Hi All. Thought I'd say hi. I'm planning and buying bits for a garden railway in Coventry, England. I've got an 8ft diameter circle of track, three large radius points (switches) and 16 foot of straight track, all aristocraft. The plan is to run Bachmann Thomas stuff and have managed to get and test run a DCC sound fitted Percy. One day I'd love some Ffestiniog live steam stuff but that will be a long time yet. Any other HO/OO fans just starting out in g gauge? What were the things that caught you out or things that are different when you scale up? I haven't got the permanent way set up yet so no track fully laid yet. I want to 3d print some rolling stock but am still at the "I don't know which printer to buy stage". Anyway. Trains. Fun. Thanks.
New garden railway in Coventry, UK
- Thread starter JohninCov
- Start date
Northsider
Modelling the Northern half of the Isle of Man
Hi John, and welcome to the Forum! It sounds like you've made the leap into G Scale with track and a locomotive-you'll find that it's addictive! 8ft is a good diameter to use for curves: the smaller four-wheel stock will be happy on tighter radius curves, but should you get some Ffestiniog bogie coaches -or a double Fairlie!- they will run through 8ft curves easily: so you have future-proofed your track which is good.
You'll find a lot of information on here, and can always ask for help. Getting started with track laying can be daunting, so have a look at the options: do you want raised, or ground level; timber, breeze block or UV stabilised polymer trackbed? Cost is a consideration of course, but it also depends on what you are happy working with: and what you can get hold of.
You'll find a lot of information on here, and can always ask for help. Getting started with track laying can be daunting, so have a look at the options: do you want raised, or ground level; timber, breeze block or UV stabilised polymer trackbed? Cost is a consideration of course, but it also depends on what you are happy working with: and what you can get hold of.
Thanks for the reply. I'm planning ground level but on filcris recycled boards
I made some raised flower beds a while back and was impressed with their stuff but spotted the garden railway items too. Having worked out that their stuff is the same radius as the track I've got, I hope to use that. I've got a phase one and phase two plan which will allow the railway to start and when funds allow grow as well. A double fairlie would be the bees knees.
I made some raised flower beds a while back and was impressed with their stuff but spotted the garden railway items too. Having worked out that their stuff is the same radius as the track I've got, I hope to use that. I've got a phase one and phase two plan which will allow the railway to start and when funds allow grow as well. A double fairlie would be the bees knees.
Welcome to the forum, plenty of advice to be had on here, and dodgy humour! Start simple and build up is a good start, although some go straight for a large set up with brilliant results. A warning about Ficris, it can expand a lot so do not filthiest too tightly to it, and the ready made curves are expensive. A lot of people use short bits, about 2" long and stagger them round bends leaving a gap in between fo expansion. Unfortunately I can't find a picture to show what I mean
Welcome to the forum John, as Paul said Filcris can be an issue with expansion. One way to make it irrelevant is to consider Massoth Track Clamps for your rail-joiners and fitting track loosely to those expandy boards. A small block of plastic (say half gap between sleepers and rails) inside a pair of sleepers will work nicely. The thing to remember is not to forget if you lay track during a warm day the contraction at night will catch you out.
Hi John. Although I no longer live in the midlands, I still have a daughter in Coventry, so will be going up to the Midland Garden Railway Show, at Warwickshire Event Centre, on the 1st and 2nd of March. I will also be going to the larger National Garden Railway Show at Stoneleigh showground on the 12th of April. Both are good shows to have a look around if you are starting out, for ideas, but can be very tempting for the wallet. Members of this group normally have a meet up at some time during the day, which is nice to be able to put a face to names we see on here. If you do go to ether, I will be running on the 16mm modular layout at both shows, so do pop over and say hello. There is a friend of mine who has a quite large 45mm railway in his garden, including bridges over a real river that flows through his garden. It is always good to see what others have done to get ideas. I won't put his address up in the public posting but do feel free to contact me directly and I will see when his next open day is. Oh and welcome to the group. David Lewis.
HobbitFertang
Registered
Welcome John, you can't go wrong with concrete! (well, I've gone very wrong on some occasions 
). Of course, not everyone likes concrete in the garden, but time tends to soften its appearance . . and it's fun.
). Of course, not everyone likes concrete in the garden, but time tends to soften its appearance . . and it's fun.HobbitFertang
Registered
It's worth pointing out that getting rid of unwanted concrete (especially the reinforced variety) is a real pain!
rhaetianfan
RhB (obviously) but otherwise any 'modern' locos
Hi John - good to hear that you're going for ground level, always looks right to me. However, whilst it can look like this:
at the end of winter it can look like this:
too much warm, wet weather in the second half of last year and the track resembles a disused branch line!
Track is loose laid onto horticultural grit over a layer of gravel with weed membrane underneath - well, the curve disappearing into the grass was laid last year to accommodate a loco needing a wider radius curve than R2 and I didn't put any weed membrane down...
I would echo the use of Massoth or similar clamps - I get no problems with electrical continuity and alignment is consistent. A tip for good running - use a spirit level across the rails to check for twist and, each time there is an unexpected derailment or uncoupling, check it with the spirit level. A handful of horticultural grit then restores normality - 'packing' in big railway terms!
Hope this helps, took me a few years to perfect this, usually blaming the rolling stock when it was the track all along!
Cheers
M
at the end of winter it can look like this:
too much warm, wet weather in the second half of last year and the track resembles a disused branch line!
Track is loose laid onto horticultural grit over a layer of gravel with weed membrane underneath - well, the curve disappearing into the grass was laid last year to accommodate a loco needing a wider radius curve than R2 and I didn't put any weed membrane down...
I would echo the use of Massoth or similar clamps - I get no problems with electrical continuity and alignment is consistent. A tip for good running - use a spirit level across the rails to check for twist and, each time there is an unexpected derailment or uncoupling, check it with the spirit level. A handful of horticultural grit then restores normality - 'packing' in big railway terms!
Hope this helps, took me a few years to perfect this, usually blaming the rolling stock when it was the track all along!
Cheers
M
andyspencer
Registered
Hi John,
Where abouts in Cov are you based? I grew up in Wyken, and now live out in New Arley. I run live steam, Swiss RhB along with a large collection of the Thomas range of models, that all talk and sing! All DCC controlled of course.
