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 Thu Mar 28, 2024 7:07 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 1:33 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:13 am
Posts: 183
Our first article on the subject is here:

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/wa ... bility.htm

Ideas include designing interesting setting, track plans that aren't immediately obvious, and many more.

If you're signed up, you can add your experiences by replying to this message or starting a new topic in this forum. Our signup form is here:

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_forum_signup.htm


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 10:36 am 
Offline

Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:08 am
Posts: 3
We run what we call "FUN TRAINS". We have rolling stock from many companies and in many scales. While all our locomotives are from Aristo-Craft and USA Trains, and are in 1:29 scale, our rolling stock runs the gamut from 1:20.5 to 1:32.

Additionally, we've purchased cars that represent things we like such as McDonald's and Tootsie Roll Pops. That makes our consists colorful as well as fun to watch.

On our Bachmann combine cars, we open the doors of the mail compartment and have inserted bags and boxes to make it appear that there is really mail being hauled. The passenger compartments have several people in them and, a conductor walking in the aisle.

No one has ever said that our railroad is boring. We hope to keep it that way.

SkippyGP


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 4:32 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:13 am
Posts: 183
Our biggest open RR is always Christmas-themed with Christmas-themed trains, lights in the trees, Christmas music playing, etc.

But even on regular days, I have the RR structured so that trains "go away and come back," so you have a sense stuff is really happening and not just trains running in circles.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 2015 5:36 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:26 am
Posts: 17
We enjoy running Thomas and Friends (T&F) trains on our garden railway from time to time. They don't quite fit the theme of our Camden and Mount Holly Railroad, but the children really identify with them and honestly they are just fun to run - with your imagination providing various railway adventures for Thomas and Percy.

Our T&F engines are straight-out-of-the-box simple DC track powered locos. Simple is good, but I did miss the sounds of an operating steam engine; And since blowing the whistle is fun for adults and kids alike, I decided to build a simple sound car to run with our T&F trains and add a little more interest to our T&F operations.

My sound car is a Bachmann T&F open wagon with a simulated coal load. The plastic coal load simply sits in the wagon with spacers to position it near the top to simulate a full load. This leaves plenty of room under the load for all the necessary sound system components.

The major components for my project included:
MyLocoSound universal steam sound card
2-1/2", 8 ohm Speaker
Speaker baffle (spray paint can plastic top)
On/off switch
Track Power pick-ups (for the steel wheels on the car)
9V nimh battery w/battery clip

With the exception of the track power pick-ups all components were mounted to the underside of the coal load. The coal load was perforated with tiny holes above the speaker location. Once the speaker and baffle are sealed in place the holes are almost undetectable.

Couple the sound car behind Thomas or Percy and you're set to go!


Attachments:
TF Sound Car.jpg
TF Sound Car.jpg [ 199.36 KiB | Viewed 19657 times ]
TF Sound Car Interior.jpg
TF Sound Car Interior.jpg [ 180.22 KiB | Viewed 19657 times ]
Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 10:04 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:13 am
Posts: 183
Thanks for the photos. That's a very clever solution.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 

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