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March, 2015 Update from Family Garden Trains<sup><small>TM</small></sup>.  This is another view of Frank Klatt's railroad as it was set up in 2005.  Click to see a much bigger version of this photo. Garden Railroading Primer Articles: All about getting a Garden Railroad up and running wellGarden Train Store: Index to train, track, and other products for Garden Railroading
Large Scale Starter Sets: Begin with a train you'll be proud to runBest Choices for Beginning Garden Railroaders: a short list of things you're most likely to need when starting out
Large Scale Track order FormSturdy buildings for your garden railroad.
Large Scale Christmas Trains: Trains with a holiday theme for garden or professional display railroads.Free Large Scale Signs and Graphics: Bring your railroad to life with street signs, business signs, and railroad signs
Garden Railroading Books, Magazines, and Videos: Where to go to learn even more
Collectible Trains and Villages: On30 Trains and accessories designed by Thomas Kinkade and others

Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden TrainsTM


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March, 2015 Update from Family Garden TrainsTM

Note: This is the web version of a newsletter from the Family Garden TrainsTM web site, which publishes information about running big model trains in your garden as a family activity.

If you are not subscribed to the Family Garden Trains newsletter, and you would like to subscribe, please join our Mailing List, and specify that you want to receive e-mail updates.

Also, if you would like to subscribe to our free newsletter for indoor railroads and seasonal display villages, please join the "Trains-N-TownsTM mailing list. You can subscribe to either, both, or neither, and we will just be glad to be of service, no matter what you decide.

Fine Print: If you are receiving our e-mail updates and you no longer wish to subscribe, please e-mail me with a "Please Unsubscribe" message (worded any way you wish), and we will graciously remove you from our list.

In this Issue

You're probably wondering why I haven't published a newsletter since December. One reason is that I got so snowed under with reader inquiries and signups that I'm still digging out. That's a good thing. Another reason is that one of the companies whose advertising helps keep our resources available to you, has just announced plans to reconfigure (break) about 3,000 links across our family of web sites. That's a bad thing. And at least one of the link-building systems we used to use is now broken, so we can't just go back and rebuild the broken links.That's another bad thing.

At least they warned us this time. Often I don't know what they've done until I try a link for some reason and realize that it takes me to an unrelated page. About 2008, another advertiser broke all of their links without warning us at all, and I'm still finding broken links from that exercise. The most unfortunate part of this is that I'm spending many hours fixing links that I would ordinarily be using to write or update articles, much less do actual projects worth reporting.

So when you notice that not much seems to be happening in some sections of the site, just think of a duck sitting "still" in a river. Compared to the riverbank, he may seem stationary, but underneath the surface, he's paddling like crazy just to keep from getting swept downstream. Yes, it may seem like a lot of hassle, but it keeps us "afloat."

Back to garden trains, dozens of folks have e-mailed me just in the last few weeks saying they plan to start a railroad this spring. So at the risk of seeming too redundant, I'm going to repost the link to our planning guides:

Especially, I want to tout the benefits of a raised railroad as described in our Building a Simple Raised Railroad article:

Yes, it seems a little more "daunting" when you're starting out. But the significantly reduced maintenance will give you lots more time to run trains in the future.

In the meantime, please have a great spring and enjoy any time you can spend with your family this season.

Topics discussed in this update include:


GardenRailway.com offers free resources just for signing up to their web site.More Free Resources for GardenRailways.com Members

Longtime readers know that I've been recommending subscriptions to Garden Railways (r) since we first started writing about garden trains. I still recommend it. It's not that much money. And, even if you get an issue or two with stuff that doesn't necessarily help you that much, the next issue may have one article that is worth more than you paid for the entire subscription.

That said, Garden Railways occasionally gives content away free to folks who don't even subscribe to the magazine. You do, however, have to sign up with their web page. Here's a link where you can sign in:

Today, when I click on that link and sign in, I see content from the current Garden Railways newsletter. If you are a current subscriber to the Garden Railways magazine, you automatically have access to everything on that page. However, some of the material is available if you're just subscribed to the web page itself. This includes how-to videos as well as pdf'd articles and other resources from past issues.

Mortar Mountain: http://grw.trains.com/how-to/projects/2014/12/mortar-mountain?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GRW_News_150421_Final&utm_content=

Old: Concrete Mountain:

One of the most important reposts is an updated version of Mark and Vince Buccini's articles on building a wireless DCC system that ran in April, June, and August of 2014. Apparently folks who tried this had a lot of questions, and some ran into roadblocks that the articles' authors didn't anticipate. So, as a genuine service to the garden railroading community, Garden Railways has reissued the articles in a single PDF article that is (currently) free to web page members.

As an example of an article that was posted earlier, GR is sharing a free pdf of a 2003 article about a railroad that is profiled again in the April 2015 issue:

As an example of a free downloadable structure plan from model building designer Ted Stinson, check out the downloadable pdf for the "1:20.3-scale Elevated Watchman?s Tower":

In addition, GR often supplies "tip" articles in HTML format related to recently printed articles. While you can't download and save the article as easily as you can a pdf, you can print the ones you think you may need to store in a notebook.

As an example of a "tip" article that is (currently) free to GR web site members, here's one on grading concrete roadbed:

Another "tip" article is a nice supplement to several GR railroads articles. It's a also a nice, if brief companion article to our own "Making Concrete Rocks and Cliffs" article.

Click to see our list of fact sheets.Family Garden Train Fact Sheets

Several years ago, we did a series of two-day garden railroading clinics that showed beginners everything they needed to know to get started from the ground up. Literally. To make handouts available, we reformatted a few of our most popular articles into pdf form. We've also made these availableto legitimate garden railroad clubs

Click on the following link to see the fact sheets we have so far, with photos and tips.

Garden Railroading Discussion ForumsGarden Railroading Discussion Forum Reminder

Last July, we announced a new discussion forum for folks who want to share projects, float ideas, ask and answer questions, etc. relating to garden trains. Every posting so far has gotten dozens of "views," and many have got hundreds, so there is a lot of interest in the site. If you've taken a look, you've noticed that there isn't one ad for Canadian pharmaceuticals or the like. And there isn't anybody saying nasty things about the equipment you use or about other people in the hobby. And there never will be - our manual signup, cumbersome as it is, filters out the spammers and the snipers.

In the meantime, I'm using the forums instead of "Letters to the Editor" to publish our answers to reader questions. This way other folks can chime in if they have something to add or they think I've said something wrong, and we all learn together.

To sign up for the discussion forums, please click the following link:

To check the forums out without signing up, please click the following link:

New Colorado Model Structure Offerings

Here is a casino kitbashed from the CMS Pullman motel kit. Click for bigger photo.Here is the CMS Pullman Hotel kit assembled according to instructions. Click for bigger photo.Our friends at Colorado Model Structures continue to strive to bring unique, but budget-friendly projects to the Large Scale community. I've built several and have more in the works, but I especially enjoy seeing what really creative people do with their kits and pieces.

Just to the right is one of their newest kits, the "Pullman House Hotel." Assembled according to instructions, it's 22-1/2" wide, 26-3/4" high, and 7-1/2" deep. I think it could make a nice Hudsons or Macy's department store as well. But I'm obviously not as creative as the fellow who made the casino out of it, shown in the far right photo.

Of course not everybody has the "visual space" for a 5-story city-block-wide buildingi on their railroad. But CMS has you covered, there, too, with a couple dozen small and medium-sized structures, often sold in sets to keep your shipping costs down. As an example, the house kit shown to the right is Mom's House, a new product from Colorado Model Structures. Click for bigger photo.sold with a smaller, but similar house kit for under $30. With a little imagination and some elbowgrease, you could build an entire subdivision for under $100.

And if you want something totally unique, many of the individual building components can be ordered separately for a reasonable cost.

To see more, simply click the link below and scroll down.

Finally, you've probably caught on that your CMS building will need painted to really look right on your railroad. Why not spend three-to-four times the money and get buildings that are already nicely painted from someone else? Because those buildings need painted, too - they will be faded and brittle within five years if you don't paint them before you set them out. For tips on how to make CMS buildings "come to life" with a little work, masking tape, and spray paint, click on the following article:

Garden Railroading in April

I know my railroad is still out there because I can see a plastic church steeple peeking out of the snow. But I am hoping to get outside time sooner or later. If you have seasons where you live, here's some things you can do in April to prepare for a great season.

  • Clean the leaves and bigger pieces of debris from your railroad and give it a visual inspection to see if you've had any washouts or other critical damage. If you have a chance, you could push a car around it and see if there seem to be any places where the track is obviously uneven.

  • Trim any dwarf conifers that didn't get their fall trim and still need it. They'll look better all summer if you do it before their early spring growth gets really established. The article at the link below will give you some suggestions.

  • If you have a rainy weekend, clean the wheels on your trains (especially on your locomotives), wipe your buildings clean, and so on. Or finish your winter projects, like I usually try to do.) If we have a wet, rainy spring that keeps me inside, I might get a chance to finish my winter projects from 2006.)

  • Check your budget for any expansions. Our article on Garden Railroading on a Budget has helped lots of folks. Click the link below to see it.

  • If you get a warm day or two, clean out your pond. Even if I get a net on it in the fall, bits of leaves and stuff fall through and make it worse.

  • Plan an open house. Don't be afraid - if you start planning now, it can be a huge success. Don't feel bad if you're not really ready in early spring, though. I usually have a big head start, since my track, etc., doesn't usually move around that much between our open house in November and early spring.

Keep in Touch

Finally, please let us know about your ongoing projects. Ask questions, send corrections, suggest article ideas, send photos, whatever you think will help you or your fellow railroaders. In the meantime, enjoy your trains, and especially enjoy any time you have with your family in the coming weeks,

Paul Race

FamilyGardenTrains.com

To view the newsletter for December, 2014, click on the following link:

To read more, or to look at recommended Garden Railroading and Big Indoor Train products, please click on the index pages below.

Visit our Garden Train Store<sup><small>TM</small></sup> Bachmann Starter Set Buyer's Guide








































































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Note: Family Garden TrainsTM, Garden Train StoreTM, Big Christmas TrainsTM, BIG Indoor TrainsTM, and BIG Train StoreTM are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications (www.btcomm.com). All information, data, text, and illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
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Click to see new and vintage-style Lionel trains.
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