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Post by amich35 on Dec 19, 2023 20:58:49 GMT
Hi all, It was nice to meet a lot of you at the Christmas party! In my correspondence with Emile since then, I showed him a few images of my front yard G gauge garden railroad and he suggested that I share them with the group so here they are. I can tell you that when we moved into this house 8 years ago, my civil engineer father in law surveyed my proposed route and then drew me an elevation map showing that the yard dropped 3 feet from one side to the other. I spend the winter making trestles and bridges to even out the grade, then added a cog railroad underneath it that could climb the grade no problem. It's all battery powered with remotes so there's no track cleaning (other than pine needles and snow). Speaking of which, the other views show my high bridge both in summer and last winter, when we had 163" of snow between December and April (and also when I started the O gauge in my home office and started chatting with you all). Happy Holidays, Mike |
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Post by Bill on Dec 19, 2023 21:14:36 GMT
Holy cow! That awesome. Wish I could think of more descriptions but I just keep coming up to awesome.  Any more photos to share? now to find a battery operated snow plow . . . |
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Post by amich35 on Dec 19, 2023 21:27:44 GMT
Here's one more showing pretty much the rest. Left of the gray chair at the top is a spur that comes down toward the camera via a loop over itself to negotiate the grade then around the yellow flowers through a cut out in the fence and around our hot tub on the side of the house. I can lock the gate to store the train in a yard there. The cog track is visible in the foreground. Attachments:
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Post by josef on Dec 19, 2023 21:46:05 GMT
How do your structures hold up to rain and snow, or do they get covered or brought in? Any problems with contractions or expansions in rails?
You got an amazing layout there can't wait to see more pics and maybe a video.
Thanks for sharing this.
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Post by amich35 on Dec 19, 2023 21:52:27 GMT
All the buildings are stored in plastic boxes under a table that is covered from late October to May! All the trackwork stays out for the winter. I do get some expansion on hot days in the summer, like this past June when temps hit the mid 90s, which is rare in Flagstaff and only occurs for a week or two before the Monsoon rains start in July. I know I have a video or two of trains on the bridges as well as my sweeper car blowing pine needles off the track in spring. As per Bill's suggestion, I do have all the components on hand to build a battery powered rotary plow this winter break so stay tuned! Thanks
Mike
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Post by keithb on Dec 19, 2023 22:27:56 GMT
I love it, my friend Bob, says G scale is Go broke scale. |
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Post by Adam on Dec 20, 2023 0:54:32 GMT
Absolutely wonderful! A garden railroad is something I have always wanted to do!
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Post by curtis on Dec 20, 2023 0:55:12 GMT
Wow Really nice and the trestle work is tremendous. Also it was a pleasure seeing ya at the party. I will also second the motion about a video!!!
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Post by amich35 on Dec 20, 2023 1:03:05 GMT
Thanks for the support! I have a youtube video of some spring cleaning under the trees here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceDIihuMsPIThe consist is a non powered sweeper car with a loco cab over the battery being "pushed" by a small loco with a trailing battery car. I used the parentheses because I have strong magnet mounted on the back of the sweeper car and another mounted on the front of the loco so when loco gets close enough, it repels the sweeper forward a ways. I've found this make for a lot few derailments than being coupled or even shoved. |
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Post by amich35 on Dec 20, 2023 1:12:47 GMT
Here's another video of 3 trains on temporary track on the back deck. The Uintah and the Shay are both battery powered with sound while the loco pulling the Durango and Silverton train is a Roundhouse Sammie live steam. I tried the live steam for a year or so but the grade in the front on the trestles is too much to let that go off by itself and the chance of it then crashing and catching some pine needles on fire didn't seem worth the risk...LOL.
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Post by firewood on Dec 20, 2023 2:39:38 GMT
Wonderful layout! Thanks for the great pics and video. Can I ask what battery/remote system you use? I'm interested in the whole Dead-rail idea.
Dave
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Post by amich35 on Dec 20, 2023 2:55:57 GMT
I use the Train Revolution and various batteries in trailing cars. A friend (Stan Cedarleaf) converted the locos for me about a decade ago. I also have couple of the little Piko 25 ton switchers which use AAA batteries and have their own remotes. They are by far the easy entry into dead rail.
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Post by amich35 on Dec 20, 2023 3:12:23 GMT
Here's one more of a short train going over the high bridge. Thanks again for the compliments!
Mike
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Post by firewood on Dec 20, 2023 3:12:45 GMT
I use the Train Revolution and various batteries in trailing cars. A friend (Stan Cedarleaf) converted the locos for me about a decade ago. I also have couple of the little Piko 25 ton switchers which use AAA batteries and have their own remotes. They are by far the easy entry into dead rail. Thank you! Much appreciated. I have a soft spot for critter locomotives. This link describes a Canadian tramway built to service a hydro-electric project - it ran until 2012 and included little GE diesels like the Piko model. Dave
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