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October, 2020 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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Update for October, 2020
This month, I am trying to finish an expansion project I started last spring and had to put on hold for a number of reasons not worth repeating here. At this point, all of the posts and joists are in place, along with most of the framing. I had, frankly, hoped to be farther along, but at least it's nice seeing it taking shape.
On a larger note, several fellow hobbyists have come together to pilot an online "magazine" to fill the gap left by Garden Railways' demise. There is a link near the bottom of this page.
As for our part, we plan to continue helping families that are starting, refurbing, or just trying to "get to the next level" in their own back yards. In addition, based on observations and personal experience of our last 40+ years on the hobby, we will continue to emphasize ways to build low-maintenance railroads that you will be able to operate as long as you live in your house. To that end, this newsletter includes links and descriptions for several of our "raised" railroad solutions, as well as an article series written by popular Garden Railways contributors.
In the meantime, there was a lot of excellent response to last month's newsletter, and a good number of new subscribers. So I'm pleased to have you all onboard for the coming holiday season and beyond.
In This Issue
The following content is linked to or included in this newsletter:
 Westward Expansion, 2020, Part 1 - With a lumber shortage and warm weather running out, we revised our plans for the next addition, bought what decent lumber we could find, dug holes, installed posts, and attached joists. This expansion will be at the same level as the Eastern expansion we added last year. Eventually we plan to have a loop of wide-radius track connecting the two, so we can run long rolling stock and longer trains.
Click on the following link to see our status as of late September, 2020.
 Westward Expansion, 2020, Part 2 - We had to be careful leveling the last joists so the frame, decking, and right-of-way would be as level as possible. Fortunately we were able to get enough lumber to get a good start on the frame. We also added one last tweak to the frame design to make it easier to extend this platform to its originally planned size, if and when we get a chance to do so.
Click on the following link to see our status as of late October, 2020.
Raised Railroad Solutions
Most of the early garden railroading "experts" focused on ground-level railroads, which are generally quicker and cheaper to install than any kind of raised railroad. But folks running live steam engines have always preferred right-of-ways that allowed them to tweak their locomotives without getting on their hands and knees.
As hobbyists have aged along with the hobby, readers who want to build a railroad to last as long as they plan to live in their home have been investigating solutions that are robust and raised far enough off the ground to be manageable for years to come. There are many ways to do this, and - truth be told - several are variations of methods first published on our site decades ago. But since so many folks have contacted me about such things recently, I thought it was worth reviewing three and a half methods our readers have found useful, or at least inspiring.
 Simple Raised RoadbedThe most basic raised railroad probably consists of 2"x6" pressure-treated boards precut to match the curves in your track and fastened to 4"x4" ground-rated posts. Advantages include relatively low cost, a very sturdy infrastructure if you do it right, and no weeds growing up between your rails.
If you want your towns on the same level as your railroad, you can set up retaining walls and backfill with dirt, a very common approach. Recently, though many hobbyists have found it more useful to use small raised platforms just in the areas they need towns and sidings.
If you're using pre-curved track, this article is especially useful, because it tells you how to easily cut and assemble pressure-treated lumber into a sturdy support system - whatever diameter of curves you use.
Click on the following link for tips on building a simple raised roadbed.
Also, if you're interested ONLY in the pressure-treated roadbed, there's a more detailed description in the article at the following link:
 Raising a Ground-Level Roadbed - here's the 1/2 method I mentioned. A ground-level roadbed was built out of 2"x6" lumber similar to the Simple Raised Roadbed method, then raised on a series of H-shaped stakes. To see that article, click the following link:
 "Ladder" Roadbed - Since architect Bill Logan pioneered a method for building elaborate, graceful roadbeds by slicing-and-dicing "plastic lumber," many folks have come up with useful variations (and several have taken credit for the basic concept). In addition, other products besides "plastic lumber" have been tried, many with success. But the original article, first published in 2002 (and based on Bill's research in the late 1990s) is still the most in-depth single explanation of how this is done.
Recommended for folks building large railroads with flextrack and a lot of trestles. Again, if you want your towns on the same level as your railroad, you'll need to figure out some way of raising them, perhaps with a mini raised-platform approach.
Click on the following link to see our article on "HDPE Flexible Roadbed."
 Raised Platform - Since we started publishing articles that recommended lumber-based raised railroads over dirt-and-retaining-wall-based raised railroads, many readers have shared their use of similar methods. Though the one I'm building is pretty elaborate, our article describes a basic raised platform railroad that anyone can start with, along with cost comparisons to a traditionally-built dirt-and-retaining-wall raised railroad of the same size.
Click on the link below to see an overview of what it takes to build a simple raised platform railroad in your back yard with tools you probably already own.
 GR's Downloadable Article "Ideas for Raising Your Railroad - This is actually three articles. Jim Hudson's article (the first) has several good points about viewing a raised railroad versus a ground-level railroad. It does include a suggestion for using RR ties in a way that is doomed to partial failure within 7 years in Ohio, and nearly complete failure within ten. Don't ask me how I know. But you CAN use posts and ground-rated 2"x6" boards to build a wall that will do this, or concrete retaining wall blocks.
Nancy Norris' contribution has a lot to do with using greenery to reduce the apparent gap between a raised railroad and the ground. She includes one graphic page with many great ideas. In my opinion, the pdf is worth downloading for that page alone.
The last article is about building elevated concrete roadbed. Our "Simple Raised Railroad" article does the same thing (far more simply) with lumber, but if you live somewhere that even ground-rated lumber is compromised, the concrete solution is very viable and permanent.
Click on the link below to go to the Kalmbach page for downloading the article:
 Christmas Train Preparations
If you are planning on setting up a special Large Scale Christmas train display each year, now's the time to get your train out and make certain it is ready to run. Yes, I know it's not Halloween yet, but if there's any problem with your train, you won't be able to get it repaired if you wait much longer. If you wait too long, you may not even be able to get it replaced, as stocks start getting thin around Thanksgiving.
This year's list of Christmas-themed Large Scale train sets is shorter than last years, and one set - the last Big Hauler Christmas set on the shelves - is likely to sell out soon. So if you don't have a working Christmas-themed train set and you want one, check out our Large Scale Christmas Train page in the following link:
Also, if you haven't set a train up in your front yard before and you are thinking about it, check out our article on building a simple wooden roadbed that you can set up on concrete blocks or some such and take down after Christmas.
Since Garden Railways magazine's abrupt shutdown, a number of other folks determined to keep the hobby going and to keep people at all levels informed of developments have created a prototype of a newsletter they hope to publish on a regular basis.
I know a number of folks who have contributed to the pilot issue or who are planning to make future contributions. If nothing else, there is a wealth of knowledge among the contributors.
So click on the following link and take a look. If you sign up, tell them I sent you.
Garden Railroading in Late Autumn/Early Winter
By now, for many of you, Autumn has already frozen off many plants and brought the annual falling leaf crisis (for some folks there's also a falling buckeye or walnut crisis). Here are some summaries of ideas I've culled from earlier autumn newsletters.
- Weed growth slows, so it's a good time to use the time you'd ordinarily spend weeding to do that big job you've been putting off.
- Finish cutting back any perennials that freeze off at the ground anyway. This way your railroad will still maintain a nice appearance in case you get a good day for running late in the year. But goldenrod, ragweed, thistle, or dandelions can still appear, so keep your dandelion digging tool near the garden for a few more weeks.
- Many perennials that don't freeze back to the ground like thyme could use a trim so that all the new foliage in the spring isn't a foot away from the root. Others like Blue Spruce Sedum just need to be cut back so their winter growth is even and attractive.
- If you plant any new shrubs or perennials, make certain that you monitor the condition of each plant and that it has enough water until several frosts have come.
- Start planning to 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. This year, bulbs for Tete-A-Tete Daffodils, a miniature variety that has generally only been available in pots, are available at Lowes and other stores.
Click the following link for more ideas about fall-planting bulbs:
 Consider populating your railroad with plastic bird feeders to keep it from looking "naked" all winter. The North States "Long Barn" and "Long Church" are actually scaled well for garden railroads. Some of the others have out-of-scale details, but still help your railroad look more like a railroad during the winter months. I pour pea gravel into the feed trays to keep them from getting blown away by the wind.
 I won't link to specific structures because they "come and go quickly," but this Amazon link will take you to a page with several of them (and many others that are useless for our purposes). In addition, Menards and other hardware chains often stock pieces that aren't commonly found elsewhere.
 Consider putting a net over your pond to keep out the leaves, and start thinking about how you will allow CO2 buildup to escape from the pond this winter, so it doesn't kill your fish. On my old railroad, I usually used a little aquarium air pump (covered by a building for protection) and a bubbler - this forced enough air through the water to drive out the excess CO2. This year, my "pond" is temporary, and very few fish have survived the raccoons and neighbors' cats. So I may just bring the survivors into the garage until the spring. If I get a pond into the ground next year, I'll go back to the air pump approach.
- If you have "shallow-water" plants in containers on shelves, you probably want to cut the plants back and drop the containers into deep water for the winter.
Click the following link for more information about water features in general:
If you have any good weather in November, 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 and paint them (especially if you like to do your spray painting in a garage, porch or other non-heated area). For more information about painting plastic structures, check out our updated article on the subject:
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 September, 2020, 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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