Garden Railway Forum

Right i have about 120 punds to build a garden railway with!!

That must include a loco a oval of track and stock!!

People have told me Soooo many things! can any one please some up with a list that meets my requirements!!

(Not locolines please! )

Well, looking at your finances, I think you'll only be able to afford to lay a railway down, and not much else. A 12 yard set of peco track will set you back £60 to £70, then you need to buy rail joiners, it'll cost around £35 for the amount you'll need, and then theirs civil engineering works.

So in my opion, you need to save up about another £40 to £50 before you've got enough money to buy track, loco, and stock.

Sorry to sound negetive.

Sorry to make you feel sick, but the project i'm currently working on (not my own railway I might add) has cost 'the boss' £100 today, and that was just in building materials! No track, locos or rolling stock!

Your best bet is keep an eye on eBay. I saw someone the other day mentioning faller track. It is very tight, but can be picked up reasonably if you know where to look. You might even be able to pick up a faller train set. The diesel locos are quite easy to modify to battery. I have one. It was my first 16mm loco. Needs a decent body building on it, but that can be done with a bit of plasticard.

Not really sure bout other cheap supplies of track.

Depends what trackbed you want? How many sidings you want? It'll never cost you £35 in rail joiners even if you do use 12yds of track.

To give you some idea of cost
A concrete breezeblock from Travis Perkins is about 70p, not sure about thermalite.
A yard of Peco track costs about £7.00.
A Peco point costs about £30.
Pack of Peco fishplates about £3, I've never bought them, get given them.
Buy stock from I.P Engineering, start with a Lollypop Railcar and one or two open waggons

You can do it, just about.

Oh, and eep an eye on eBay for bargain stock.

All i want is a oval of track, was thiniking mamod as i was only going to dig a trench and lay some ballast in and around it..

Ive costed about £65 for the track and the ballast im not sure of..

You've gone all wrong from the start.

Don't waste money on mamod track, Peco is virtually the same price and more effective in the way it works.

I used that track base at the start and ended up with constant de-weeding. You're better off digging a trench and laying breezeblocks LEVEL (strong influence on the level) in it, which you can drill and in turn screw your track to.

Ahhh but you see

1. I have no experienc of Peco and do no know how the flexi system works if i can use it in the samei way i planned to use mamod ect.

2. Where i live to put ne sort of brick inthe ground would need £185 worth of planing permission AND my parnets would not allow me!

I was going to use that black tarp lis stuff to stop weeds coming thorugh

I dont understand why you would need planing permission to dig up your own yard

First of all, let me say, I sympathise, I remember what it was like having no money to buy a garden railway! But, I think your top priority must be to get something running, otherwise your interest will wane. So, first priority is loco and track. Don't be afraid to just lay a temporary layout, even if that means - shock horror - just putting the track directly on the ground. Certainly not recommended for a permanant layout, but:

a. it mean you don't have to spend money on civil engineering until you can afford it, and
b. if you're only buying one little oval to start with then presumably you will eventually want to expand to something bigger, depending on the size of your garden. Building a heavily-engineered trackbed for your small oval may restrict your ability to expand.

However...if you're going to go down the "temporary railway" route, it really should be temporary...i.e., take the track up and store it undercover at the end of each running session. I don't know where you're planning to lay your railway but I expect that leaving track lying on grass, at the mercy of mud and creepy crawlies, probably isn't too good for it. Even if its on a patio or similar, it will still weather and you don't really want to start it weathering before you have to - i.e., when you lay the permanant railway.

But like I say, for temporary layouts this approach is perfectly valid. My brother and I laid a number of temporary layouts with our LGB starter set, some directly on the grass, others on loosley-laid breezeblocks. Apart from frequent derailments (which the LGB stock was tough enough to withstand!), it all worked OK, and more importantly it was fun!

So that's my advice to you. Get track, get a loco, get outside, and get them running. Track bases and all that other boring stuff that distracts from the running of trains can wait!

well said Muz thats how I got started. bought our first mamod set off ebay for £100 and was hooked

Like i said on msn earlier m-in-e, go for PECO.

1. Cheaper per yard than mamod
2. Lasts MUCH longer - doesnt break as easy
3. More realistic looking - a step towards making ur line realistic
4. Gives much smoother running

The laying u get used to, just stick some tent pins through the track if its a temporary 'grass roots' line

Loco, Triang Ruston or IP railcar, watevas cheap going.

I have found peco a pain to lay but thats just me

I made a realy basic electric chassis out of 2" by 1" wood bolted together with bits of Meccano etc. Cost me next to nothing. You could make any sort of body to go on the top-within reason

It's not precision engineering but its worth considering

ACLR- we need permission to dig up our garden because where we live is a conservation area. We have sent 10 years waiting for planning permission to build out drive way!!

I think i know what im doing lads! im going for just an Up nad down along our wall with a IP lollypop car! I think! LOL

made-in-england wrote:I think i know what im doing lads! im going for just an Up nad down along our wall with a IP lollypop car! I think! LOL

I'm glad I gave you some good advice .

made-in-england wrote:ACLR- we need permission to dig up our garden because where we live is a conservation area. We have sent 10 years waiting for planning permission to build out drive way!!

I think i know what im doing lads! im going for just an Up nad down along our wall with a IP lollypop car! I think! LOL

ahhh I understand now

That seems ludicrous bout the planning permission! What is this country coming to?!

Glad to hear you've got a plan. When you get started, be sure to keep us informed!

bungle80a wrote:That seems ludicrous bout the planning permission! What is this country coming to?!

A good question ! Camera's everywhere, and now talk of monitoring ALL UK telephone calls and emails!
Actually it wouldn't surprise me if one day in the future some idiot politician or government body actually hit on the idea that garden railways should have planning permission. Still we had better keep quiet about this, we don't want to give anyone idea's !

SillyBilly wrote:You've gone all wrong from the start.

Don't waste money on mamod track, Peco is virtually the same price and more effective in the way it works.

I used that track base at the start and ended up with constant de-weeding. You're better off digging a trench and laying breezeblocks LEVEL (strong influence on the level) in it, which you can drill and in turn screw your track to.

it aint that bad my entire railway is layed like that and Iv never hd to do any weeding on the track bed

youd be surprised what you can do on a budget my entire line was built on a very small budget I just took me time and collected the track over the years and the wagons over christmas when I had everything then I started building the line.