Patricks Layout

[Mike 84C]

Very rustic, love the grass effect almost good enough to mow! Looks like a little diversion into narrow gauge, enjoy!  

[Mayner]

8 hours ago, patrick said:

Sure looks like the Prairie!

The Bachmann Big Haulier cars are great value and look the part.  Looks like you managed to find yourself an Aristocraft Delton C16 2-8-0 pretty rare these days I suspect!

I bought a circle of LGB track a loco and a caboose to get something running quickly in the garden as a distraction from my Irish modelling about 17 years ago, and ended up with a large 'collection' of American Large Scale locos and stock and still haven't gotten around to starting the Irish layout, mighty addictive stuff!

Edited August 4 by Mayner

[patrick]

Progress. It's starting to look like a railroad.

[patrick]

I love this video Maureen took earlier today. It really captures the atmosphere of the layout.

IMG_9114.MOV

Edited August 11 by patrick

[LNERW1]

Glad to see someone else on the forum has gotten into G scale. I presume by the lovely shiny track that you're using track power?

[patrick]

It all started years ago when I got a great deal on the Aristo Craft 2-8-0. It was my intention to have it as a display model but of course I had to see it run so acquired a controller and some track and started to pick up some rolling stock. Occasionally we would set it up in the garden but I never did get the opportunity to set up a permanent outdoor layout. 

After selling our condo we are now renting a house from Maureens brother where we plan to stay for the next two years or so. A few weeks back we had our former foster girls,  age eight and eleven,  over for a weekend. We set up a simple oval on the lawn and started running trains. At this point it was decided to set it up on a more permanent basis in a herb garden we are planning. Given that the layout will be dismantled after two years and the ground is fortunately very flat and hard no great effort was made preparing the track bed. After the location of the track was established the track bed received a liberal dose of weed and grass killer. Once the vegetation was cleared the track was replaced using black wire ties to keep the sections together and was then ballasted and leveled. The coarse grass will be kept in each side of the track as it keeps the ballast in place. How this will work out remains to be seen especially during the harsh winters here in NE Ohio, the layout is literally a few hundred feet from Lake Erie. Should things not work out the track could be lifted in a few hours if necessary. 

Control is dc track power and so far operation has been pretty reliable. 

The layout has no name as yet but I see it as a branch of a small Colorado railroad which sees a train a few days a week. Any suggestions from anyone with some knowledge of the Colorado narrow guage would be very welcome. Although essentially a roundy roundy display layout there is potential for a little prototypical operation when the mood strikes. 

Edited August 11 by patrick

[patrick]

[patrick]

Excavation work has started on the pond. I'm not as young as I used to be and the ground is pretty hard so I'm trying to get a little done every day without killing myself!

The layout has also come through a heavy storm last week, sever enough to warrant tornado warnings. While I have yet to run a train everything seems to be in order but some ballasting will need to be done in places where it settled. Thankfully very little was washed away in the downpour.

Edited August 17 by patrick

[DJ Dangerous]

2 hours ago, patrick said:

I'm not as young as I used to be

 

 

I feel you there!

[patrick]

Cut and sort of fill, garden railroad style. What is excavated for the pond becomes the reason for the tunnel.

Edited August 21 by patrick