Steve…that is the BEST observation I have heard…thank you for putting that thought into words…too bad that few will see the point of the observation…!!
Steve, yes, that’s something some folks don’t quite understand.
I knew that for all intents and purposes I was building a scaled down railroad. I tried to engineer it for the elements. I overdid the wiring, but I don’t have any power loss issues. I tried to over-engineer my fills, I got one right and one would settle a bit every spring until I rebuilt it with a stacked rock base.
One thing I didn’t completely anticipate was water run off. I did bury a metal pipe under the one section of my railroad, but I didn’t properly maintain its slope and make sure the ends were clear. Last year we had a major storm, a storm so bad it washed out a few major roads around here. The part of my railroad where I had buried the pipe, also washed out.
So, uphill of this section I put in a small dry stream bed, Under this section I put in a larger metal pipe and made sure it had a proper slope. The next big rain will show me if what I did was adequate.
Steve Featherkile said:
Actually, I think my biggest mistake was thinking garden railroad, instead of outdoor model railroad.
Ahhhhh … 
OTOH I got (get) a lot of flack when stating that ours is (supposed to be) a model railway in the garden — could be something about the implications of those words. 
In conjunction with considering them not to be toys. 
David,
That’s what happens when you scale 1:29 and then the 1:1 deluge moves in. But , the culvert sure looks the proper size.
The question by the OP was Track: your greatest error, not the entire hobby, greatest error.
Yeah, I think for many, in the entire hobby, trying to maintain a garden with track going through it is harder than they thought.
I have a railroad, where plants are ALLOWED to approach the track, with permission by the roadmaster.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
I have a railroad, where plants are ALLOWED to approach the track, with permission by the roadmaster.
Mine don’t wait for permission, they just go ahead and do it…
I never confused the garden with the railroad because we can’t grow much here.
But underestimating the weather is another story.
We don’t get much rain on the desert but we can get cloudbursts.
We came home one day to find about 40 feet of track washed out.
Because of the “dry” wash it didn’t hit the house but it took a lot of track rebuilding.
If you purchase “chicken grit” for ballast- Make Sure they don’t give you “chicken crumbles” The first lay- out we installed they sold us “Crumbles” as grit ( didn’t seem to look quite right ) It rained before we laid the track, two days later we had a 4"’ trench of maggots! After 20 years, I imagine that I CAN still smell it, and yes STILL FEEL VERY, VERY DUMB! Turned out Crumbles is a type of grain based food which sort of looks like I imagined grit should look like.
Biggest track error? Not buying more 12 years ago when it was cheap by comparison to today.
Jon Radder said:
Biggest track error? Not buying more 12 years ago when it was cheap by comparison to today.
Yes Jon I agree!
Second error: buying an Aristo RDC ( I did’nt think my track was that bad!)
My biggest error so far is going with AMS track. The ties are NOT UV-stable, and a lot of my ties are greying and brittle. I’m not real happy.
Phil Anastasia said:
If you purchase “chicken grit” for ballast- Make Sure they don’t give you “chicken crumbles” The first lay- out we installed they sold us “Crumbles” as grit ( didn’t seem to look quite right ) It rained before we laid the track, two days later we had a 4"’ trench of maggots! After 20 years, I imagine that I CAN still smell it, and yes STILL FEEL VERY, VERY DUMB! Turned out Crumbles is a type of grain based food which sort of looks like I imagined grit should look like.
OH My!
I am so glad we got LGB track and tie strips. That track was laid in 2002 and I shift tracs once in awhile. I just have to dig a new trench, fill it with gravel and move the track over. The tie strips are fine despite high ground temperatures in the summer.
Who’d a thought the Germans would have considered 175 degree summer ground temps! My hats off to those Germans!
Ambient temperatures of the rail… I s’pose, brass rail faster. (than my SS)
Bob McCown said:
My biggest error so far is going with AMS track. The ties are NOT UV-stable, and a lot of my ties are greying and brittle. I’m not real happy.
Like you. I didn’t know that either… Now finding it out the hard way… Still have over 4oo ft. of the flex stuff and 6 wide SW’s not been used yet… Bummer. 
Note: update 3/26/14…Jon P… Sent you a PM.
It was 78 here yesterday and the track is already getting warm. Wait until it’s back in just the 80’s!
**Noel Wilson said:**Still have over 4oo ft. of the flex stuff and 6 wide SW’s not been used yet…
Noel, not trying to take advantage of your situation, and I’m very sympathetic to your plight with the track, but would you consider selling me the switches? I have places where I could use them where UV isn’t an issue.
Thanks.
edit to add this: Speaking of track mistakes…my biggest mistakes were buying “wide” radius switches that weren’t wide, buying four-foot switches for some dumb reason, and ever buying a curve less than 20 ft diameter (not to mention not knowing the difference between diameter and radius, which really cost me money!).
Ken Brunt said:
Greg Elmassian said:
I have a railroad, where plants are ALLOWED to approach the track, with permission by the roadmaster.
Mine don’t wait for permission, they just go ahead and do it…
My plants, mostly ground cover,have grown between the ties. After several years of fruitless weeding, I gave up. They seem to to a good job of holding the ballast in place, though.
Bob McCown said:
My biggest error so far is going with AMS track. The ties are NOT UV-stable, and a lot of my ties are greying and brittle. I’m not real happy.
Paint the ties.
Strange. I’ve not had any problem with my AMS ties. Maybe they did something different at one time?