How to choose a scale: A garden railroader’s guide

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This three-rail track incorporates two different gauges—0 gauge and 1-gauge. Trains in 16mm-scale (1:19) and 15mm-scale (1:20.3) are equally at home on these rails. Marc Horovitz Download the PDF here. Let’s look at the various scales available and list their characteristics, with an eye to finding their advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned above, the thing […]

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Book review: ’50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants’

Book cover.

50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants Garden Railways file image   Was Elmer Fudd, Looney Tunes’ little rifle-toting hunter of Bugs Bunny fame, justified in shooting at Bugs Bunny? Remember how the “waskily wabbit” tunneled under Elmer’s garden yanking down one juicy carrot after another? In cartoons, we cheer for the bunny, but what if he had […]

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What are scale and gauge?

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Marc Horovitz Marc Horovitz This 1:20.3-scale figure may look right for this 1:32-scale locomotive but if you tried to put him into the cab you’d quickly realize your error. Marc Horovitz These three models are all of similar prototypes—3′-narrow-gauge boxcars. In the foreground is an early Hartford Products car in 1:24 scale; in the middle […]

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April new products from Garden Railways magazine

Planter

Engines & rolling stock PIKO America, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego, CA 92120 has several new products, including a “mini-Mogul” (#38208). This budget-friendly engine is capable of being upgraded with the no. 36221 Analog Sound Kit or the no. 36220 Digital Steam Sound Kit for full-featured sound on DC or DCC. Price: […]

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Cooper’s ice plant

Trailing ice plant, Cooper’s ice plant

  Common name: Trailing ice plant, Cooper’s ice plant Latin name: Delosperma cooperi USDA Hardiness Zones: 6 to 9 Cultural needs: Well-drained soil, sun or part shade Plant size: 3-inches high by 3-feet wide Sometimes called hardy ice plant or purple ice plant, this low succulent is not to be confused with the larger purple […]

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Common scales of large scale trains

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Common scales of large scale trains: Most of us have had this experience as we got started in garden railroading: You go to the hobby shop or look online, looking for equipment for your new railroad. It’s all large scale and it all looks good. But the more you look, the less comprehensible your choices […]

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