Have been hoping to get a backyard O Gauge / Scale garden railway set up this summer. I have some Atlas track good for outdoors that I laid and used last year for the garden railway at a railway park with ride on mini rail trains running through the summer, the track worked well for several months laid on gravel. I also normally use the track each year for quick model railway show set ups and the Polar Express Christmas model train display event. Of course with none of this happening this year the track has been sitting here waiting to use. Was finally able to clear out some dead trees and brush to allow a large loop of track. I had some long skinny plywood sheets and 2x4 bits left over from an estate model railway I had taken down earlier in the year. So used some old left over paint on all the wood as you can see my helper painting. I laid some logs on stumps and screwed the painted wood and plywood on top with my little helpers pushing test trains around the track we managed to get a large loop set up with a loop of Atlas 0-81 track I had. I made sure I had a straight section between each curved piece of track and tried to use some half curve sections and long straights so that all the curves are very gradual. I am hoping to run some of my longer 2 rail scale passenger cars and bigger 2 rail brass steam engines. Perhaps in the future may look for some wider radius track for the 2 rail trains. I have a lot of 3 rail equipment as well and this set up should be good for some long trains to run. The property drops off at the back so elevated over the sections in the back of the bushes. The track as a very gradual slope down at the back of the bushes. My grandson most often likes to push trains not run them with electricity so it makes it easy to put a free rolling train at the top of the hill and give it a push and it rolls down through the more difficult part of the bushes. After confirming the track set up worked OK, I got some green outdoor fake turf to help everything blend in and trust this will hold the track from shifting to allow it to expand and contract with the hotter or cold days; the track just sits on top to flex do not intend to screw it down. I have it wired to run 2 or 3 rail trains with a portable board with the controls systems mounted to it, just take it out and plug it in to run DC, DCS or TMCC trains. I am debating if it is worth trying to find a good ballast material that will not wash away in the rain. Here is a shot of the first run with some Sunset RDC's. Will add more photos of some longer trains when I get them out for a run.
