Family Garden Trains
Discussion Forums

Visit our Affiliated Pages:
Return to Family Garden Trains Home page
Garden Railroading Primer Articles: All about getting a Garden Railroad up and running well
Big Christmas Trains: Directory of Large Scale and O Scale trains with holiday themes
Return to Big Indoor Trains Home page
Building temporary and permanent railroads with big model trains
Best-loved railroad songs and the stories behind them.

It is currently Wed Oct 09, 2024 12:10 pm

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 1 post ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Getting to be Too Much
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 8:12 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:13 am
Posts: 183
A reader writes:
It is getting harder to stay enthused with this hobby - I love looking outside to see the train, cars, the track , buildings and scenes we have recreated. But we are getting older and it is difficult to keep up with the maintenance . i want to keep this hobby as it is unique and we have invested time and money in this garden railroad set up . Some of our base under the track needs repair and the tiny screws that keep stainless steel track together need to be replaced .

-----------------------------
I have to say I COMPLETELY understand. That's one reason I'm trying to promote above-ground railroads with very solid roadbeds and limited areas for plants to grow. I could NOT keep up with the weeding on my old ground-level roadbed myself, but many friends of mine who were just a few years older have given up altogether.

A friend in the Columbus area had a magnificent railroad that she just had to let turn into a "vacant lot" because so many things went bad at the same time. It was heartbreaking for her and it was heartbreaking for me to see. It's probably a good thing we moved when we did, because I was beginning to face some of the same challenges.

Here in Ohio, weeding is usually the biggest challenge - no square inch of dirt goes without sprouting SOMETHING within a few days of clearing. A couple in my area (SW Ohio) recently took up a huge railroad and reinstalled it over astroturf so they could keep running trains without spending 15-20 hours pulling weeds EVERY WEEK.

But every part of the world has its challenges, from deep frost lines to termites, to sun so hot it melts the ties (or at least makes the metal track hot enough to melt plastic wheels). So anything I can suggest to help people keep their garden railroads operational longer is a service to the hobby and to my friends.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help, and have a great autumn!

- Paul


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 1 post ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron


Click to see sturdy Lionel(r) trains that are perfect for your Christmas tree.


Visit our affiliated sites:
- Trains and Hobbies -
Return to Big Indoor Trains Home page
Return to Family Garden Trains Home page
Big Indoor Trains Primer Articles: All about setting up and displaying indoor display trains and towns. Garden Railroading Primer Articles: All about getting a Garden Railroad up and running well
On30 and O Gauge trains to go with indoor display villages and railroads
Big Christmas Trains: Directory of Large Scale and O Scale trains with holiday themes
Visit Lionel Trains. Free building projects for your vintage railroad or Christmas village. Click to see Thomas Kinkaded-inspired Holiday Trains and Villages. Big Christmas Train Primer: Choosing and using model trains with holiday themes Visit Howard Lamey's glitterhouse gallery, with free project plans, graphics, and instructions. Click to see HO scale trains with your favorite team's colors.
- Family Activities and Crafts -
Click to see reviews of our favorite family-friendly Christmas movies. Free, Family-Friendly Christmas Stories Decorate your tree the old-fashioned way with these kid-friendly projects. Free plans and instructions for starting a hobby building vintage-style cardboard Christmas houses. Click to find free, family-friendly Christmas poems and - in some cases - their stories. Traditional Home-Made Ornaments
- Christmas Memories and Collectibles -
Visit the FamilyChristmasOnline site. Visit Howard Lamey's glitterhouse gallery, with free project plans, graphics, and instructions. Visit Papa Ted Althof's extensive history and collection of putz houses, the largest and most complete such resource on the Internet.. Click to return to the Old Christmas Tree Lights Table of Contents Page Craft and collectibles blog with local news of Croton NY.
Click to visit Fred's Noel-Kat store.
- Music -
Carols of many countries, including music, lyrics, and the story behind the songs Wax recordings from the early 1900s, mostly collected by George Nelson.  Download them all for a 'period' album.
Best-loved railroad songs and the stories behind them.
Heartland-inspired music, history, and acoustic instrument tips. Own a guitar, banjo, or mandolin?  Want to play an instrument?  Tips to save you money and time, and keep your instrument playable. Own a guitar, banjo, or mandolin?  Want to play an instrument?  Tips to save you money and time, and keep your instrument playable.



Click to trains that commemorate your team!

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group