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April, 2021 Update from Family Garden TrainsTMNote: 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.If you are not subscribed to the Family Garden Trains newsletter, and you would like to subscribe, please join our Mailing List, and specify that you want to receive e-mail updates. Also, if you would like to subscribe to our free newsletter for indoor railroads and seasonal display villages, please join the "Trains-N-TownsTM mailing list. You can subscribe to either, both, or neither, and we will just be glad to be of service, no matter what you decide. 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.
Update for April, 2021Not long ago, my March and early April newsletters tended to be about how to make progress on your railroad even when it was covered with snow and ice. But the past March, in Ohio, we had several days in the 60s and one or two that hit 70. I've been outside in shirtsleeves many times. Of course, we're expecting a "hard freeze" tonight, but that's just a one-day return to the weather we used to have most of March and half of April. Outdoor StuffOne thing that kept me busy the last few weeks was putting permanent 2"x6" roadbed on the new platforms. Last year, I got the last platform built, but it was too late in the season to install permanent roadbed.
The photo to the right shows the west platform with two track loops set in pea gravel. That's not recommended as a "permanent" solution but it looks better than black tarp. The buildings are all North States bird feeders that I set out in the winter to keep the railroad from looking naked. So, when we got a few warm days this spring, I pulled up those temporary loops and experimented with a bunch of track odds and ends to see where the new right-of-ways would probably go. The new mainline would be based on 10' curves and include several sidings. Before I started cutting the roadbed, I wanted to make certain it would fit where I thought it would. It did, mostly. Then, I bought a bunch of 2"x6"x12' pressure-treated boards and started sawing the pieces I needed. When I had about third of the new roadbed installed, and everything was still a mess, a neighbor told me she was having an Easter Egg hunt for 20-25 kids the following Saturday, and she asked me if I could have trains running for her visitors. "Of course," I answered. Which definitely moved up the timetable. But I did get the roadbed finished, and most of the gravel replaced, so it was presentable, as you'll see in the article "New Right-of-Ways on the New Boston and Donnels Creek RR" (the link is below). At this point the new platforms still need dirtscaping, rocks, trees, groundcover, buildings, lighting, and accessories. But I can run trains on them at any time. For the day of the Easter Egg hunt, I had to pull a few stray sedum branches away from the upper loops, which were built in 2017. But the sedum scraps didn't go to waste - a friend's grandchildren were coming over to make little fairy gardens in a few days. In the future, such "clippings" will go on the new platforms, once they have dirt to plant them in. In the interests of full disclosure, I can no longer reach all of the track on the top two platforms without stepping up onto the lower one - something that there was no way to design around. But if I only have to do that three or four times a year, that's still way better than going around the entire railroad on my knees several times a year as I used to do. Indoor StuffBack in January and February, I did work on some indoor stuff, including building a railroad timetable for my workshop. To create some of the lettering on the timetable, I got my old Cricut Expression out of storage. And then I learned that much of the world of craftcutters had changed since the last time I cut anything on it. While trying to catch up, I also came across site after site with "information" that was so outdated as to be useless or flat-out wrong, as well as some that had never been right, period. So I put on my "fact-checker hat" (the one I earned writing history textbooks in the early 2000s). I checked out any number of "tips and tricks" that may have worked one time but don't work anymore. I also verified modern solutions that work better than some of the outdated hacks folks are still using. And there's some good news for many owners of first-generation Cricuts. Initially, I was only going to update a few pages on my railroad hobby sites, but I realized that wouldn't be enough. By the time I had addressed the biggest hacks, work-arounds, and urban legends, I had enough new pages to justify starting a whole 'nudder site. So I did. One dedicated to hobbyists looking to use their Cricuts and Silhouettes of any age to create buildings, signage, and accessories for their hobbies. Some of you who are still addicted to Xacto knives may be wondering what these things have to do with model railroading, war gaming, putz houses, doll houses, and other hobbies. One easy answer is windowframes. Once you've designed a window you want to cut out for a structure, you can cut out thirty almost as easily as you can cut one. If you're working on indoor hobbies, you can even cut them out of thin wood, thick cardstock, or chipboard to suit any building need. Other indoor railroaders have cut soft wood to make scale building frames, bridge components, siding, shingles, cedar shakes, car sides, and more. Outside is a little more complicated, because craftcutters can't cut most thick weatherproof materials. But we're going to keep looking for useful examples. This newsletter also includes some general hobby announcements, about a volunteer e-magazine and the upcoming National Garden Railway Convention in Nashville this spring. Whatever your modeling, railroading, or gardening interests, stay tuned. Every newsletter, we try to publish more, updated, helpful information. In the meantime, have a great spring! In This IssueThe following content is linked to or included in this newsletter:
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