Visit a garden-railway display at a nature center

A family watches a large-scale train display

For many years I have been a volunteer at our local nature center (Sandy Creek Nature Center of Athens-Clarke Co., GA). It occurred to me that their circular flower and nature gardens would be a perfect setting for a garden railroad. I approached personnel at the center, and they were enthusiastic, as it would create […]

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Create a soybean field for your garden railroad

A garden railroad scene with a model soybean field.

Always looking for new ways to make the farm scene on my garden railroad layout look more realistic, I decided to add a field of crops. With my limited knowledge of gardening, creating long rows of perfectly aligned tiny plants just wasn’t possible. I pondered several ideas but discovered the best one as I strolled […]

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Kitbash a large-scale structure from a craft birdhouse

Tweedell Twins Construction Office made from a wooden birdhouse

  Our local Michaels craft store sells an unfinished wooden birdhouse you can buy for just $4.99 (or less if you use a coupon). I’ve found it useful for kitbashing small buildings for your railroad. I will share three examples I made for my own railroad. [Note: All unfinished wood should be painted/stained before leaving […]

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How to clean track on your garden railway

A drywall sander with a green Scotch-Brite pad next to gauge-1 track.

There are dozens of methods used to clean the rails in the garden. There are track-cleaning locomotives, track-cleaning cars, polishing wheels you can fit to the underside of a truck, blocks, poles with pads on the end—enough innovation to make a mousetrap inventor think his job is simple. These can be broken down into “manual” […]

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Kitbash a large-scale gazebo for your garden

Large-scale gazebo with two female figures next to it.

DIY garden train gazebo While shopping at a local thrift store, I spotted an aluminum tea light candle holder. The shape and size approximated a large-scale gazebo. With minor modifications and spray paint, it would make a weatherproof and inexpensive display piece in the railroad. I added a miniature hanging basket plant, made from a […]

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Air plant

Air plants inside of a miniature greenhouse

Common name: Air plant Latin name: Tillandsia sp. Plant type: Perennial USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11 Cultural needs: No soil; indirect light indoors or shade outdoors; regular watering; air! Plant size: 2-6″ Obviously they need air but these little air plants also require regular watering and specific amounts of light. In their native South American rain […]

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