Autumnal Equinox Run!

Garden Railroading
1

The first day of Fall inspired me to do some serious running today (first time in a few weeks) and take a few pics including recent projects.

It was a busy afternoon in downtown Silver Spring with 6 locos on the tracks -

There was a bumper crop of local produce to haul -

and Deputy Fife was interrogating a potential suspect -

the Boxcab was spotting the still shiny ECLSTS show car -

Norm was thinking about all the trout to be caught in the stream -

while engineer Cliff patiently waited for the Mountain Express to run by so he could deliver his load -

the Mountain Express made its last stop of the day at the new freight house to drop off some much needed supplies for the boys in Thurmont -

-Brian

2

Brain, like how you used smaller rock in the stream!!! Looks great [tup]

3

Thanks, William. At least I got a little luv from someone here. Unfortunately, my little pond and stream have become the favorite bird bath of my yard and requires almost daily cleaning.

-Brian

4

Hey…Luv is good to the birds to [:D] Can filter, it unless it is poo on/in the deep parts.

I used rocks that hang over the water so the birds and drink like that, no poo. Now if there bathing!!! That would be a different story, poo, feathers, mites…etc…

Holdn Luv in da Swamp,

Toad

5

I like the look of what you’ve got there. Do you have a loop or is this just a switching layout? It looks great. I kinda like the effect of all the gravel you’ve layed down.

6

Thanks Matt. The layout started as two loops. This year I added the mountain line and a dozen switches so I will be doing a bit of ops too. The main town (Silver Spring) will be getting a fresh coat of asphalt when the new big station gets built (in process). The existing small station will be moved to Thurmont. Here is the track plan -

-Brian

7

Very nice Brian, like it a lot.

8

Looks great, I wish I had a layout, its getting rough at times being a garden railroad hobo…

9

What happened to your layout plans Vic??? I remember seeing a track plan and some pics of backyard cleaning up going on.

-Brian

10

Brian,

That looks good. I’m glad you got out to run some.

Vic,

I feel for you. Just get a little loop set up somewhere so you can excersize them loco’s a bit. Nothing fancy or permanent just something to run on until you can work on the layouts again.

Jack

11

Brian, I saw this post before, and was impressed then. Now, after reading your post over on the TE thread, and seeing your map here, how do you run your trains? Track power, with TE or Battery Power. Where is your power supply. And where is the real house in this map? Some day I will visit and see first hand.

Paul

12

Hey Paul,

I’m running track power for the most part. The inner and outer loops are controlled seperately with two Aristo 10 amp controllers (seen on top of the factory). The power supply is in my train shed behind the factory (seen in pic 2). The passing siding on the outer loop is blocked so two trains can share the track. The Dunkirk runs off trailer car battery/RC. This set up allows me to run four trains at a time. More than enough to keep me busy. The layout is at least 50 feet from the house seen here in the background -

Let me know next time your down this way.

-Brian

13

Thanks Brian. I surely will let you know when we come up and have some time. Usually, its so busy, with appointments, Costco, and other things, I am glad to get back across the bridge.

Paul

14

I still have a plan, just no time to devote to it, too many other things to finish house wise. After I picked up a 3 car LGB closed vestibule passenger car set I decided I was going to have to reconsider my intentions layout wise, plus I was warned that I would most definetly run thru gears and motors far faster than even I considered if I went with the more aggressive mountain scheme.

Apparently these are only toys…[:-^]

15

I’m feelin’ ya on this. I’ve got a modest plan and all my track ready to go, but we’re in flux if we’re going to move over the next 2 years or so. So I don’t want to start down a permanent road just yet. I’m thinking of just setting a very small, temporary layout for now. We’ll see…

16

Nice pics. I assume you scathbuilt the the Class A Climax. If so what kind of trucks did you use for power? I am currently building the climax from the Garden Railways plan and was curious. Thanks for your help.

17

Thanks Matt. I think you mean my class B Dunkirk which was a kitbashed project.

It uses the Bachmann diecast shay trucks whcih can be picked up atmost of the online shops for around $110. There’s a complete thread on the kitbash here - http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1068797/ShowPost.aspx

-Brian

18

beautiful layout allterrain.

I think a class A climax had the wood field cabs wile the class B had the “all weather” enclosed steel cabs. Glad to see the dunkirk and boxcab are keeping up with the E unit.