Building My G Scale Garden Railway: Part 1

When I was a kid I would look through the "G Scale" train catalogues my family had. I would see photos and articles about "garden railroads" and thought this would be a super cool thing to do.
My Dad built me a ceiling train layout in my room, which was super cool, but we never did get around to building a garden railway.
As it goes, I got older, moved out and years have passed. Most of the trains we collected have been sitting in boxes in my Dad's garage.
Until now...
For some unexplained reason, I got the idea to put in a garden railway a few months back. I just had my second daughter in July and my free time has been almost non-existent since then.
Despite trying to forget the idea and knowing that it is crazy for me to undertake a project like this at this point in my life, I couldn't help it. My brain kept coming back to it and thinking it over and over. Honestly, I think this is my mid-life crisis project and I couldn't resist its calling.
And with that, I decided to stop trying to resist it and just jump on in!
I did tons of research. Watched dozens of videos and priced out the quantity of materials I would need to make my vision a reality.
This video is the first of what may be many videos covering the construction and evolution of this project. I hope you'll join me on this journey.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Music: Take Me Away by Tobjan is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Free Download: hypeddit.com/pgkxhu
Support by RFM - NCM: bit.ly/2xGHypM

[@space_coast_snapshots6457]

Raised bed is the best way

[@dalediethorn1481]

Great job those LGB will run forever, best ever made. Keep up the good work👍🇺🇸👍

[@ShadowVFX]

Thank you for the kind words.

[@mikegarcia7216]

Hello my name is mike and so happy that you end up building your garden rail, even though through this pandemic days, as for me I am going too...😜 I don't have anything yet but I have already searching for my 2 best and favorites BSNF freight and the LACKAWANNA SANTA FE head trains thanks for sharing

[@rick-ry3kj]

I also have a vintage Stainz from a starter set I got from my grandfather back in 1985, still runs to this day. LGB is top notch quality for sure.

[@ShadowVFX]

Yep. Those little Stainz are amazingly durable.

[@chazilla7578]

You did a great job! I’m currently building my first permanent outdoor layout, videos like this are a big help.

[@ShadowVFX]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@GG1man]

You're off to a fine start. We will be looking forward to watching you make progress.

[@johnramirez5996]

Great start! I have large collection of trains to. Around 275 engines. From cpl g scale, o scale, ho, and n scale. Have some z scale track I got in a lot. But no engines just track. My dad actually to brought to my attention that he wants to set up my Xmas train set in front yard where I have Xmas lights displayed. Since the train is animated it was a perfect idea to set off the lights on trees . I couldn't believe my dad actually wanted to be involved with this little venture with me. My son will love it. Going to a train show on Sunday November 13. It's biggest 1 in Michigan. MSU agricultural building in Lansing. Can't wait. Thinking of doing videos of both. The Xmas train and show. We'll see I guess. Lol. Great job again.

[@enzok6414]

Very nice setup. I built a dirt/sand track for my 1/16th RC tanks about 2 years ago. About half the size of your railway system. My back was hurting but was happy with the result. Lookinf forward to see more clips of your trains.

[@MrMotionmac]

It's not a mid life crisis. It's just something you have been holding back from because life happened. I think it's a great start.

[@danshamek2509]

That looks nice. I am hoping to start on mi e next spring.

[@stephengerlach828]

Looking good! I recommend putting conductive paste in the rail joiners as a cheap option. Many garden railroad clubs hold swap meets and thats the cheapest way to get cheap trains and rail clamps.

[@ShadowVFX]

Yep. I got some electrically conductive grease I will be putting on each joint once I lay the final layout in place. I live in WA State and in my area, there used to be a big train show every January, but due to Covid it hasn't happened for 2 years now. I hope that next year it'll come back.

[@181suydam]

Very Nice!!! I also have a 35 year Stainz! Gets set up around the tree every year, hasn't let me down yet! Enjoy! What transformer are you running?

[@ShadowVFX]

I am using an old product called BLUESTREAK from North Coast Hobbies. I love it, but it's definitely getting long in the tooth. amppowersupply.com/en/g_gauge_blue_streak_10_amp_3_train_power_supply_north_coast_hobby_supply_lgb_a.html

[@kymvalleygardensdesign5350]

Nice layout well done I had a similar idea one day but mine has taken a year to build the track bed, because the site I have is more complicated, I hope to have some of my track laid this easter! 😀

[@ShadowVFX]

Thank you! Good luck on your project.

[@philliplagreco6453]

Hi! Nice layout! I see you said you bought used track and a lot of cleaning to do! If you bought it off of eBay be careful with that, I found that buy new track was actually cheaper and no cleaning! Keep in my mind if you do ever expand on it, stay with larger curves in case you want a bigger engine. Enjoy your new project and being a new dad😀

[@ShadowVFX]

You're not wrong. In hindsight, I almost wish I bought new track. But I think I sorted things out with the used stuff, so I guess it's all good in the end.

[@Emanlivesteam]

So you power all of that from on point of connection to the track?

[@ShadowVFX]

Currently, yes. When I get closer to being "done", I plan on having 2 power points on opposite ends of the loop. Each loop is ~100' in length, which isn't that bad for a single connection point.

[@gene1962]

Hope the next one you do the text rolls slower for us slow readers

[@ShadowVFX]

There's always the pause button if you need it.

[@HolidayDecorator]

​@@ShadowVFXpausing is an issue, there are things that block the text when paused, and not only that, the screen gets grayed out, and the text gets even harder to read, if you can read it at all with the other info blocking quite a bit of it.☹️ Got to agree with the original poster, the text needs to be moving at least 1/2 the current speed. I couldn't read it either, yes, I tried pausing it, and like stated earlier, it's not really a viable option due to the issues pausing created.

[@theslicefactor4590]

@@HolidayDecorator Just adjust the playback speed. Can't be that hard.

[@bryanteuans]

What is your biggest/smallest diameter? I hope 8' diameter somewhere? Unless you don't care about running the USA Trains sd70Mac or the soon to be released Bachmann dash 9

[@ShadowVFX]

R2 is at the end near the gate. R3 is at the opposite end.

[@jacobh3594]

For keeping the track clean or at least easy to clean look into the piko track cleaning locomotive I promise it's worth the money

[@ShadowVFX]

I got my hands on the LGB Track Cleaning Loco. I love how well it works!

[@jacobh3594]

@@ShadowVFX lucky I have always wanted one of those