I know this is slightly off the mark for this forum. However, I’m thinking seriously about entertaining the possibility of an outdoor Garden layout when we get to our new home this fall. There have been several threads over the months about the poor prognosis of an HO layout outside. But how about O scale? Is that a common Garden railway scale? Are there Locos built for the elements in O scale? Or will you face the same problems as the HO scale? I think the big G scale locos are too big not to mention very expensive. Thanks for any info you can provide.
Terry[8D]
John Armstrong to the rescue!!!
His Hobby Lobby and Three Strikes plan (JA on Creative Layout Design) is an O-scale (mostly) outdoor model railroad designed for an 80’ x 80’ back yard, including some clever ideas for attaching track to the perimeter fence.
Key to his idea (and useful in any scale) is to keep the complex trackwork indoors (some in a garage, the rest in a freestanding garden building) and have only the (nice long) mainline runs exposed to the elements. All standing trains would do their standing protected from the weather. Also, most of the track is above ground level, which should make keeping it free of debris a lot easier.
Hope this helps.
Chuck
The Trains.com magazine index lists 21 articles on outdoor O scale.
See this web site[:)]
http://www.trainweb.org/oscaleoutdoors/
Most US equipment is not designed for outdoors,but it can be done.
Outdoor O scale is more commen in Britian and Europe than in the USA.
Railway Modeler, published by Peco (the track company), has had a number of articles on outdoor 2-rail. The magazine is devoted to British railways.
There are European companies that make O scale locomotives designed to be run outdoors. They haves sealed mechanisms to keep dirt out of the motors and gears.
Thanks for the info folks. Something to think about.
Terry[8D]
It really depends on what G scale locos you go for. If you just want small stuff, like the Aristo Craft Lil Critter, they are quite reasonable, and good quality, too.
What would be some manufacturers I could check out for O g loco, rolling stock. Pref those that are built for outdoors US or Europeon? Tks
Terry[8D]
Actually, the basic Bachmann G scale sets are not too bad to start with. I picked one up second hand for $150. Brand new, they are $300 to $400. They run pretty well. Of course the track isn’t much good. Get better track for outdoors. LGB track is expensive but very durable and can handle getting stepped on. Their flex track costs about $10 a foot retail. (Note the flextrack is sold as rail and seperate tie sections that slip over the rail. This is because the rail must be bent with a roller before assembly to the ties.) You may be able to do better online.
My 30 x 10 foot layout, not counting the plants, stone, dirt, and waterfall cost me about $1400 total. I’m not counting the landscaping material because we would have had that anyway.
You can see pictures at http://www.peremarquette.net/garden.html These pictures are from last year. This year, the plants have filled in more and it looks a lot better.
Eric - Great RR. Tks for the info. My question is how long is a G scale loco say a 2-8-2 or a GP-9 roughly? I don’t want a humungus loco and cars. Thats why I was looking closely at O scale. I couldn’t really tell how large yours was but it did look nice. Most of what I am finding is 3-rail in O. Other than looking very strange what is the pros/cons of 3 rail over 2-rail? Thanks and sorry for all the questions. I don’t want to spend allot of money and find out I should have done it another way.
Terry[8D]