HO Scale Garden Railroad

 I'm thinking about putting an HO Scale railroad in the garden when I
plant it this spring.  I'm posting here because I need advice on what I
can lay track ON that would be sturdy and not harm my tomatoes,
strawberries, watermelon, carrots, green beans (or whatever else I plant.)

At the moment, my main question is how to securely mount the track.  I
plan on soldering every joint so electric connectivity isn't a problem.
  The track is about 1" wide with plastic "ties" between the rails.
Normally, track is mounted by putting a nail through the center of the
tie in to a board or with glue.  However, a 1/2" nail like I use
wouldn't be sufficient to hold track in place on dirt/weed block.

Also, HO scale track is somewhat fragile.  Any ideas on how to prevent
having it stepped on?  (I'm sure many gardeners have come across a
similar problem.)

If there's a better newsgroup for this, I don't think my ISP carries
it... There's no rec.models.railroads.garden like there is
rec.models.railroads.ho

--- Short introduction to model railroad scales in general. (For the
curious.) ---

Model railroads are railroads built to resemble the full scale railroads
that I'm sure everyone has seen or at least crossed their tracks.
They're built to different sizes (each with their advantages and
disadvantages) called /scales/ and they usually have letter names.  O
scale (1:48 proportion) was one of the original so when trains came out
that were roughly half of O scale (1:87) it was called HO for "Half O."

Puckdropper
--
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Old computers are getting to be a lost art. Here at Uncreative Labs, we
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To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

 Puckdropper wrote:

You might want to look at Garden Railways Magazine:
http://www.trains.com/maghomepage/maghomepage.asp?idMagazine=5

Personally, I think that HO is far too small to be built on even firmly
packed ground. I think you'll find that you'll never get the ground flat
enough unless you pre-mount the track on some very wide pieces of
plywood, and do a reasonably good job of grading an even wider path.

You'll find some people talk about G-scale or G-gauge, but there really
is no such thing. Gauge refers to the distance between the rails, and
scale refers to the ratio to full-size. These days garden railroads are
often built on what was once the obsolete 1-gauge rails, but the scale
of rolling stock varies. you'll find 1:20.3, 1:22.5, 1:24, 1:29 and 1:32
but not a big selection in any of them. If you're going for accuracy of
full-size railroads, 1:32 would be correct, but there's more available
in 1:29, which with 1-gauge track would be more like a narrow-gauge
railroad in real life.

I just can't see HO as being practical for a real garden railroad.
Possibly as part of a patio railroad, but not out on the actual earth.
But maybe someone else out there has made it work.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
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There is an alt.models.railroad.ho listed in my newsgroups (with
Newsguy.com for a server).  Although I didn't find a
rec.models.railroads.ho, I'll have to ask them about that!  I could
have sworn there was a garden railroad group.

Here's a few links I found on a dogpile search:

http://www.railserve.com/Models/Retail/

http://www.trains.com/maghomepage/maghomepage.asp?idMagazine=5

http://www.btcomm.com/trains/primer/budget.htm

 

 most people use G scale for garden railroads for two reasons.
it's big enough to actually see & it's not as fragile as HO.
 that said, i would use exterior plywood for your roadbed & post
really big signs warning people about RR Crossings :)
 one other drawback to HO is no matter what you plant, it's
going to be completely out of proportion to the trains. if that
doesn't bother you, then go for it!
lee

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still
differentiate
between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing
the vital
connection between them. -Leo Buscaglia, author (1924-1998)

 

Fun little thread!

Has anyone ever put a scaled down roller-coaster in their garden to give
cats & terriers & hamsters scary rides?

-paghat the ratgirl
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