You should know this before building a Garden Railroad 

I helped maintain an outdoor G scale layout for a museum. It was a different railroad after every rain storm. Raindrops hit the ground at 20mph, and move the soil around enough that previously level track would have a rolling and twisted profile that would eventually initiate derailments. Still, I would say that nothing else in modeling compares to an outdoor G scale railroad, and it's perhaps the only model railroad scale where regular track maintenance is part of the realism! :)

My dad converted his loft entirely to build a massive LGB G guage circuit. Used to love playing with it in my youth. I don't think it's been turned on in more than 10 years now.

I agree with you.I started my outdoor layout 7 years ago and getting close to finish it now. I had setbacks , learned a lot.

I was so excited when I saw your new video had posted! I needed a break from our family vacation 🤪. Thanks for your thoughts! I’m looking forward to seeing more of your garden experience so I can start on my own.

Useful for my Christmas display later that I want to do

A really good coffee is Walla Walla Roasters Ethiopian whole bean. Super smooth taste. Love the show and your love of trains!

I started out back in 2015 with one loop and know has grown to 6 loopsand over 2000 feet of track, is a addiction to some of us.

I’m definitely going to save these videos for later. My mom wants to build a fairy village garden, & I think some G scale trams would take it to the next level 👍

Yep putting up my first outdoor train. Going with my g scale Xmas train. Fully animated and whole thing lights up. I got lucky with this one to. Brass tracks and extra cars not included with the initial set plus extra track. Picked up not far from me for $50. Had to do some work to it but worked as well as it looked. B-e-a-u-tiful. Might do short video of me and my dad putting it up.

Just watched this video for the first time. Unfortunately I don’t live in a house I live in an apartment but I still model in G Scale. These trains do have an extremely large size and really do take up a lot of space. Luckily for me however my apartment happens to have a large amount of space which enables me to build an indoor layout. I know I won’t be able to build a countryside layout but I thought why not try an industrial goods yard layout where rolling stock is kept. You wouldn’t know it but by watching this video, this video alone triggered an idea in my head to do just that. Thanx for the advice in the meantime and happy railroading!

Great vid once again. Have seen some but also live steam in my area. Very cool. Seems like you were on a coffee high too.😉

I have been a garden railroader for over 20 years.The first thing I decided when building it; it will be above ground. Mine is approx. 3 feet above ground.Reason being; its is more fun not being bent over when working on railroad and flower bed. It does cost more,but, it's great photographing it at different seasons. I'm in Kamloops,B.C where winter temps get down to -25C but, I still play trains.Long enough to photograph some great pictures.Havefun everyone.I also have an N scale railroad in basement when it gets really cold.

I have a friend with one and there are challenges , after the winter we all help out. Anyway I too wondered about the blank space at the end of the vid.

Glad to see you getting into the large scale. I've definitely had a lot of fun with mine. A benefit you didn't hit on is the size makes everything easier to handle. I can work on details without a magnifying glass 😉 Enjoy and looking forward to your next video

Another nice one Jimmy. I will stick to my N gauge. Think how much track I can fit into the space!

I agree. In addition to weather changes building a bench created from wood in the basement is far different then having to deal with the reality of creating a layout in the back yard.

Plant a pine tree in the center of your garden rr that would look awesome at xmas with decorations and lights on it with the train going around it outside

Hello! I agree with you on all points..👍😄 Greetings

Lovely!!

"chest a drawers", found the southerner!! Takes one to know one. 😂

Thank you ❤

I decided to build mine on a balcony about 7x6 metres. I am deciding whether to use platforms attached to the parapet via french cleats or a bunch of small tables. I decided I did not want to walk on dirt/grass all the time. My limitation is I must take it down once a year for about ten days and don't know where to store it. I am doing g gauge with 1:22.5 trains & most likely 1:24 models. Very excited. Having some problems finding battery powered engines that are not expensive, but I have hope.

I'm up too over 360lbs of pea gravel for ballast on the G. Need more, didn't see that coming. See if where pushing snow this year😘.🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲🙋

Here is another key factor, rain

Bought a NJ central blue comet off eBay for $100 had extra car and 2 expansion pks. Didn't like that the cars lighting was 9v. But ran great none the less.

Jimmy, I'd wager that garden railroading has a big perk in that it is very kid friendly. The large scale stuff is very robust, far more than tabletop scales. My first "real" garden railroad was built when I was 8 and it was pretty awesome for me at that time. It was a 8x20' wooden box lined with weed fabric, then filled with pea gravel. A few plants were planted in the soil underneath, but it was mostly a gravel pit. It was great in that an infinite number of track plans could be tried daily. If you ever want to make a "branch line" for the little engineer, maybe that would be a neat way to include him/them in the hobby. I'd think 3d printing would be a great way to make cars and locomotives for garden railroading. There is some "Open Railways" content on thingverse that would be intensive but cool potential builds. Sam's Choice 7 a.m. Saturday

Great information Jimmy. In my case the video screen seemed to be done and the screen went blank at 7:17 and appeared to be blank to 11:54

I've been an HO modeler for about 60 years and an A scale (1:29) modeler for about a decade. The first hurdle was getting a handle on scales. Typically, everyone is selling stuff as "G scale", when G scale is 1:22.5. If you want to model a particular scale, it isn't as easy as one would expect. Next is overcoming the coupler minefield that is ubiquitous in the 45mm gauge world. I solved that by fitting body-mounted Kadees to everything. The next hurdle was realizing that DC powered trains though the rails is a nightmare of maintenance and frustration, (at least in the desert climate of Phoenix). Once I went to onboard battery power (Revolution), all my operating troubles disappeared. The other problem is the cost of track and rolling stock. But if you have disposable income, go for it! It was great fun having that outdoor layout in Phoenix once I got it all figured out.

I made one with a double oval in my garden 8' x 15' Built a long 9' tunnel to store trains when not running. Problem. Weeds growing. I used pea pebbles for ballast. It worked out for a while but my winters in NY get a lot of snow at times. He'd to take it down. To much work

Love G scale! Building and changing your layout is part of the fun/journey......however I could do without the ANTS! :)

Well Jimmy, I've got a Garden railroad in the works but it's not based on any one place but based on the entire world. starting at the fictional North Pole (yes I'm going to run New Bright, Eztec/Scientific Toys, along with Bachmann Christmas trains) , however since those trains run on C batteries modifications are required to have them run on a single Camcorder battery let alone weather proofing them to handle out door usage. with the Bachmann christmas trains those are going to require going from electric to dead rail.

G-Scale is fun and great for kids and alike, and even just adding a conversation piece to your yard. But I prefer larger gauges like 1", 2.5", 5", 7.25", 7.5". Obviously you need more space and while you can do a layout on the cheaper side, this hobby isn't cheap with trains costing as much as $250,000USD new. You can of course simply join a local club and either bring your own train or use one of the clubs once approved to do so.

You should have said....Build and Maintain.

Oh GREAT JIMMY! another project… what is that old saying? You can sell ice to an Eskimo?( if that’s still politically correct.) The way you describe things is so intriguing, you can’t help it but imagine yourself building or starting. I even found myself planning where I can put a railroad in my backyard. By the way, I know the perfect spot! I am definitely not gonna show my wife this video because we do gardening together on the weekends.Unfortunately I’m gonna have to pass on a garden railroad. I will stick to my end scale in the garage in the summer heat and the cold winters. And when I say winter I mean a low of 45°. Thanks again for another great video Jimmy, keep up the good work. My coffee today is cafeteria coffee with extra grounds.

You forgot the biggest drawback to G scale trains outside. Maintaining the track, as 90% of G scale trains pickup power from track it has to be really clean that if you have a large outdoor setup then you will probably spend 80% of the time cleaning it vs running it. You can convert some locomotives to battery power thus eliminating the need for power from track and cleaning but most manufacturers do not fit locomotives with battery or electronics for it so you have to find after market parts and thats a whole different monster in itself.

huh i live in the Pacific Northwest so ground cover is a bit tricky as everything gets covered in pine needles and leaves but we have plenty of tiny spruce, douglas fir, and ceder trees that are about to scale (mine being 1:29)

I am enjoying the series, I live in an apartment but have gotten permission to put a raised oval in front of our ground floor windows, I have a Bachmann big hauler set I got for 50.00 at a train show might go with it

garden railroad with a gopro and camera would be awesome for use with a treadmill or spin bike. (N scale)

Milkshakes are my version of coffie

I’m in the process of building a g scale layout. I’m doing it opposite though. I’m building the railroad first then I’m going to do the garden.

Elite Turkish coffee (aka "botz" = mud)

You actually don't have to rip up the sod, heck you could just cover it with geotextile and let it die on it's own(which it would do anyways)...and the border doesn't have to be perfectly level...only the part that is the railroad bed itself. It does help to use something solid as a subroadbed though...my dad's is in the desert, and even though the desert sand is hard, it's uneven...if and when I ever retire and move into their/my place, I'll be placing garden blocks underneath all of it before placing down some sub-ballast, then the track and then the regular ballast.

Just my opinion, but building a garden railway a foot or two off the ground is ripe with issues: difficult to maintain without bending low, animals getting into it, invasive weeds, etc. However, I would use large railroad ties or timbers and create a raised platform 40 - 48 inches high. This makes maintenance of the railroad within easy reach, is easier to see and enjoy, easy to photograph, and would appear more lifelike since you are looking into it instead of down on it. That's how I would do it.

Costs are definetly a problem, especially if you live outside the US where the only manifacturer in existence is LGB, while AristoCraft and USAT needs to be imported...

As this is more my realm of experience, I'm going to go ahead and give my thoughts on each point. - "You get to run trains outdoors" Yes, but to comment on this, this enables a lot more than just "running outdoors". Outdoor running is the safest way to run live-steam and experimental "live diesel" equipment. - "Garden Railroading combines gardening and model railroading" More so than you can imagine. If you're running G-scale (and I strongly recommend it, as unique of a challenge as it is trying to run any of the small scales outdoors will really mess up your equipment, whereas most G-scale models have sealed motor blocks and gearboxes and are far better equipped for outdoor running), your railroad can actually gain utility use as an easy way to transport gardening tools and supplies. A lot of G-scale equipment is meant to be used this way - hoppers have functional unloading gates, some tankers are actually equipped to carry liquids, tipper wagons are fully functional, etc. - "You have to have a suitable outdoor space" This is a solid point, but you can kinda fudge this with layout design and the like. Ge Rik's Peckforton Light Railway manages to fit a huge amount of layout into a relatively small space (the back yard of a Scottish flat) with smart planning and track reuse, and is actually a bit of a hybrid of a garden railroad and a conventional model railroad which was primarily done to make layout access easier but could also be helpful for smoothing out a sloped back yard. - "It's expensive" My short answer is "Yesn't", but that hardly tells the story. What makes it expensive is layout size, same as with small-scale model railroading. It's just that the average garden railroad is comparable in size to a massive basement empire. But the kicker is that while individual unit prices are much higher, you're not buying as many things. Whereas a basement layout in HO or N might need dozens of locomotives and hundreds of pieces of rolling stock, and contain hundreds or even thousands of feet of track, a garden railroad of the same size might have just five or six locomotives, a couple dozen pieces of rolling stock and maybe a few dozen feet of track at most. As a result, the price-to-square foot ratio is actually in favor of going big. And honestly, it's not entirely accurate to say that G-scale trains are by far the most expensive. O-scale has caught up and there's now even HO-scale models that are starting to reach G-scale prices. It's also inaccurate to say that you'll find more metal parts on a G-scale train. That really depends on the manufacturer more than anything. LGB, Bachmann and USA Trains (the three big commodity-level brands in G-scale) mostly use high-quality plastic with metal generally being reserved for wheel sets, hardware and a few internal drive components, while Aster and Accucraft are the main brass locomotive manufacturers in this scale. Meanwhile, die-cast trucks and metal couplers have become common on HO and N scale models, and while they were still around MTH made all their O-scale stuff out of die-cast metal - and both scales have their selection of museum-quality etched brass models as well. What you actually DO find on G-scale that you generally don't in smaller scales is wood. There's a handful of hobby businesses who produce flat-packed laser-cut wood kits for locomotives and rolling stock. - "Building a garden railroad is difficult" Building a garden railroad is _different._ Like you said, it takes a different skillset from building a small-scale model railroad. Carpentry, which is often important for small scale layouts, is normally not used in garden railroading and is instead replaced by landscaping. Thing is, someone who has a landscaping background would likely have an easy time of this. Now, there's two things you didn't mention: Alternate power sources and track cleaning. I mentioned live steam and experimental "live diesel" previously. These are two alternate options for powering equipment that really aren't available to smaller scales. Live steamers are literally powered by steam, and in G-scale are typically fueled with butane or alcohol, both of which are relatively clean-burning fuels. There are live-steamers in smaller scales but they're not easy to come by and they're very fiddly. Live diesel is a misnomer - it actually refers to the use of a small nitromethane-fueled internal combustion engine, typically the kind you'd find in some hobby-grade RC cars, powering an electric drivetrain. There's also a couple other alternative power options. In G-scale, there are functional overhead catenary lines you can use to power models of electric locomotives. These end up working similar to the 3-rail setups used by "toy" style O-scale trains, albeit while still running on DC rather than AC. There's also battery power with RC control, which eliminates the need for track cleaning. Finally, if you're using any sort of track power (either conventional 2-rail DC or DCC, catenary, or a mix of both), track cleaning becomes a HUGE factor. As the track is exposed to the elements you're having to deal with more than just a bit of dust on the rails.

This might be a dumb question but do you have to do any major wiring like for a digital layout

What is that little yellow locomotive with the yellow cars?

I've always considered these to be cool to see but personally have rarely seen g gauge engines and cars that look realistic enough for me. Now if there is some decent looking diesel models out there... might be tempted.

is there a reason for 3 minutes of blank video? Did RU-vid mess you up? Love your content!

I've just started thinking about building a tiny railroad. All that worries me is how you prevent the train from being taken.

Hi 👋! I have a question. I have been dreaming of doing a garden railroad but I’ve also never modeled anything before. Do you think it would be better to start with an N-scale coffee table model and then go outside or just dive right into g-scale?

This is a wonderful video. Does anyone know where I can get garden scale trains? I've tried bachman and Amazon but they have very few options.

Great video and great start on your garden railroad. This is something I have been thinking about for a little while but just like you mentioned it is a lot of work and the idea of digging up the yard in Houston heat just does not sound appealing. I need to find that sweet spot when it's not too hot and not too rainy, typically about 6 weeks out of the year. :)

One big bonus for garden railroading: Live Steam. A real railroad out in the real world with real weather, and a real steam locomotive at the head of the train.

Umm G scale can be used indoors I seen ppl make indoor layouts with them

Not in my wheel house, I don't think I want to spend that my time in the heat and the sun. I rather be in doors. But I will admit I enjoy watching other guys and trains running outside. Congrats to all the gardeners and railroaders. My the weeds be with you....

My shirt says " Real men Play Trains Outdoors"

😊

Wait, so are you saying that I cannot put a garden railroad inside my apartment? I just bought a truckload of dirt. There is still a plan to move out of the city at some point and I cannot wait to have a garden rr

I’m drinking green tea…

You are wrong about one drawback. A garden railroad does not literally need to be entirely in a garden. My G scale layout runs around the perimeter of my average sized city backyard. Only one 90° 10 foot radius turn actually runs through a garden. Frankly, if faced with a choice, I’d just build an indoor HO layout rather than a small G scale loop thats too small to even have a turn out.

more of a question than count...why did you find it necessary to remove all that sod ? I mean you dug the footing for the brickwork and layer down plastic over the dirt. why not just lay the plastic down ,cover it with dirt , sand and gravel and go from there. save some steps.

eBay is definitely NOT the place to buy used G Scale! Prices are out of control.

G Scale can be expensive.

More of a Mountain Dew guy, but caffeine is king either way.

You didn't even mention that you can run REAL STEAM TRAINS on a garden railroad!

You never talk about power requirements for the trains or accessories. Seems like no one does that talk about this... why?

Now imagine you're also the Chief Mechanical Engineer too, because G just isn't enough and 2 or 3 are not readily available any more... Moconna 11 as a flat white.

I cannot drink coffee anymore, its like poison to my body and I get monsterous.

I'm not a coffee drinker. Maybe this is common knowledge for those who are but what is a local coffee? Why doesn't it have a name?

Fade to black...... Erm.........

no closed captioning make this video completely useless sadly :(