Mike’s been in touch, he’s added to the G scale garden railway layouts on the blog:
“First I must say I enjoy your web site, it makes me want to get back to my “N” scale roots.
You may not post this on your site but I figure you might enjoy the pictures as “G” scale seemed to get it’s start in England.
My layout is about 200 feet of track and occupies about half of my backyard.
It’s a simple loop, with a spur and a freight yard that connects to the loop via a metal cantilever bridge (that hornets like to nest in).
It suffers from the change of seasons, i.e., the difficulty of achieving a “prototypical” look of a railroad but having to compromise fidelity to make it work outdoors.
Every spring the road bed needs to be re ballasted, buildings need a spot of paint and my 20 year old wood trestle needs to be rebuilt, I don’t know what is holding up the track!
My rolling stock needs to have steel springs on the trucks replaced, journals lubricated, and couplers adjusted.
But the best thing about a garden railroad is that nature provides all the weathering one needs, paint fades, metal rusts and wood gets spongy.
Plus a day of running a locomotive puts a fine coating of dust and dirt on the hood and cab. Indoor guys just can’t duplicate that on their rolling stock!
It might sound like a lot of work but like the real railways, constant maintenance is what makes the outdoor stuff interesting, and a train running during a winter snow fall is a great experience.
Continued success on your fine website.
Warm regards,
Mike”
G scale garden railway layouts:
A huge thank you to Mike for adding to the G scale garden railway layouts on the blog. I’m so envious of his layout – it looks great fun.
Now on to something that really made me smile. I’ve been frantically busy over the last few weeks, and I still haven’t got the latest print out scenery on the site yet – but have a look at what Rafael has done, with the embankment wall showcased by John:
“I glued the print out on a poster board, then I made a frame using 1/2 inch by 1-1/2 poplar wood. I then place the print out on the frame. I made the frame to accept four print out. I have three section with four print out and one with three print out. This is long enough to cover a 16 ft long wall.
One of the big problem for me was to glue the print out onto the poster, the white glue tends to wrinkle the print. I used the wrinkle free glue in the spray bottle. I hope this glue holds for me, I think it will.
Rafael”
I think Rafael has done a fantastic job!
If it’s got you chomping at the bit to get started, don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide.
That’s all this time folks – please do keep ’em coming.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. HO stuff still going bonkers.
Omg!!! Where do I sign up to run on that!!!!!!??????? NICE!!!!!!!!!
Very nice. I like this backyard layout.
Really enjoyed your comments on garden railways!
I am breath-lees, what a thrill it must be to play and work in this setting.
Mike’s layout looks great, fun to watch I bet. A lot of real maintainance of way work to be done. A real little railroad ! Thanks for sharing.
Danny Marso
Thanks for sharing, Mike. Always a treat to see the “big” scale layouts.
Shlack
Hi Mike – Great job with the layout. I am just getting started after waiting 40+ years. I live in central Wisconsin. I noticed you used treated landscape timbers for art of the wall. Where do you live? How deep in the ground are the posts? Do you have any shifting of the posts due to frost? Is your entire layout elevated?
Thanks
Tom
Am liking the engines !!!
HI Mike, see what you meen with the wooden bridge, looks like it needs a rebuild very quickly, the way it is collapsing under that loco there will be tears if it goes with a train running though.
Lot of work gone into this garden railway, send more pics when you can please
Mark
Now that embankment wall is something to get excited about. How do I get is print out?
Dave in Eden NC
I’d love to play on this one! Wish I had time & money to build it. This is awesome!
Rafael,
Use Wall Paper paste. Use a roller and apply THIN COAT and that should solve your wrinkle problem.
Lookin’ good Mike…Like your maint. rigs…Mike
So cool and New Haven to boot. I can pretty well tell this is a Connecticut layout by the NH logo’s and the Madison (Connecticut) train station not far from my house. The shoreline railroad that goes past my house a few times a day (Niantic) still runs a train with the NH logo on it. This garden railway is fantastic and looks like so much fun to run. Great job, thanks for sharing.
Amazing….. for an outdoor train layout…. looks so so good! Love the draw bridge to allow access to the garden. Great job!
Fantastic job Mike.
Bedros
Los Angeles
Magnificent Layout! Love the Junkyard and all the other scenes too!
Thanks for sharing Mike it’s always nice to see a story on G scale I’ve been a big fan for many years. I’ve been planning for an outside layout myself and only recently realizing how much maintenance it takes to keep a layout going how do you deal with the weeding?
I live in Maui Hawaii and the weather of course is always beautiful here except when it rains a lot which currently it’s happening. if everything works well sometime in the summer I’ll start the process of doing a layout I appreciate all the photos of your place it looks great. Nathan
Very nice,
I like the scrap and junkyard, something that isn’t seen much on a layout.
Now all I need is a back yard.
Mike: WOW!
It’s amazing how authentic real rust looks!
Thanks for sharing – Don
MIKE, What a beautiful backyard railroad! I think my favorite photo is the first where the BNSF engine is going through the alyssum flowers. Even though the foliage is out of scale compared to the train, it makes for a gorgeous photo op and shows how flowers can make a layout just pop!
Where are you located you the way? There’s a family in Riverside that has a great web site on their g scale railroad with many how-to photos. Check it out:
http://www.haworthengineering.com/mannm-railroad-g.html
And keep up that train!!!!
No way are those models I swear the loco on the girder bridge is real.
Lots pf nice replies! Well deserved! Awesome!
Wow! I’m not a fan of G scale but do admire the creativity and work that goes into it. Mike’s efforts rate superb!
I love your site. Please make some new buildings to sell.
Thanks.
Would love to see a video of the trains running.
Mike,
I love that G scale Hudson.
A steamer of beauty.
Bruce in SC USA
Well I think Mike has solved a question I’ve allways had: How do you keep grass from growing under & around the rr tracks. Answer: elevate the layout and use mulch where necessary. Thanks Mike!
Awesome garden railroad! Thanks for sharing!
James
Unbelievably awesome!!
Mike, love the east meets west railroad. The McGinnis era livery is a favorite of mine. I had to have an Alco PA in that scheme. Love the scrapyard and MOW equipment. Love too the 1955 300 coupe at Madison Station. And yes your photos look like the real thing.
Rafael, nice wall, and John would love the RELIEF you were able to achieve. As mentioned, thin wallpaper paste could work well, and maybe 3M spray mount would work also.
Thanks. Al.
Mn Dan
Mike that is one great looking layout, Love the bridge and that steamer!! Enjoy!
Pretty neat.!!!!!! I have always wanted a outside railroad but would worried about the outside elements..
A very beautiful garden railroad! I enjoyed this very much; thank you! I love the looks of your New Haven GP engine, a real beauty.
John, Phila.
As a G scaler myself, great layout!!
Mike… it’s beautiful… no more needs to be said.
Rafael… you’ve done a great job with the embankment. Thanks for sharing the framing/gluing process.
WOW! WOWOWOWOWOW!! NIIIIICE garden layout! L-O-V-E the photo of the 4-6-4 Hudson . . . MMmmmm, what a beauty, one of the prettiest steamers EVER!! And the bascule bridge is FAN-TAS-TIC!! Mike, you de man!!
I’d love to see this layout in action; any chance Mike can do this, I hope I hope??