track plan ideas?

[Si]

Winter's coming and I'm almost ready to start hacking the garden about ready for track laying.

However, not having done a garden railway before, and having limited resources, I'm not sure what sort of track plan to go for. I don't really know what works and what doesn't in terms of making it interesting to look at and a joy to run, so would be grateful for help!

The details are:
32mm track representing around 14mm:ft scale.
Probably have around 15m of track to start with.
I have a number of decking planks and roofing felt to put it on.
My main reason for building is that I like building rolling stock and so want to be able to show it off.
I'm using battery powered engines with no r/c, but I've might fit switches under the chassis that will be triggered by line-side features to change direction, etc.
Would also like some Gn15 added to it at some stage (hence the 14 rather than 16mm scale).

Below is shown a rough sketch plan of my humble garden. There is a gentle slope from the shed end down to the house. I don't want to have anything permanent as I'd like to be able to take it all up easily when we want to sell the house. I think that off the ground is best due to the slope and the number of tree roots that cross the garden and have made the path all wonky.

I would be grateful for any ideas on what track plan and features to use!



Oh, the path up the side is a no go area as it sees a lot of traffic. But the bottom left section would be ideal for a station. Under the washing line would be a bad idea as my beloved would trample on the railway. The black circles are composters and can't be moved for a year or two.

[Si]

Hello, (waves frantically), anyone out there, anyone?

Well, yes, I guess it's a rather large question to ask and an all inclusive answer could fill a book let alone a post on a forum.

Perhaps if I were to phrase it a different way?

What are the pitfalls and traps that I should try to avoid with my first garden railway if I want it to look good and be interesting to use?

[Andrew]

Hello Si,

I like this sort of thing. My wife and I have noticed that when we visit friends' new houses she'll immediately start planning where they could extend, knock through and add en-suites wheras I'll head straight to the kitchen window to work out what radius of curves they can afford to use...

Anyway, I reckon you're right about the station area, particularly because the slope of the garden will allow it to be higher than the rest of the line for operating convenience. Given that you've got paths, washing lines and compost bins on the other side of the garen and that 15m of track isn't going to reach there anyway, I reckon I'd meander up the left hand side of the garden with a balloon loop at the end furthest from the house. That way you can send the trains off from the station and then watch them head off and come back before indulging in a run-round and perhaps a bit of shunting (although a revesre loop could make track mounted switches difficult I suppose). If the levels work out I'd be tempted to add a spur into the shed too, so you can store some (low value!) stock in there for instant running. My old line had that and it was great.

Personally I like lower level lines - I'm currently rebuilding my line considerably lower than the last one. They're just more realistic and attractive, although that might be tricky with your proposed construction method. I like to see the railway interact with the landscape in a realistic way too - cuttings through higher ground, embankments over lower areas (I've got the lovely Bishops Lydeard - Williton section of the West Somerset line in mind as I type this). A raised station and approach by the house could be balanced by a cutting and perhaps a tunnel at the other end - that would help disguise a return loop although it would make entering the shed much more dificult! Over and under bridges or culverts are attractive and railway-like but I'd try to avoid anything too "showy" (suspension bridges etc) that somehow just emphasise how short the line is.

I think that "through the landscape" look is really helped when the scenery extends in front of the track rather than ending in log-roll and lawn, but that can be very difficult to achieve in a small, mixed-use garden - I don't think I'll get away with much on mine but I'll try to have the odd "tree" between lawn and railway. Gentle curves are nice, as long as they're not reverse curves that will cause buffer-locking - I've just had to relay one of mine!

Think that's all I can think of for now - no idea where I'd put the Gn15!

Good luck with it,

Andrew.

[Si]

cheers Andrew. Balloon loop sounds like a good idea - with the point lever attached to a light spring so that the returning train 'pushes' the blades over to let it through without the need for me to switch it every time.

Good point about a big viaduct/sus bridge making the line look small....I was considering building one but now think that a number of smaller bridges would add to the variety and make the journey look longer (not to mention allowing the line to curve a bit more)

[hussra]

Quite a lot, too, depends on what stock you might end up running. I have one manually-controlled live steamer that positively demands a continuous run (though it did once make it up and down Pendo Pilot's line without derailing...).

Agree that station-to-balloon-loop sounds like a good starting point. For a further investment in pointwork, of course, one could try to convert the balloon loop to a small continuous circuit, though I suspect it could easily end up very implausibly small.

Or, if future extension might be a possibility, might there be a way in time to extend the station-to-balloon-loop with a second balloon loop, and the terminus becoming an intermediate station? Just wondering if one should think about that when planning how to orient a terminus in the bottom left corner.

[Si]

thanks for that.
am awaiting arrival of the track next week, in the mean time I need to start chopping back the undergrowth.

Taking into account the advice given, I think that I am going to start with an out and back line that is built in such a way that I can change it into a full loop when circumstances allow.
It'll wiggle down the left side of the garden with a little station by the house (ideally with some kind of window box type planting around it).

It'll be on decking planks which will be on stakes. the viewing side will have a small rockery type thing built up in front of it to almost track level so that it looks like it's running long an embankment. there will be a couple of small bridges under which the Gn15 will wiggle in and out of view - the Gn15will have some gradients too as light rolling stock and beefy motors should allow this.