I borrowed a "railbender" to make some very tight curves, so I could run a train on one of those plastic tables at a church event. VERY short locomotives would run, but they couldn't pull any cars. Click on the link to see this on our FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 3445228380

Speaking of folding tables…

I wondered if you had ever tried to figure out a way to run garden trains indoors on a folding table…and looks like you did…and it looks like the only thing that would run are those little critters you mentioned…

The 30” wide folding table was my primary train table for decades…the ideal size using 0-27 sectional track and running Marx tinplate and even some older Lionel…

Now that I have liquidated* my entire Marx tinplate collection…and will be running the Lionel Polar Express at Christmas…I had to find another table solution that would handle the wider radius track…and a layout on the floor is a thing of the past…

Enter an economical problem solver…two 20” x 40” adjustable height folding tables from Walmart…now I have a 40” square platform that will accommodate the PE, a small tree and glitter houses…I’ll post some pictures of the setup as we get closer to the holiday season…

Here’s a link to the tables…I’ll drape then with a white, snow base fabric…and probably set the legs to the lowest height…around 18”… https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-40 ... /332542372

Howard…

*It’s time for me to purge my train collection that has been a source of pleasure for decades…and I still have some to go…like some Bachmann garden trains …I’ve also been purging my workshop of a 40 to 50+ year accumulation of things I thought I might have a use for …

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Good tip for indoors. I haven't run the O gauge Lionel Polar Express, though I own one. But the materials did make it sound like it required wider curves. The American Flyer Polar Express (also made by Lionel) requires 42"-diameter curves. And most of my Large Scale (G gauge) trains require a minimum of 48"-diameter curves. So, yes, I'm always fighting table sizes when I set trains up indoors.

Have a great summer!

- Paul

Paul,

That's pretty interesting, as I had no expectation or suspicion that any G-scale locomotive could negotiate a 30-inch diameter curve. Doing so is pretty amazing, even if it's one of the smaller 0-4-0 locomotives. The minimum diameter curve for standard/wide gauge is 42 inches, so one would need a four-foot-square table to accommodate that.

When I've run trains on one of those plastic folding tables, the sound is usually deafening. I know the G-scale stuff tends to run with a bit more fidelity than the three rail trains, but still.

Toy trains at church, how great is that!

Paul Too

Whoops!…
I may have the wrong diameter measurement for my Polar Express track and the tabletop made with the two tables mention an earlier post…back to the drawing board with a new ruler…chalk it up to a senior moment…
Howard…

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Your Polar Express is O-gauge, Howard, so it should run fine on O-31 tubular track or O-36 Fastrack (31” diameter and 36” diameter respectively). It might even negotiate an O-27 curve, but likely wouldn't look so great given its eight-wheel driver configuration. There are wider radius curves available as well for O-gauge.

I was speaking of Standard gauge, a larger “scale” from the prewar period that approximates the modern G-gauge. No way one could run Standard guage on such a tight curve as Paul is experimenting with. Sorry for the confusion.