March, 2017 Update from Family Garden Trains^TM

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In This Issue

In the meantime, we've been planning, of course. Four 4'x12' raised vegetable garden beds, and the first section of a planned garden railroad. And that's where this story may seem to get on topic. How does a person who has researched just about every kind of garden railroad construction and tried most of them approach planning a brand new railroad?

To be honest, a lot has changed since I first broke ground in 1999, following instructions written by people who live in the desert, where weed growth is never a consideration. So I've learned a lot of things the hard way. In addition, the market has changed radically, with our hobby's only full-service provider of standard-gauge railroad equipment going bankrupt. Yes, others have stepped in, but it will be a very long time before the variety of quality choices gets caught back up to pre-2007 levels. On the other hand, I have also realized over the years that to 99% of my visitors, the kind of trains I run is less important than the setting they run in, and - frankly - my ability to run trains at something close to a moment's notice, which was seldom possible with the conventional construction methods I used starting out.

In the effort to avoid old mistakes, I'll probably be making all new ones. And here are some of the principles I hope to follow in the coming months:

• Maximum Reliability - including smooth track plans with easements where possible, reliable electrical feeds, and all turnouts within easy reach.

• Minimum Maintenance - including weed-proof, raised roadbed, minimal places where weeds can root, and all areas that might need weeding or track cleaning within easy reach.

• Maximum Interest - especially visual interest, with trains running on multiple levels to start.

• Expandability - planning far enough in advance that the earliest iteration of the railroad doesn't preclude features we hope to include eventually.

The little picture in the title shows one approach I was planning, with three concentric ovals of track at three different levels, with ponds and waterfalls. The big open area in the middle left was going to get a flexible pond liner eventually. Initially, I was going to go with the 2"x6" roadbeds fastened directly to on posts, with dirt piled up to the level of the roadbed in each of the three planned levels. Nowadays, I'm thinking a little differently. Like three concentric "decks" each of which will be a sort of shallow planter box where I can arrange my track, buildings, and plants to my heart's content, without worrying that dandelions and thistles will ever really get a chance to root. As planned now, each level of all three ROWs will go through a tunnel at the "back corner," which will provide access and temporary storage. Also, I am only going to try to get the top two levels done this year, as a sort of "proof of concept."

If it works as well as I think it should, I'll add the lower level next year. Or revise my plans and try again. :-)

I've already changed this several times, but it's still in planning so that graphic may be as close as any to the end product.

There will be more detail in the New Boston and Donnels Creek section of the site, while hopefully any "lessons learned" during the process will find their way to new articles. Stay tuned.

Other things have changed, since 1999, too. For me the loss of AristoCraft was huge - they advanced the standard gauge segment of the hobby far more than anyone else, while striving to keep prices on their entry-level sets affordable. That said, the narrow gauge manufacturers (LGB, Bachmann, and HLW) are steaming along, while Piko and USA trains are keeping standard gauge available for us diehards.

I still have products from almost all of those companies (and a few others) in my storage area, so loss of my favorite manufacturer won't impact me like it would some people. But I do plan to build the new New Boston and Donnels Creek using products, materials, and methods that are available today. So folks who are just getting into the hobby should be able to follow along just fine, if that makes any sense.

In fact, I'm thinking of building the railroad in stages, each of which could be a freestanding railroad, if a family following my progress has to stop at the first or second stage. We'll see.

• Planning the New New Boston and Donnels Creek Railroad - What it took to get rid of the crater in our back yard, and my pre-planning for the next iteration of the NB&DC.

• About Maccourt Pond Liners - What I learned about molded vinyl pond liners from personal experience and recent research on the larger versions. Is this the right solution for your next railroad?

• Are Any of Your Friends Still on AOL? - How NOT to get our newsletter.

• Garden Railroading in the Early Spring - Seasonal tips.

Planning the New New Boston and Donnels Creek Railroad

This time around, I know enough to be dangerous, and I've "burnt through" several other techniques and am open to trying something completely new. I plan to record my planning concerns and construction accounts in the New Boston and Donnels Creek section of my web page. If you enjoyed my brutal honesty about all the mistakes I made on my first "permanent" garden railroad, you will probably love the new account as well.

Please click the following link to see the first chapter, which focuses on the high-level planning process.

http://familygardentrains.com/newbost/17_03_planning/planning_nnb_n_dc.htm

About Maccourt Pond Liners

Click the following link to see the article:

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/water/maccourt/maccourt.htm

Are Any of Your Friends Still on AOL?

Usually I contact AOL, explain that this an "opt-in only" newsletter and they apologize and let the messages go through. When I sent out my last e-mail newsletter (in December, I'm sorry to say), all of the AOL subscribers' e-mails came back saying that our newsletter had been flagged as spam. So when I contacted AOL this time, they told me that they told me that the only way to get unblocked was to stop spamming their subscribers. Since I don't spam ANYBODY, I have no idea how to fix it this time, except to say that if you are an AOL subscriber and you become aware that this newsletter has been sent out, there are two things you can do:

• Contact us and let us know if you have another e-mail address we can use instead of (or even alongside) your AOL address.

• Contact AOL and tell them you want to get our newsletters and ask them to stop blocking us at random.

If you know of anyone using AOL who subscribes or is likely to subscribe to this newsletter, please forward it to them, in case we get blocked again this time.

Also, if you're on our e-mail mailing list and you don't want to be, just follow the Unsubscribe instructions near the top of this newsletter, instead of messing things up for everyone else who uses your e-mail service provider.

Garden Railroading in the Early Spring

• Weeding -Begun cutting the weeds off and out of your track, if that's a problem. If your "weeds" are mostly low-growing thymes and sedums, try to pop them somewhere else - not hard to do if you can get some root with the start, especially if you can transplant them to "higher ground" - thymes hate flooding. There are some hints on spreading thymes in the following article: http://familygardentrains.com/primer/plants.htm While you're weeding the right of way, this is a good time to clean off the top and inside edges of the rails. On the first New Boston and Donnels Creek railroad, spring weeding and "raking" of leaves that found their way into the crevices during the winter generally took about 20 hours, and cleaning the rails only added about an hour to that.

• Wiping - Once you have debris and plant growth cleared away from your right of way, and the rails wiped clean, try to hook up power and make certain you don't have any "dead places." Alternatively, if you are using battery power, this is a good time to make certain your batteries are still good and remotes are still functioning.

• Trimming - If you let any of your dwarf conifers get completely out of control last year, the earlier you can trim them back to where they ought to be the better they will look all summer. The article at http://familygardentrains.com/primer/plants/conifers/conifers.htm will give you some suggestions.

• Checking - Check your garden/backyard lighting, check the lighting in your buildings, clean the wheels on your trains, wipe your buildings clean, and so on, so your equipment is ready to put in place when the time arrives. Of course, many garden railroaders I know actually use the spring to finish up their winter projects. Not because they don't want to get outside, but because the crocuses and hyacinths remind them how far behind they are.

• Planning - If nothing else, plan an open railroad. Don't be afraid - if you start planning now, it can be a huge success. There are some hints and checklists at: https://familygardentrains.com/primer/openhaus.htm. Don't feel bad if you're not really ready in early spring, though. One fellow used to contact me right before every Easter and ask if he could some to see my railroad when he came to visit his family. But no matter what I did, I could never get my railroad in condition to show properly before June first. He seemed to be put out that I kept asking him to come back a little later in the season. But my pre-Easter railroad usually looked more like a leaf collection. Yes, the new RR should be better in some respects. Stay tuned.

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, 2016, click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/16_12_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.