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How to build a pondless waterfall: In considering the infrastructure of garden railways, waterways come high on the list of those items that are best built early in the process. It’s hard to beat the sight and sound of moving water or the mirrored allure of a pond. However, I won’t deal with ponds in […]
Jim Providenza—garden railway edition How did you get started in the hobby? I’ve been an HO scale model railroader since I was 12. After we moved to our current home in 1988, I started planning to build a garden railway, but one that would further my longtime interest in operations. In this case, would focus […]
Last year we visited Las Vegas’ hot garden railways, which were set against a vast arid moonscape, or so it seemed to this New Englander (now gardening in northern California). As I looked closer, I saw beautiful gems of silver-blue, coral, and sage-green set in a sea of khaki. Diverse in color and texture, all […]
Whether you’re building on a hillside or on the flatlands, terracing your railway may scale down some problems while increasing interest. If you’re starting with either a boring, flat yard or an unstable slope that’s fit only for goats, we’ll look at some grading methods that allow better access to trains, ease of maintenance, conservation […]
Building a large-scale railroad outdoors requires varying amounts of earth shaping. Unless you are laying a pre-formed roadbed on a flat lawn, there’s going to be some digging and/or hauling of soil, at the bare minimum. The way you approach this may be as varied as there are individual ideas of what a garden railroad […]
Latin name: Bacopa ‘Snowstorm’ Common name: Snowstorm bacopa Plant type: Annual Flower color: White Plant size: 3″ tall by 18″ wide USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-10 Cultural needs: Moderately moist, part sun This easy to grow, annual flowering plant offers relatively small-scale features to garden railroaders around the country. Often used for hanging baskets and container […]
Common name: Creeping milkwort, chapparal pea, box-leaved milkwort Latin name: Polygala chamaebuxus var. grandiflora Plant type: Perennial USDA Hardiness Zones: 6-8 Plant size: 4″ (possibly mounding to 10″), spreading very slowly to 2′ wide Cultural needs: Well-drained, moist, acid soil; sun or bright shade; slow-release evergreen/acidic fertilizer If we didn’t wait so long to get […]
Railroad tell-tales At one time, railroad tell-tales were placed along the track on either side of low structures such as bridges and tunnels to warn crew members on top of the cars that they could not remain in a standing position while passing under the structure. Before the adoption of the air brake, and for […]
Transfer locomotives Transfer runs are trains that move cars from one freight yard usually to a nearby yard of another railroad (but not always). Early in dieselization, three of the major builders marketed locomotives built specifically for such service, called transfer locomotives, which demanded a lot of pulling power but not much speed. Transfer units […]
Pruning is a learned practice. No one starts out knowing how to best prune a woody shrub. All of us just have to take a stab at it and learn as we go. We make mistakes, try to forgive ourselves, then find that plants will forgive us and grow back as healthy as before. We […]
While we may no longer be printing Garden Railways magazine, we’re adding new content to Trains.com every week! Here’s a few recent items, and a preview of what’s coming in the next month. Become a Trains.com member so you don’t miss any of this great content! If you have a story suggestion, email editor@gardenrailways.com The […]
Five track and roadbed tips Smoother soldered rail joints I had a problem getting smooth solder joints when soldering together 5′ rails. I took an 8′ 2 x 4 and cut a groove down the middle of one side, just wide enough to hold the rail. Then I cut a wide notch in the 2 […]
