Because for a while I was less than happy with the quality of the early made in China models I will tried to purchase German made LGB. I feel that the more recent Bachmann offerings are much better than the earlier ones . In particular the Bachmann wagons, coaches and new 4-6-0s are very good value. Although I used LGB track if I was to build a G scale layout in Taiwan again I would use localy made Deduce brand track which looks very good and is reasonably priced.
The hardest thing about building a layout in Taiwan is that most of the things have to be bought back from trips overseas or ordered from other countries on line etc.Also the baseboards were a nightmare. The hardest part was getting all the wood home on my 150 cc motorbike! I really did carry it all home on the my bike over a number of trips. I knwo this probably sounds mad to people in western countries but I doubt it would amaze many people here in Taiwan. LGB does have a distributor here but their prices are mindblowing, eg a steam tram engine that was selling for under US$200 at trainworld in America had a price tag of NT$45000 here which is about US$1500! Bachmann models are now being distributed here and the prices are far better than those of LGB in Taiwan.
The buildings on my layout are mostly scratch built. The scenery is nothing special. The mountains are made from foam covered with plaster bandage wrap, more plaster and then painted. I purchased the ballast for NT$100 (about US$3.30) from a pet shop, it was intended for use in fish tanks. I used polystyrene cement to glue it in place, for some reason the usual wood glue would not work for me. The trestle bridge was actually easier to build than I had expected. Because the real ones were often rather rougly constructed I think it does not really matter if a model is the same!
I would really like to meet more large scale modellers in Taiwan, China or other near by countries so please e-mail me if any of you are looking at this site!
Also before you leave this site be sure to sign the guestbook. Thanks.
