fine on other layouts.
@@StevesTrainsalso thank you for this simple idea of a set. I haven’t been into model railroading since I was young. Your video for this set got me to make this set and now I have the itch. Lol
The high prices of model railroading don't justify the rewards of getting into this hobby. Steer wide and clear of the peoples encouraging you to get involved in this money trap.
Just wanted to tell you this totally inspired me. Over the last three days I’ve been out in my garage with foam board and 6” radius Unitrak (the last remaining train shop in my area had some, luckily) and have been building a small circular Christmas layout for Thomas, Annie and Clarabel! I’m powering it with 8 AAs, a switched pot and a toggle switch for direction. Absolutely would not have done this if it weren’t for your video, so thank you!
Oh, I forgot about that older Christmas layout. I'm also building one on a tray. In my case a bamboo serving tray with straight sides. Will be battery operated but regulated with a motor driver and raspberry pi pico. Im hopeful the batter pack (6x or 8x rechargeable AAs) will be able to throw a turnout.
I just ordered this and the steam engine set. Hoping they come in for Christmas. Thanks for showing how well they work.
I have this running on this same layout and yes it is quite noisy but still neat looking.
A streetcar would look nice on that village layout.
I originally used a street car but it isn’t working at the moment.
Right up my alley. Merry Christmas.
That little thing is so cool, thanks Steve!! and happy holidays🎄🎄🎄💙💙
Groovy.😺
Would you foresee any longevity problems running the train at a very slow speed for prolonged periods?
Hard to say. It should be fine except that with limited power pickup it will eventually stall out as you get oxidation, dirt, etc on the wheels and track. So it will only work well at low speeds as long as everything is very clean.
merry Christmas
Very cool, merry Christmas 🎄
Love your video, thinking of getting a set. N-scale im sold with from watching your video for detail/ limited space. Do you recommend Kato or Hornby as a beginners set?
Thank you
Kato 1000000%. From what I've seen Hornby's mechanisms are still stuck in the 1970s whereas Kato has smooth, quiet, low-friction drives. The noise in this video is predominantly coming from the track base, not the mechanism itself.
@@ErickC thanks very much! Will have a look! Do you have any model starter kits you’d recommend
How long could you comfortably leave that running?
It should run for hours ok, the main issue is that since it is very light it could derail easily. Also, the shirt wheel base and limited power pickup will eventually cause it to stall out once the track or wheels get dirty in a spot if it is running slow. I don’t know if there will be any heat build up issues in the mechanism, but I haven’t had any issues with other pocket line type trains using the same mechanism.
I kind of wanna use my DCC sound locos, but then I'm afraid something could happen to them.
are those couplers normal Kato couplers? they look like old couplers from the 80s/90's, i think they are called Rapidos.. I'm just getting into the hobby and bought a Kato train set and the couplers look different.
US Kato products normally have the knuckle couplers. I don't know why this set uses the old style. It might have something to do with this product being intended for the Japanese market but offered in the US without even changing the packaging.
Yeah, I’m not sure why they are using the cold style couplers on here. I might change them out at some point but I’m not going to ever run this train with anything else so not a big deal.
I ordered this but am still waiting for it to come in to my local hobby shop. I am a little disappointed in it already. The decoration is pretty generic. Kato should have hidden the drive mechanism in a locomotive tender, instead of the passenger car. A L.E.D. head light would have been nice too. I guess for just a loop of track, pushing the train shouldn't be a problem but anything more complicated might have derailments. Cheers and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
I have this train running on this same layout and it is kind of plain looking for a Christmas set and it is kind of noisy but it is still kind of neat for the price. Also I think it will do fine on other layouts.
Yeah, it is pretty generic but I still like it. The arrangement of this set isn’t ideal as you mentioned. But it works great in reverse!!! Lol
@@StevesTrainsalso thank you for this simple idea of a set. I haven’t been into model railroading since I was young. Your video for this set got me to make this set and now I have the itch. Lol
The high prices of model railroading don't justify the rewards of getting into this hobby.
Steer wide and clear of the peoples encouraging you to get involved in this money trap.
If that's Your opinion, then Why do You watch videos like these?
I started the YT channel specifically to pay for the hobby. Plus I sell the layouts I build so I get to have fun and make money doing it.