You Are Here.	Jump to other pages.

Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden Trains

JANUARY, 2007 Update from Family Garden Trains and Big Christmas Trains Note: This is the e-mail version of a combined newsletter from the Family Garden Trains and Big Christmas Trains websites, which publish information about big model trains and related topics. If you would like to subscribe to the Family Garden Trains newsletter, please join our Mailing List, and specify that you want to receive e-mail updates. To subscribe to the Big Christmas Trains newsletter, please join our Big Christmas Trains Mailing List 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. Once again, we ordinarily attempt to have a different newsletter for our Family Garden Trains and Big Christmas Trains readers. However, we have had a VERY busy December, and have spent most of January neck-deep in paperwork and customer questions. So we are combining newsletters once again. I hope you are not dissatisfied. We always try to answer reader questions quickly, and we got quite backlogged in December and early January. However, many of those questions (and their answers) would be helpful to other readers as well, so last week, we added over a dozen entries to our "Letters to the Editor" pages. You may find some interesting and helpful reading there. Garden Railroading Letters to the Editor Christmas Train Letters to the Editor Topics discussed in this update include: Plans for Big Christmas Trains Additions New Atlas Track Makes Outdoor O-Gauge Railroads Easier Big Trains in Winter New HDPE Roadbed Workshop Article Available Plans for Big Christmas Trains Additions In 2007 we are hoping to add several "how-to" articles for indoor Christmas train fans. We have at least two articles planned on effectively displaying On30 or O Gauge trains in combination with Holiday Villages (such as those made by Dept. 56, Hawthorne Village, and Lemax). We also hope to enhance our "Painting Plastic Structures" article (now in the Family Garden Trains Primer pages) to include tips for indoor railroaders as well. New Atlas Track Makes Outdoor O-Gauge Railroads Easier For nearly thirty years, people who wanted to have outdoor railroads had to buy Large Scale trains such as those made by LGB and AristoCraft. The tens of thousands of folks who already had O gauge trains and wished they could run them out-of-doors were just about out of luck. The trains weren't really suitable for such a use, but, worse yet, the track available was almost worthless outside. Some people made their own track. Some people bought store-bought track with solid rails and spray-painted the ties to make them more UV-resistant. Some folks bought the new Gargraves(r) stainless steel track with the plastic ties, despite the fact that it was expensive, hard to use, and not all that attractive. Now we have learned that Atlas is producing weather-resistant O gauge track (2-rail and 3-rail) with UV-resistant ties. This should make Atlas track for O gauge almost as weather-worthy as the Large Scale track we leave out all year round for years on end. Please keep in mind that Lionel trains and most other O-gauge and O-scale trains are still made with steel parts that can rust, exposed gears that can collect dust and sand, and plastic that can become bleached and brittle if it's exposed to too much sunshine. So you still won't want to leave your trains out on damp days or leave them sitting in the sun too long, but the new trackage from Atlas DOES give you the option of having a loop, or even a whole railroad outdoors that you can schlep a train out to on pretty days. Because the Atlas track is not nearly as sturdy as the track made by LGB or AristoCraft for Large Scale trains, I recommend putting the trains on a raised, solid 2x4 or 2x6 roadbed such as that that is described in the "Building a Simple Raised Roadbed" article: This will also make the trains easier to see and reduce the amount of dust and plant material that can get into your train's gears, etc. What about structures? Experimenting with toy plastic structures on my garden railroad, I have discovered that a coat of primer (and when wanted, a coat of some top color) will preserve the structure for years longer than it would ordinarily last in the sun unprotected. If I was planning to run O-gauge outdoors, I might start with a half-dozen Plasticville structures that are primed, painted, and put on solid bases (such as the concrete stepping-stones available at any lawn supply). If you want to use the fancier, prepainted structures by MTH, you might go to a photography store and buy a can of acrylic spray for making photos UV-resistant. Test it on an area that won't show before you spray your whole structure. Also, it will make the MTH structures' windows look foggy. But the upside is that it should slow the yellowing and crystalization that you often see in clear plastics exposed to the weather - even in products designed for garden railroads. Now, if you've been dreaming of a garden railroad, and you have one old Lionel set in the attic, you're better off leaving that there and getting a Large Scale Starter set. But if you're a serious O-gauger from WAY back and have been looking for a way to run your trains outside once in a while, you now have options you didn't used to have. Big Trains in Winter The last two newsletters have had many suggestions for projects to keep you busy in the midwinter. And we certainly have enough planning articles to give you some food for thought in our Primer Articles page. But when you've run out of projects or all your fingers are glued together, this is a good time to think about the kind of railroad you want to model. Most garden railroaders get a train or two in a box, get some track laid in the back yard, and start running trains without really thinking about anything beyond how to get and keep the railroad working and attractive. But this might be a good time to think about what kind of operations or trains you especially like and how you can incorporate more of that aspect this spring. Maybe you like a bunch of trains running at once like a Lionel display layout. Even if you don't have room for a bunch of long trains, you can add a little coal-train "industrial" loop using a dinky four-wheeled locomotive (like the AristoCraft "critter" or 0-4-0 or the Bachmann Porter 0-4-0) and a handful of little coal or ore cars like the Bachmann ore cars or the AristoCraft 4-wheeled gondolas. Trains running such dinky equipment can look OK on tight 4-foot curves that you can fit about anywhere. Another option is adding a trolley, such as those made by Bachmann or Hartland Locomotive Works. Both kinds of "shorty" trains can benefit by adding start-stop circuit so they don't seem to be continuously circling, of course. But they will fit in just about anywhere and add viewer interest. Maybe you'd like to run your railroad more like a real railroad, having "business reasons" for delivering such-and-such a car to each industry. The article on "Planning Your Garden Railroad for Operations" lists many ideas you an adapt to your railroad. Maybe you'd like to narrow the geographic area or the time period of your railroad to a certain time and place. If, say 40's East Texas appeals to you, learn what you can about how people lived there and then. Start thinking about collecting figures, model cars and other accessories that are appropriate for that time and place. One inexpensive way to add a sense of period to your railroad is with period advertisements, such as those listed in our Large Scale Signs and Graphics pages. By the way, those pages include several graphics that are very helpful for people with indoor O-gauge railroads, as well. New HDPE Roadbed Workshop Article Available In 2003, Family Garden Trains published a series of articles describing architect Bill Logan's method for building flexible roadbed from HDPE "plastic lumber." The article has inspired many folks to design and build elaborate railroads that would have been quite difficult with any other method. Ever since, people have been asking for more details on one aspect or another of that process. Thanks to contributor Bob Zajicek, we have several informative photos of how one prepares this stuff in the shop. By the way, we also have heard from O-gaugers using the same process with minor modifications, both indoors and out, so the popularity of this process is growing in many ways. The new article is at: http://familygardentrains.com/primer/roadbed/bob_zs_roadbed/bob_in_the_shop.htm If you haven't started building your garden railroad yet, take a look at this article, it may get you thinking "outside of the blocks." Keep in Touch Please let us know about your ongoing projects. Ask questions, suggest article ideas, 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 BigChristmasTrains.com To view the newsletter for December, 2006, click on the following link: http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/06_12_newsletter.htm To read more, or to look at recommended Garden Railroading and Display Railroad products, you may click on the index pages below.

Home Pages		Reading Index Pages		Buyer's Guide Pages

Note: Family Garden Trains?, Garden Train Store?, Big Christmas Trains?, BIG Indoor Trains?, and BIG Train Store? 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 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
Family Garden Trains is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

For more information, please contact us