New garden layout

Sorry Davy, Forgot to add the pics, by the way the mother in law is from your neck of the woods, Glasgow. I'm On the laptop so i'll send the pics when i can get on the main computer.

Regards, Chris

Hi Davy, Heres a couple of pics of the garden area, your expertise would be appreciated.

Regards, Chris

Hi Davy, Just getting ready for the next lot of heavy snow down here in gods own county, i see you havent escaped the snow either, hope you dont mind me asking how you have wired your layout?, i am going to use your method of mortar and battens but i want to run a bus feed all around the loop to provide feeders every 10 feet or so.

Your expertise in this matter would be really appreciated.

Regards, Chris

Hi Chris,

          Well, when I had my G scale layout and was working with Peco Nickel silver track I had absolutely no need for anything more than two wires to the track at one point only,just like a normal small N or OO scale train set. I hated the few bits of brass track which I had started off with. It was a pain in the butt for gettin dirty and trains would run slow. Once I tried the nickel silver I had no problems at all and that was all I ever bought. LGB /Aristo brass I wouldn't touch with a barge pole for garden use. So I'm expecting/hoping that Peco O gauge Nickel Silver will produce the same results and wiring will be absolute minimal. I've been thinking about going digital but will be an expensive exercise to put decoders in all the locos I have so I'll probably stick with old fashined practice.   DAVY 

Hi Davy, Thanks for that, Ive just purchased some Atlas 3 rail nickel silver, When researching around nearly everyone drops feeders in every 10-12 feet ie. Lionel tutorials, Erics trains tutorials etc. etc. Ive thought about using the Atlas power clips with the wires fed through some sort of plastic tubing to avoid the wires being eroded away due to the acidity of the concrete/mortar mix. 

Chris

Check out and price the small plastic conduit, junction boxes and fittings for a weather tight run for the power and control buss and feeders. home stores.

I thought I would pass along a discovery I made in regard to the use of wood as a foundation for track and ballast. While my road is G scaled, it could easily be applicable to O, perhaps more so. It began with discovering and purchasing some one foot high PVC molded trestle bents which were inexpensive and yet sturdy. Then, I began pondering what to use for the track deck and so the whole expansion project languished until I went browsing in my local hardware store and came upon rot resistant PVC fencing boards..I bought a couple and using PVC glue , I welded them to the bents. After a day passed I went out and yanked and pulled at them and they were tightly fused. Now I am preparing to use them as a sub-roadbed, welded end to end and I noticed that the track is anchoring, or strengthening the rigidity when attached to the PVC board. For what it's worth. Ill post some pictures when I complete it. What is also interesting is to weld two pieces together to form a T-rail section for use on a elevated outdoor layout..for what it's worth.

Hi, Do you also attach the track using PVC glue?, I suppose you can use track screws into PVC, Sounds interesting please keep me informed.

Chris

Hello Electroliner,

What is a molded trestle bent?  Thanks.

Stringbob

I attached the LGB track to the trestle deck with small exterior grade decking screws which has held the track very tight against the deck, using the preformed holes in the ties to place the screws. 

Southern Colorado Marx Flyer

The bents are the upright and vertical supports for a bridge which are normally made with exterior grade wood cut to fit for outdoor use, along with screws or small bolts which can be a project in of itself. These bents or upright supports are molded in one piece out of PVC that look just like the wooden versions but are rot resistant and can be painted as well as glued with PVC cement...Personally, I don't think they would look out of proportion with O scale with a wider deck applied on top to support the track, that's why I mentioned it as a possible time saver that has worked very well for me.

Here is a link below to one of the many suppliers of this product that is made by Split Jaw, who also is well known for their rail clamps in the G scale community. You can also buy them direct.,They also make roadbed of the same material. However an eight foot piece of PVC fence material ran me around $8.00 which is a fair alternative. The bents come in a variety of sizes. Mine are a foot high. Hope this answers your question.

http://www.reindeerpass.com/sp...tle-bent-6-high.aspx

One thing to consider with PVC is the thermal expansion being possibly significant.  

http://www.pipestock.com/specs_pvc.php

A good point that I had considered although wood has it's own issues with shrinkage, swelling etc. I built a covered bridge that due to the high humidity levels in summer attempted to pull it's joints apart. I know the same principle of pvc roadbed is used commercially with the exception being connected with pins instead of glue. I know that straight from the box pvc pipe has been used in several climates as the basis for elevated outdoor layouts due to it's ability to create curvature. Like with any outdoor road, I have expansion jointed rail gaps but here in North Carolina I have yet to have the track flex enough to pull upward. The LGB track is fairly rigid and all of these factors led me to feel reasonably confident about the material. The only real advantage I can see with the commercial roadbed is the trough like side profile which holds the ballast in place where drainage can be an issue as in the real thing. On my road re-ballasting was a bi-annual event until I ditched around the embankments and added two culverts. It can rain real hard here in the South. Some folks use wood and then use tar paper or shingling or rubberized roofing compound  to prevent the wood from being saturated especially with outdoor table top layouts. Its a different world laying track outdoors but it's fun, especially on a nice summer day when you don't have to be stuck indoors in order to play.

Thanks Electroliner for the info.  Yes it is very helpful.

Craig

Hi Electroliner, Very informative, Thanks

Chris

Hi Davy,

Any updates on your 2 rail outdoor empire?

Lad,

I've been wondering, too...

Cheers,

Rick

Hi Everyone, As i'm from England i followed Davy Macs idea of using the slate lat embedded in concrete method which i hope will stand up to our ever changing weather patterns.

The work is coming on fairly niceley but have just realised i'm 9 lengths of flexi track short so will have to put track laying on hold for now.

We haven't heard from Davy in a couple of months or so.  I, too, would be interested in learning about what progress, if any, might have been made over that time.

I too, was kinds left up in the air on his results or progress. I tried his concrete ballast on a short section on my garden layout and I found that his ballasting method retained water and it created a trough of water that was tough to drain between the two rails as it had nowhere to go. Fortunately, I live in NC where frost is not severe but..I would think this method would cause heaving of the roadbed in colder climes due to expansion and contraction. It seemed like he somewhat lost interest and was concentrating on grand scale live steam..It would be great to hear from him. I hope he's o.k. BTW..I tried punching holes in the ballast to drain it..and due to the corrugated profile of the ties water was still retained between the ties. I tried running the layout a couple days after a typical rain and the circuit breaker kept tripping..moisture was bridging between the rails. Another day of drying, it ran fine. Personally I would not recommend this ballasting method. I should have seen the drawback before I started. Did this happen to him as well?

Hello.  I keep in pretty regular contact with Davy.  He is fine.  Scottish weather and work have prevented him from doing much on the track recently, though he has started up again.  I doubt he has lost any interest.  My guess is that work will keep him from posting for the next few days, but I think it won't be long.  I too am eager to see what further progress he will make.  I believe he also has some information on the ballast issue electroliner.  But I am not a spokesman, just a friend.  I didn't want y'all to think he was finished with his project, I believe there will be a lot, lot more.