rookie garden railways

[meremere]

i am thinking of building a garden railway. live in Fort Worth Texas. Using G scale. how do i get started? i am such a rookie.

[ttrigg]

meremere

Fist, let me say welcome to the forum. Now for your questions: "how do I get started?" You found a good place to start. I would suggest doing a lot of reading here on these pages. You will need to figure out how much space you have available to build your empire, will you want to build on ground level, or will you build retaining walls to elevate the ground level (advantage: easier to work on the railroad, disadvantage: cost) or will you build a framework to elevate your tracks at a comfortable level (advantage: ease of access, disadvantage: rather harder to incorporate vegetation.) Do you plan on analog rail power, remote control system (battery power or constant voltage to the rails) or live steam. Will you be modeling a major main line, a branch line, or a local short line? What era and region will you be working in steam, diesel, or overhead electric (pantograph)? Will you lay your tracks in a point to point configuration, or point to loop, or oval for continuous running?

OK, you asked one question and I answered you with another two dozen questions. There are many ways to enjoy this hobby, and we all have a preferred operation style yet we enjoy watching others in their preferred style.

There is a vast amount of information on these pages just for the reading, and it is free. For starters, I would suggest getting one of the starter sets with some additional track and get outside and "play in the dirt". Let your empire start from there.

[cabbage]

Well since Garden Railways have been around for over 100 years I used books dating back to 1904! Seriously though -there are no rights and wrongs with a garden railway. The main problem you will have is the initial survey of your site. You will have to build a map of where it goes and the levels of the ground around it. You do this by constructing a "datum point" -this can be a post stuck in the ground or a nail in a fence post. From this point all measurements are made. There are two main methods of construction. One uses ground level track work on gravel, the other uses track work on a wooden batten fixed to posts. Try to make your curves as wide as possible and have at least one "loco length" of straight track between curves of differing directions. Try to make your track work as level as possible. You may have to do some digging and mounding.... As to the shape and design of it, the best method I know, (and it is the one I use), is to lay a length of hose pipe on the ground and then over the course of a few days kick it to a shape that pleases you. This is the shape of your railway... Have fun -this is what it is all about!!! regards ralph

[PJM20]

Welcome to the forum. JHust pick up a few books on it and learn. Kalmbach has bookstaht could help you. Just go to the "shop" tab next to the forum tab to look. Hope you enjoy your time here! - Peter

[commander]

Fellow North Texan:

If you are just in “thinking” stage, it might be best to make some local visits to operational G scale layouts such as Clark Gardens in Weatherford/Mineral Wells http://www.clarkgardens.org/visit.html and the Gaylord Texan Hotel in Grapevine which both have operational public G Scale train layouts.   Another suggestion might be to look at the North Texas Garden Railroad Club website to contact local G scale modelers (although I am not a member) http://www.ntgrc.org/ .   Their site (which needs updating badly) has links to the few local hobby shops which stock G scale trains (but most people usually just buy their trains via the internet vendors) and G scale events which happen locally. They put on a great show each Spring at Clark Gardens.

 

 There are at least four good websites devoted to the hobby and this site is one of the four. http://www.mylargescale.com , http://www.largescalecentral.com/index.php , http://www.largescaleonline.com .      By reading posts, viewing pictures of layouts, trains, etc., you can better answer all the questions that Tom posted to your question.  Of course, buy as many old copies of Garden Railways Magazine as you can possibly find along with the all the Kalmbach Publishing books available on this site.  The money will be well spent if you get serious about getting into G scale trains.  (NO, I'm not affiliated with Kalmbach! )

 

When you get to the serious point (i.e. getting your checkbook & credit card out <g>), you can continue to post questions and get great answers from fellow modelers in all the forums in the various websites (Note that many of them are duplicated posts because some people think that we modelers only visit one web site?)  There are also a few suggestions that fellow modelers will share about “geographically unique” problems such as in North Texas… like the suggestion to install expansion rails throughout long runs of track due to the tendency of G scale track to expand and contract when sitting in the oppressive Texas summers.  Good luck on your quest, and if everything moves forward, you might just be answering a request for help post like yours next year! Regards, Jack

 

[mgilger]

If you go to the "For Beginners" at the top of this forum page, you can get a bunch of good basic articles.

 http://www.trains.com/grw/default.aspx?c=ss&id=16

 Greg's web site has a bunch of good How To things to read that might help.

 http://www.elmassian.com/

Here is another great site for and introduction and How To articles.

http://www.btcomm.com/trains/primer/

I have some more listed under the "Links" section on my web site that might help.

http://mmg-garden-rr.webs.com/apps/links/

It's a great hobby.

[steamdonkey]

Welcome to a fabulous hobby! There are many answers to the question, "How do I get started?". My favourite approach is: - admire the workmanship of others - do research. - do enough planning to get started without falling over your own shoelaces. - go out there and buy some stuff - build. - make mistakes (this is the part I'm best at, so far) - learn from your mistakes (and those of others, well-documented here and elsewhere) - improve your garden railroad - admire your results - share your learning - repeat and improve continuously at each of these stages you will have fun, and at several of them you will get that feeling of accomplishment The worst approach is: - admire the workmanship of others - do research. - decide you don't have enough skill/experience/resources - repeat.

[ttrigg]

Meremere

As you can see from the above, several folks have suggested places to read and places to visit. In my response to your question I closed by saying "Get outside and play in the dirt." When I first built my GR, I put it together on the patio (shortened up the straight away's by about sixty percent.) I had the "layout" setup on the patio for about three months. (Yes I ran the trains on the patio) I had the additional project of building a Koi pond inside the GR and both had to be built at the same time, so planning for both was essential. Again, I suggest "go play in the dirt", be it actually in the dirt, on the grass, or on the patio. Try out several different track routes. If you put it "in the dirt" just level things out while experimenting with different configurations. When you come up with what you think you want then the real construction can begin. Then you can build the sub-road-bed of your liking. Play with Run your trains for a bit each evening, then as dark encroaches, do a bit of the reading everyone talks about. Now get yourself over to your LHS (local hobby shop) pick up a starter set and some additional track and some switches, then "go play in the dirt". We all learn by doing and we enhance our skills and techniques by seeing how others have done their work. Above all else, remember this is your hobby, so enjoy it the way you like rather than follow the dictates of some one else.

[SandyR]

Meremere, I heartily second what Tom just said...go play in the dirt and have fun! Find yourself a starter set that appeals to you and play with it...even if it's just a circle of track on the driveway with a few pots of flowers or nursery stock around it, you'll have fun.

Then use all of the suggestions that appear in the posts above. Just beware of information overload!! You'll quickly realize just what kind of railroad pleases you the most...stick with that, and don't feel that you have to 'keep up with the Joneses'!

Get out there and have fun! And...welcome to the forum and the hobby!

SandyR

 

 

 

 

[ttrigg]

SandyR

... Just beware of information overload!! You'll quickly realize just what kind of railroad pleases you the most...stick with that, and don't feel that you have to 'keep up with the Joneses'!  ...SandyR

I second that motion! If you try to remember everything you will soon find yourself looking for a different hobby. The object in reading is to remember where different kinds of info is available for furutre refference.