00 gauge in garden

[Chevron]

Havent been around in quite awhile new baby came so no room in house no more.

 

So with that im putting my track outside.

Will be raised about 4 foot off tge ground in top if the dog run we have.

 

Im happen enough with whar iv got planned. Nothung major. Mostly a roundy roundy with a siding or two.

 

 

My question is to anyone on here who has a garden layout.

 

 

How would i weathet proof scenery ir what materials should i use if i start to scratch build buildings or stations.

 

The straight is on old scaffold boards that will be roof felted.

[Killucan2]

Hope to get started soon outside,looking at using marine ply with felt cut and angled as needed, scaffold planks are to thick and weight also come to mind,im planning leaving shed on one side going around garden hope to get a extra 12x16 and back into shed far side double track one station outside one or two loops.

[Broithe]

I had one that was sort-of half outside - it was under a car-port - we had various small problems. There was quite a bit of expansion/contraction with temperature, even more so with humidity variations. We had to fit expansion joints eventually. Some of the scenic materials faded very quickly in the summer sunlight. Flies, bees and wasps seemed to die between the rails almost deliberately. Poplar seeds would stick to anything even slightly greasy and fur up the works. Cold damp weather would promote an oxide layer on the track and cause poor pick-up.

 

However, it was worth it all for the length of track that it made available for full-length trains.

[Chevron]

Never thought of expansion points.

 

What kind of scenery did you have that faded fast? I dont really want to just have painted walls. Or just green painred ground for grass.

 

Maybe some moss growing for grass?

[Broithe]

Never thought of expansion points.

 

What kind of scenery did you have that faded fast? I dont really want to just have painted walls. Or just green painred ground for grass.

 

Maybe some moss growing for grass?

As we weren't fully exposed, to rain, snow, etc, we had what you might call normal 'indoor' scenery, that wouldn't survive fully exposed. Some of the 'grass' went to hay very quickly and cardboard buildings also changed colour over time, but this wasn't always for the worse. The Peco backscenes also faded very quickly, but this just made them look a bit more 'distant' really.

 

Expansion was our biggest problem, but it can happen in the real world, too.

 

 

We also had some problems with lack of connection through some of the track joiners after a long period of time, you might like to make provision to directly connect each piece of track. It could be worth the extra trouble at the start in the long run.

 

Miniature gardening is a subject in itself. This book is very good, though there are many others, too - http://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Miniature-MARTIN-BAXENDALE/dp/0706367626/ref=la_B001HPSB26_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403516965&sr=1-2 .

[jhb171achill]

Having had a G scale outfit for some time before a house move, I can confirm that Mother Nature tends to get quite heavily involved even in that much larger scale. Unfortunately, while her efforts at assisting with scenery can be managed in a beneficial way in G scale, she doesn't understand OO! Moss on an OO scale layout will be overscale for one thing, but problematic if allowed anywhere near points! If it's allowed to grow on wooden boards it will encourage damp, but dry weather will kill it all off, cue an unsightly brown mess.

 

I knew someone who at one stage had a very large outdoor circuit for the same reason - full length trains (of 1930s era LMS carriages) - and he actually didn't bother with scenery at all on outdoor sections. He just used a plain circuit on narrow baseboards about waist level. It looked well overall and certainly gave his locomotives good exercise. He never mentioned how he managed track cleaning.

[Railway Lyons]

Had an outdoor railway for a while before leaving my parents house.

Tried a few ways to lay track bed and came across some of the problems already mentioned in the thread.

 

One solution I did find however was pouring concrete beds(at ground level in the flowerbeds) and while still slightly wet, fixing track with pins.

Once it had set i filled in between the 2 tracks and outer edges (not in between rails), with Polyfilla and painted white.

Never had an issue with heat expansion, and it ran really well.

 

Planning to do the same again when finally buy my own home.

[Broithe]

Had an outdoor railway for a while before leaving my parents house.

Tried a few ways to lay track bed and came across some of the problems already mentioned in the thread.

 

One solution I did find however was pouring concrete beds(at ground level in the flowerbeds) and while still slightly wet, fixing track with pins.

Once it had set i filled in between the 2 tracks and outer edges (not in between rails), with Polyfilla and painted white.

Never had an issue with heat expansion, and it ran really well.

 

Planning to do the same again when finally buy my own home.

Good plan - people assume that it is the rails expanding in the heat, but I believe that a bigger part of the problem is actually the wood shrinking as it dries. And vice-versa. And, having the track on the ground does reduce the effects of temperature/humidity variations, too.

[Chevron]

I have notived most garden setups have little to no scenery per se but i would like a little bit to take tbe empty look away.

 

 

I will bw wiring up most lengths with wire for connectivity.

 

Still in the planning and building baseboards. Have half of the track temp laid fir testing my spirit level

[Killucan2]

Have a look on YouTube there's good start up videos.

[Warbonnet]

Have a look on YouTube there's good start up videos.

 

Absolutely, there's a couple of magazines dedicated to the subject too, mainly American and a British outline one too but would be worth looking at for ideas and inspiration.

 

Lots of good advice here, would love some O gauge garden action myself. I know Wrenneire has a bit of O Gauge in his back garden too.

[jhb171achill]

If you subscribe to the GardenRail magazine they have great info and great tips about scale plants / gardening. Their features on outdoor layouts of all scales (though primarily G scale or 0 gauge) are very good, and a great source of inspiration.

[irishmail]

Hi Chevron, If you are interested I currently have for sale 'Garden Rail' and 'Garden Railways' all fully bound, 14 years of Garden Railways and 10 years of Garden Rail. They are currently listed in the For Sale/Wanted section of this forum. Am open to reasonable offers for them.

 

Regards.

[Chevron]

Fully bound and 14 years sounds expensive lol.

[Mayner]

I have a fairly large G Gauge circuit in the back garden, built on raised timber framing mainly because its easier on the back than a ground level line and a lot less work to build.

 

The frame work is all pressure treated pine (Tanalised) with the stations and yards are basically on open famed baseboards (4X2) with the track laid on decking timber the "scenery" fine pebbles or quarry screenings supported on weed mat laid on top of wire mesh. Plain running line between stations is laid on 9x2 or 6X2 pine boards. The whole lot supported on timber piles or cut down fence posts concreted into the ground.

 

The railway has been in operation for about 5 years, no major work apart from replacing a few board that had warped or twisted. Some modellers now use composite (recycled plastic) decking as its less prone to twisting than timber.

 

I have not found rail expansion or contraction a major problem, the biggest problem is keeping the line clear of falling leave, twigs and branches and snail shells. The birds soon discovered that rails make excellent anvils for breaking open shells.

 

Scenery is mainly fine pebbles or quarry screenings in yards, with box and slow growing shrubs out on the line.

[Mayner]

Just a quick post to give an idea of the effects of the weather on a garden railway.

 

 

After one week mid winter poor drying.

 

 

Sun bleached sleepers, mainly in shade during winter this area is exposed to afternoon sun 6-7 months.

 

 

Natural weathering. Limekiln/coke ovens built 2012.

 

On the positive side I had trains running today (battery) after an hours clearing up/weeding.