Garden HO Railway

[beans6645]

Could anyone with information regarding running HO in the garden share that information please.
I am not asking for what are the problems or the difficulties of using HO in the garden but how a successful HO railway has been developed.
Thanks for your thoughts and support.

[NarrowMinded]

HI, I doubt you will find many HO scale garden RR's because it would be difficult to keep them running.

NM-Jeff

[jward]

with all due respect, you can't build a successful garden railway in HO without overcoming the problems inherent in using HO outdoors. and you can't overcome those problems if you don't know what they are.....

that said, i don't think an HO scale garden railroad is impossible. but i would be thinking along the lines of an indoor garden such as a greenhouse, rather than an outdoor one.

[jettrainfan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6yjtsXIw7g


Thats a video i took almost 2 years ago, i clearly remember it was sort of like a green house, and the ho scale trains ran on the same turf G scale trains would run on. Don't know if you'd have the money to do it, but its a second idea if you cant truly get it outside, you can always go for the next best thing. 

[Jim Banner]

Jettraibfab's video is worth seeing even if you are not interested in indoor-outdoor small scale railroading.

Jim

[The Overland]

HO in the garden has a few issues you need to consider during the planning stage, but is very achievable. I run HO outside here in Australia, using DCC for control, and all my locos are fitted with sound decoders.
There are obviously some things to do differently compared with an indoor layout, but nevertheless HO can be very successful outdoors. England has a vast number of outdoor HO layouts, and a reasonably deep crawl of the internet will find a lot of valuable info.
Don't let the doubters put you off. If you want to run long trains on wide curves, then the garden has plenty of room for this. All the arguments for N scale basement sized layouts apply to HO outside. There is nothing better (in my opinion) than watching a double or triple headed consist pulling a 30-40 car train through a 60 inch radius curve and then heading into the distance.

[Doneldon]

HO in the garden has a few issues you need to consider during the planning stage, but is very achievable. I run HO outside here in Australia, using DCC for control, and all my locos are fitted with sound decoders.
There are obviously some things to do differently compared with an indoor layout, but nevertheless HO can be very successful outdoors. England has a vast number of outdoor HO layouts, and a reasonably deep crawl of the internet will find a lot of valuable info.
Don't let the doubters put you off. If you want to run long trains on wide curves, then the garden has plenty of room for this. All the arguments for N scale basement sized layouts apply to HO outside. There is nothing better (in my opinion) than watching a double or triple headed consist pulling a 30-40 car train through a 60 inch radius curve and then heading into the distance.

... and there's nothing that looks better or more natural than model trains running in real light,
like from the sun. It's much better for photos, too.
                                                                             -- D

[CNE Runner]

I agree...a really interesting video - but NOT a garden railway! Running trains indoors, among house plants, doesn't make a garden railway; any more than running them in a 'greenhouse'. For years I had a garden railway in Upstate NY that had to contend with leaves, dust, squirrels, chipmunks, one groundhog (who 'agreed' to move his residence) and bugs...'not to mention that dreaded four-letter word: snow. Running even a G-scale layout outdoors is vastly different than running one indoors.

HO trains are just too small for the outdoor environment. A leaf is large to a G-scale locomotive...it is positively gigantic to an HO engine. I cannot conceive how one could keep an HO layout viable outdoors (heck, it is hard enough indoors). I would say if you truly want to run trains in the great outdoors, go G-scale. Leave HO trains for a safer, more stable indoor environment.

Ray

[doug c]

5 or 6 yrs ago there was a couple letter/pics to GR mag showing a successful outdoor HO layout in one of your southern states   The first I believe showed what happened due to a massive slumping during/after (/) a major rainstorm wiping out a couple secitons of track including their mainline.   A followup letter/pic showed the rebuilt layout. 

It sounded like they enjoyed doing what they were doing,  and that is what a hobby is all about !!     

Smaller than 1:32  on g-gauge track will definitely have increased multiple challenges,  but even g-gauge shortlines are hampered by what nature tosses at us.   

BUT waaay better than being a couch potato model railroader, or stuck in a 'basement' environment even when outdoor space is available !

imho,
doug c