Newbie to G Garden Railways and some questions

[oneperson001]

Hello peoples, :wave:
I have just spent £1500 having my small garden gutted so I can build a small model village and railway, will have little people and cars as well. Plan to open to public to raise money for charities, 'cos I'm nice, you see!!
The area for the project is, (I've measured it in old money as my landscaper doesn't "do" metric) 19' x 16' and I plan an end to end, sidings at each end, level crossing. I plan to use LGB since they do have most of the track I need. The only thing I can't seem to find out is whether or not the manual points are live or dead frogs. If live anyone have a quick way of "killing" them?
Tell you what though, I have bought 3 of the BOB building kits from Garden Railway Specialists and they are amazing. I am also a T-Gauge modeller, so used to small modelling. The garden excites me, but will be trouble for me after my stroke damage. However, going to go ahead, and ANY tips at all will be gratefully received, and maybe rewarde after I win the Lottery on Tuesday!!

 

[Steve]

Welcome David,

Top tip take loads of pics and ignore all advise there all mad , it?s just you and me left

 

[yb281]

Hi David and welcome.

One thing I would think about is making your new railway a continuous loop rather than end to end. Letting trains run round and round might not be very prototypical, but it ain't half fun.
Handy when you're having lots of visitors too, you can spend your time chatting instead of driving.

On the grounds that you can supply power to either end of the LGB points, I think I'm right in saying they're dead frog.

 

[Gizzy]

Welcome to the madness!

With regard to LGB points, they have dead insulated frogs, BUT, they are not isolating as you've probably experienced with smaller scales such as 00 and N.

So you will find that both tracks in a loop for example, are live. To isolate the rails, you can fit isolating joiners and use a switch to route the power accordingly....

 

[oneperson001]

Thanks Steve, Like they say "Most people are normal until you get to know them!" but I prefer "Remember.....as far as they know, we are NORMAL, right!" Then just to keep a proper sense of balance, "Happiness is a failure to realise how bad things really are!" However I will keep going. With regard to pics, I have been taking them from before the landscaper started, when garden was a jungle. Strokes really do mess up so many things!! I'm planting mainly slow growing and dwarf conifers and heathers, with some dwarf deciduous tress. One Japanese Maple as a signature plant, but I don't want to be picking up a lot of leaves. No water yet. I'm using AnyRail4EN to design the track layout. Much easier than buying it and moving around outside. I don't know how many here use the software but it is really brilliant.

Thanks and "I'll be back", unless I die. I like your Grand-dad quote. I know one that is "I will never forget my Grandfarthers last words, "OH, NO. A TRUCK!!"" Good one I think..

 

[Andy Worsfold]

Welcome
There's loads of good advice and experience here. Plus having you're railway in the garden is fun and a challenge at the same time. There are some real experts, some newbies and all are an inspiration. Our own characters define our little railway empires!

 

[bobg]

Ahha! Ze best sing to do wif ze dead frogs is cut off zere legs and fry zem in garlic and butter!

Who's mad? Only those running the asylum!!!

Welcome number 1, I'm number 7!!!

 

[Alpineandy]

Welcome to the fold...
You've come to the right place here for advice and ideas.
My little tip is to keep the track easily accessible cos' you,ll need to keep it clean if you using track power.
One of the beauties of garden railways is that the scenery on your layout will change throughout the year.
You get the full 4 seasons.
Just watching the trains trundle round whilst supping a cold beer on a warm summers evening or hands round a mug of hot coffee on a cold frosty day with snow on the ground, Tis, a great unwinder as I am sure you will discover...............

 

[oneperson001]

Andy, thanks for the reply, however I don't drink beer, can I use a glass of white Burgundy? And I don't drink coffee, (allergic), so can I use tea instead, please?

David

 

[PaulRhB]

so can I use tea instead, please? :

Proper railwaymen drink tea so you've passed the test, Welcome

I'd echo Mels comment and suggest including a continuous run even if you usually want to run end to end as you can leave it to just run when there are guests to natter too or a good lunch to eat while trains pootle round. With a tunnel or other feature to separate two terminus stations they could even be just a few feet apart.
I'll do a doodle to show you what I mean in a bit.

 

[pghewett]

A few quick thoughts (based on 30 years of operations with the scars to show):
[*] Get the electrics in first, including any lighting circuits (you knew this from running indoors, of course, but revisiting outdoor circuits is always much more time consuming). We have laid a ring main under the running lines with feeders every 5-10 metres which seems to do the trick.[*]Choose the largest radius curves you can get away with, especially if you just want to watch them roll past. (Only ops fiends like me put flexibility before speed/realism)[*]Be very careful before you invite strangers to view - these days thieves will certainly target brass rail if they get to hear about it - so check on insurance, and make sure the track is difficult to lift - alas. GH

 

[Phil]

Welcome to the mad house...!

 

[PaulRhB]

Somet like this using the tunnel as a divider

 

[Richie]

Hello David welcome to the site :wave:
I started with a 18ft X 16ft plot in the garden went with a loop for continuous running with two lines coming off to a terminus station all done with LGB set track layed down on concrete blocks .
Few pics do have some shots of the whole area some where .

 

[Richie]

Found a few more pics to give you some ideas . Have built the front of my line on a rock face this then runs round the back over a pond and into a small tunnal the line is hidden at the back by a screen of conifers .The two lines that come off the loop run down grade into a station .