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September, 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.
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In this Issue
According to Betty Talmadge, life is what happens when you're making other plans. (Yes, she said it first.) Site maintenance issues have continued to plague us, though by the beginning of September, they tapered off. So here's our first newletter since March. Or, to quote Monty Python, I'm not dead yet.
Many folks who sign up for this newsletter start out by asking me some question, then asserting that "This is the year I'm going to break ground." Often they ask me another question a year later, and when I ask them how the railroad it going, they say "This is the year I'm going to break ground." Don't feel bad, folks, I know exactly how you fell. Regarding just my railroad, I broke ground in 1999, and I still struggle with keeping things ready to run fifteen years later.
In fact, my railroad is going to need a lot of work before I am ready for my November 14 Christmas-themed open railroad this year. If you're in any danger of being anywhere near Springfield, Ohio in early November, look me up.
In fact, if you plan on coming in on the previous weekend for the Dayton Train show, send me an e-mail. I'm about 25 miles away, and you might could swing by if you just want to visit or maybe get handed a shovel.
The real festivities are on Nov. 14, though. Every year is different because every year I get help from different friends and family members. Plus the weather leading up to the open railroad has been known to bring obstacles (like early snowfall). But you should expect multiple trains running. Several trains are set up so kids can take turns running them. There is also a movie-style popcorn popper, and after dark, a real movie on an outdoor screen. There are also a couple thousand lights in the trees on and around the railroad, and some great Christmas mix CDs playing cheerful Christmas music. Our regular visitors consider it a way to "jump-start" the holiday season. Yes, it's before Thanksgiving, but if we wait until December to do this, the weather gets too "iffy." We've been blessed with clear weather every time we've done this, although it has been chilly twice.
One benefit for me is that it forces me to get my railroad in good operating condition at least once a year (like I said, life is what happens when you're making other plans.) Weeding, refurbishing buildings, track leveling, conifer trimming, you get the idea. Some years, most of my project articles for the year have been in preparation for this event.
As of this writing, I have hand-trimmed all but six or so of my  dwarf conifers, which is even more useful for their continued health than their appearance. I have also pulled several bushels worth of weeds, and discovered a species of red ant that has never been documented north of the Ohio River before (fortunately they are not fire ants). When the cleanup is done, I'll hang the lights in the row of Arborvitae behind the railroad (it's easier to hang lights when it's warm out and the wire doesn't go all stiff). Then I'm going to focus on getting the railroad itself into premium running condition. Frost heave on parts, mole undermining on other parts have turned sections that were quite level a few years ago into roller coasters.
Once trains run properly on the ROW, I'll clean up the buildings and replace the burnt out bulbs, etc. I pulled most of my buildings before the worst of the winter, but a few got buried under snow before I could do so, and those are serious need of new signage and - in some cases - a repaint. But I can do that indoors after dark.
Once the buildings are installed, I'll hang the lights on the railroad proper, then start working on the "kids'" railroads scattered around the yard. How many of those I get running depends on how much nice weather and help I get between now and November 14, but more is always better.
Sounds like I have a plan, doesn't it? Well, I didn't at first. When I started getting ready for the open RR, I actually was spinning my wheels because so many things needed to be done yesterday. Finally I decided to get the core RR back into optimum condition and then worry about everything else, including the weeds in the driveway and the front flowerbeds. We'll see.
Last year, I had to move the date back a week from when I usually do this, and had to deal with an early snow and leaf fall as well as everything else. It turned out okay, though. For a report on last year's open railroad click the following link:
For a list of all the stuff that I've done to get ready for all the open railroads since 2008, click this link and scroll down:
The fact is, if I didn't have open railroads, I wouldn't keep up on things nearly as well as I should, which is one reason I recommend that every garden railroader have at least one a year.
Speaking of maintenance, I've revisited my retaining wall article, due to experiences and adjustments I've had to make in the fifteen years since I broke ground on the original loop of the railroad.
In the meantime, please have a great autumn and enjoy any time you can spend with your family this season.
Topics discussed in this update include:
When I started my own New Boston and Donnels Creek railroad, I did what the people in the magazine articles and books told me to. What I didn't realize was that they almost all lived in very dry climates. Nowadays, I'm about ready to tell anyone in the Pacific Northwest or east of the Mississippi to avoid railroad ties and landscaping timbers period. The closest things I've found to a permanent solution tend involve either concrete or pressure-treated lumber (which does not include "landscaping timbers" - they're soaked in it but not pressure-treated).
For more information, please check the following article:
 Colorado Model Structures Bridge Panels
Colorado Model Structures hits it out of the park with this handy, but inexpensive product. I have no idea why bridges for garden railroads have always been so expensive.
 Since I have several feet of exposed 2x6 on the raised part of my railroad, I've always wished I could attach something that would make them look like bridges instead of exposed 2x6s. This will do the job. At about $7 a panel, you can get a lot of bridge for a fairly small investment.
To see these new products and many more, simply click the link below and scroll down.
The Track is Back
Polk's GeneratioNext track - basically AristoCraft track - is becoming available again, and can be ordered from their web page. This is the best garden railroad track ever made, so I won't say anything negative about it.
I hope it starts showing up in stores and through online vendors again, although - to be honest - the deep discounts that some distributors were demanding were one reason AristoCraft went out of business in the first place
I also hope that the track sales make enough money for Polk to start bringing back some of their trains (most of the GeneratioNext trains you see now are leftover Aristo stock).
In the meantime, the solid brass track from Bachmann, USA Trains, and PIKO have gone a long way toward filling the gap.
Remember, your roadbed and track are the "hardware" of your railroad - that nice new train set is the "software." An investment in appropriate "hardware" (track and solid roadbed) when you're starting out will multiply your enjoyment of everything you run on it.
I'll be updating my track order pages as I have a chance to accommodate any additions in the coming months. In the meantime, if you want to see what's currently available from other vendors (or was yesterday when I checked the links), click the following link:
Last year, 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:
In so-called temperate zones, October brings shorter days, cooler temperatures, and the beginning of the annual falling leaf crisis. Weed growth should be non-existent, and most remaining gardening tasks can slide a week or three if they need to. So if you've been putting off a big, sweaty job, this may be the best month to do it, when you can start the job with a windbreaker and take it off as the day warms up.
The first heavy frost signifies that it's time to cut back perennials that will soon be freezing off at the ground anyway, including Hostas and Sweet Woodruff. On the other hand, a warm, damp October will still allow goldenrod, ragweed, thistle, or dandelions to pop up "out of nowhere," so keep your dandelion digging tool near the garden for a few more weeks (I keep one in an engine house where I can reach it in a hurry and avoid the temptation to pull the leaves off a plant and leave the root).
Some stores like to bring in trees, especially evergreens, with the idea that it's better to plant certain varieties in the fall. This is only true if you monitor the condition of the plant and make certain it has enough water until several frosts have come. Other plants may be closed out at very low prices or even discarded. Except for dwarf and low-lying conifers, which you can almost always use somewhere, don't buy a bunch of plants you don't really know what to do with. I also keep my eye out for Tom Thumb Cottoneaster, which seems to survive a fall planting well, and makes a nice miniature fruit tree when trimmed properly. Sedum tips that are poked into the ground in the fall may establish and even spread a little by spring if the winter is fairly mild. See the Family Garden Trains article on Inexpensive and Low-Maintenance Plants for Garden Railroads for more information about propagating sedums and other useful groundcovers.
Sometime between now and Thanksgiving, get any spring-blooming bulbs into the ground. Crocus and Grape Hyacinth provide great early spring color in plants that are small enough to keep from overwhelming your trains. For more ideas about fall bulbs, see Early Spring Color for your Garden Railroad.
Note: If you acquire a dwarf or low-lying conifer that needs trimming before it goes into the ground "permanently," place it somewhere where it will get shade and rain until you get to it. If you realize later that you're not going to get to it before the weather turns too cold, plant it in the ground pot and all, dash some water on it, and monitor its condition until you start getting multiple frosts in a row. Our article Trees for Your Trains contains some information on the mechanics of trimming dwarf conifers to improve their health and appearance.
As mentioned before, once frosts start hitting, you might as well cut down any plants that freeze off to the ground anyway, such as Hosta, Baptisa, Sweet Woodruff, Coreopsis. Consider cutting back (not down) plants that don't freeze back entirely, such as thyme, sedum, finger geranium (cranesbill), and lavender. Leave a few inches with foilage if you can (that may be impossible with thyme you've let get too long), but trimming them back now (or later in the winter) will help their growth next spring to be more compact and healthy-looking. Yes, it is possible to throw any patch of thyme into fatal or near-fatal shock by overtrimming, but in the case of overgrown "vulgaris" (common) thyme, you may have to weigh that risk against the liklihood that by next spring you'll have a bank of 12-inch plants with only 3 inches of foilage at the ends.
Once you've had a frost or two, you need to start getting your water plants ready for winter. I like to use non-rusting scissors to clip off and discard any remaining leaves from my water lilies (if you can't reach them all, that's okay, get what you can - you'll improve the health of your pond this winter if you keep them from staying and decaying). Most pond plants that protrude above the water should be trimmed back to the water line (although you may own a plant or two that are exceptions - refer to your supplier for specifics). If you have "shallow-water" plants in containers on shelves, you probably want to drop the containers into deep water for the winter - just remember to fish them out and put them back where they belong next spring. In my case, I have pickerel rushes in containers on a "shallow-water" shelf. I trim the rushes back to an inch or so above the soil line, then drop their pots into the deep center of the pond.
 The main thing, if you live where seasons change, is to make at least reasonable efforts to protect your pond from falling leaves. You can buy pond nets that catch most leaves (although they let those little maple "helicopters" through). One year when I didn't have a pond net, I actually bought a few yards of black polyester fabric petticoat netting (tulle) from JoAnne's fabric, doubled it over, and staked it down. That kept out pretty much any "tree poop," although it did only last one season.
If your pond is too big to stretch a net across, do what you can and take comfort in the fact that the larger the pond the less damage to the water chemistry will be done by any individual leaves that do get through. If your pond, like mine, is small enough to easily spread a net across, then by all means do so.
How long do you leave the net on? Some folks leave it on only until all the leaves in their yard have fallen and are raked. But my neighbors don't rake, and dry leaves that have blown like tumbleweeds from a half a mile away are still hitting the water and sticking like flies to flypaper as late as April. Still, I generally get "excited" about spring and take my pond netting off in March. The point is to reduce the amount of plant material that decays in the pond as much as you reasonably can, without diminishing your enjoyment.
It's also time to start thinking about how you will protect your fish from oxygen deprivation during the winter. In my part of the country, they say that goldfish will survive the worst winters in a 2-foot-deep pond as long as they have oxygen (for koi, they recommend 3' - check with your local pond supply for details about your area). Freezing solid into the ice doesn't hurt goldfish as much as you think it might. But a buildup of carbon dioxide and or a shortage of oxygen in the water can kill your fish even in a pond that only freezes a couple of inches deep and stays that way for a while.
- For the first three years I had fish in my pond, I kept a pond heater going in one corner. That kept a little circle of open water all winter long that allowed carbon dioxide to escape. When it was working, it worked even when there was so much snow on top of it that you couldn't see the little hole it was keeping open in the ice. Unfortunately, it also cost me about $100 a month to operate. The last year I used it, it failed mid-winter, when there was a snow drift over the pond, so I didn't know it had failed. I lost all my fish, including a couple that my kids thought of as pets and a few others that would be expensive to replace if I had a mind to.
- Several friends had recommended getting a little aquarium pump, some vinyl hose and an "airstone" or two. Drop the airstone in the deepest part of the pond, set a building or something over the pump to keep it from the weather, and you have protected your fish. This does force a certain amount of oxygen into the water, which is good for the fish, but the main thing it does is apply so much pressure under the "ice cap" that the carbon dioxide and other harmful gasses find their way out. Again, it will work when there is ice and even deep
 snow on top of the pond, but I recommend checking it every few days just to be on the safe side. If you can't see the bubbles for the ice, at least make certain it's still pumping air. These pumps use soft rubber or vinyl diaphrams that can give out in very cold weather. It's also worth mentioning that the $30 ones hold up a little better than the $10 ones. By the way, most of them pull something like 20 watts, as opposed to some of the heaters, which pulled several hundred watts. So running a little aquarium pump all winter doesn't take any more electricity than a couple of night lights. And if you have to replace it mid-winter, you're still money ahead.
- For more information about water features in general, see the Family Garden Trains article on Water Features and Garden Railroads.
If you have any good weather in October, make use of it. But if you get stuck indoors, it's time to finalize your Christmas list. Also if you buy (or have bought) any kits that you plan to assemble, this is a good time to clean up the flash, prime, and paint them (especially if you do your spray painting in an unheated area). If you don't know where to start, check out the article and buyers' guide links near the top of this page.
Finally, if you're thinking about any extensions or changes to your railroad, this is a good time to start drawing up plans and calculating budgets. Our article on Building a Garden Railroad on a Budget should give you some ideas about how to budget your next expansion.
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 March, 2015, 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.
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Retaining Wall Article Update
Garden Railroading Discussion Forum Reminder
