July, 2020 Update from Family Garden Trains^TM

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Update for July, 2020

Yes, there's been another gap between my newsletters. But news keeps happening that I want to squeeze in. If you're in touch with any of the garden railroading communities, you know by now that Garden Railways magazine has been shut down by Kalmbach, and more train manufacturers are either shuttering or planning to shutter. The good news is that LGB, PIKO, and USA Trains are still making quality products, and many clubs and forums are still operating and sharing knowledge.

And in case you wondered whether this years' crazy circumstances have hurt the hobby in any other way, you should know that people stuck at home are doing a lot of work in their back yards. Pressure-treated lumber is almost unobtainable in some parts of the country, for example. What about garden railroads? At least one track company (Llagas Creek) sold out of rail for a time because of high demand.

One feature in this newsletter - the updated series on "Garden Railroading on a Shoestring" - has actually been in the works for months. Its purpose is to help people with more imagination than money ease into the hobby. That doesn't mean that this is our planned new direction for the hobby as a whole. It's just another set of options for folks starting out, or thinking about starting out.

We do need everyone who is serious about the hobby going forward to encourage every fellow or potential hobbyist, even if they choose to do things differently than you do, or their trains aren't the same scale, quality, or brand as yours.

Don't do everything for them, though - nobody sticks with the hobby unless they have some "sweat equity" invested. Don't ask me how I know.

So when someone says, "I have a New Bright train running around the coffee table on my patio," the correct response is, "Great, are you finding the information you need for next steps? Let us know if you have any questions or if you need a hand." Also, you could suggest they look up FamilyGardenTrains.com's planning and construction articles.

In This Issue

The following content is linked to or included in this newsletter:

• Garden Railroading's Mid-Life Crisis - What recent setbacks mean and don't mean for the hobby.

• Hartland Locomotive Works Ceases Production - Our friends at HLW have done everything possible to keep the lights on, but there have been a lot of pressures. Other companies are scaling back or closing as well.

• MTH's Last Year - The owner of MTH (formerly Mike's Train House) announces retirement.

• Bachmann's Dash-9 Pre-Announcement - Hope for a revival of a popular moden diesel.

• Kalmbach Closes Down Garden Railways Magazine - The writers and editors have been doing their best, but Kalmbach no longer thinks our hobby is worth supporting. They've been wrong about many other things; they're wrong about this one.

• GardenRail "Online Magazine" A European publication for outdoor railroaders. It tends to cater to Euro prototypes and track gauges seldom used in America, but it still offers helpful tips and product reviews.

• Building a Garden Railroad on a Shoestring (Redux) - Can you have the fun of running trains outside without sacrificing your children's college fund? Many hobbyists have proved that you can.

• Garden Railroading in Mid-Summer - Things you can be doing to keep your garden and hobby fresh in the hot months.

• NGRC at Nashville, 2021 - The National Garden Railway Convention in Nashville has been pushed back a year.

Garden Railroading's Mid-Life Crisis

It's time to remember that the modern garden railway hobby in North America started with a single Euro train that looked like a toy to Americans and a newsletter "printed" on a photocopier. It grew to what it is today because of countless enthusiastic hobbyists who tried new things, shared what they learned with each other, and helped their friends get started, too.

There's nothing to stop the cycle from happening all over again. We have three companies making solid, reliable trains, a large supply of used but functional equipment from defunct manufacturers, and a 50+ year history of learning and growing together.

Hang in there, this isn't the end - it's just a "mid-life" crisis!

Just as people turning 50 sometimes stop and evaluate where they are and what the future holds, I think this would be a good time for hobby leaders to do the same thing. For example, how do we take advantage of the fact that "outdoor living" and backyard recreation is on the upswing?

Maybe this is a good time for a "special push" to remind people that properly planned, robust garden railroads are just as much outdoor recreational features as gazebos, fountains, ponds, outdoor fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, and outdoor living spaces.

If you have time on your hands, try making certain your railroad is ready to run when it's safe to start having folks back over. Visitors don't need to see elaborate or mind-blowing; they just need to see families having fun together. If that's not happening, that's on us.

Hartland Locomotive Works Ceases Production

Hartland Locomotive Works (HLW) is the last American manufacturer of quality garden trains (USA Trains' locomotives are built overseas). HLW has always been a "labor of love," and they were never able to compete in price with cheap Chinese imports. I give them a lot of credit for "rescuing" models from previous companies that couldn't stay in the black consistently, including Kalamazoo and Delton.

HLW also produced a broader range of US traction models than anyone else in the business.

I'm very sorry to see the family at HLW take this step, though I totally understand why they are doing so. We wish you all the best!

MTH's Last Year

In addition, MTH has announce that they will shut down operations permanently in early 2021. Apparently the owner wants to retire and no one wants to take over this family-owned business.

Though they never made the impact in garden trains that they promised they would, I have friends who love their Large Scale models and will miss them. Still, my friends who run O gauge trains will miss them much, much more. Frankly, they forced Lionel to "up their game" in countless ways, and history tells us that as soon as Lionel loses a competitor, they coast on past investments and tooling as long as they possibly can.

It would be nice if PIKO, who makes trains in approximately the same scale as MTH's garden train line (1:32) could pick up some of their machining. But based on MTH's other business practices, I doubt seriously if that will happen.

Bachmann's Dash-9 Pre-Announcement - Here's something hopeful: Bachmann seems to be planning on reviving Aristo's Dash-9 locomotives with some updated features. These won't be cheap, but at least this might mean there's hope for Aristo steam????

One thing's almost certain. ANY Aristocraft line that Bachmann rescues will cost what the Aristocraft models should have cost all along (not what the distributors argued them down to). So you can probably look for these to come out in the same price range as equivalent LGB or PIKO locomotives when they do emerge. But I'm not complaining. I'm just glad to have decently-proportioned US prototype back in action.

That said, Bachmann seems to have more-or-less ceased production of their "Big Hauler" entry-level train sets. As far as I can tell, the only affordable Bachmann starter sets that are still available are left over from earlier years.

Kalmbach Closes Down Garden Railways Magazine

It's no secret that Garden Railways magazine has been losing steam (pardon the pun) for years. With big companies getting out of the business, there have been fewer advertising dollars to pay for those pages with the articles on them, so there have been fewer articles. Kalmbach has also "churned" lead editors. They have reduced the number of issues per year, then reduced it again. Even though the staff editors and other contributors have been giving it all they had right up until the very end, the writing has been on the wall.

On July 16, 2020, I went to the Garden Railways subscription page and saw this:

Thank you for your interest in Garden Railways magazine. We are no longer accepting subscription orders as the magazine has ceased publication.
Please check out our sister publication Model Railroader magazine at www.modelrailroader.com, which features product news, model builds and advice from the world's greatest model railroading experts.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact customer support at customerservice@Garden-Railways.info, or by phone at 877-246-4898. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call 903-636-1125.

That's the bad news. But please don't imagine that the magazine going away means the hobby is going away.

Because there's not a 1:1 relationship. In spite of the best efforts and hard work of GR's editors over the decades, the magazine has never completely represented the hobby.

Back when I used to do more clinics and speak at more conventions, I would do "straw polls" of my audiences. As far as I could tell, only 20-30% of the people subscribing to Garden Railways actually had railroads in their back yards. And only about 20-30% of people who had railroads in their back yards were subscribing to Garden Railways.

The Venn diagram at the right is not scientific or remotely accurate. But it shows the sort of relationship between actual garden railroaders and actual GR subscribers that existed when the magazine's circulation was at its peak.

In other words, when Kalmbach used to use GR's subscription numbers (about 40,000 at the peak) to tell advertisers how big the hobby was, they were right and they were wrong at the same time.

I greatly respect Marc Horovitz and believe that his work was critical to the growth of the hobby, especially in the early days. But by 2000, much, if not most of the hobby's continued growth was due to local clubs' and hobbyists' hard work and enthusiasm. In addition, garden railroading forums like MyLargeScale.com and LargeScaleCentral.com became havens for specialized knowledge about topics that GR never had the bandwidth to cover.

The disconnect went both ways. Marc had a great eye for detail. But when he would gripe about oversized flanges on an otherwise scale model or figures standing in "plastic puddles," the average hobbyist said, "Yeah, right," and went on working on the aspect of the hobby that was most important to him or her.

As you can probably guess, Marc and I didn't always agree, but I always thought he was the right person to helm the magazine. That said, I don't blame his successors for not being able to make "bricks without straw," as it were.

The takeaway is that - as critical as Marc's publications were to the early growth of the hobby, much of the hobby's growth after, say 2000, happened as a result of other factors, and those factors are still in play - ESPECIALLY hardworking local clubs and hobbyists.

GardenRail "Online Magazine" - In the meantime, a European e-magazine dedicated to outdoor railroading is still available. Due in part to the relatively small size of English homes, UK train fans have been building backyard railroads since the early 1900s, usually using track gauges we seldom use outside in North America.

Live steam is well represented, especially using little Aster steamers and the like on model industrial railroads. Though such emphases are obvious in most issues, Garden Rail does offer product reviews and many scenery tips that North American garden railroaders can use.

The bad news, such as it is:

• You can't download the issues to read on your device - you supposedly download the table of contents, and you can print individual pages, but you have to be connected to the Internet to read the "magazine" cover-to-cover. Which is inconvenient for me and, I'm sure, many others.

• A good proportion of the articles refer to prototypes and gauges that are popular in Europe (especially the UK) but not so popular here.

• Editing is, er, uneven, like advertising a topic on the cover that actually isn't included in the magazine. The issue I got as a freebie advertised "Turning Fishponds Into Mountains" on the cover, but that topic is only addressed in one short paragraph of an article on another subject, with no photographs. Yes, the fellow inherited a preformed pond liner and turned it upside down. That actually could be useful for some people. But is a two sentence mention with no photos worth a big splash on the cover?

• When I subscribed, they gave me access to several past issues, so half of my "subscription" was used up before I opened the first issue.

To see their listing and access a free sample issue, click the following link:

https://pocketmags.com/us/garden-rail-magazine

Building a Garden Railroad on a Shoestring (Redux)

With the cost of new garden train sets climbing, many readers with more time than money are wondering how they can try garden railroading without mortgaging their children's futures. One hint is that most battery-powered toy trains from companies like Lionel, New Bright, and Scientific Toys/Ez-Tec use the same diameter curves as the brass track that comes in the expensive train sets. Yes, I recommend wider curves for your permanent railroad. But at least you can get started.

In fact some folks who HAVE elaborate garden railroads have made a side hobby out of seeing what they can accomplish with a $40-$100 train set. In view of the widening interest in this approach, we have revamped old articles and added new ones.

Don't be too snobbish about folks getting into the hobby this way. After all, in the 1980s, Bachmann's flimsy, original battery-powered Big Hauler was a lot of families' gateway into the hobby, including ours. In fact, Garden Railways published articles about how to use those specific trains outdoors. If you know these trains, you might find that hard to believe, but they were many families' best option for getting started back then.

One potentially off-putting twist is that Lionel's newest battery-powered sets aren't made to run on 45mm track (also called G gauge, about 1.775"). They come with ovals of 2" track. . But some can be converted, with a little elbow-grease and a Dremel. And the track still has 48"-diameter curves, so if you build a roadbed that will support Lionel's "Ready-to-Play" track, you can put the track from your LGB or PIKO starter set in its place.

My UK readers are glad that the Lionel's toy Hogwarts Express set is now available in Europe through a contract with Hornby. Though they all wish the set was a better scale representation of the GWR trains it is based on, it's the only affordable GWR set made in anything resembling a garden scale for a very long time. Many are adopting it for their outdoor railroads. Some are converting them to run on 45mm track, and some are buying two sets, so they have extra 2"-gauge track and can run 4-car trains. A few have painted the locomotive green (the original color of the prototype), and the results are remarkable.

To see the introduction and index to our articles on "Garden Railroading on a Shoe-String," click the following link:

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/shoe_string/shoe_string.htm

Here are some of our other tips and tricks about running battery-powered toy trains outside:

Garden Railroading with Toy Trains - Reviews basic principles for using battery-powered toy trains outside, with some brand recommendations. Click the following link to see the article:

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/shoe_string/toy_trains.htm

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/shoe_string/toy_trains.htm

Please click the link below if you want to see that article:

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/shoe_string/lionel_toy_train/lionel_toy_g_trains.htm

To see how Mike Whitcomb converted his Hogwarts Express to run on 45mm track, click the following link.

https://familygardentrains.com/primer/shoe_string/lionel_ready_to_play/ready_to_play_conversion.htm

Garden Railroading in Mid-Summer

• Plant Maintenance - It will soon be time to "deadhead" any plants that bloom in June and early July, including yarrow, larger sedums, and other plants.

  If you have "normal" thyme, you might want to "harvest" some by cutting it while it is still in flower, then tying it in bunches and hanging it upside down until it dries. Watch for bees, thyme attracts some very tiny species you almost never see otherwise. Try not to cut back beyond the last green part of the plants. It's also time to pull the crabgrass, nutgrass, and goldenrod that somehow gets seeded into your railroad every year.

  As you work your way around your railroad, be sure to take a dandelion puller/knife with you so you're not tempted to break off any dandelions or thistles. Fortunately most other weeds slow down about this time of year.

  This is not a good time to trim evergreens; wait until cooler weather if you can.

• Planning an Open House - If you're thinking about a September open house for your garden railroad, now is the time to start planning. The Family Garden Trains Article "Open House Checklist" will give you some things to think about. Click the following link for details:

  https://familygardentrains.com/primer/openhaus.htm

• Landscaping Opportunities - Although you're not supposed to plant trees in August, many stores start reducing prices on landscaping trees about this time. Generally, if I get anything like that at the sales, I leave it in the pot in a shaded area and make sure it stays moist until I have time to trim it up and get it into the ground in the fall.

• Water Feature Care - Make certain that the "waterfalls" that aerate your pond are running properly. This includes cleaning out the filter as often as necessary to maintain a strong flow. If you need to treat the pond to get rid of that stringy dark algae, be careful to read the label - some brands kill water hyacinth and other plants (Pond Care Algae-Fix's present formula works without killing my plants). If you do treat your pond for algae, be doubly careful to make certain your pond is getting aerated - otherwise the dying algae creates an unhealthy environment for your fish.

• When It's Too Hot to Play Outside - If it's too hot to run trains, you might think about planning an indoor "test-track" somewhere that you can use in the "dog days" of August as well as the cold days of winter. It probably is time to start prioritizing your list of what you plan to get accomplished before the leaves fall. Unless you live where the leaves don't fall, then you may need that indoor "test track" right now.

Please let us know if you have some tip that you would like to share with your fellow readers.

NGRC at Nashville in 2021 - Due to situations far beyond the control of the Nashville-area garden railroaders and the Opryland Hotel, the convention that was planned for this June will be next June. And in case you were wondering, the conventions that were planned for 2021 and 2022 have each been pushed out a year.

We wish you all the very best of health and hope to see you next year. In the meantime, we're doing all we can to keep the hobby alive and growing at our end.

Keep in Touch

Because of all the last-minute additions to this newsletter, it's possible that I've missed or misrepresented some bit of news. Please contact me if you have any questions or corrections.

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 February, 2020, click on the following link:

https://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/20_02_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.