Friday Night Steam

Not all steam engines are "Big Boys"!

Below are some tips to get 'ya started on this
 great, fun hobby!

Information about Garden Railroading
Free: Garden Railroading Primer Articles - Everything you need to know to get started, including many planning and construction articles to give you more ideas for getting a railroad in your back yard this year. The following list shows the general breakdown of our articles, as well as a few recent or especially helpful articles. Clicking on the list will either take you that portion of our Primer page or to a table of contents for that topic particular (if available).

• Introduction to Garden Railroading - Help getting a handle on the worlds' fastest-growing model railroading hobby, including:
  • Go Outside and Run Your trains - A very short list of things you need to know to get started. - Updated April, 2008
  • Building a Garden Railroad on a Budget - Get into garden railroading without breaking the bank.
• Garden Railroad Planning Articles - Help planning the physical, operational, and aesthetic aspects of your garden railroad, including:
  • Which Scale Should I Model? - An explanation of your best options, depending on the kind of railroad you want to model. Updated April, 2010
  • Tackle Those Grades With Ease Pete Eggink's article on calculating and planning grades - April, 2010
• Garden Railroad Construction Articles - Cost-effective and easy-to-use techniques for building your own garden railroad, including:
  • Introduction to Garden Railroad Construction - An overview of the various recommended construction methods, with guidelines to help you decide which method is best for you
  • Building a Temporary Outdoor Railroad - Whether you're practicing for the "big one," starting a railroad on a rental property, or setting up a display for a party, Christmas display, or street fair - this article shows you how about three hours in the back yard with about $60 worth of lumber can give you a little railroad you can use for years and move whenever you want - New, December, 2012
• Garden Railroad Plant Articles - Articles about planning, planting, and cultivating the "garden" part of your garden railroad
• Landscaping Tips for Garden Railroaders - Ponds, retaining walls, and more, including:
  • Landscaping Design Tips for Garden Railroaders - Color, balance, proportion, and location of shade trees are just some of the factors that go into making a garden railroad a great garden as well. New July, 2010
• Installation and Lighting - Powering your trains, lighting your buildings, and more, including:
  • DC Power Demystified - Describes the kinds of DC power used by model trains and the technologies that provide that power. Also provides an overview of "analog controllers" for track-powered trains. New January, 2011
  • Almost-Free Building Lighting- Use inexpensive supplies and discarded Christmas lights to create building lighting that is all but free. But don't wait until after Christmas to pick up the crucial part - 12v replacement bulbs for Christmas light strands. New December, 2012
  • Low-Voltage LED Garden Lighting - Using LED fixtures that have been "wired" to work in 12-volt systems - more light, less power, a few drawbacks.
• Garden Railroad Structures - Articles about creating and improving buildings and bridges for your garden railroad. New articles include:
  • Trashbashing 101 - Updated for 2013 - About twelve years after our first Trashbashing article was published, things have changed enough to justify updating the article. Can you still convert busted-up or discarded toy buildings into attractive, inexpensive, weather-resistant scale buildings, with about as much work as it takes to properly prep the average kit? Yes. But the source materials are getting harder to find, and inexpensive alternatives are becoming available. We have added more photos and tips, but we also discuss when it makes more sense to choose an alternative approach. Updated, May, 2013
  • Trashbashing Step-By-Step - This followup to our original "Trashbashing 101" article has many photos and illustrated tips on using masking tape to get a clean, professional paint job with no skill required but patience. New, October, 2012
  • Inexpensive Structures and Building Materials - Save real money by thinking "outside of the store-bought-kit box" when you plan, create, or acquire your structures. New, January, 2013
  • Temporary Building Fronts from Recycled Plastic Signs - If you have access to a color laser printer, you can print inexpensive, attractive building fronts that you can use to jump-start your railroad or to leave out in bad weather or unattended public displays. - Updated, January, 2013 with new tips and graphics.
• O Gauge Outside - Using O gauge trains and accessories outside.
• Garden Railroad Maintenance Articles - A new but growing section on how to keep your garden railroad operating properly, including:
  • Cleaning Your Trains' Wheels
  • Track Cleaning 101
  • Refurbishing Garden Railroad Track
  • Storing and Schlepping Your Garden Trains
• Real-World Trains and Operations - An introduction to railroads in general and the kinds of operations you can consider modeling in your back yard, including:
  • Thirty-Inch Railroading - The trains that "did more with less," and went boldly where no one else has gone before or since. New, April, 2008
  • The Little River Railroad - A standard-gauge logging railroad that used incredible compromises and combinations of equipment. Includes many unique modeling possibilities.
  • Little River Railroad Northern Division A unique locomotive that is fully restored and running in south-central Michigan.
  • Rail Cars and Busses on the Little River Railroad - with more modeling ideas for your own empire.
  • Introduction to Mallets - Anatole Mallet's designs allowed a locomotive to use steam twice. Learn about these steamboat-sized centipedes to your railroad.
  • Articulated Locomotives of the USA - Pete Eggink gives us an overview of Articulated locomotives, which had hinged frames to allow very long locomotives to go around curves.
• Reference Information and Things to Think About - Miscellaneous topics that are important to most garden railroaders.
• Other Articles about Garden Railroading and Large Scale, including:
  • Basic Weathering with Powders - a "primer" for someone who wants their equipment to look more realistically "grungy" but who is nervous about getting started. - May, 2010
  • Inexpensive Benchwarmers - Some ideas for putting passengers in your coaches while leaving money in your pocket. December, 2010
  • Idiot-Friendly Digital Cameras for Photographing Trains (and other things) - with new examples and tips, and new "best buys" to consider if you still haven't taken the digital plunge yet. Updated, December, 2012!
  • Garden Railroading with Toy Trains - Our first report on "Shoe-String Railroading." Whether you're pinching pennies or just want to try something different, these tiny investments can provide big fun inside and out. Recent additions include:
    • Lionel's "G Gauge" Toy Tains - Review and many photographs of the new toys Lionel is selling as "G gauge" trains. They have play value for kids and several nice features. December, 2010
    • Evan Morse's Shoestring Railroading Tips June 2009

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