Hello from NE Ohio

[johnndeanna]

Hello all,

I've been a forum member for some time now but have never posted or been involved at all and have mainly been just browsing. Well I have recently moved to NE Ohio across the river from where WV and PA come together and I finally have a yard worthy of a garden railroad. I've been a model railroader for years but never did much with it. Well being full time work from home and an empty nester with young grandkids now is the time to start. Here are a few photos of the back yard. We plan on putting in a plunge pool in front of the garage (the one without a garage door. The other is my neighbors) and convert that into an outdoor room but the planting beds are very large and will do nicely for a fairly large garden railroad once I get them cleaned up; they are seriously overgrown. Hoping I can incorporate the railroad to include the wall and view at the back of the property. Looking forward to starting the planning soon but I have a lot of inside projects to finish on this 121 year old house first this winter. Enjoy the photos.

 

[JimmyB]

John welcome, you probably know about the advice available and dodgy jokes, and you have posted photos

 

[PhilP]

Welcome John!
Look's like you have something of a view? - What is the body of water?

It will make a great backdrop to photo's of a train running across the foreground.

PhilP.

 

[korm kormsen]

welcome!

your garden looks anything but flat. i see a lot of bridges and trestles coming up.
nice view!

 

[phils2um]

HI John, That is a beautiful view! Don't spend too much time planning. Get some trains going! Half the fun is how the RR grows once some hands-on experience is gained!

 

[Madman]

Welcome aboard. Nice view !

 

[Paul M]

Welcome. You've got plenty of room to work with, so take your time and enjoy it

 

[Greg Elmassian]

The first piece of advice would be to determine if you want it raised up above ground (or raised planter) or on the ground. It appears there's some slope and you would be wise to actualy measre the rise and fall in either case. You will want to keep your slope on the rails to 2% or less (2 inches in 100 inches) unless you must increase it, and that will affect the operation of your layout, especially if you want them to run fairly unattended.

While putting some track on the ground and running around will be tempting, you will want to plan a bit before making something permanent.

Greg

 

[dunnyrail]

Welcome to the forum, whatever you do with your railway make sure that view is seen.

 

[Anglian]

Welcome to the forum John. You obviously have much to do inside and out but you can at least look forward to the planning stage. I would perhaps put a small circle of track down on a flat bit of garden, run a train round, take a photograph or video and then you can say you're on your way. The pictures will act as a reminder of what lies ahead.
Enjoy what this forum has to offer, it's a great resource. Don't forget the pictures as and when.
Trevor

 

[johnndeanna]

Welcome John!
Look's like you have something of a view? - What is the body of water?

It will make a great backdrop to photo's of a train running across the foreground.

PhilP.

Philip,

That view is overlooking g the Ohio River. I’m hoping to plan a bit of track along the top of the low wall with that view in the background.

 

[tac foley]

That stretch of landscape is going to produce some amazing trainery! The width and breadth of experience here is astounding, and I'm sure that every question you can come up with will get an answer of some kind - more often that not, useful. Not from me, obviously, because I only have a teeny raised track in a teeny backyard in a teeny village at the a$$-end of nowhere, but I'm sure you get the idea, having been here a while.