INSIDE OR OUTSIDE

[S&G Rute of the Silver River]

Not built yet but It'll be outside. I'm tired of running wheelbarows of X(usually wood) to the house and a RR can saveme from that sence of work and I can keep my cousins buisey Besides what could be mor fun than seeing a train roll past and twenty minuts late you watch the end go by. Moving gravel is gona be fun.

[imrnjr]

The South Concho, Big Lake & Flint Hills is outside behind the little used swimming pool, in a raised bed and occupies about 1700 sq ft of the approximately 2 acre (86K+ sq ft) yard.  It's a folded double loop, with 3 sidings and a built-in 14'x3.5'x3.5' train barn for the electronics and 3 strorage sidings of 7', 10' and 12'.  (a very early picture below)

It's now on it's second year of construction, and I wish I'd have done one or two things different, curve radii larger and such, but the raised bed does contain the urge to expand and spend the rest of the retirement savings on trains..... but I digress. 

Outside is where I want to be no mater the temperature, but when the wind is in the 30-45 mph level it not condusive to running trains.  Prototype Trains were outside and I think they look best there!

Mark

[GearDrivenSteam]

I guess it all depends on what you want. If I had the room inside, I gotta say that's where I'd go. But see, I live in the southeast, where it gets 100 degrees with 90% humidity in the summer. Fact is, you can put a surprising amount of operation in a small space if you do your homework. But, as others point out, there's no substitute for having the wide open spaces of the outdoors. Both have advantages and disadvantages. I guess it's up to you to make the decision.

[John Busby]

Hi dwbeckett

The EGR is outside it is a small loop between the house and side fence it was put there because that was the easiest place to build it (note I did not say the best)

It was built as an experimental line and its still there and is currently being extended so a line will run from it to the best site for a garden railway I have the advantage of no garden

So SWMBO thought that as the railway progresses so will the magical appearance of a garden it has worked to a point, but I am not much of a gardening expert.

I have plans for an indoor division but that will be EEEVVVEEERRR SSSOOO SSSLLLOOOWWW in its construction as its for those days when outside is not the place to be and also it will be more like a detailed indoor line sow I can have both.

regards John

[Curmudgeon]

I have maps, just don't remember if they're still on-line.

I need to get them on my website, eye guess.

 Point one, the "Shed", or main terminal. Yards, turntable, workshop, heater, coffee pot, 12GA side-by-side...

Out to Eno Junction, where there is a passing siding, Ice Station Zebra, and the Brine Car Spur, up the 2% to Frost, where the California and Nevada branch comes up beside you.

To go down, continue up RiverRock pass, back through the "wye" at Confusion Junction, and down.

Or, instead of heading up RiverRock pass, take the RH under the bridge at Table Rock. After the bridge is another switch, right enters a tunnel for the old Lower Laurel Line, which eventually comes back to Eno Junction.

The Lower Laurel Line has Bigfoot Grocery Warehouse siding, the Maintenance Spur at Pit Bull Run trestle, cross the steps to the bridge approaching the town of Lower Laurel, with Maintenance Spur, House Track, and Feed Mill.

Left proceeds up the new Gorge Line, cross Table Rock Bridge, and into Whiterock.

Just before the bridge is a line coming in from the right, the old Switchback Line, how you get to the rest of the line if the trestle over Stevens Canyon is out of service. That switchback line is not generally used in operations, usually to hold helpers or one wayfreight holds for the arrival of a specific wayfreight. It forms the upper loop.

 Through Whiterock, passing siding, 3 industry stops, then across the trestle to Laurel Yard.

Laurel Yard is a main interchange, with trains from Whiterock and points west, the old switchback line, the top of the old River Rock Pass line, and the Lilac Branch, plus the Bald Mountain Branch to Pete's Pit Mine.

At the end of Laurel Yard is Malfunction Junction, which includes a full "wye", no turntable.

Down the Lilac Branch to Glory, siding, house track, and Glory Meat Packing, plus the smallest turntable.

Turn, back towards Laurel yard, just before, bear right, head up to Highpoint.

Hughes Logging, a mine, maintenance track, and station house track.

No turntable. Back down to the last switch, and proceed back to Malfunction Junction. Bear right, past the water tank, maintenance shed, station, and handcar track, and start down River Rock pass, through the tunnel, through Confusion Junction, bear right, head down the California and Nevada Branch, passing the upper Concentrator track, pass under the concentrator structure, and approach Mehus Siding, with access to the lower Concentrator track, a maintenance spur, out of the siding, round the curve to Mehus Dairy for any setouts or pickups, cross the viaduct, curve right at "The Tree", a 3' diameter Cedar, cross the new steel bridge, past the new oil depot on the left, curve into Mound House, with passing siding, house track, livestock pens and track, engine house maintenance spur, and turntable. Past the turntable is the log dump track, sawmill, and outgoing lumber track.

Past this is the long storage track.

From Mound House to Whiterock is 150' of continuous 4% grade.

[on30francisco]

I an building my railroad indoors. Even if I wanted to build outside I couldn't because I live in a San Francisco studio apartment. My main attraction to narrow gauge Large Scale is the incredible detailing potentials (you can see the details), ease of scratchbuilding, and the robust equipment. I'm building it elevated on a baseboard in the same fashion as layouts in the smaller scales are built. After working with Lareg Scale, I just can't go back to my former scale of On30.

[Anonymous]

C'mon Dave.  I live in Gardnerville (about an hour south of Reno via 395) where we get monster winds.  I mount my buildings on a square of 3/4 inch plywood, dig a shallow hole for the base and cover it with crusher fines.  Some of the Aristo buildings I have are heavy enough that I don't have to mount them at all.  The only casualty so far is my water tower blew over once.  Trust me.  You can build a garden RR outside in Reno.  Just avoid skyscrapers.

[ttrigg]

Many years ago, while stationed in Germany (US Army) we were fortunate to see one of the first "retail" displays of LGB in Nurenburg.  At the time I was heavy into HO and had a small plywood layout.  The wife and I liked the concept of running trains in the garden.  Several years later I moved over to N scale, to fit more action in smaller space.  Then about 6 years ago Santa Clause delivered an LGB starter set.  We had just moved into our "retirement" home and were planning on building a Koi pond and the GRR at the same time.  Now the HO and N is confined to footlockers in the garage.  The basic instructions fro the wife was "I want it to mostly just go around the pond, but, I want to send the train off somewhere and not have it come back for a while."  To accommodate the "boss" I gave her a basic oval around the pond (with sidings) (Rosebud Falls) 19 foot by 48 foot, with an "extension loop that reaches down the back fence about 60 feet (Vine Arbor & Rosebud Flats, so named as the track passes under the grapevine arbor then under many of her rose bushes along the fence.)  In the next couple of years that run will extend the rest of the way across the back then turn up under the fruit trees (hence the future community of Green Apple Orchard)

[altterrain]

Dave,

I'd love to see a track plan of the CCR if you have one. If not, how many points are there and does every one have a turntable?

-Brian 

[Curmudgeon]

We started the Colorado Consolidated about 16 years ago.

I had an idea, and worked the terrain to accomplish it.

We have over 1400' of track, over 80 turnouts.

Point-to-loop-to-point.

I had a backyard, and used it.

[altterrain]

You gotta' go outside just for size alone. My layout is about 80 feet long and 25 feet deep at its deepest point with 10 foot diameter curves. That's pretty hard to duplicate indoors and you don't have the fun of real dirt, rocks and plants indoors. If I were to go indoors I think it would be either On30 or maybe a 7/8" scale industrial line.

-Brian 

[cabbage]

My track is only now (after having lived here for 11 months) beginning to know where it can sit... We have moved the summer house twice and hacked down most of the trees and bushes. The trackway will be double width and dual gauge, so this means that the radius of curvature must be small enough for the 16mm scale models to look "right" and wide enough for the 13.5mm scale Gauge 3 models to traverse -without derailing!!!

The track will simply skirt the fencing and be about 60cm to 90cm above ground level. There will be a 100cm gap between it and the fence for the roses to grow.

regards

ralph

[dwbeckett]

 I have two railroad's under-construction, one inside and one outside. Both have there own advandages. The inside RR is in Reno are weekend/vacation/retirement-someday home. The other is in Oakley Ca. Both on hold due to finanaces. The Reno indoor RR is inside because of the weather mostly high wind's gust's ( over 60mph last weekend ). The Oakley RR is outside in the backyard ( halfway done re-landscapeing ) it is point to point RR with a very long siding. Since it  ( Oakley ) is not done I may change it to loop with a wye on one end. At some point in time the Oakley RR will be moved to Reno, I have a spot or two for it  BUT due to the high wind's it mostlikely will not have any buildings . SO WHY DID YOU BUILD YOUR RR WHERE YOU DID.