December, 2016 Update from Family Garden Trains^TM

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In This Issue

We're planning on putting a raised vegetable garden in at the new place using the same 4"x4" post and 2"x6" pressure-treated lumber solution we used for our vegetable garden at the old house. We must have done something right, since the oldest ones are something like twelve years old and show no signs of shifting or deteriorating.

At the new property, there's a place where an old inground swimming pool was filled in badly. We hope to get someone with a Bobcat to level out for us so we can get started next spring. After that will be a bunch of post hole digging and sawing and dirt hauling. Sounds a lot like building a raised garden railroad, doesn't it? So while, I'm renting a post-hole digger and hauling posts and logs . . . .

At my age (64), a raised railroad is the only kind that makes sense. I've had great luck with raised pressure-treated roadbed so far, so that's the way I imagine going. If you don't know what I'm talking about, our "Simple Raised Railroad" article should give you some idea.

https://www.familygardentrains.com/primer/fence_posts/fence_posts.htm

I hope to use minimum 10'-diameter curves on the mainline - maybe bigger if track is available for the right price - and have multiple trains running at multiple levels. I also hope to have a design that allows visitors to move around and see different views of the railroad.

Here's the complication: I also want to keep the ROW reachable from the "ground" as much as possible. A raised railroad that you have to climb on to fix things, weed, or re-rail trains defeats the purpose. That's where things get interesting. A 10'-diameter circle of track encloses about 28 square feet that you can't get to without crossing the ROW somehow. A 15'-diameter circle of track encloses about 44 square feet. That's a lot of real estate to try to keep under control. On a raised railroad that can get interesting. Maybe I can design drawbridges for the trains or stiles for the owner? The latter would involve building steps into a "mountain," maybe with room to set buildings that I can move out of the way during maintenance sessions, so the path is hidden to visitors.

I may also try to figure out a way to include a raised herb garden in one section. We'll see.

Having room to keep my table saw set up should come in real handy.

Here's a last photo of the south loop of the New Boston and Donnels Creek. The new owners asked me to leave the track and the bird feeders I had out when they saw the property. You can also see a couple "through" girder bridge pieces from Colorado Model Structures, a great way to dress up a raised ROW.

I also gave them a Bachmann Thomas set to go with it and my phone number in case they had any questions. I hope they commit to the work necessary to make it all work, but our attention will have to be focused forward from now on.

To end the 17-year tale of the New Boston and Donnels Creek on a cheerier note, here's a photo taken in December, 2014 (remember when we had ALL THAT SNOW?). Hopefully it will help us all remember all the festive times we shared.

Topics discussed in this update include:

• Garden Railroad Planning Articles - Now that I've been down this road a few times, I'll be revisiting my own planning articles, which include several "lessons learned" as I design the next iteration of the NB&DC.

• Indoor Railroad Resources - This is a reminder of some of the resources we have that can help you put together charming and inexpensive indoor settings for your Christmas trains.

• It's the Real Train! - Coca Cola's magazine-style "Journey" web site discusses the trains and Christmas tie-ins.

• Speaking of Coca Cola and Trains - A reminder and link to the 2014 Coca Cola commercial that featured a real vintage steam locomotive delivering Coca Cola to a snowy midwestern, 1940ish town.

• Still Hunting for Trains for Christmas? - A link to the "what kind of train to buy" section of last month's newsletter, just in case you still don't have a train for your home this Christmas.

Garden Railroad Planning Articles

Here's one thing I'd like to do - make the railroad more interactive, in the sense that people have to move around it to see the whole thing properly - the old NB&DC was more like a train table outside, that you could only view properly from one side. So maybe something shaped like a giant number 3 or letter S or W?

Of course every garden railroad has compromises, but you're better off if you know what your options are before you start taking shortcuts - if you do what a lot of people do and just default to whatever is easiest to build, you may find yourself regretting it later.

For a list of railroad planning resources, click the following link:

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/planning/planning_index.htm

Once you have an idea of what kind of railroad you'd like to build, it's okay to review your construction options. Just don't go there first, or you'll never take things like visitor interest and maintainability into account like you should. Click the following link to see some construction options.

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/construction/construction_index.htm

Indoor Railroad Resources

Two of the links on the following page include printable "building fronts" to make a city street you can get out year after year for your indoor or Christmas railroad. All you need is a color printer, some acid-free paper and a few pieces of poster-board-thick cardboard (like you can get for free from cereal boxes). Click the following link for more information:

https://familygardentrains.com/resource/index.htm

The same page includes links to many other projects for inexpensively adding other buildings and accessories.

It's The Real Train

Since then, I've added other articles and even one site specifically about Christmas trains. I haven't updated the article much in the last few years, but it's obviously reached a lot of people, since I see bits and pieces of it all over the Internet (uncited, of course).

I occasionally get contacted by manufacturers I recommend or by journalists wanting to use me as a source in an article somewhere. But this week, something especially fun happened - I was contacted by a nice lady putting together an article about Christmas and trains for Coca Cola's magazine-format "Journey" web page.

Of course Christmas and Coca Cola have a longstanding relationship as well - for over a generation, the Coca Cola Santa advertisements defined folks' expectations of what Santa was "supposed" to look like. One of my favorites is the ad to the right, showing Santa playing with carefully detailed contemporary Lionel train set. I told the journalist that she should use this image, because it was the "trifecta" - Santa, trains, and Coca Cola. (There's a pizza, too, but I'm not sure how that fits in. I hope Santa washes his hands between eating pizza and handling the train, because pepperoni oil is pervasive and that train was destined to be a collector's item.)

Update: When I published the newsletter, the article wasn't out yet. It has since been published at the following URL:

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/the-21st-century-evolution-of-model-railroading

My original article "What Do Trains Have to Do with Christmas?" is at the link below:

https://familychristmasonline.com/musings/trains_n_christmas/trains_n_christmas.htm

And in case this discussion got you interested in trains with Coca Cola colors and logos, the following page has a couple that were still in stock the last time I checked:

https://bigchristmastrains.com/hawthorne_trains/coke_train.htm

Speaking of Coca Cola and Trains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2mU6jVcv4w

Still Hunting for Trains for Christmas?

If you are still shopping for a new train for your Christmas tree or holiday village, here is the link to a section of our October newsletter that gives details on what was available when that was published.

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/16_10_newsletter_gr.htm#train_market

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 November, 2016, click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/16_11_newsletter_gr.htm

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