A few posts ago I wrote that I had ordered a batch of Aristocraft track for this year’s garden railway expansion.  It arrived and I mounted it on the treated lumber "shelf" that I installed a few weeks ago along the back fence.   We now have a 90′ shelf of straight G-scale track along the back fence.  This will be our second "line" and will not connect to the original loop of track.

I have been trying to get an old analog LGB point-to-point accessory unit to work on this track so that it can operate like a point-to-point trolley line until I get the time to install the "turn-around" loops on either end of the straight track to form a dog-bone style layout, but no luck so far.   I love LGB, but their instruction manuals are truly awful and always have been.   They have a US subsidiary, so I don’t understand why they have so much trouble making useful manuals.  In any case, I think that I have installed the point-to-point until correctly, so maybe it is defective.

The old LGB unit just sends the engine to one end of the track until it hits the bumper and then it spins until I turn it off…or it launches itself into space if the bumper is loose! I need to troubleshoot this when I get some time.

I really like the Aristocraft track.  It is cheaper than LGB-brand track and it seems just as good.  It also fits together perfectly with LGB track without adaptors…so it is easy to mix brands  Aristocraft track will be our new "standard" track except for the turnouts that will remain LGB.  The LGB turnouts still seems to be better quality and worth the money.

This past weekend we "broke ground" on the Spring 2006 expansion of our garden railway.  As I noted in an early post, we intend to run our second line from within our detached garage, through a small hatch, and then along the entire length of our backyard fence and then returning via a reverse-loop type arrangement. Probably in the neighborhood of 130 feet of new track total.

This weekend, we installed a treated wood 2x4x8 vertical ledge with a 2x6x8 horizontal treated wood trackbed onto our existing treated fence about a foot and a half above the ground.  This forms a shelf that will be the straight trackbed. We’ve installed a total of about 88 feet so far.

Last night I ordered 90 feet of new Aristocraft-brand straight track from Trainworld to mount onto the new trackbed.  The plan is to start with this straight "point-to-point" type operation while I make and install the two reversing-loops on either end using the "ladder method" that I used last year.

I went with Aristocraft track rather than LGB brand track to save money on the expansion this year.  I have never used anything but LGB track, so this will be a bit of an experiment.  I hear that the Aristcraft track is every bit as good as LGB, but it stays shiny brass colored longer.  I like the dark weathering of LGB track, so hopefully the shine doesn’t last too long.

LGB has once again exceeded my expectations for customer service.  I recently sent back the engine that came with our starter set more than 5 years ago for service.  It had stopped running after much hard use and was years out of warranty.  I instructed LGB that I was willing to pay what it took to repair it (it has sentimental value).  It came back in the mail yesterday with a new decoder, new motor shaft and new pick-up brushes…..and zero dollar bill!! Not even a shipping charge.

LGB products are not cheap, but they are very good and their customer service is top-notch!

I will remain a loyal customer.

Completed the permanent wiring for the garden railroad as described in the previous post over the weekend.  It all worked out as planned.

Picture above is of the control box on the inside of the garage wall (just inside from the layout).  It is an old tool box that has been fitted with the MTS unit and the transformer inside for extra protection.  The 2-foot piece of track is used to place an engine on for reprogramming.  The power strip powers the  layout on and off with one switch.

Had a little trouble with what turned out to be a bad piece of wire, but otherwise went easily.

Photo below is of an outdoor phone-style jack next to the operator’s bench.  All the operator needs to do is connect the phone-style cable off of the handheld MTS controller and the layout is ready to run.  Unplug at the end of the day and the layout is weather-proof.

Now that the garden railroad has its first function loop of track installed, I need to formalize the installation of the track power and control system.

I want to require very little equipment to have to be taken into the house after a train operation session. So, all of the equipment needs to be protected from the rain and from theft.

I am using the LGB MTS system for track power and control, and none of the parts of this system (except the trains and track) are weather-proof. So my plan is to install the transformer, control box and associated wiring into the garage that adjoins the outdoor railroad. This way when the garage is closed, the system is secure and dry.

I will run the power wires from the LGB system in the garage through a small hole that I will drill in the wall of the garage (I am very lucky that my wife doesn’t get nervous when I say things like this!) to permanently attach the power wires to the outdoor track. The transformer in the garage will be permanently plugged-in to an elecrical outlet in the garage via a powerstrip with a switch on it so that the railroad can be easily turned on and off.

I will then run telephone cord from the LGB MTS box in the garage through the hole in the garage-siding, underground out to a fence post near the seating area in front of the garden railroad (phone cord is what LGB uses to attach their handset controls to the base station). I will mount a standard phone jack in a weather proof outlet box on the post. This way, all the train operator needs to do is unplug the handset from the phone jack on the fence and carry it inside at the end of the day. Everything else stays outside and is dry and secure.

This is the “plan” anyway.  Maybe this weekend I will install everything listed above.

My son and I installed the first complete loop of garden railroad roadbed and track over the weekend. Bill Logan’s flexible trackbed method works great (see early construction picture above)! I am going to paint the white part of the trackbed a dark rust color in the coming week.

I made one significant change to Bill’s method. I could not find the recycled HDPE (high-density polyethelyne) material that he uses locally, so I searched Home Depot for a comparable product and found a product called “Never-Rot”. It is sold as a white, expanded PVC-based trim material for houses made by Royal Mouldings. It is sold in many profiles and sizes and the basic rectangle 1″x2″x12′ size is perfect for the side rails in Bill Logan’s system…no cutting required! I used pressure-treated pine porch-rail stakes for the middle blocks (also Home Depot). They are cut into 1.5″ lengths and screwed in place just as Bill did. I also used these stakes as the “stringers” that elevate the trackbed off of the ground.

Total cost is less than $2.00 per foot of finished trackbed (excluding the cost of track).

The whole system works great, and the rails can be flexed to any radius curve without cracking. Installs VERY quickly. I’d like to see someone try this method for an indoor “overhead” system. Maybe I will someday.

I will post more photos as I refine the installation.