Building The GGR
The GGR is built using a mixture of garden railway techniques from built on concrete blocks to decking boards
Useful Tips
Join a local group,or one of the national organizations such as the 16mm association or the G Scale society . building a garden railway is a big commitment in both time and finances, so speaking to people who have been there and done that will save you a lot of head aches, plus there a friendly bunch that will probably invite to see there own railways providing inspiration and expertise.
Plan the railway, spend some time thinking about what you want to achieve, who's going to use it, just you or friends as well, is it going to be at ground level or raised up on walls or pillars. and get permission from the other half. I know its sometimes easier to ask for forgiveness than permission! take it from me, Ive been there done that, they pop out to do a spot of shopping and they come to find they've got kings cross station running across the middle of the patio, it doesn't end well.
Concrete for the foundations used is 4 parts ballast 1 part cement, approximately 4 inches thick, Hire a mixer from just over £30 quid a weekend and you wont regret it,
Blocks used are thermolite blocks cemented together with a normal mortar mix, themolite is easy to cut just using a wood saw (not much use for cutting wood when you've finished). if you're going to use a grinder to cut them, where a dusk mask and protective glasses.
Decking used came from the local DIY shop and was cheap it has subsequently split warped and twisted, a complete pain in the backside.
If you've got lots of digging it may be worth hiring a digger, it cost a couple of hundred quid for a weekend, plus its great fun. just be care full of water pipes and power cables, if you cut through one of these it could be a costly afair.
I used a laser level to set out the foundations, you can buy one for about 50 quid or hire one, again this makes the job a lot easier, i used the fence posts as reference points and marked the post where the laser beam hit, it was just a case of then using a tape from the mark to set the height of the foundations ect.
The stones on the rockery need to be big, small stones disappear under the undergrowth very quickly, some of the stones used here are over a hundred kilos in weight,the mini digger was great for shifting them around
Think ahead, i installed most of the electrics for the lighting during the building phase, it makes the job a lot easier when you start to build in the detail into your railway.
Very little of the track is pinned down, just held in place by the ballast that is held in place with watered down PVA,(spay the freshly laid ballast with a fine spray of water before applying the pva it bonds better), if you are planning on screwing the track down paint the screw heads when you've finished, Ive seen some lovely photos of peoples railways that almost look like the real thing apart from the line of shiny screw heads running down the middle of the track.
Keep the radius as big as possible, my first railway used Mamod track with 2 foot 6 radius curves, at the time it suited the locos and stock i was using , it soon became apparent the curves were a little limited.
Don't go to steep 1 in 50 is as steep as you'll get away with without radio control or electric, I had a section of line linking to the bottom loop on my old line that was 1 in 17, and it never worked very well.
Plants, its always worth reading the label on the side of the pot, find out how big something grows , light or shade. Ive got this wrong a few times, you get back from the garden center with a couple of little plants, you chuck them in the ground and before you know it, its completely dwarfed everything around it or died. I found Lonicera nitida works really well for garden railways its a bit like box hedge but the leaves are small and its easy
to cut and shape. the best thing every time you cut it back, I take a few of the cuttings trim of some of the lower leaves and put it in a pot, before you know it you have loads of plants free of charge.
When planning to incorporate bridges into your railway its worth checking out some of the bridges on the market and build your railway round there dimensions, My bridges were all scratch built and took quite a while to build ,when all you want to do is get things running, there are several company's offering a wide rage of style and cost.
Plan the railway, spend some time thinking about what you want to achieve, who's going to use it, just you or friends as well, is it going to be at ground level or raised up on walls or pillars. and get permission from the other half. I know its sometimes easier to ask for forgiveness than permission! take it from me, Ive been there done that, they pop out to do a spot of shopping and they come to find they've got kings cross station running across the middle of the patio, it doesn't end well.
Concrete for the foundations used is 4 parts ballast 1 part cement, approximately 4 inches thick, Hire a mixer from just over £30 quid a weekend and you wont regret it,
Blocks used are thermolite blocks cemented together with a normal mortar mix, themolite is easy to cut just using a wood saw (not much use for cutting wood when you've finished). if you're going to use a grinder to cut them, where a dusk mask and protective glasses.
Decking used came from the local DIY shop and was cheap it has subsequently split warped and twisted, a complete pain in the backside.
If you've got lots of digging it may be worth hiring a digger, it cost a couple of hundred quid for a weekend, plus its great fun. just be care full of water pipes and power cables, if you cut through one of these it could be a costly afair.
I used a laser level to set out the foundations, you can buy one for about 50 quid or hire one, again this makes the job a lot easier, i used the fence posts as reference points and marked the post where the laser beam hit, it was just a case of then using a tape from the mark to set the height of the foundations ect.
The stones on the rockery need to be big, small stones disappear under the undergrowth very quickly, some of the stones used here are over a hundred kilos in weight,the mini digger was great for shifting them around
Think ahead, i installed most of the electrics for the lighting during the building phase, it makes the job a lot easier when you start to build in the detail into your railway.
Very little of the track is pinned down, just held in place by the ballast that is held in place with watered down PVA,(spay the freshly laid ballast with a fine spray of water before applying the pva it bonds better), if you are planning on screwing the track down paint the screw heads when you've finished, Ive seen some lovely photos of peoples railways that almost look like the real thing apart from the line of shiny screw heads running down the middle of the track.
Keep the radius as big as possible, my first railway used Mamod track with 2 foot 6 radius curves, at the time it suited the locos and stock i was using , it soon became apparent the curves were a little limited.
Don't go to steep 1 in 50 is as steep as you'll get away with without radio control or electric, I had a section of line linking to the bottom loop on my old line that was 1 in 17, and it never worked very well.
Plants, its always worth reading the label on the side of the pot, find out how big something grows , light or shade. Ive got this wrong a few times, you get back from the garden center with a couple of little plants, you chuck them in the ground and before you know it, its completely dwarfed everything around it or died. I found Lonicera nitida works really well for garden railways its a bit like box hedge but the leaves are small and its easy
to cut and shape. the best thing every time you cut it back, I take a few of the cuttings trim of some of the lower leaves and put it in a pot, before you know it you have loads of plants free of charge.
When planning to incorporate bridges into your railway its worth checking out some of the bridges on the market and build your railway round there dimensions, My bridges were all scratch built and took quite a while to build ,when all you want to do is get things running, there are several company's offering a wide rage of style and cost.