"40k player here, any train lovers out there?" Topic

Hello all,

Recently I've been put in charge of my group's next campaign, and I thought what better way to introduce my Imperial Guard planet than this!

So here goes. Antiga, very similar to switzerland in terrain. Has no space technology to speak of, long forgotten by the Emperor in a backwater corner of the Ultima Segmentum. Steam power is their main source of power, however they, like most imperial planets, have a smattering of high tech, such as laser rifles and cold fusion plants.

Basically what I'm looking for is some model trains to go with them that aren't too expensive. I really love European narrow gauge lines, but the only mass producers stopped in 2002.

Does anyone know what companies sell relatively inexpensive trains that match 40k scale? Preferably, one that comes in a starter set as those seem to be less expensive.

I know model trains is a pretty pricey hobby in the first place, and I've had trains since before I could walk. However, they're all HO scale(too small) and all American style trains.

Any thoughts? People have suggested MTH but I can't find anything on their site about their European lines.

Cheers all!
Drame22

You could go wild west instead and use Bachmann's On30 trains. They do a nice passenger set that's pretty cheap. MicroMark has some good deals on them. Modeltrainstuff also sells them. Euro trains in O scale are much more expensive to nonexistent. Euro seems to jump fro Ho to G with little in between.

Around Christmas time there are a bunch of the cheapo battery powered train sets that are all over the board as far as "scale" goes. Some are close enough to look ok with 28mm figures.

Look around some of the christmas tree shops, or Wal Mart. Also, CVS and Walgreens carry them.

I have used Lionel and similar for wargaming terrain. Since my family are train enthusiasts, and Lionel kits are so expensive, I look for damaged kits and search for"parts" trains on eBay and at flea markets.
My relatives even donate broken/ damaged bits to me. I can't bring myself to alter a perfectly good kit, but I'll gleefully kitbash a wrecked one! My uncle has a powered swing bridge that I'd love to get my hands on for city terrain. At near $1,000 USD, I'll wait for him to break it!

Yeah, the Bachmann line is my last resort.

I was really hoping to get the narrow gauge mountain steam engines(the ones always colored brightly with tall thin smokestacks)

I feel like the American style is way overdone for warhammer. Plus everything else on that planet is based off German, British or Russian.

I'll check out part trains.

Well failing the little engines, does anyone know at least of a company that makes european boxcars? The 4 wheeled ones, made of wood with the curved roof. Not sure what they're actually called beyond wagons, vans etc.

Cheers,
Drame22

Along with my own miniatures and rules set, now I'm almost certain I'll have to build my trains too.

Might as well start my own company at this point. Watch out GW!

In the Bachman On30 lines, have a look at the 'Fourney' or 'Mason bogie' type engines – most are 2-4-4T or 0-4-4T arrangement, not too far from some of the stranger German/Swiss narrow guage locomontive.

Bit of a paint job (red running gear, brass trim, green or maroon top panels) and a few detail parts, maybe a larger 'scale' cab…….

Well, this is what I'm looking for, or as close as google images can get:

They'll probably be painted my own color scheme. alternatively, on this highly secular world, they could have liveries(bright red is faction A, bright blue faction B, and so on)

Also remember this is for fiction works, so anything that doesn't quite fit can just be explained away as another part of an 'alien' culture.

You want something like this then:
link

Have you tried looking at Thomas the Tank Engine toys? You might find some cheap ones that you just need to repaint and remove the faces from. Scale might be harder to determine though.

auction

You know I actually never even considered Thomas the tank Engine!

Margad: Yes, exactly, except I'm looking for the squared ones. The picture I posted wasn't exactly it, but it's those engines that have a very low boiler and a very tall smokestack. Though those engines are good too. Pounds are worth 2 dollars each right?

Dravi: The scale being a little off is ok. This is a planet with zero connection to Earth(except for being human) so if the trains are a little big or small, it can just be a quirk of this planet.

Hey before I forget, does anyone know a thing or two about adding smoke and sound to your engines?

The only train I've ever had sound with was a Lionel that came from the factory like that. How would one go about installing it?

Sorry for the triple post, the edit button has disappeared!

Can anyone recommend some normal O gauge trains then? I know they exist but every search I try in google ends up at either European trains that aren't O gauge or O scale American websites.

Sorry for the triple post, the edit button has disappeared!

The edit button disappears after 1 hour.

Can anyone recommend some normal O gauge trains then?

O gauge model trains are expensive e.g.:
djhmodelloco.co.uk

Wow. you weren't kidding.

Uhm… so there's really no one who makes either O gauge or narrow gauge that doesn't cost me three arms and a leg to get a single engine? Based on its popularity in Britain, I find that hard to believe.

How do they even justify trying to charge $200 USD+ for a single 0-4-0. I don't even want to know how much a real engine would cost……