Garden railways - combining toy trains with landscape gardening design - includes examples of gardeners' designs

Marc Horovitz

Garden Railroading Combines two of America's favorite pastimes - model railroading and gardening. A well-crafted garden railway creates an atmosphere of realism far beyond what is possible with a traditional indoor layout. Indoors, the illusion of reality is created through the use of artificial materials - mountains are made of plaster, rivers are made of plastic resin, etc. Outdoors, however, the mountains are made of dirt and stone, and rivers run with water.

The outdoor setting is not without its drawbacks, though. Washouts can cause problems, snow can stop trains, and trees and branches can fall on the track. But compared to the joys of having a model railroad at your doorstep that constantly grows and changes with the seasons, the weather, and even the time of day, these nuisances seem a small price to pay. Most people even consider it part of the fun.

Garden railroading is probably the fastest growing aspect of the model train hobby today. It is not new, however; in Britain the pastime dates back more than a century. In the United States it achieved some popularity in the 1920s and '30s. The garden railway at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona dates to the 1920s. It can be seen in operation every year while the fair is in progress.

However, the hobby of garden railroading had all but died out by the end of World War II. During the 1950s and '60s the U.S. market was dominated by the Lionel Train Company, whose trains were strictly intended for indoor use.

Ironically, the first real treatise on garden railroading - R.E. Tustin's Garden Railways - was published in 1949, during the twilight of interest. Today it remains probably the best single source of nuts-and-bolts information on the hobby. It is also the first book to set down in writing the principles of combining the railway with an appropriately scaled garden.

The current resurgence in popularity of garden railroading is due in large part to the advent in 1969 of the colorful LGB (Lehmann Grossbahn) trains from Germany. LGB specifically designed its rugged trains with outdoor use in mind, encapsulating the more fragile and motor parts to keep dirt out. As the manufacturer began introducing more American-style trains, garden railways began to spring up all over the country.

GETTING STARTED

Outdoor model trains require a fairly level, secure location. The track can be added to an existing garden, or the railway and garden can be designed simultaneously. In general, beginners should keep their outdoor railway simple. A traditional indoor railway may have many loops of track, dozens of engines, and hundreds of pieces of rolling stock. Outdoors, where we contend with the elements, a single-track mainline usually suffices, with sidings at stations, industries, and points of interest, and perhaps a branch line to an outlying terminal. To get started, a single locomotive and three or four pieces of rolling stock - freight or passenger cars - are all you really need.

A wide range of ready-to-install track is available commercially, and this approach is probably best for the novice. When you have gained some experience, you might want to consider building your own.

Commercial track is available in short, straight or curved lengths - called sectional track - or in longer sections that you can bend to suit your own needs. Sectional track is good for some applications, but, because it is rigid, can be very limiting. If your railway is not to be permanent, sectional track can be easily picked up and put down at will. For a permanent railway, though, consider using flexible track, which can be bent to any desired curvature.

In designing the plan of your track, use the widest-radius curves your space will allow. A 6-foot radius might be considered a minimum (although sectional track will take you down to 2-foot radius), and 10 to 15 feet will give your railway a more realistic look. Tailor your rolling stock to your curves; very long engines and cars just don't look right negotiating tight curves.

When planning a grade, try not to make it steeper than about 3 percent (3 inches of rise over 100 inches of horizontal travel). Steep grades are unrealistic, and they will severely limit your train length.

LAYING TRACK

Of the many ways to install track, one of the simplest - and to my mind, the best - is to float the track in ballast the way a real railroad does.

The ballast you use is important, because it will support your track, hold it in place, facilitate drainage and prevent permanent damage caused by freezing and thawing. Don't use round stones like pea gravel; they will slide around and won't really grip the ties. A heavy rain will wash them away. Crushed stone that has a "tooth" to it will lock with the stones around it and make a firm bed for the track to sit on. Crusher fines from a rock yard or chicken grit from a feed store are two good materials for ballast.

Dig a shallow trench, say 2 to 3 inches deep, along the route the track will follow. Fill it with ballast to just below ground level. Set the track in place, making sure it is straight and level. When it is just where you want it, backfill with more ballast up to the top of the ties, which should be flush with the sorrounding ground. There is no need to line the trench with plastic, which might impede drainage.

By floating the track in the ballast, you are allowing it some freedom of movement. The heat of the summer will cause the rails to expand and the cold of winter will make them contract. The spring thaw may bring frost heave. Floating track will move as it needs to, but will be very easy to realign when necessary (probably) just once or twice a year, if that). The more established the railway becomes, the less the track will shift.

POWERING THE TRAIN

Model trains generally run on 12 to 18 volts of direct current, which is quite safe, even in the rain. However, you'll need to keep your power pack dry and protected from the elements. Also, a ground-fault circuit interrupter is always a good thing to use between your power pack and the house current. Consult your local hardware store about them.

Perhaps the biggest problem in running electricity through the rails is maintaining continuity across the joints as the rails expand and contract. One way is to solder jumper wires across the joints. Clamp-on rail joiners aid in continuity, too. Electrically conductive grease - available at electronics supply stores - can also be used in the joints.

Trains run on the same voltage that some styles of garden lighting use. The two systems can be successfully integrated, creating wonderful nightscapes.

If you find running electricity through the rails to be a big hassle, there are other options. Battery-powered, radio-controlled trains are becoming very popular today, and several companies offer systems that will fit to existing track-powered trains.

Another popular alternatives is live steam - real steam locomotives to pull your trains. These burn either alcohol or butane gas, and are quite safe to operate in the garden.

THE GARDEN

Many beautiful garden railways have been created by people who claim not to be gardeners. The best examples are landscapes in miniature, providing a realistic setting for the train to travel through. With imagination, seedling trees become forest, stones turn into mountains and patches of moss appear to be grassy meadows. Rock garden plants, because of their diminutive size, go especially well with garden railways.

OUR READER'S RAILROADS

Richard's goal was elegant simplicity, so he chose a single car Brill Trolley for a charming Hometown, USA, look, laying the track in one long run, rather than a circle or oval. A bumper terminal at each end is hidden beneath the thick green darkness of a common boxwood shrub, and the trolley cleverly "senses" the bump at the end of the line and automatically reverses its direction.

While his plantings are not in scale with the trolley, Richard believes the elements complement each other just the same. He selected impatiens, forget-me-nots and hardy polkadot plants (Hypoestes) for an array of starting and beautiful underpasses. Shrubbery includes |Blue Girl' holly (Ilex x meserveae |Blue Girl'), inkberry (Ilex glabra), rhododendron |Wilsoni,' several dwarf mugo pines (Pinus mugo mugo), Hydrangea macrophylla and a dependable upright yew (Taxus x media). "These plants were selected for their ability to hold up gracefully in the ever-changing New England weather, which they've done well for quite some time," he says.

Hastings Nature & Garden Center

Atlanta, Georgia

Striving to be on the leading edge of gardening innovations, Hastings Nature and Garden Center set out to be the first garden center in the Southeast to show-case an outdoor railroad garden. According to merchandising and marketing manager Nita Jo Rountree, the idea of combining the popular model train hobby with the number one leisure activity in America was very exciting. "Not only can you have the pleasure of growing new and unusual miniature plants," she says, "but you can add the movement of a scale model train running through those plants, tunnels and water features,"

Plant material chosen for the Hastings railroad garden, which measures 30 feet by 16 feet and is the center-piece of a larger garden, includes dwarf Japanese maple, dwarf Alberta spruce, dwarf Hinoki cypress, dwarf pieris, rosemary germander, jellybean and creeping sedums, sea thrift, dwarf mondo grass, ice plant, cottage pinks, and Irish and Scotch mosses.

Valerie Myers

Western Springs, Illinois

Valerie filled the open area around her track with colored gravel, using various sizes and colors for different landscaping effects. Her plants are then transplanted through the gravel and plastic.

For a good mix of plants, Valerie chose evergreens for winter color, plenty of colorful annuals for spring and summer and a good mix of perennials - including creeping phlox, candytuft and various roses - and some deciduous trees for fall color. "I have many miniature evergreens and some full-size trees like a 1-foot Black Hills spruce, which is a slow grower," Valerie says. "I keep my trees small by constant trimming and am now reading up on bonsai methods."

Barbara H. Schantz

Rapid City, Michigan

After drawing plans to scale and consulting a hobby shop for track requirements, Barbara and her husband purchased 125 feet of straight track, 57 curves and several remote turnouts. They installed a roadbed of crushed granite about 4 to 6 inches deep and using chicken grit as ballast.

Barbara|s G guage Kalamazoo train (Union Pacific circa 1895) has a Chuff and Whistle sound system. With the addition of extra magnets from Radio Shack, the whistle now blows frequently as the train "steams" around the layout.

While her plantings are not necessarily to scale, Barbara chose clean, bright equipment for visual appeal. She says her layout "is based on horticultural aesthetics rather than real railroad scenes."

Chuck & Dee Skinner

Hartford, Wisconsin

The Skinner's flower garden, bridge and pond were already established when their daughters gave Chuck an outdoor train for his birthday. He added the track around the pond with a railroad bridge over one end, a tunnel, a waterfall and a train shed with inside lightning.

Their biggest problems were the degree of grade and the sharp angle of the original tunnel, which could not accommodate a large engine. Tree roots impeding the track's approach to the shed and low clearance under the walk bridge led to the relocation of the train shed, rock pile, waterfall and tunnel. "We were learning by trial and error," Dee says, "but the end result is very rewarding."

The Skinners have planted mostly perennials in their railroad garden, including tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths, columbine, lilies, lythrum, bachelor buttons, scabiosa, coreopsis, feverfew, and chrysanthemums, plus annuals including marigolds, alyssum, petunias and dusty miller.

Rick & Marie Ware

Royal Oak, Michigan

When it came time to plant, the Wares consulated a model railroad magazine that listed plants with small texture and growth tendencies. They also tried to achieve a variety of leaf shape and color, staggered blooming periods and autumn and winter color.

Shrub choices include dwarf Japanese juniper (Juniperus chinensis procumbens |Nana'), yellow potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa |Goldfinger'), |Hetz Midget' arborvitae (Thuja accidentalis), Euonymus fortunei |Kewensis,' |Emerald Gaiety' and |Emerald 'n Gold,' weigela |Java Red' and |Little Princess' spirea. For groundcovers, they chose Sedum kamtschaticum and S. spurium |Dragon's Blood,' Scotch moss (Sagina subulata aurea) and |Tiny Ruby' pinks (Dianthus gratianopolitanus).

COPYRIGHT 1993 KC Publishers, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group