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Hello Pastor Tom and welcome to Garden Railroading! It is truly a wonderful hobby and is composed of some fantastic people. You'll get lots of opinions, nearly all of which are good, but very different. There are a huge number of options, none of which you will know is right until you try it. The good news is that nearly none of the options is wrong either. I'll give you my experiences and opinions. I have had a G-scale train since about 1981, but it only ran around the Christmas tree until two years ago when my wife and I decided to re-landscape and put it outside. I live in Michigan, so we probably share some similar weather patterns. 1. Link up with any local garden railroad club. Having people to talk to, question and share ideas is great. 2. Subscribe to Garden Railways. It's a great magazine and very helpful to advanced and beginner alike. 3. Check out www.mylargescale.com and www.largescaleonline.com. They are both good websites (largescaleonline requires a subscription to enter the forums) and have forums where everyone will try to help you. We are the fastest growing of all model railroading, so there are lots of questions from newcomers. Don't worry if your question might sound stupid. We've all been there and want to help. 4. As a beginner, I would recommend buying sectional track (it comes in presri bed curves and lengths). The other two options are flexible track (it allows more flexibility in your design - no pun intended - but is a little trickier to lay) and hand-laid track (just what you think it is - leave it to the pros for now). The two to choices and the easiest to find in hobby stores or on the internet are LGB and Aristo-Craft. They are both very good and will stand up to the weather outside all year round. LGB track, in my opinion, looks best with old steam and narrow gauge trains because its tie-to-tie spacing is wider. Aristo-Craft track , in my opinion, looks best with more modern locos or standard gauge track because its tie-to-tie spacing narrower. The advantage to Aristo is that it has positive attachment via screws between each track section, thereby ensuring positive electrical contact. LGB track slides together like most people are used to. In the garden, the tracks need good conductivity, so if you use LGB, purchase Hillman Railclamps or Split-Rail Clamps. It adds to the cost, but they work great. Look at the two types of track at your hobby store, place an engine on them and then decide which looks better to you. They will both weather outside and will lose their bright patina. 5. Start out with a somewhat simple layout, such as an oval, dogbone or modified dogbone. I would avoid figure-8's. I recommend at least one passing siding so you have a place to park some traincars. Allow for some expansion space if you want to add more track. Try to use the largest curves you can handle. Sectional track commonly comes in 2', 4' and 5' radius. Avoid 2' at all costs -- it looks a little strange and toylike and will limit your choice of future locomotives. Try to go 5' if you can. Eyeball you property from different locations and try to lay out a course that is not entirely visible from all spots. Most people find that the railroad looks better if the viewer has to move to different spots to see it all. A sense of mystery to where the train goes is good. Otherwise you have the God's eye view which is not natural. You can accompli***his with the use of curves, buildings, plants, tunnels, cuts (slices through hills), bridges and trestles. 6. Remember that your train can only do what a real train can do. You will need to keep your grade in mind. Grade is the percent climb or descent of your track. The more mild the grade, the more realistic and the more traincars your loco can pull. Most people recommend 2-4% with a cap at 5%. A 4% grade means for every 50' of length, the train climbs 2'. Keep this in mind while you eyeball your property. However, don't let your property limit you. If you have a hill, make a cut or a tunnel. If you have a dip or ravine, add a fill, culvert, trestle or bridge. 7. You should place your track on some sort of bed (concrete, pressure treated lumber, ballast, etc.). I have had great luck with ballast. I also think it is very easy to install and looks very natural. Everywhere that the track is not mounted on a bridge or trestle, I dug a trench about 6" wide and 3-6" deep. I filled this trench with small stones. Every region has their own name for the stones. In my area they are called 31AA. They are also called crusher fines and 1/4 fines. The ideal ballast (pretty much to scale) is chicken grit, but most of it is made from bright white granite (I think a little gauche for a garden railroad). The crusher fines are bigger in size, but are a very natural color made of mixed browns, tans, ochres, etc. It blends nicely in a garden. Do not use pea gravel! These round stones do not bind together like the sharp edged crusher fines and grit, so they don't work very well as ballast. I don't use a week barrier or any lining -- the weeds haven't grown in the stones in two years. Once your stone is in, walk on it or tamp it down. Then lay your track on it and pour more stones in between the ties. Tamp these down with a 2x4. Water all the stone down to help it settle, plus the stone dust acts as a mild concrete base. Then, once dry, bru***he stones away from the rails with a paint brush. 8. You will need to chose a power method. The easiest and most common is track power. Connect your power pack to the track and let 'er rip. If you have more than 50' or 100' feet of track, most people recommend connecting the power pack at multiple locations to compensate for any electrical resistance. I recommend running outdoor lighting wire either under the ballast or in a trench next to the track. Make a few connections to the track, every 50' or so and also run a few extra wire alongside for future building lights, etc. I suggest a small conduit buried under the lawn from one location near the track to a spot near your electrical outlet. That way you can have all of your track and lighting wires converge on one spot and plug into your power pack which will need to be near the outlet. 9. There are lots of power packs available. Invest in one that gives you wireless "walk around" control. I guarantee you will want to wander in your garden and follow your train. I also guarantee that you will want power control at your fingertips wherever you are. Walk around will give you that capability. I use MRC's Controlmaster 20 with Remote Control Systems remote control. I also know the Crest and Bridgewerks are popular systems. LGB power packs are good, but very expensive. 10. If you haven't chosen trains yet, starter sets are good, but I would suggest buying everything separately (i.e. loco, cars, track and powerpacks). The starter sets do not have the track radius I would recommend and the power pack will limit you. Check out your local hobby store or scan through Garden Railways magazine. St. Aubin Station, Trainworld, Lantz's offer good products at competitive prices with fast delivery. It's a good idea to stay with one brand starting out to ensure the couplers all work together. All trains will run on the same track, but not all couplers work well together. That can be remedied later. You will get lots of opinions on rolling stock. LGB is great quality with high prices. I like Bachmann Spectrum series because I model 1920's & 30's, the quality is good and the prices are very good. Although not quite Spectrum detail level, a good starter engine is Bachmann's anniversary 4-6-0 ($150). Make sure it is the anniversary version which is much better detailed than their normal 4-6-0. Aristo and USA Trains also make great engines, much more towards modern diesel-electrics and Golden Age of Steam. This is a small point (also not to overwhelm you), but try to buy rolling stock with steel wheels or buy steel wheels for them and change them out yourself. Steel wheels work much better on your track and don't leave crud on the rails, particularly during the hot summers. I hope all of this is not overwhelming. None of the above items are difficult or complicated, they only sound so. Basically, buy a train, pick a track, get a shovel and some stone and go to it. The trains are pretty forgiving.
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