Garden Railway Forum

Hello everyone,
thanks for adding me as a new member of this great community. I don't have a garden railway and probably never will. My two dogs will never allow me to do that because it's definitely their garden. But I'm planning to build a very small (2" x 4") 16mm gauge indoor layout. Am I crazy ? Maybe a little bit...
I found this idea right here:
https://www.nationalgardenrailwayshow.o ... le-layout/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI07WgIMNbk
Many thanks in advance for all your comments and advices.

You'll also find the following interesting: http://mdlr.co.uk/

Brian Dominic's two table top layouts.

Thanks.

John Rogers of Bristol has built a very small raised layout for use in the garden. I can remeber whether it was in Garden Rail or SMT (Sixteen Mill Today the Association mag).
I haven't seen Brian for some time and was unaware of Slugs Crossing. I see the rat is still around.

The first thing is to decide is what track you are going to use. If you want an oval of track the radius of the curved sections will determine the minimum width of baseboard required If it is 12 inch radius you will probably need a board at least 2ft 3 inch wide because the radius is usually measured mid gauge. Of course if you are willing to build your own you can fit it on 2ft. It is not hard to build track especially if you use lighter rail like the code 100 Brian mentions. BTW I would suggest 32mm gauge will be more suited to such tight curves than 45mm.

I hope you give it a go

Don

Not crazy at all. If you want some ideas for "micro layouts" then this will be useful.
http://www.carendt.com/category/small-layout-scrapbook

DonW wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 4:57 pmI haven't seen Brian for some time and was unaware of Slugs Crossing. I see the rat is still around.

. Got it ! http://mdlr.co.uk/sc.html

DonW wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 4:57 pmThe first thing is to decide is what track you are going to use. If you want an oval of track the radius of the curved sections will determine the minimum width of baseboard required If it is 12 inch radius you will probably need a board at least 2ft 3 inch wide because the radius is usually measured mid gauge. Of course if you are willing to build your own you can fit it on 2ft. It is not hard to build track especially if you use lighter rail like the code 100 Brian mentions. BTW I would suggest 32mm gauge will be more suited to such tight curves than 45mm.

I haven't decided yet if I'll use 32mm or 16.5mm track. The baseboard is already built (67cm x 127cm). I made it for another project.

idlemarvel wrote: ↑Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:03 pmNot crazy at all. If you want some ideas for "micro layouts" then this will be useful.http://www.carendt.com/category/small-layout-scrapbook

Thanks for the link.

You might like to look at my topic. I have built nothing yet - still in dreaming phase like you.

https://gardenrails.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=12349

Thanks for the link. Very interesting. I'll follow your work with interest.

IP Engineering build its own wooden 32mm track. What do you think about it for indoor use ?

https://www.ipenginnering.com/product-p ... track-pack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raMtt3k ... e=youtu.be

Assuming it uses a thin wooden strip for the rail I would imagine it should be ok for lightweight stock powered by batteries. Personally I would probably make my own track. The other possibility is whether the IP track could be used but using 00 code 100 rail either spiked down or soldered to brass tacks or screws. This is because I couldn't resist running a live steamer round the track. On the size of board you are planning to use the trains will be pretty short so there shouldn't be too much drag and speeds would be low. There are no points shown on their website.
Brian Dominic is on here as MDLR if you could contact him either on here or through his website he may be better able to advise on the IP track as he did try some.

Don

Bergerac wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:07 am IP Engineering build its own wooden 32mm track. What do you think about it for indoor use ?

https://www.ipenginnering.com/product-p ... track-pack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raMtt3k ... e=youtu.be

I bought a circle of that from the Peterborough show a couple of years ago.
Rubbish (just my opinion).

BorisSpencer wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 1:24 pmI bought a circle of that from the Peterborough show a couple of years ago.
Rubbish (just my opinion).

Copy that ! Loud and clear. I'll use real track. I hope the IP Engineering rolling stock is better than the track...

Because my baseboard is very small (67cm x 127cm), I need very tight curves (diameter: 580/600mm). How can I bend the Peco SM32 track without any issue ? Thanks.

Have a look at Faller-E-Train track, assuming you're going 32mm.
Or

The old Hornby 2-rail tinplate might be worth a look, cheap as chips (ebay has loads of it). It has small radius curves and a variety of small radius points and diamond crossings. It wouldn't last five minutes outside before rusting away, but on a baseboard inside might well be worth some fettling.

If you want to bend Peco SM32 to such a tight radius the best way is to slide the rails out of the track bend then using a rail bender if possible then sliding them back in the track. This takes the stress out of the curved track. It way also help to put a brass screw in by the rail joints and solder the rails to the brass screws this is to stop a kink forming if the rail ends try to straighten out.

Don