Newbie on a slope?

[Anonymous]

Hi friends,
I am brand new to all of this but am really excited to get started on a G-scale layout. Unfortunately, the area that I have to build upon is at the top of my sloped backyard here in the Bay Area of California. Is this possible?? It would be a perfect focal point too if it will work out. The only other option would be to lay it out across my retaining wall, but it just wouldn't be as fun and/or ornate. Please advise. Thanks!!!

PS, I too am a lady railroader and would enjoy meeting others [:)]

[ttrigg]

[#welcome][#welcome]
Kaneary

Depending on the slope of your hillside, you might want to look at doing some switchbacks to go up and down the hill. A lot of switchbacks were used in the Colorado mining roads. For continuos runs you would need to look into building another retaining wall and terracing your hillside, or you could do a "rack" (cog) system to get up and down the hill. I too am a newbie to Large Scale (only a year and a half) but if you could give these guys a bit more information, I'm sure you will be inundated with ideas. Info like how wide is your part of the hillside, what is the slope, how high up, is what they will need to work with.

[cacole]

To see how I handled a sloped back yard, look at my G-scale layout at http://members.cox.net/cacole2

[John Busby]

Hi kaneary
[#welcome]
A sloping block.
Make the top of the slope ground level track. and the lower part of the slope
build up an a wall or some sort of raised track bed this would be a good
area for Loco sheds freight yards, steaming bays should they be required
as this area can be at a comfortable hight to be able to play trains in the yard.
or whatever.
I know this may sound a bit daft but you will apreciate the comfortable hight
and not having to bend down all the time when that third 21st birthday comes along.
Try to plan the garden and the railway as one so they compliment each other
and work together niether should overpower the other
Regards John

[whiterab]

Our railroad is built on the slope of a dry ravine we have in the backyard. We love it because of the extra dimension it adds to the railroad. We built a 35" high retaining wall to give us enough room for curves to make a folded figure 8.

The layout is long and thin so we could make make the grades as low as we could. We choose this area instead of a smaller flat spot in the front of the house so we could have better scenery.

Building on a slope is definately more challenging but can be well worth it. we designed the layout so all of the switches and most of the details such as buildings and bridges were along the retaining wall. This makes for very easy maintenance as one doesn't have to bend down to work. Visitors also get a much better view of the railroad and the plants as they are seeing them closer to eye height instead of looking down at the garden.

Even if one was building on a flat spot, I'd encourage people to look at raising their layouts up with retaining walls just for the effect and ease of working on the layout.

The disadvantage of a slope is that it requires much more attention to details such as drainage, calculating grades and just coming up with a track plan that is feasible. Filling in the area behind a retaining wall also requires literally tons of dirt and lots of physical labor. In our case, we hired a landscaping contractor to assist us in building the initial retaining wall and backfilling the area behind it.

Hope this helps. There are lots of layouts built on slopes and some searching on the internet and back issues of Garden Railways will give you some ideas of what others have done.

[smcgill]

[#welcome] Kaneary

You have found a great place to ask this guestion!
Also try asking this same question on this forum [;)]
myLargescale.comeForums
Most eaven like to show you pics! [;)]
Good luck and welcome!

[Anonymous]

Wow! Thanks for all of the great responses, I really appreciate the input. I do want to continue with the slope plan as it is a very scenic location. I have posted some pictures on this site:

http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/kaneary/GardenRailwaySite/ps/ALBUM/VIEWWEBSITE?foneblog=1126021223113

Yes, we have done a lot of work already, you should have seen it before!! The terrace at the top right of the slope was done the old fashioned way by us, so... it would not be a big deal to terrace the site out a bit. I would love it if any of you could comment on it. If you need further info/questions, you can reach me at my email address: [e-mail]

I would also love to see pictures of what you guys have done on slopes!

Thanks for your time[:)]
Kelly

[ttrigg]

You have an area that has great potential for multilevel operations, by careful planning and some terracing you should be able to produce a very nice layout.

To see some multilevel layouts give this site a try
http://www.eaglewingsironcraft.com/photo.html
In particular scroll down to these two photo postings and look how they handled multilevel operations.
Bob Zucker's layout in Mesa, AZ
Ed Dunshie's layout in Mesa, AZ
At Eagle wings there are a great many photos from which to draw inspirations.

Everything of mine is built on the flat, the only exception is to be a single line that will eventually run to the top of the water fall.

[Phil Hemingway]

Hi Kelly, I have exactly the same problem in the uk. Your slope looks very similar although i have a level area at the top about 6 foot deep. my plan is to build a retaining wall to pu***his out to give 10 feet deep so i can have 4 foot radius curves. It will be back breakin work but worth it. I plan to start next spring. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Hi Kelly,

There is an interesting DVD for sale in the UK called "Railways In Your Garden Vols 1 & 2 " go to www.atlanticpublishers.com for details. There is a garden railway with a similar gradient but smaller size.

I would not recommend too steep a gradient. I have short runs of 1 in 25 on my layout and this is close to the limit for live steam. You did not say if you intended a live steam operation. Try to keep any curves as big as possible as running radio controlled live steam on tight curves with a steep gradient is a challenge. A mixture of terraces, cuttings and tunnels would work well.

Good luck

Stuart