Stuck at home during the pandemic, I set up a racetrack for model trains to determine once and for all which of my 19 G-scale model trains are the fastest and which are the slowest. On a layout that goes inside and outside my house, each of my locomotives does a timed run through the course... captured by five different cameras, including one on top of the train.
It took a long time to test 19 different model trains, and even longer to edit the video from five cameras covering each run. It's one of my longest model train videos yet.
Featured in the video are G-scale trains from LGB, Piko, MTH, and Bachmann... including five based on the Santa Fe railroad.
To make it even more fun, I challenged myself before the race to predict the winners and losers based on everything I knew about the trains in my collection. Some of my predictions turned out to be horribly bad! Not only did I not realize which of my trains was the fastest of all, but I was also wrong about which one was the slowest.
Here's the full list of results of the competition:
Rank Jim Predicted Name or Description Road # Time
1 8 Toby 7 :37
2 1 Emily - :40
3 2 James 5 :40
4 6 Thomas 1 :46
5 7 Percy 6 :48
6 3 Amtrak 500 :50
7 14 Porter 3 :52
8 4 Santa Fe 868 :58
9 5 First Responders 911 :58
10 15 Coca Cola Train - :59
11 17 Winston - 1:03
12 9 Piko AT&SF 707 1:09
12 12 Rhaetian Railroad LD1 1:09
12 16 Santa Fe Super Chief 202 1:09
15 11 North Pole Express 25 1:11
16 10 White Pass Steam 52 1:12
16 13 Bachmann AT&SF 49 1:12
18 19 White Pass Diesel 107 1:18
19 18 Piko Clean Machine - 1:34
Let's just say that a few of my predictions ended up being right but quite a few were horribly wrong! In fact, the one thing we learned after all this is that I'm an idiot!
These model train videos are extremely expensive to make. The trains you see in this video cost in excess of $10,000. Many of the locomotives cost $1000 each, many of the rail cars were over $150, and each foot of track about $7. The cost of the cameras and production equipment is another factor. If you enjoyed this video, please consider becoming a patron of this channel to help fund the addition of even more model train equipment for future videos. Even a commitment of just $1 per month will help, if enough viewers participate. For more information on becoming a patron, go to / jimzim
If you're interested in interacting with me on social media, please join my Facebook group at / 831976203803181
If you're interested in purchasing G-scale model trains, the source I'd recommend is www.trainworld.com/