Garden Railways?

[Class15]

Hi all, I am looking for some advice on how to build a garden railway. Which scale is best (is Lego a good idea?) and are there any other important things to consider?

thanks.

 

[Virgin Voyager]

I've built a lego garden railway previously, it was OK except the points kept jamming with soil as I had no track bed. I would advise a concrete or ballast track bed using decent sized stones, big enough for them to not get wedged in the point mechanism. Honestly lego is amazing, it gives you so much freedom and you could literally build any station or train you desire. I would advise going 8 wide though or maybe even 10 wide if you want to go for a narrow guage vibe, which tend to suit gardern railways as its harder to get the track bed 100% perfect in the garden compared to indoors. Overall, if you already have a decent lego collection, it's quite cost effective. Good luck and keep us updated.

Now then, I hope I'm not opening a can of worms here but long story short theese are lego models are designed to run on Guage 1 track (44.5mm) gauge. They are 1:32 scale (except the 20 is not to scale) I run them at a local model engineering society on a raised layout. In theory they could run on G Scale Track which can be picked up cheaply - especially plastic stuff and is ideal for a garden layout. But they are still under development and there's a few issues that need to be ironed out. Feel free to ask any questions

In terms of things for you to consider, it's up to you, what you want to model, space constraints, budget ect. The main thing is the lego points are susceptible to dirt and the standard curves are tight, cause drag on long trains and lego trains may run out of speed / stall on gradients as there isn't a great deal of power available from AAA batteries

 

[John Webb]

At the preserved St Albans South box we built a garden railway, at first on wood planks supported on wood posts. But after several years the wood started to have problems; we also realised undesirable garden vermin were housing themselves under the raised track:


It was rebuilt with breeze blocks on a level foundation and we've had very little problem since:

 

[Trainlog]

Hi all, I am looking for some advice on how to build a garden railway. Which scale is best (is Lego a good idea?) and are there any other important things to consider?

thanks.

It will depend on factors such as do you want to model a Standard or narrow gauge line and what scale do you wish to use?

45mm or G scale is probably one of the best scales for garden railways, as there is a lot of reliable and easy-to-assemble track, such as LGB track and Peco 45mm.

At the G scale, though it is a bit more expensive than smaller scales, there are many pros, such as...

• A decent second hand market
• 45mm has a lot of scales that you can model Gauge 1 (1:32-1:29) Standard gauge, G Scale (1:24), 16mm (1:20-1:18) narrow gauge, and 7/8ths narrow gauge (1:12)
• Live steam is available at 45mm at all of the above scales
• unlike smaller scales its less awkward to model in

I think it's out of print now, but the Garden railway manual is a good read for getting started in outdoor railways.

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For smaller scales, outdoor model railways do exist and there are many Youtube videos about how people have done them - you will just have to bear in mind weathering and more maintenance if that route was chosen.

 

[GardenRail]

Hi all, I am looking for some advice on how to build a garden railway. Which scale is best (is Lego a good idea?) and are there any other important things to consider?

thanks.

Without a doubt, G Scale. It's robust, heavy, and durable. Had G Scale for 20 years. If you're looking to get started, Piko, LGB, both do starter sets. There are a few specialists in the country that supply. My go to, is PS Models in York. But there are others. Granted it's not the cheapest, but it's an investment and most of us started with a starter set. Below, is my railway.

 

[Class15]

Thanks very much everyone. G scale looks a good idea.

 

[GardenRail]

A list of suppliers I have used. In favourite order. Purely because PS is closest to me.

P & S Hobbies & Model Shop Ltd

LGB Premiere Sales & Service , Massoth Premier Dealer Sales and Service Specialist, North Yorkshires G Gauge Specialist Gauge LGB Specialist, Bachmann Large Scale SPECIALIST, LGB Repair Centre, Massoth Repair centre,

www.pshobbiesandmodelshop.co.uk

Homepage

QUICKLINKS Beginners/Getting Started Locomotives - Live Steam Gift Vouchers NEWLY LISTED PRODUCTS

www.grsuk.com

chalkgardenrail.co.uk

Kent Garden Railways – For all your model railway supplies

kgrmodels.com