HO in the garden

[The Overlander]

Hi, I am seriously considering a HO layout in my garden here in South Australia. Will use DCC with main bus feed and short wires to each piece of track, and wireless cab. Any suggestions or pitfalls . Any tips or tricks?

 

Thanks

TREV

[altterrain]

 The biggest problem you will likely have is keeping the trains on the track. HO runs fine indoors when the track is mounted to a firm base. Outdoors is an entirely different matter. You will need a flat base for your track but it can't be nailed down due to track expansion and contraction from temperature swings. Some days you can see the track move during thirty degree temperature (F) swings from a cool night to a warm sunny day. Winter freeze/thaws, settling soil, heavy rains, wildlife, warping wood bases, etc. can all reek havoc on a garden railroad.

All I can say is good luck!

-Brian

[ttrigg]

TREV

As Brian said, you will need a very sturdy and durable foundation.  You will also need to make sure that your track is able to withstand the outdoor environment.  Are the plastic ties UV resistant?  Are the rails able to remain outdoors without rusting or corroding?  You will be mostly limited to wood structures as only about 1% of available HO plastic buildings are UV resistant.  What you want to do can be done so long as you are aware of the limitations.  At one point I had a Z Scale layout in the back yard of one of my garden railroad, looked good, but did not run very well, and rotted away fairly quick due to the fact that nothing was UV resistant. 

 

[altterrain]

 Peco On30 track (which is HO gauge) is UV resistant. Its nice track. I don't know if the make the same track with HO spaced ties.

Most plastics will be fairly UV resistant if given a couple of coats of exterior spray paint or house paint.

-Brian

[cacole]

 This question seems to pop up at least every six months.  My advice is always the same -- don't leave rolling stock outdoors because it will melt in the Arizona sun, and possibly in Australia, too.  HO scale track, except Peco, is not UV resistant.  The crossties (sleepers in British jargon) will become very brittle over a short period of time from exposure to ultraviolet light, and will possibly begin to curl up or disintegrate.

There have been reports of G-scale plastic wheels melting from contact with hot track in the Phoenix, Arizona area.  The temperature here in SE Arizona is much cooler because I live in an area of much higher elevation, but I have had HO scale rolling stock damaged from the sun shining through a window even though it was indoors.

[prsl-sj]

Has any one run O 3 rail outside ?

[tomikawaTT]

When I first moved into my humble abode in the Dessicated Desert I gave some consideration to building a railroad on the conveniently located terrace in my walled-in back yard.  To test the theory, I put a yard of flex track on the terrace, put a train set box car (acquired at a yard sale) on the rails and went back to unpacking boxes and putting things where my wife wanted them.

After thirty days, and several episodes of re-railing the car, I observed the following:

• The sides and roof of the car were flaking and distorted.
• I had had to re-rail the car every time the wind blew, which was altogether too often.  A ten-knot (weather report) wind translated to a Cat five hurricane when scaled down.
• The flex track (Atlas Code 100) didn't remain straight, and the ties were cracking.
• On the one occasion that it rained, the drops hit with the force of HO scale bombs!

I salvaged the rails, swept up the rest and retreated to the garage.  It can't be climate controlled (open flame hot water heater) but at least it keeps the sun, the wind and the occasional rain from creating havoc.

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - indoors, on flex with hand-laid turnouts)