Help me rework my garden railway, ideas needed

[artfull dodger]

I am going to take the plunge to go over to UK style 32mm on my garden railway. To my mind's eye, UK narrow gauge steamers only look "right" on 32mm gauge track. Tight curves will be the norm. Jim Slater's Budley Bumblebahn is one of my inspiration lines. Little in the way of buildings, Mamod cast metal track and beautiful flowers. I do plan a few buildings, a station, a pub and an engine house for certain.

I can keep the current track plan or change it all together. I do know the pond/river needs redone as when the pump runs to feed the river flowing to the creek, the pond empties out in about 10 hours. So there is a leak somewhere. The line also drops down hill fast between the deck bridge and the curve around the tree(see pics). Then climbs fast till it curves behind the bush/antenna tower. So that needs to be dealt with for live steam operation. I have considered taking the curve behind the tree and building up the area where the current station and brewery now sit. I am looking for ideas, suggestions ect. The track of choice is set in stone, not gonna change or go to Peco ect. I know it limits things but I am ok with that. Sidings will be minimal with one to the engine house, and a passing track at the depot. I will be using a treated wood underlayment to support the track and I plan to cover the wood with piece of roof shingle to simulate ballest till I add actual rock. I am looking for more Mamod track, atleast 3 switches, a couple UK style semaphore signals and building kits for the above mentioned buildings. Most of this is not found in the USA. I will put all the LGB track and turnouts up for trade for those said items. There are 3 turnouts with control motors and lighted lanterns, all track is LGB. Mike

[artfull dodger]

The current state of the roadbed is that most of the ballest is washed out from the track with one area needing back filled as the track is floating in mid air. Track was laid directly on top of the dirt and ballest spread. New layout will have the ballest mixed with some concrete dust, peat and milk to encourage moss to grow and give the line an overgrown look. Just didnt want others to think I was pulling up a really nice railway. I am not happy with the lack of being level, as I had tried to get it level for live steam operation. Mike

[Annie]

Because I'm an indoor modeller I hesitate to give anyone advice on what to do with an outdoor layout, but I think if you relay your present line in 32mm track and level it correctly you won't go too far wrong.  That would at least give you a starting point and also enable you to get something up and running fairly quickly.

[-steves-]

I really like it as it is too, but maybe thats because I have nothing as yet and appreciate anything anyone has done. I really do think it looks great and would do as Annie says.

[philipy]

Mike,
If you are happy with your current track plan, then I'd suggest leaving it as it is and simply change to the Mamod track. You can always go back to it and make alterations in the future if you want.

The buildings you have at the moment look fine to me, the only one that jars a bit, from a UK point of view, is the covered bridge. Could you simply take the roof off it?

To my mind, the trick is to do what must be done for starters and don't change things just for the sake of change.

[Keith S]

I know exactly what you mean about the 45mm track not looking "narrow" enough, but I feel the actual gauge is only one factor in how your tracks look. The other reason a lot of 45mm gauge track does not have the same look to it is that a lot of it has rather short, closely-spaced sleepers, and heavy-code rail. Also there is a lot of "set" curves that are jarring to look at. It seems to me there is a certain ratio of curve radius to gauge that, if the radius is too small, makes the track look "forced" and unrealistic. Also with "set" track, you get sudden transitions from straight to curve with no lead-in, which you don't see in real life. The larger gauge makes all this worse, but you can see this in 32mm gauge as well.

If you take a look at, for instance, Mr. Bond's railway, you see the track looks very "narrow gauge", and it takes a moment to realize he is running on 45mm track, because his tracks are laid in a more organic narrow-gauge fashion with lots of winding, variable-radius curves.

I don't mean to say you should stick with 45mm, rather I am saying you will still need to use some craft when laying the 32mm gauge tracks if you wish to capture the "look" you are after. Certainly it seems easier with a narrower gauge, but I think you will need to change your approach a little. I recommend looking at as many railways as you can on the internet and try to figure out what it is you like about your favourite ones. Especially the ones where the "narrow" look is maintained without an actual train in sight.

You would think that without a train on it, scale track would seem to be neither narrow nor broad without a train on it to give you a sense of scale. However, on some railways, the track itself actually supports the illusion of "narrow-ness". It must be something about the way it is ballasted, and the radii of the curves, and perhaps the relative spacing and size of the sleepers. A lot of American railways, I hope you don't mind me saying, look like they are just plonked onto a bed of pea-gravel. But if you look at narrow gauge railways in real life, the tracks are sort of sinking into the dirt and grass with little gravel evident. I think you're looking for an atmosphere of slight decrepitude, and if you manage that, then you'll have that "look" you are seeking.

Good luck- I should mention that I haven't started building a railway yet so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

[IrishPeter]

The major problem - after track geometry - is the sleeper spacing. British and Irish sleeper spacing is generally 2'6" - 37.5mm in 15mm; 40mm in 16mm. This means the track "ladder" looks wrong to start with. The solution is either hand building or PECO neither of which was really practical for me. However, the SVRR code 250 track looks OK even though the tie spacing is 30mm not 37.5mm.

Peter in AZ