by Sandra Gillhouse

Created on: April 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 14, 2009

First things first. An outdoor railway plan is a huge hobby. Make no mistake this is not a weekend home improvement project. It will require tact and patience if you are to do it well.

According to my thirty years expert hobbyist, and neighbor, "you've got to get the wife's approval too." After all you're talking a good bit of landscape transformation in order to make the go-round smooth yet interesting. His eighty feet of track runs through tunnels, around a Koi pond, through a valley, and over a bridge. Every year he will add a few more novelty items to keep it fresh. Mostly though he turned over the adornment to his wife's taste which leaves him more time to work the trains, readjust and align tracks and collect new cars and railroad pieces.

He first got the outdoor railway bug back when his kids no longer hung around the swing sets leaving only a huge mowing chore. He took a class on gardening and planted a few exotic ornamental oddities that pleased the wife, but it just didn't feed his soul the way railroad models did. He had a small set in his basement so he began to wonder if he couldn't take it to a grander scale and move it into the yard. He'd been reading some model magazines that talked about the larger scale models. Reading and research led to the garden railway he runs today. It is a yearly even when he pulls out the rail cars, puts up his rail crossing sign and invites the neighbors over for open season.

The best place to start is to take a tour of pre-existing outdoor railways. It gives you a few ideas to take home and plenty of good solid advice about what to avoid. Most of the people who invest in this kind of hobby have a lot of ready to share expertise. They love to talk about their frustrations and joys a love for model railroading has brought to their lives. In true club-like fashion they often spend their summers traveling and touring each other's railways.

The basic railway takes place when you lay your first set of tracks. It's best to start with a small simple roundabout plan without too much complexity when you're first setting up. At least until you get a feel of the land and a better understanding of how to operate your railway.

You will need to clear the space of plants, and debris smooth layer a sheet of weed protection and pebble gravel to set your track on. Plan the gauge; or width between tracks according to scale of train cars. This is especially vital on turns and hills the trains must fit concisely in order to operate correctly.

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