Thought I’d post about a new garden layout I’ll be building soon at my house in Lake Forest, California. It will be a raised bed garden and I’ll have some track through it.

Here are some rough test photos showing how the track will run. I can’t move the white storage box as that is actually where our cat litter box is. Connects to the house via a doggy door. The bricks kind of outline where I’m putting pressure treated wood for the raised beds.

I am limited to LGB R2 for curves. Partly due to size constraints, and partly due to track I already had. But it will be fine for my old LGB mogul. This will be a fun project that my one year old son MacArthur will get to help with and enjoy in the future.

Looks like a good project Matt. Been a while since we’ve heard from you. Congrats on your son, but now Rooster will have an Amtrak buddy to spur him on. (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

I would have been tempted to make the in and out siding longer by going past the curve in order to have a longer train there. Trainli has R3 (3 foot radius) switches available. Great for the moguls.

Yep Dan the siding will be longer. I just ran out of the old Christmas tree layout track (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Is a trainli R3 basically if LGB made an R2 switch?

I can’t find the size of their R3 (footprint) so I can see if they will replace my R1 switches and what filler pieces I may need.

Matthew Doti said:

Is a trainli R3 basically if LGB made an R2 switch?

I can’t find the size of their R3 (footprint) so I can see if they will replace my R1 switches and what filler pieces I may need.

Yes. TrainLi use the digit to designate radius, so an R3 is 3’ radius, and R7 is 7’ radius, etc.

https://www.trainli.com/brass-track-rail-p-21

Matt,

Congrats on the new layout and the new “crewman!” You’ll have lots of fun together building this!

Eric

LGB R2 is 5 foot diameter but they did not make a switch for this. The 3 way wye does have the LGB r1 (4 foot diameter) and R2 (5 foot diameter) switches.

Trainli R3 is 6 foot diameter and I have seen Aristo SD-45’s go through this tight curve.

Looks like a great start, Matt.

So when I click on “Photos of my Train Layout”, whose outdoor layout is that?

Looks great Matt, look forward to seeing it finished. How high are you going to raise it in a planter? Any amount is better than ground level in my experience

I think we’ll likely go a little over a foot raised. A lot depends on how many board I’ll use and the cost of them.

And I don’t think I posted a pic of the little guy yet, so here he is:

MacArthur

He’s a cute little guy! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Looks like you might be able to expand along the one (brick) wall and maybe around the corner. Raised bed is a good idea, though lumber at the moment is insanely expensive.

That said…

Most of the switches on my indoor layout are Train-li R3 (a bit over 5 foot diameter). Still have a few R1’s for tight spots.

The main bridge for the layout has arrived. In gray primer now, but as soon as it gets sunny again I’ll spray it with some aluminum.

Bricks are stand ins for the pressure treated wood I’ll be using for the raised beds.

Still so much to do, but any progress is good I guess.

The main bridge for the layout has arrived. In gray primer now, but as soon as it gets sunny again I’ll spray it with some aluminum.

Bricks are stand ins for the pressure treated wood I’ll be using for the raised beds.

Still so much to do, but any progress is good I guess.

Looking good, I remember my first somewhat raised line, I had the retaining wall border stones 3 rows high, then backfilled with dirt. Wasn’t much bigger that your set up and took way more dirt than we though it would to back fill it. I went fully raised to waist high or a bit more on my current line as I am more into live steam operation and its much easier to service engines at this height vs trying to bend over/squat at nearly 50 yrs old. I cant wait to see how yours turns out, I do really miss more of the “garden” feel to my railway Mike the Aspie

The PTDF lumber I used for my little outdoor pizza has held up well outside, it’s about the same height as that. Just be sure to make those corners as strong as possible to counter the pushout forces on the corners. It doesn’t show but there are backing blocks and alot of screws in each corner. I should add corner brackets but its holding up well so far. I may add decorative corner brackets but I tend to over-engineer things.

I appreciate the tips on the raised beds.

It’s been very slow progress. However the bridge is painted aluminum, and has bridge ties…no rail yet. Still on temporary brick supports though.