Hi, My loved ones want to buy me a “G” scale railroad starter set for Christmas. I have an “N” scale layout in process, and I also play around with “O”. Here is my question, other than a little oval and an around the ceiling layout, I’ve not been exposed to “G”. To those of you who have a garden railroad, along with a scale layout, are you glad you did it ? Is it too toylike ? I realize this is all in the eyes of the beholder, but I don’t know whether to take them up on the offer, or go for something for my “N” layout. Is “G” a large financial black hole ? Thanks, Dave
BTW I’m 44 not a kid nd we do have a large yard with a pond.
I dont have a garden railway but I also model in N, and have started a few projects in HO in the past whilst my N layout was incomplete, I have found that if I start a new project with one still uncomplete I get a little lost.
I have looked at G for the kids, take a look at the cost of just points alone “WOW” that was enough for me to close that idea…
Starting last fall and this summer I built a small garden railroad in the back yard to tide me over until I can finish my basement and build my “serious” prototype based HO empire. We had to put in some landscaping and there was a garden area were were going to put in anyway that seemed to be a perfect spot. You can see it at http://www.peremarquette.net/garden.html.
I’ve enjoyed it very much and so do the neighborhood kids. The one draw back is with this layout, I can’t do much more than run trains in a circle. I do take a much more laid back approach with the garden railroad in terms of prototype accuracy. Its just something fun for me. Battling errosion has also been an interesting experience.
The one shock has been the cost of the track. LGB flextrack retails at about $10 per foot and the switches are quite pricy. (Look for used if you can.) I picked up my cars and locos used and half my building to reduce cost.
If I could afford it, I would very seriously consider building one. I have 1.2 acres, mostly flat, with about .3 acre down a steep embankment to the beach. I could model a mine, and do some serious switchbacks (oh,oh, ohhhh!!) just like in the Peruvian Andes.
I had a garden railroad, in addition to the HO layout at my previous house.
The outdoor layout was fun, not terribly realistic, but great for having people over. Whenever I had a BBQ or something I would just let it run, no fancy operation, but it was a hit with the guests. I picked flashy cars, which helped.
I have been modeling in HO scale since 1960 and am a member of a local HO scale club. Last year, I branched out into G-scale in my back yard. Toy trains? No, not the Bachmann and AMS 1:20.3 items, anyway. I have a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0 Consolidation, a Spectrum 2-6-0 Mogul, and their 2-truck Shay. These are all well detailed models of narrow gauge engines. Bachmann also makes 1:20.3 rolling stock, and there are at least two companies that specialize in 1:20.3 scale rolling stock kits of narrow guage equipment.
To me, a lot of LGB products look like toy trains, and that’s even what they call them, but Bachmann’s are more true to scale.
You can even run live steam in G-scale. I have an AccuCraft Mimi 1:20.3 scale live steam engine that utilizes a Butane gas burner.
I have a garden RR and an On30 layout in the basement. I have fun with both. The “F” scale ( Bachmann ) I just sit back with a cold one and watch the trains run. It can be expensive but one can get good used equipment at shows. You do not have to have all the bells and whistles, pun intended.
I think there is more work getting an indoor layout to not look toy-like than an outdoor garden layout. Consider that you are using real materials: real rocks, real dirt, real water and real plants. In the wintertime you have real snow to plow. What I find fascinating is that the layout is constantly changing with the seasons.
On the other hand, if toy-like is what you are looking for you can get a brightly colored LGB train and run it around and through a flowerbed - it’s all good. You don’t even need structures to have a great-looking layout.
Is it a financial black hole? Not any more than any other scale model railroad. It can if you let it. But don’t folks do that in every scale?