What do you expect to accomplish RR wise by this time next year?

[Anonymous]

Overhead system.

[folkestonekeith]

My line is about 2 years old and comprises a line with passing siding winding down one side of the garden (about 100ft.) with a loop at the end of the line. From this loop another line starts and winds its way up and halfway across the back of the garden- at this point being about 18inches above ground.

This weekend I started to extend the railway across the back of the garden with the intention that by the end of the winter the railway would have reached the other side of the garden and be on it's way back to the house. Hopefully by this time next year the railway will reach the house - leaving a missing link of 35 feet across the back of the house before joining up with the start of the line....and creating a circle round the garden. Maybe this bit will have to wait until 2007!!

Most of my stock is German Narrow Gauge (as I mange to vist the Harz and Dresden area of Germany most years!!!) and Swiss Metre Gauge. However, this year, I got bowled over by the latest LGB Sumpter Valley Mallet release which appeared on the UK market for around US$950 a bargain by UK standards!!!! - I just had to have it!! Have just wired in a wye off the station loop so that I can turn the brute!!

Also waiting for the line round the garden to be completed is an Accucraft live steam Lynton & Barnstaple Lyn. Am just waiting for the time when I can chill out in the middle of the garden with a bottle of cold Lindauer (New Zealand sparkling wine - better than the froggy stuff!!) watching "Lyn" chuff round the garden.....motivation to get to work this winter!! Oops, forgot to mention the Bachmann Heisler and Shay (equipped with Pheonix sound!!) waiting for the logging line to be constructed.........

Once I've sussed out how to post pictures to the site I'll try and show what I've done in the last two years!!

[ttrigg]

GP-9_Man11786

When you move into your apartment get a two bedroom one. One to sleep in and another to build in with trains. If you can't do that then remember, the are a number of "briefcase layouts" in Z Scale. No matter how small your place there is always a size and scale of railroad that will fit. As a geographic bachelor in the Army stationed in Germany, did not have much room, (everything I owned was in a 12'x22' room.) But there was always enough room for a good sized N scale layout! ("L" shaped 8'x10')

[Tom The Brat]

Trains & Kids. Now that's a great combination!



This little guy brought his grandma and grandpa to see the trains yesterday. Yes, the drink made several trips around the railroad on the gondola. At age 2, he knows the proper names for all the cars.

[markperr]

Well, it's been a little over a month since I posted my first reply on this thread and I've already begun putting in my pond/stream. As it turns out, I have another reason for getting things going. My oldest daughter graduates from high school next June and the wife wants an operational railroad running in the back yard by then. (turns out, that's where the open house will be)
So, I can't get the track down until the pond is in. Today I went and purchased the first few items needed to begin and started.
Pics will follow eventually.

Mark

[GP-9_Man11786]

I will probably stick to O-guage hi rail while in an apartment and leave the gardent railway equipment for around the christmas tree for a few years. I'd like to wait to have kids to build my dream railroad so I can share it with them.

I will say after reading Classic Toy Trains and seeing time and time again that people in the hobby sold their childhood trains; I was carefull not to make the same mistake. And fortunatly (or unfortunatly) i will still post here long after my railroad is gone.

[Tom The Brat]

You can always have a train! I did it in the asylum. See http://gold.mylargescale.com/torby/

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by GP-9_Man11786

Sadly, by this time next year, my railorad will most likely be just a memory.[V]

I will be graduating from college this may and hopefully oving out of my parents house and down to Florida, where I will most assuredly be renting.

My next railroad will be years away but I will take what I have learned with this one and apply those lessons to my dream railroad. By this time next year I hope to have a good job, a roof over my head and an image of that dream railroad.

Bachelor train man pad![8D] I wish I had gotten back into trains when I had my own apartment. You will probably have plenty of room so long as you don't clutter it up with furniture[:D] You really don't need more then a lazy boy, tv, computer and coffee table do you?? you can do alot in a small space, check out Vsmith thread "Saga of the ever shrinking railroad".

[GP-9_Man11786]

Sadly, by this time next year, my railorad will most likely be just a memory.[V]

I will be graduating from college this may and hopefully oving out of my parents house and down to Florida, where I will most assuredly be renting.

My next railroad will be years away but I will take what I have learned with this one and apply those lessons to my dream railroad. By this time next year I hope to have a good job, a roof over my head and an image of that dream railroad.

[Anonymous]

cacole
you can use it , i used black plastic , then i put ballast down to cover the plastic then layed my track . ben

[ttrigg]

Cacole

I've used the "weed cloth" before, not in my GRR, but under a Lava Rock "round cover." The stuff works great in stopping the big weeds with the long roots! Used under rock/gravel after a couple of years you start to get a buildup of "blown in" dust and dirt. Weeds begin to grow again, BUT, since the cannot grow down through (as well as UP through) the cloth, they send out little spindly roots and are really easy to pluck up. Until I pulled the lava rock up and replaced with Eucalyptus Bark mulch I used to pluck the weeds weekly with a "Gofer" (the contraption with a pistol grip on one end and a set of "pinching" tongs on the other.) I have since switched to shredded Eucalyptus (the whole tree, not just the bark). If you have ever walked under a Eucalyptus tree, did you ever see ANYTHING growing?

[cacole]

I'm going to begin totally rebuilding portions of my layout as soon as the rains stop so I can kill off the weeds and begin rerouting track.

By the way, does anyone have experience with weed block cloth sold at home improvement stores? Does it really work? I have been considering putting it down under my new trackworks to stop the tumbleweeds from taking over during the summer rains next year. Having to spray vegetation killer every week is getting tiring.

[ttrigg]

By this time next year, I hope to have completed the construction of phase 1 to includ the building of the Town of Rosebud Falls. The long run (130 ft out/130 ft back) to Green Apple Orchard shoould be down and running. Since this long loop is at the direction of the wife, (she wants to send the train off and have it gone for a while, NO buildings, NO grading, just wandering through her roses and apple trees.) it will have a higher priority that the construction of the Yards at Rosebud Falls.

[Anonymous]

Mark what do you mean by 20 X 35 feet or metres/?

If it is feet have a look at what I did in area 4; 7 X 3 m and i got in 65 m track usitizing an American double dogbone layout.

rgds Ian

[Rastun]

I'm hoping that by this time next year, I'll have the area for the train elevated and at least one loop of track down so I can have a train running around while I work on the rest. With that said I'm also seriously considering the thought process of buying a starter set and just getting it outside and running, in a different area just so I can keep track of what the goal really is [:D]

Take care,
Jack

[tangerine-jack]

Hey markn, sounds to me like you've already done everything "right": getting a train running any way you can! As a reminder, there is no right or wrong way in the garden, only what works for you and what don't.

Depending on where you live and what type of flower bed you made, you might be able to get away with throwing down an inch or two of gravel on the surface and laying your track directly on that. It would make things a lot simpler and still provide a good roadbed. It's all about drainage in my opinion..................



[oX)]

[Anonymous]

Would like to add more industries along the railroad to do some switching . This year we added 220 minature trees so far . That is a pre-tree photo of last year . That dirt pile now has a waterfall and pond , and the retaining wall was moved forward 4 feet . The tracks split just past the station and the inside track goes over the new creek . 3/4 of the railroad is pritty well complete . Next year we will finish off the other side of the yard . A tunnel is already in place and the dirt is settling on the unfinished part of the railroad . In a year from now I think the railroad will look finished . Of course it is never really done and it will be undergoing contsant upgrades. Mike and Connie

[markn]

I have to answer bass ackwards-I never thought I'd be where I am now a year ago- a year ago I had two Bachmann starter sets I picked up on close out (only ran around the Christmas tree), some Aristo track I pick up whenever I am in Cincinnati at Davis Trains and dreams of the "perfect" layout-all neatly stored until..kids are older, car/house paid off etc etc etc-This spring I had to rebuild a couple of flower beds and decided to make them big enough for at least a basic dogbone and throw down some track--boy am I glad I did-I still have to do every "right"-trench/ballast/level/hard wire etc etc but a year from now "I'll be working on the railroad" at loving every minute of it...someone said it here a few months back, throw down a circle of track in the grass and go run your trains-you'll figure everything else out from there.

[markperr]

Funny this question should come up now. I have a space about 20x35 in the back yard that will become (someday) the location for my new layout. It's been sitting there for about a year now, primarily being used as a place to grow weeds.

A couple of weeks ago at our local Garden Railway Club get together, the club treasurer announces that she'd like to have our club do an open house tour next year.

So now I have to get my butt in gear and start working on creating something.

What to do, what to do........

Better start thinking more earnestly.... and acting!!!!!!!

Mark

[vsmith]

Be nice if we could have this new garage business out of the way by this time next year, thats if our seasons dont go from torrential heat to torrential rain and back like they did last year...

[Anonymous]

I have already started my extension from area 3 to area 4 and from area 3 right across area 2 to area 1, but i don't know if i will get an allocation of money to do much more spent nearly 6,000 aussie dollars in Hamburg and i have got to get all that stuff home yet.

I was going to make area 4 a marsheling yard but the thinking is going toward a watery activity.

rgds ian

[van buren s l]

I would like to have a few feet of track under a wire for my traction stuff. With three red oaks, a white oak, two hickories and a black gum tree in my back yard it will be tough to find a place that is safe from falling branches and twigs.
Bob

[chuckger]

Hi Matt,
Getting started, just moved, new place has about 2 to 21/2 acers in the back yard. Plan on building some rolling stock and engines over winter and start on train layout in early spring. Im modeling early DSP&P --1872 to 1890. RR will be battery power, and I will be using link and pin couplers, scale 120.3
Im working on building a work benck in the garage, this is along one side about 2' wide and 20' long. Almost finished with it . Have room for band saw and tabel saw at end of work bench. Building it this way I can still get 2 cars in.
chuckger

[Anonymous]

My overhead power systems for the trams.It's got to be children,cat and Troy proof.
This may take some time Mr Bond!

[Anonymous]

Buildings hopefully should be about it for me, we have removed the hardwood mulch which washes with heavy rains and are replacing it with natural stone .5 inches in diameter. The last track modifications have been completed. Place the buildings out and plant the 6 remaining "trees" and all sould be well.

mikadousrp

[tangerine-jack]

Buildings, buildings, and more buildings. It's hard to justify the existance of the RR with the few structures I have now. My city/ industrial area looks like a failed Soviet 5 year plan. That and a general improvement of landscaping by revisiting some older areas and upgrading to my new standards. Simple.......NOT!


[oX)]

[Train 284]

Well, I would like to have my 8 foot expansion done, waterfall & creek finished, railway landscaped, depot and shed built and the track for the yard layed out and ready for use. Ah geez, to much stuff!!! [:O][:O][:O]

[bman36]

Hey Matt,
Last nights discussions were centered around plantings. We had a fire going and were watching the train running. We both came to the conclusion we did not care for a lot of what we had planted now that it was mature. This time next year we would like to see a very different garden plant wise. Starting construction on phase two of our layout in just a few weeks. That will include a deck at the side of the house, a new loop of track, and an entrance into the basement for trains. That is more than enough for this year. Later eh...Brian.

[Anonymous]

One word - running.

I'm still working on the pond and after that I'll finish up the mountains, tunnels and right-of-way, then lay some track.

Bill