I am hopping to start a garden railroad this coming summer, and know next to nothing about garden railroading.
Any advice about track, roadbed, control, structures, planting, and many other pieces of info I might need would help. I live on the east coast in Northeastern PA, so advice on construction in this area will help.
Thanks.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Route of the Black Diamond Express, John Wilkes and Maple Leaf.
-Jake, modeling the Barclay, Towanda & Susquehanna.
Welcome! Advice is abundant here and everyone has their own ideas of what is best. Our layout is in our front yard up in the high country of Arizona so we only run in the summer time. We put it in the front yard so more people can enjoy the trains but again to each his own. Advice -
1. Decide where you want to put your layout and then do a study of that terrain. What is the grade you have to work with? Will you need to do any fill or excavation?
2. Plan your main line - I used a garden hose to layout my track to get an idea of what I had to work with. Just lay down the hose where you expect the tracks to be. What curves do you have? Anything tighter than 4' radius will be a problem area. Shoot for 8' or greater if you can.
3. The next choice is if you want to go battery power or track power. See many discussions on this forum and others for the pros and cons of each. I went with battery power after having done two previous layouts with track power.
4. Next decide what era you want to model. Is it steam trains of the 1920's or diesels of the 1980's or somewhere in between or noe of the above? That will help you pick out what starter kit you want and can build from there. I went with steam in the '30's with a logging operation, a town, and a mining operation. I'm expanding to a ranch next.
5. Take a look at sizes and decide what scale you want to work with. I have a mix of 1:22 and 1:20 with 1:24 buildings and other structures. G track is the same for multiple scales.
Most of all have fun and remember it's your railroad so anything you like is the best for you.
Rex
To start, hook up with one of the garden railway groups in your neck of the woods. Go to "For Beginners" tab above, then go down to "Find a Club." There are 5 or 6 groups in PA, so depending on where in NE PA you are, one will probably be within a fairly short drive.
Beyond that, judging from your user ID, you're a standard gauge modeler looking at transition era trains. I'd be looking at Aristo-Craft and USA Trains' 1:29 products. In terms of structures, you're going to find very little in terms of 1:29 structures. Many folks use 1:24 structures since you can get dollhouse furniture and other accessories fairly easily. If you're not too offended by the structures dwarfing your trains, then that's a reasonable approach. Personally, I find the difference entirely too noticeable.
Track? You've got quite a few options. I like the code 250 track (the "code" is merely the height of the rail in thousandths of an inch, so "code 250" = 0.250" tall) It's got a good prototypical look to it in terms of rail height, and is robust enough for outdoor use. You're only going to find it in what's called "flex track," so you get to bend your own curves. That's a good thing, really. Relying on "sectional" track really limits your creativity in terms of what you want to do in the garden. However, if you want to go with sectional track, you're looking at "code 332" which is what pretty much all the major manufacturers make. It's what's been used since the dawn of time, and you can get a wide variety of track sections. It ain't cheap--expect to pay anywhere from $5 - $12/foot of track depending on the brand and the kind of track it is. (That's also why I like flex track--you can get it for about $3 - $8/foot.)
In terms of power, I'd really recommend starting off with "traditional" track power (i.e., a power supply wired to the rails which runs one loco. That's the most basic way forward and will get you going. After you get your feet wet, you can explore other control options such as track-powered digital command control (DCC) where each individual loco has its own receiver, or one of the battery-powered R/C options, which doesn't use track power at all. Again, the local club will be a Godsend here because you can see what others are using and play with it to see how it works for you.
It's difficult to answer your question with any kind of specificity, but this will hopefully get you started thinking along a particular track or another.
Later,
K
What type of engines you want to use will predetermine what your minimum track diameters should be. You're a standard guager based on your avatar. that puts you most likely into the 1/29 scale camp.
Keep this in mind: large scale track uses DIAMETER not RADIUS to deliniate its size, this is a big difference from the smaller scales and can be the cause of confusion for newbies.
For modern 1/29 Diesels:
Almost all 4 axle dismals GP9, FA-1, F-3 etc, will run on as small as 5 foot diameter curves but its recommended that you use no tighter than 6.5 foot diameter curves.
Any 6 axle dismal WILL require 8 foot diameter track as a minimum, some can grind thru the 6.5 foot curves but really dont like them.
Steam: almost all large 1/29 steamers now require 8 foot minimum diameter.
This is why most 1/29ers will recommend 8 foot as your working mimimum diameter.
MAKE SURE YOUR TURNOUTS MATCH YOUR MINIMUM CURVATURE!!!!
It happens more often than you can imagine, someone says they layed down 8 foot diamter curves but their SD40 led trains are derailing on the turnouts and its found out they were using the smallest R1 4 foot diameter turnouts.
Have fun with your trains
To follow up on one of Vic's points, curves are described interchangeably by both radius and diameter, which makes things even more confusing. Even the manufacturers are inconsistent on that. Some use one, some use the other, some use both. I've seen one sentence from a manufacturer's instruction manual that read "for best results, use our large diameter (5' radius) curves." So make sure you pay attention to what method the manufacturer or modeler is using to describe the curve.
Also note that many manufacturers use "R#" to describe the size of their curves. The "#" is a designation for each radius/diameter they make. There is NO uniformity between manufacturers on this. One manufacturer uses a number equal to the radius of the curve (so an R3 curve has a 3' radius). Another simply makes three sizes of curves, calling the first R1, the second R2, etc. You've got to know which manufacturer you're using, and how they measure their curves. (Did I mention why I love flex track? )
Oh, and we haven't even gotten to couplers yet...
Wait!
Come back!!!
Underwater basket-weaving is really not all it's cracked up to be!
Seriously, there's a lot of stuff in large scale that's going to be confusing to the newcomer. You'll muddle through, and it will eventually click. When it comes to large scale, there are no dumb questions. We've all asked them ourselves (or searched the archives to find someone else who did to save ourselves the embarrassment). Welcome aboard!
WELCOME
most these guys type faster than I can read.
Enjoy the learning curve.
Is it REAL? or Just 1:29 scale?
Long live Outdoor Model Railroading.
Thanks everyone, LOTS of really good advice here. I will be sure to use it and I hope I will be able to build a great garden railroad in the available space (it's not much, but should allow some switching).
Again, thanks!
I didn't see anybody mention grade, when planning your layout, keep your grades less than 2 % for long trains.
Glenn from Blairstown NJ.
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