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The Stanworth Heath Light Railway |
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Top Tips |
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As with many hobbies as we gain experience we learn a few
things along the way. I know a lot of this is probably covered
elsewhere on the net or in books and magazines, but here are some of my
personal "lessons", learned the hard way,
and top tips for future G-Scalers/Garden Railwayers. |
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| 1 |
Don't Rush it It is great to get something running quickly so that you don't lose interest. But don't rush your planning and construction work to achieve this. A temporary track on the lawn or patio could sustain your interest whilst you plan and construct the "real" railway. |
| 2 |
Research and Plan - a lot One of my fundamental mistakes during my research was discovering that LGB trains only need a radius of 2ft, and everything in the LGB range will negotiate this radius. I promptly designed and built my layout entirely using 2ft radius curves. This was partly because the layout was restricted to a certain area of the garden and partly due of my lack of knowledge in this scale. Given the opportunity to do it all again from scratch, I would have worked out a way to use larger radius curves in the available space, or would have negotiated with my other half for more space. Basically don't go for minimum radius just because the LGB stock will negotiate it. The overhang on some stock is sometimes quite horrendous, and stock from other manufacturers may not negotiate minimum radius. |
| 3 |
Join a Society or Forum Whatever your choice of scale/gauge in the garden join an on-line society. There's a wealth of information and support available from like-minded people, and loads of encouragement to get you going. If you're modelling in G then the G Scale Society and the G Scale Mad group are invaluable sources of information. |
| 4 |
Plan your control area and storage My layout is on the opposite side of the garden to the control and storage area. Had I planned this better I could have had lines either running into the garage for storage or at least adjacent. I have to carry my stock across the lawn to the railway for each running session. |
| 5 |
Be careful where you locate your sidings Mine were initially very awkward to get to. In trying to create the illusion of a railway running through the garden, I originally placed my sidings behind some quite large Hebes (they weren't large when I planted them). This made it difficult to get to this part of the layout if things went wrong (a very rare occurrence but one that still needs to be allowed for), and for track cleaning. I had also originally made the same mistake with my original station. Both of these little problems have now been rectified with the station and sidings re-positioned to the front of the layout for ease of access. |
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Look at the alternatives I have used LGB track throughout. I have no complaints here, it's great stuff but I think that Aristocraft track may be better suited to my needs. Check out all of the options before making your purchase. |
| 7 |
Involve your Spouse/Partner Remember it's your partners garden too. Talk over your plans (draw them out if necessary), and make sure that you're both entirely happy with what you're proposing to build. Hint, if all else fails, name the railway or a locomotive after your partner. I went a bit far with this one. Part of the railway name (Stanworth) is my wife's maiden name, my Accucraft Caradoc is going to be named Ellie (her first name), and I have a version of my wife in model form sitting on my one of my station benches. But I still can't have any more of the garden! |
| 8 |
I take no credit for this next tip. It was originally the brainchild of Mr Mike Duffy of the Lazy Grange Bay (L.G.B.) railway (see his website on my links page). Rule 8 as it is now known has become the adopted standard of the G-Scale fraternity both in the UK and overseas. Rule 8 - basically states |