Newbie - Asking for advice/help

[PuffinBilly]

Hello All,

First post to this forum as I have only recently started in model rail, I used to be in model aircraft.

I am planning a garden railway so I can have a reasonable track to run my recently bought trains on but need advice.

I would like to have three separate circuits eventually so I can run 2 X Live Steam Hornby "00" Gauge and 1 x dcc track.

I have seen a layout on ebay done with a base of square section downpipe topped with ply and roofing felt and thought this was a good idea. Is it?

Also to accommodate what will eventually be 6 lines side by side how wide will the track bed need to be.

I have approx. 50 foot x 10ft area to play with and envisage a layout like a large L shape with a loop at each end. What sort of diameter will my loops have to be to accommodate longish coaches and Double tender Flying Scotsman.????

Any advice greatfully received.

P.S. I already have about 250 foot of track.

[mick]

Hi PuffinBilly. Sorry for the delay in getting your first post approved for posting. Just spent a week in Scotland where Internet access is at times almost impossible. Welcome to the forum

It's always good to hear from new OO gauge garden railway enthusiasts and to hear of their plans for an outdoor layout. The Live Steam aspect is interesting as I had a dabble in that myself some years ago. Craig may be able to help you with advice on that one as he's also been running Live Steam outdoors alongside his DCC track. You'll need some hefty power feeds if my experiences are anything to go by.

I've heard of others using downpipes beneath the plywood track base and can see no reason why it shouldn't be entirely successful. There are a whole host of different ways to support the track base with nothing really standardised, most of us on the forum use our own individual methods depending on our layout's location and intended operating/viewing height. It just needs to be nice and solid to prevent possible warping or twisting which would undoubtedly lead to frustration in the future.

I would always encourage new builders to design their layouts with large radius curves - in fact the bigger the better in my opinion. I would suggest an absolute minimum of 4 feet, preferably 5 or 6+ feet and rather than treat them as simple returns you might consider them more a part of the layout itself. The main reason for me going outdoors was to get away from the restrictions on space and the need for small radius curves which really don't look right at all in my view. I actually enjoy seeing trains going round curves more than when they are travelling along a lengthy straight. Best not to have 'curves' in the sense that you might be more accustomed to - just have a layout with gently flowing trackwork, providing space is no object.

[PuffinBilly]

Hello Mick, thanks for the words of encouragement.

Whilst I seemed to have made up my mind about the type of layout I envisaged I am not so sure now.

Problem is that I have a long narrow garden which is nearly flat but not quite, if Put track close to the ground I think it may turn out boring as it is mostly grass with a few large shrubs and various features like a water feature and a rather small attempt at an Italian forum area which already seem to crowd the areas in some ways by making it even narrower.

I am now thinking would it be better to build my railway as table-top modules which I can dismantle when not using and store in shed I think I could get a decent layout into a 20' x 6' oblong and I could then populate it with more scenery than I could if I put it at ground level.

I would also like to know would I need to use Styrofoam underlay along with cork under the track or could I use strips of roofing felt under the track.

I really do need some advice / help please.

Any ideas welcome.

[traingeekboy]

Good to see you join the group. I look forward to seeing the layout develop.

[mick]

PuffinBilly said:

...Whilst I seemed to have made up my mind about the type of layout I envisaged I am not so sure now.....I am now thinking would it be better to build my railway as table-top modules which I can dismantle when not using and store in shed I think I could get a decent layout into a 20' x 6' oblong and I could then populate it with more scenery than I could if I put it at ground level....

That's a decision that only you can make. It sounds a similar predicament to the ones I always came up against in my 'pre outdoor layout' days when I was contemplating building a model railway layout. There was never enough room to build one. I get the feeling that you'd really like an indoor type layout with lots of scenic possibilities but don't have the room indoors. That's a problem a lot of people encounter so you're not on your own.

I agree that a layout completely at ground level in the garden would be less attractive than one built at a higher level. My first layout (Selby Garden Railway) was built around a flat garden but was raised up on building blocks to give it some height. Raising the layout means a substantial build, something you might not be too keen to do as it will tend to dominate the garden.

There's certainly nothing wrong with a portable layout that can be erected in the garden and stored away inside your shed. I've thought about that myself too but anything substantial might well take a lot of time and effort to erect and have to take down again too. You'll also have to think about the task of placing and removing all the stock on the layout at the start and end of any operating session. I wonder if it would be possible to build a permanent raised section outdoors to which you could add portable boards to operate? It's not easy to come up with decent suggestions without seeing exactly what area you have to play with.

What size is your shed? Would it be possible to have a small layout permanently housed in there which could be used all year round and add a short out and back outdoor extension for when the weather permits?

[traingeekboy]

Last time I posted I was out of internet play time so I had to run along without saying much.

Everyone develops their own style for garden OO. If you look around you'll see all kinds of layouts on this site. There is a lot to be said for a permanent layout, as over time the garden sort of envelopes it and it becomes part of the garden. Take a look at some of the layouts we have on here in the members garden railway section, there is a lot to be seen despite our group being rather small. People come and go on this site, but their photos remain as a good resource for ideas.

One of the layouts that really changed my attitude toward garden railways is Jules Garden Railway. It is very simple in design and is really just a good place to roll some trains in circles. But it has that wabisabi effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) of being part of the garden . With trees and shrubs growing around it. And then when I saw this video of trains in a snow storm, I was just hooked on the idea of year round train running with DCC.