# Using a garden railroad to actually do something...



## PapaPerk (Nov 7, 2009)

Here's my question/ramblings. Does anyone use their garden railroad to actually do something? Meaning... does the railroad actually serve a purpose... example would be a lawn mower mows the lawn. A tractor plows your fields, etc. Or does everyone just use them as toys. 

I have a hard time justifying spending great amounts of time to just build something to watch run in circles. I would like to actually make a model railroad that has a purpose. With F-Scale you can actually haul a fair amount of weight. 

Some examples of freight for the railroad are...

- Ash from the fireplace to a dump area in the woods
- Cat litter from the house to a dump area (no pun intended).
- Kitchen scraps
- Firewood
- Saw dust from the wood shop to a dump area outside.

I'm a practical person and really like trains. I think for me to stay in the hobby... I'm gonna have to find something for my trains to do! 

Thoughts or ideas?


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Leave out the kitchen scraps, then I would say "all of the above." The kitchen scraps could attract some undesirable critters that you may not want as "neighbors." Don't know where your drinking water comes from, but suggest you keep the kitty litter well away from that source also, if it is not a municiple supply. Otherwise, things look pretty creative and fun. 

Best, 
David Meashey


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By PapaPerk on 18 May 2012 02:20 PM 
I have a hard time justifying spending great amounts of time to just build something to watch run in circles. I would like to actually make a model railroad that has a purpose. With F-Scale you can actually haul a fair amount of weight. 

I'm a practical person and really like trains. I think for me to stay in the hobby... I'm gonna have to find something for my trains to do! 

Thoughts or ideas? 
IMHO, this hobby or any model railroading hobby has NEVER been equated with practicality.








AND I have been involved in this for over sixty years!


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## Russell Rutalj (Dec 7, 2010)

This is Russ from Sun Valley,CA . As for a purpose for garden railroading i enjoy it myself and sharing it with my children and grandchildren. The grandchildren are 16 and 13 and bring some of there friends . They share the controller and my train hat. It is a joy to see them excited about trains, something we can share . My purpose is to have family time with them and their friends. Moments you cant put a price tag on . Have fun and enjoy life!!!


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm with you Gary 

Practicaltity and hobbies don't relate. 

No matter if you use your toy train to haul things in reality it isn't practical in that you're hauling small loads. It will take longer.


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

I ain't no english major, so I am not sure how to give the proper credit but copied directly from Wikipedia: 

* A hobby is a regular activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure, typically done during one's leisure time. Examples of hobbies include collecting, creative and artistic pursuits, making, tinkering, sports and adult education. Engaging in a hobby can lead to acquiring substantial skill, knowledge and experience. People also enjoy participating in competitive hobbies such as athletics, hockey, curling, golf, bowling and tennis. 

What are hobbies for some people are professions for others. For example, a chef may enjoy playing computer games as a hobby, whilst a professional game tester might enjoy cooking. Generally speaking, the person who engages in an activity for fun, not remuneration, is called an amateur (or hobbyist), as distinct from a professional. * 

To my way of thinking, a hobby is intended to relax and allow the individual to relieve stress. Fretting over whether a model railroad of any scale is practical seems to me to defeat the purpose of a hobby. As an aside, if purpose is your thing, run your hobby railroad like the real thing, develop timetables, industries (real or imagined), passenger service, etc. I think you will find that quite challenging and create a purpose for the railroad, even if it is artificial. 

For my money - "Kick back, relax and watch the trains go round!" 

Bob C.


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## K.A.Simpson (Mar 6, 2008)

Run the track past the kitchen window and arrange for your wife to place cold cans of beer on board, then bring it to where you want it. (We can dream!) 

Andrew 
Sandbar & Mudcrab Railway


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## VictorSpear (Oct 19, 2011)

I'm always finding n+1 things to do with the hobby, so I would naturally research any ideas that propagate the hobby. But that's just my perspective. Here are various items on my list, some done, some in progress, some on the wishlist:

1. For several military and children''s hospitals, delivering the nutrition/vitamin packets with motivational music/personalized messages at the breakfast and dinner sessions - done.
2. Digital advertisement streamed to the side of the cars for a restaurant - done. Same for restaurants/bars that are advertising Happy hour specials.
3. Model robotics training courses for military bases - work in progress
4. Command *and *Control versus Command *with *Control differences, demonstrations, issues and challenges for a large organization - using model railroads as an example - work in progress
5. Changing the membership profile of local clubs to bring in more junior railroad 'guest' engineers (Ages 9 and above) with smartphone based controls (ipod touch,android) - work in progress 
6. Digital mesh networking concepts with open enrollment/exit using model railroading - work in progress

7. Air/land Drone networks for disaster afflicted areas - University concept

8. Tracking cross-border rail freight shipments with Advanced wireless Manifesting for Customs authorities - work in progress 

9. Corporate team exercises involving gaming and strategy for team building with speed, precision and mental calculation challenges - work in progress 

10. Remote commands over www with sight-impaired instrument-only night railroading using feedback metrics - almost done 

11. A track based network for remote monitoring of a petroleum refinery 

12. A long consist of open cars with roses and orchids from around the world for a very large nursery. Moves back into the shade during hot temperatures.


.... and I'm looking for more.


Cheers,
Victor


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

My railroad does several useful things.

It gets me out of the house and in the garden instead of in front of the TV,

It provides entertainment,

It gives my mind creative outlets in all sorts of areas,

It busies my hands to keep them more agile,

It provides a social outlet though the club,

Etc.


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I have a friend who hauls vegetables in from the garden on the trains. He called me one day lamenting that his zucchini was too large to fit on a flat car, and wasn't sure how best to move it. 

Mine routinely carries sticks, rocks, leaves, and whatever other manner of things my kids pile into the cars. 

Later, 

K


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

The best purpose for a RR is to have fun with it. In the mean time you can learn new things like crafting, electronics, engineering, gardening etc etc.. 
In the past I have hauled firewood, leaves, weeds, veggies, small buildings and other RR related things like end of track bumpers out to their locations. 
Here is a video link of my Climax making a veggie run last year. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spS4aTS5nwo 

If you like that one I have my Heisler pulling a load of logs all the way into the house and a few more where the train is actually put to work. 
I like to think my trains have a purpose but when it comes right down ot it the purpose is enjoyment. 
Happy RRing 
Todd


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I think it's a great idea to try to make your RR do something practical. It could carry garden clippings--we have an ornamental plum tree that drops 100s of small inedible plums--they look great in a gondola. But our RR is a roundy-round so they don't actually go anywhere. We have a pond with gold fish, and I have some small Hartland ore cars that tip--the kids put fish food in them and dump it into the pond when the train is on the bridge. 

It could carry drywall screws to a construction site, or you could fill a tank car with wine and fill people's glasses. LGB tank cars had a working valve: I've been thinking for a while that we could do that when we had guests--train goes over the bridge, right in front of where people sit, hold out your glass, open the valve...


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## Bob Pero (Jan 13, 2008)

My garden railroad was set up for "operations". We had a crew that ran freight trains picking up and dropping off cars after making them up in the yard. Had a passenger train or RDC running which required the freights to "go in the hole" and wait until it passed before they could continue. Had a great deal of fun. The layout could also be set up to "run in circles" during meets or displays at Christmas.


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## digger (Jan 2, 2008)

Our RR not only gives us a lot of enjoyment, but we've found a way to make it "work" for our local food bank. Each spring, we participate when our club hosts a public tour and encourages visitors to bring a donation of cash, non-perishable food, or household items. Held on a Saturday, 10:00am-4:00pm, we usually host approximately 300 visitors at each layout. Over the years, our Columbine and Larkspur Railway has brought in well over $1000 in cash and over a ton of food and goods. We'll host a tour again this year, with 8 RR's, on June 2. If you're in the area, stop by! Tour maps and layout descriptions can be found at www.NCGR.net


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## JPCaputo (Jul 26, 2009)

I joked about putting a system in at work to deliver snacks, and drawings for review. So you can sit n press a button to stop n pick up and add loads to the train.


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## tommyheadleycox (Oct 15, 2010)

The size of the freight to be carried has be a good match for the conveyance. And the ideally sized thing for our trains is beer, wine glasses, and snacks in open cars. Of course there should be a remote cntrolled loader in the house that would roll a beer into each car. Just like coal.

Also, since I've seen a lot of photos of cats in cars, you could train mutiple cats to ride in the cars. Great amusement for the neighborhood kids.


THC


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

PapaPerk;
One other caution I would give you is that some loads do not "scale down" very well. When I was ballasting my first garden railroad, I thought it would be cool to actually haul the granite chicken grit ballast in my Lionel LS ore cars. (USA Trains is currently making these cars.) The latch for the hopper doors was plastic. The weight of the ballast was heavy enough that it siezed the latch mechanism, and I broke the plastic latch lever when I tried to dump the ballast. I would have been much better off had I used tip bucket mine cars or gable-bottom hopper style mine cars.









Lesson learned,
David Meashey


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I asked a similar question about a year ago I think it was about hauling veggies up from the garden but that was thinking the garden would be very near the house and the track would run through or around the garden. It could be fun to haul veggies from the garden up to the porch kind of like Kevin suggested his friend does but...with the cost of track, etc. it seems like an expensive, and novel, but not very practical way to move produce to the house. My vote would be to accept it for what it is...model trains that run outdoors and just try and build as nice a small layout as you are willing to devote the money and time to. 
I like most things in my world to be practical too but it's kind of like kinetic sculpture. It's "purpose" is the enjoyment and the aesthetic value it brings to enjoying your outdoor spaces for many years. I mean, most of us spend 'reasonable' money and effort on flowers and bushes but they don't bring in the newspaper or take out the trash but when I look at my home or spend time in the yard I consider it money/time well spent. Even the veggies we grow in our gardens can often be purchased cheaper and with less effort than it takes to grow them ourselves but that's not why most of us grow our own tomatoes, etc.


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## JPCaputo (Jul 26, 2009)

I can imagine 4.25 in gauge would be the smallest to do practical work. Being powerfull enough to haul a couple hundred pounds over the engineer or more, and the gondolas and flat cars have enough volume and girth to carry lots of produce, ballast, bags of fertilizer, leaves and anything else. Helps to have a spur by a unloading area.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

When I sit in Traffic or on a road trip to Marty's I think of ways to animate my RR. Make the hopper cars haul something. I think of how to empty the cars and how to fill them. 

I have not got close to making a rotary Coupler so I can dump a hopper car. I keep going back to a shop vac hidden in a industrial building to vacuum stuff out of a hopper car and deposit it into a structure like a coaling tower or Ore tower to be reloaded back in a hopper car. 

Being semi retired I don't get stuck in traffic that much so brainstorming is not that frequent 


JJ


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## JPCaputo (Jul 26, 2009)

JJ, would enlarging Lionel motion accessories to work to automate and animate? Using the same systems and mechanic styles? 

JP 




I don't see why not. There was a guy on here who was playing with Basic Stamp Micro Processors to control things. . But I have not heard anything from him in a while 


JJ


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## TJH (Dec 27, 2007)

I remember seeing pictures somewhere of a guy who had one running around his pool deck. He used the train to deliver drinks to the people in the pool.


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Posted By TJH on 28 May 2012 04:20 PM 
I remember seeing pictures somewhere of a guy who had one running around his pool deck. He used the train to deliver drinks to the people in the pool. 
I'd like to do that, but it would be too expensive, I'd have to put in a pool. And i really have no use for one. I guess I'll just stick with running trains for my own enjoyment and running trains to transport the grand kids stuffed animals etc.
Bob


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Posted By Bob in Kalamazoo on 28 May 2012 06:24 PM 
Posted By TJH on 28 May 2012 04:20 PM 
I remember seeing pictures somewhere of a guy who had one running around his pool deck. He used the train to deliver drinks to the people in the pool. 
I'd like to do that, but it would be too expensive, I'd have to put in a pool. And i really have no use for one. I guess I'll just stick with running trains for my own enjoyment and running trains to transport the grand kids stuffed animals etc.
Bob 

That's a LOL! Yeah, putting in a pool just to run trains on conceirge/bartender duty would be cost prohibitive for most folks. I guess I too will just continue to budget money for some track to have my toys meander aimlessly, with no purpose, around my backyard.


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I had some fun this spring when dressing the ballast on my line:


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

Recently I had the train spot a couple of gondolas on a siding then continue on its way while I pulled weeds and loaded up the gondolas, the train eventually made it back picked up the loaded gondolas and hauled them down back where I met the train to unload. Time consuming but fun. 
Probably the best example of actual work my train has done is I have a section about 20' long where the track goes under a addition on my house. To access I remove a lattice panel and crawl underneath. I wanted to run a extension cord through the crawl space to plug in a radio and not wanting to get dirty I tied a string to a loco and sent it through to the other side then tied the string to the extension cord and pulled it through. Done. 

Nice video Eric, nice layout and Really nice equipment. 

Todd


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Posted By cape cod Todd on 30 May 2012 09:28 AM 
Recently I had the train spot a couple of gondolas on a siding then continue on its way while I pulled weeds and loaded up the gondolas, the train eventually made it back picked up the loaded gondolas and hauled them down back where I met the train to unload. Time consuming but fun. 
Probably the best example of actual work my train has done is I have a section about 20' long where the track goes under a addition on my house. To access I remove a lattice panel and crawl underneath. I wanted to run a extension cord through the crawl space to plug in a radio and not wanting to get dirty I tied a string to a loco and sent it through to the other side then tied the string to the extension cord and pulled it through. Done. 

Nice video Eric, nice layout and Really nice equipment. 

Todd 
Todd, that's a great idea of having the train do something useful. That's the kind of thing I might think of after crawling under the addition.

And Eric, I really enjoyed the video. You have a fantastic railroad.
Bob


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

Actually, I was in Wisconsin Dells this past weekend. They have a Large scale train deliver your drinks and meal. Was pretty cool.


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

New guy here - no garden railroad, but I've been planning it for years.  

My plan all along has been to make it at least partially "productive", similar to some of the comments in this thread. For example, I plan to have a siding alongside my wife's vegetable garden so that I can haul out veggies and weeds. I'd also have a few spurs around the yard where I could spot hoppers for loading up with weeds. It might actually motivate me to pull them! There'd be a spur by our two small apple trees for carrying out fruit, and of course a decent size siding next to the yard debris bin.  I also thought abuot having a set out track next to the rabbit hutch for delivering food. Back when I had a few chickens and a small coop/run I thought it'd be cool to have an elevated spur that would end outside the egg door for hauling out the eggs. Basically, anything manageable that could go into the cars. Finally, I envision a tank car carrying RoundUp with a small hole drilled in the top of it, and then an accompanying flatcar that would hold the spray nozzle/hose for spraying weed killer as needed.  

Of course, it's easy to be a big talker about all these ideas when I have no budget/funding and little talent. I have N scale trains in a bedroom that are still in a state of construction after a number of years. I'm tempted to get rid of most of it and relinquish (gulp) the "train room" to the family and start on the outdoor railroad. It'd be a hard change, and I'd have to have an n scale outlet somewhere (maybe a module or along a wall in the garage) but it's doable I suppose. Several years ago I mentioned to my wife that I was interested in garden railroading. She basically said choose - n scale in the house or g scale outside. I stuck with N. We'll see though. 

-Dave


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## JPCaputo (Jul 26, 2009)

There's always g scale around the ceiling. I'm working on a HO and N layout. 2 levels. I have g scale around the ceiling I want to add Lionel and z scales to my layout ( z as a ride on / amusement size for the N ) not sure how to do the Lionel however I need sets in both those scales. 

I've seen g around the outside of a layout as an elevated showcase train. ( nice way to display extra smaller scale engines and rolling stock on flat cars ) 

JP


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## stevedenver (Jan 6, 2008)

i am nonplussed by the OP questoin 
the railroad has to do something??? 

must art do sometihng, 
must music serve a purpose, 
must food only be nturitional???? 

it does..it interests me, entertains me, 
engages my engineering as well as creative aspects, 
causes me to focus and forget my job 

among other things too 

but if you insist, once long ago, it hauled martinis from the kitchen to the patio- 
the HIGHEST AND BEST PURPOSE of any garden railroad -to serve its master 

perhaps you should consider growing a vegetable garden instead of trains


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

In the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang it appears that Dick Van **** was running live steam in his kitchen. Don't know if most guy's wives would go for it though: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D1ZCvmVsFY


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## kleinbahn (Sep 21, 2010)

Probably why he lived alone in the film?


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

What up with the website tonight? It seems to have the hiccups. 

s


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Dave said he's shelving his N scale for G. I'm doing that kind of in reverse. Not quite, I'm just getting sidetracked and thinking of modelling Western Maryland freight on a indoor layout that reminds me of my childhood home in central MD. I'm still trying to figure how best to run my 1:20 and 1:29 stuff in my backyard but have recently decided to give N scale a try again in an 8' x 5' area of my new basement bonus room/office. 30 years ago i turned my back on N because it was just too 'fiddly' to get things to run smoothly. One of the things I like about large scale is that you can usually get trains to run smoothly at something approximating scale speeds. The newer N scale stuff seems to run a bit better so I'm going to give an N scale layout another 'go' in the basement for the winter months and rainy days. Can't think of any way to make THAT serve a purpose either. Maybe i can rig a N scale coal loader to drop a cigarette on a flatcar and run it around to me.


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

I could see once in a while using your train to do something but to me it seems like it would a waste of money using your trains to do a job. I woud think it would get old fast using the train to dump house waste etc..... Think how much time is spent using a g scale train when all you have to do is walk it out. A lot faster. I tried loading balst on my train when reblasting. It got old quick. ou can always do operations like switching etc.... That would be worthwhile. Like some mentioned its a hobby.


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## VictorSpear (Oct 19, 2011)

As a social bonding enhancer, trains in restaurants can be a fantastic draw for the whole family. Notice in Prague that the kids do everything (almost) and clear away empty dishes too.




Another one closer to home...



Cheers,
Victor


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By VictorSpear on 05 Jun 2012 05:31 AM 
As a social bonding enhancer, trains in restaurants can be a fantastic draw for the whole family. Notice in Prague that the kids do everything (almost) and clear away empty dishes too.




Another one closer to home...



Cheers,
Victor 





... Or can be a real PITA!

My friend takes care of the trains at the McDonalds near Knott's Berry Farm and tells stories of how the kids continually try to derail the trains, squirt ketchup all over the equipment and the tracks trying to get the wheels to slip, shooting straw wrappers into the display case, etc.


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## Tom Bray (Jan 20, 2009)

There was a restaurant / pub back in the late 70's and early 80's in Milwaukee that delivered the sandwiches and other food to the tables using an overhead train, probably an LGB based system. The place was called The Safehouse. I have no idea if it is still there or not but it was fun. 

It wouldn't surprise me that the delivery system was totally manual, especially since computers were rather scarce back then.


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

Posted By snowshoe on 05 Jun 2012 05:01 AM 
I could see once in a while using your train to do something but to me it seems like it would a waste of money using your trains to do a job. I woud think it would get old fast using the train to dump house waste etc..... Think how much time is spent using a g scale train when all you have to do is walk it out. A lot faster. I tried loading balst on my train when reblasting. It got old quick. ou can always do operations like switching etc.... That would be worthwhile. Like some mentioned its a hobby.


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

I'm not sure where the reply part of my post above went, so sorry for the double post. I guess my point was going to be that, for me, I don't need the trains to actually "work", but rather I think I would find joy in my inagined garden railway in doing something productive at times, versus just switching out cars like I do in N scale. To me, a garden railway has so many other possibilities that can be experienced, even if only occasionally. I certainly am not going to turn it into a laborious task. If it's not fun, I'm not going to do it. I just think when my wife needs some things from the garden for dinner, I have two choices: Spend 5 minutes walking out and grabbing them, then helping make dinner...OR...I could spend an hour assembling a loco and several open hoppers/gondolas/flats, run them out to the garden, spot the train, load it up, then run it back to the house for unloading. 

I mean, I love spending time with my wife, but c'mon......  

-Dave


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I say if it is fun...do it!


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

BTW Eric, I enjoyed your video's in the other thread. Very cool! 

-Dave


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

Oh, and Tom, in Seattle we had a restaurant called The Iron Horse in Pioneer Square. It delivered food to your table on a train as well. My wife suprised me with dinner there on my birthday once when we were dating - but it was kind of a dive and she felt bad. Concept was neat, though. Of course, like all neat things, it closed. 

I do agree that the biggest inhibitor to building a purposeful garden railroad is the cost of track. Sure, you can carry veggies on a figure eight or roundy-round, but that's not quite what the OP (or me) have in mind. I've been outside off and on the past week trying to get an idea of where to start a basic garden railroad, but with my budget of zero it's hard to envision doing much in phase one that could be construed as productive. Enjoyable? Absolutely. But there won't be any veggies or weeds being hauled around. That's IF I can actually get something going this year. 

-Dave


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## rjbord (Feb 13, 2012)

Is anyone but me bored with this topic. Model railroading is for fun a and the joy of watching/running the trains. Do you think people who fly model airplanes expect them to perform any real functions? Could we please put this topic to bed! I like informative and educational topics - this one is just plain dumb.


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## Ron Hill (Sep 25, 2008)

I use my layout to relieve stress, find out what works out in the elements, get out of the house, to provide the trick-or-treaters some entertainment at the Halloween open house and just to have fun. 
Ron


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By rjbord on 06 Jun 2012 08:16 PM 
Is anyone but me bored with this topic. Model railroading is for fun a and the joy of watching/running the trains. Do you think people who fly model airplanes expect them to perform any real functions? Could we please put this topic to bed! I like informative and educational topics - this one is just plain dumb.
Notice that the OP started this thread way back on May 18th. He asked for ideas and thoughts. He has plenty of ideas.....but where is the OP? It's like he made the snowballs and let's everyone else throw 'em. Hint, hint.


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

Well, I'm new to the forum so I'm certainly not in tune with how it goes. However, I was actually pleased to see the topic discussed as it was exactly the type of thing that got me motivated to think about garden railroading. To hear people degrade the concept or treat it like an inconvenience (why not just ignore the topic?) seems somewhat unwelcoming to the newbies who might be lurking. Having seen the great posts by many talented and helpful members, I am a little taken aback by the attitude in this thread. 

BUT - it's just a hobby. 

-Dave


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By auburnrails on 06 Jun 2012 11:33 PM 
Well, I'm new to the forum so I'm certainly not in tune with how it goes. However, I was actually pleased to see the topic discussed as it was exactly the type of thing that got me motivated to think about garden railroading. To hear people degrade the concept or treat it like an inconvenience (why not just ignore the topic?) seems somewhat unwelcoming to the newbies who might be lurking. Having seen the great posts by many talented and helpful members, I am a little taken aback by the attitude in this thread. 

BUT - it's just a hobby. 

-Dave 
You will find that some of this so-called attitude is the result of a new poster asking a question and then a lot of the knowledgable folks answer their questions, just as occured with this post. But then the original poster never returns to say thank you for the information or show appreciation for the info they received. There is a certain courtesy involved here. Some may not agree with me, but after eleven years on this forum you see it all.


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

Oh, I can understand that Gary. Though I think the OP has been around for several years and posted quite a bit more than a new guy from what I can tell. Regardless, I can appreciate your point of view on that. Seen the same thing on other forums many, many times. Worse, sometimes the person offering advice or assistance ends up being refuted/ridiculed in the process. No good deed goes unpunished.  

I think I was more put off by the "boring" and "Why would you....?" type comments, when I personally found it worthy of at least a little dialogue. I should know by now, though, that there are always plenty of people on forums that mean well but just come off sounding different than they think they are. I also should know that for someone like yourself who's been on this forum for many years, it's probably the same things over and over and over.... That can get tiring. 

Thanks for the reply. 

-Dave


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I'd say that people interested in the topic are posting 

I'd say that the people who are bored with the topic are not posting or reading it. 

That is except you rjbord, who seems to be bored, but instead of just ignoring the topic, you feel you have to post your displeasure. 

I hope that answers your question, unless you are too bored to read my post, ha ha ha! 

Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Well the idea of Your Trains actually doing something constructive brings up the subject of " SNACKVILLE JUNCTION " 

Snackville Junction was a restaurant around 107th and Western in Chicago.

When I was a kid my Dad took me there. There was a large horseshoe counter and on the counter was O gauge track.

Your food came out by toy train on a flat car. 

It was a thrill .....Well at that age it was. 

JJ


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## rjbord (Feb 13, 2012)

Gary - didn't mean to offend anyone - I was just expressing my opinion of a thread that I felt had gone on a little long and had become more a chat room that an informational forum. I guess your ridicule is OK for the thread. I hope everyone can express themselves even if not everyone agrees. Again, I meant no offense to anyone.


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## cape cod Todd (Jan 3, 2008)

Trains are FUN. 
Last year my wife and I went to a breakfast place that had 2 overhead trains on timers so one would stop then the other would start. On seperate tracks. The place was packed with young families enjoying the food and trains. In this case the trains function was entertainment and for my wife annoyance because each time the LGB mogul came around I would remind her. Hey I'm a big kid! 
Yesterday in the garden I ran a work train while I worked on a crooked wall. Once I had taken the 2 layers of cement landscpe blocks away I realised that 2 large tree roots was the reason why I had built the wall crooked. I reworked it and then with hammer and chisel wittled down a block to fit around the root. The work train was then loaded up with the chips which were brought to another spot on the RR and dumped. 
fun times. 
Todd


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I agree with Todd and Greg respectively on this post and others like it; "Trains are FUN" and, "I'd say that the people who are bored with the topic are not posting or reading it." 

It's the Beginner's forum and it's just a fraternity of folks chatting about their toy trains which most of us seem to enjoy. It wanders and rambles around but it's still about model trains. Not like the topic wandered into religion or politics or pop stars or something. There's other more serious categories on MLS if folks find the banter in this category to be too banal that I guess they might find more serious about the very serious topic of model trains. 

"Trains are FUN"


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## woody1492 (Aug 12, 2012)

I could not have said it better my self, to see a smile on a childs face is well worth it to me. that gives it a purpose.


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

Posted By woody1492 on 02 Sep 2012 11:43 AM 
"I could not have said it better my self, to see a smile on a childs face is well worth it to me. that gives it a purpose."

You nailed it Woody. 

My neighbors had a cookout last week and invited me and the former owners of my new home over. I invited them all to walk across the street to inspect the changes I had made to their former home. They commented graciously on the remodeled kitchen, new paint colors in the all the rooms, all the changes to the landscaping, etc., yada, yada... but when they got to the basement and saw my new N scale layout that is only half finished, but up and running, they all stood and marveled at the trains running around. Sam, [89 years young], one of the former owners, stood in rapt amazement of my N scale layout and shared comments from his past about riding steam trains.

Kids of all ages like to watch our model trains run and admire our efforts to build them. While my efforts to make them as life-like and accurate scale models as possible means something to ME personally. I get a CHARGE out of watching kids smiles, whether they're 8 or 89 when they view my model trains. If your model trains do that and nothing else to earn their keep then I think they have been well worth the effort in my opinion.

Scott


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I tried using the RR to BUILD the RR.... by putting fill dirt in dump cars and running them to the end of the line. 

It works..... It also takes about 10 times as long as using a 5 gallon bucket. I got bored after about half an hour and went back to the bucket.


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## auburnrails (May 31, 2012)

Posted By Mik on 03 Sep 2012 01:00 PM 
I tried using the RR to BUILD the RR.... by putting fill dirt in dump cars and running them to the end of the line. 

It works..... It also takes about 10 times as long as using a 5 gallon bucket. I got bored after about half an hour and went back to the bucket. 

Ha ha - I'm surprised it only took 10 times as long.  My new little Bachmann ore cars would probably take a week of turns to fill a small flower pot! 
Since getting my small garden railroad up and running, I've not found the occasion or desire with what i currently have to try to "do something" - BUT - I am actively planning a possible extension to the opposite side of the house to reach my wife's garden. I'm excited about the idea of carrying some veggies on freight cars - just for fun, not for productivity. I'm not sure how often I'd do it now that I'm actually experiencing some of the challenges in operating a garden railroad, but I think it'd be fun to do. 

-Dave


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## SRW (Jan 13, 2010)

I did say that watching children of all ages smile while viewing our model trains run around in circles is "thanks" enough to our modelling efforts, [true enough], but, I, for one, would get a big kick out of seeing how other modelers use their trains to do something useful at their homes. 

I think from now on this post should include photos of people actually using their garden layouts to "do something". 

That would really be cool! 

Show us photos of your garden trains actually working for a living! 

Scott


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## PapaPerk (Nov 7, 2009)

Model airplanes can perform a number of useful functions... heard of drones? The US military loves them.

I thank everyone for their input on the subject. People had some good ideas! I think many "got" my question. 

I've decided to build a firewood hauling line in the future... I burn quite a bit of firewood every year and having a logging line would be just the thing to haul my wood in! And then haul the ash to the "fertilizer facility". Of course it's inefficient but it's still accomplishing something besides running in circles. Garden railroads are outside in the "real world"... so doing something real with them makes sense to me. To each his own I guess!







Love the comment about the dinner where the trains delivered the food!









A perfect example of model equipment "doing something" is the world of RC construction equipment... one man in Canada even dug out his entire basement with RC excavators and dump trucks! 

Thank you for everyone's input.


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