Help..!! Stopped by Mizell trains yesterday, and before I left, I ended up with a USA Trains Rio Grande NW-2 in G scale. :tb-biggrin: Now seriously, with my folks supporting this move......I need to find a source of information on designing and building a small garden layout. Books and/or magazines both helpful. Aware of Garden Railways magazine, but any others helpful. :tb-smile: If anyone is willing to share layout and/or construction photos, that would also be much appreciated! Any and all information is much appreciated!! Thanks.
Or at least a wedge plow. Congrats on your new aquisition! Building a mini version of the Monarch branch in garden scale would be cool--but you would need GP9's or 30's, and a bunch of GS gons. Now that you own "Burnham's Pampered Pet", you could do the Denver Belt Line. How wild or mild do you wanna go? I have no experience building in G, but how much different could it be from building in N or other scales?? What kind of space do you have to play with?
The need for a rotary has crossed my mind, as did the need for a wedge plow!! Don't want to go too wild, more because of cost. Looking at a wandering mainline, with a few passing sidings for later expansion. Again, trains no longer than 5 cars. Mainly running, with no industry. As for total space, that is yet to be figured out. Thinking of starting in back yard, then heading to the front, circling through Moms flowers and returning to the back. Gotta wait until it warms up more, so I can discuss the idea(s) further. Hopefully, adding photos before too long, when weather allows! Just got the bug, so I've got time to figure out what I'll be permitted to do, and where.
Check out MyLargeScale.com (I think thats right, gettin' old ya know!) and see what is on their site. I've been there a few times, and it was quite interesting. Good luck with the build.
Sometimes a simple dog bone is good.... You might get some ideas from these photos. When I started in G scale/gauge I had a raised garden out back that was pretty much over grown with rocks and mountain grasses. The pine needles had just about ruined the soil. With a little work I cleared off a space that was 36 feet by 14 feet and put down my first track. I followed the N scale theme I had used for many years. I built a simple dog bone shape with a single long siding at the station and water tank and a two track spur into a grain elevator and a warehouse. I also had a single spur into an engine house that I used for overnight or foul weather storage. All the buildings are scratch built and stayed outside for two years. When I moved inside at the new house all they needed was some dusting off. Not as hard to do as you might think. After all, your real house is outside all the time. I kept the ground cover down to a very minimum but it still required cutting and trimming more than I had planned for. I'm not a gardener I guess. Anyway, that suited the theme of a prairie railway just fine. That dog bone offered me continuous running which is what I wanted in a garden and some switching so I could change cars from time to time. There was also a short track across the 'bone' near the engine house so I could reverse directions if I wanted to do so. There are a few more pictures at Winter Valley Regional Railroad - Welcome! under the Mountain Division heading. It was a great way for me to start. Dave
Check out Garden Railways for their listings of club layouts, The Nat'l Garden Railway Convention was in Denver 3? years ago, LOTS of great looking layouts sponsored by 2 Garden railraod Clubs. There are also a couple of books out on garden railroads: "Getting Started In Garden Railroading" by Allan Miller (2001 Krause Publications), "Beginner's Guide to Large Scale Model Railroading" by Marc Horovitz & Russ Larson ( 1994 Kalmbach)
keith sounds like you have big plans... multiple sidings and such. i strongly suggest you choose the largest curves you can get. at least 10ft diameter. one day you might want to run large six-axle diesels. they just look funny on small curves. beside some operational problems. if you have space enought you should go with 20ft diameter curves. this will allow even the largest steamers (such as the usa big-boy) to run on your layout. other than that keep in mind that a garden railroad usually requires some heavy work. digging out the roadbed or do some landscaping needs alot more effort than in any smaller scale. i did carry in 3 tons of crushed rock for my trackbed. at that time my hands had more blisters than i had rolling stock.
Did some quick looking, and some quick, approximate measurements yesterday. At this point, I think I can go up to, and no larger than, an 8 foot curve. And with some searching, I've found the locomotives I want to get. For me, 4 axle diesel power is all I need. Due to space limitations, and because it's what I want! I've already got a good start, with an NW-2. I've found GP30's are available, and I've seen GP40's due out later this year. And all in Rio Grande paint! I figure the following trains: NW-2, 5 cars, caboose 2 GP30's, 10 freight cars, caboose 2 GP40's, 10 coal hoppers, caboose As winter weather will permit: ANY locomotive combo with either a wedge plow. Or rotary, IF one is made that throws snow from track! Mom will ove it, IF I can locate one that works like the real thing! As for a track plan, I'm thinking two seperate loops, or two loops connected by 4 turnouts. Again, I've got plenty of time to figure out the details of what I want etc.... What'll help too, is I have the full support of my folks for going ahead with this! Mom want to redo the backyard anyway, so incorporating a layout won't be too hard! Of course, photo of the action when the time comes! Thanks for the comments/ideas so far!
keith the gp40 are already out. you'll find some first reviews and feedback on Welcome to the Aristo-Craft Trains Internet Depot as said, the only rotary that actually works is about 8000$ . aristocraft has a nice snow plow which works flawless.
I've seen PRE production sample of the GP40's, but nothing that says they are out. All I've seen, from the Aristo Craft site, says early 2008. Either way, I've got time! As for the rotary, $8K is a bit too stiff for my budget!! Think I'll stick with thew wedge.
Re: Help..!! "Help..!! Stopped by Mizell trains yesterday, and before I left, I ended up with a USA Trains Rio Grande NW-2 in G scale." I can relate ... I have a USA Trains GP-9 Southern Pacific "Black Widow" sitting on my credenza in a display case with all the right-of-way I own -- all 10 inches of it. Do I own any rolling stock? No, but I have about 25 pages in the Charles Ro catalog dog-eared. (This is just what I need -- I'm already building a 30x30 HO layout, plus I have some rolling stock in both "S" & "O" scales. Maybe I could put the G track on the floor underneath the HO benchwork.):bear-shocked:
San Antonio Garden Club Layout Here is a link to the San Antonio Garden Club layout at the Texas Transportation Museum (TTM) on Wetmore Road. The layout has expanded since I last saw it.
