''O'' gauge go outdoors

@TRAINVHASER posted:

I have become separted from my wife bought a new house North end of town,wnat to build new layout my garage is 30feet wide 40 long. Most of that space is used by my wood working shop, so I was curious if  I could build an outdoor layout. I intend to keep it about 4feet above ground. Will use presuer  treated lumber. Build it wide enough for a 3 track main. And build covers for the track to protect the road bed from the enviroment . Y our comments and ideas will be welcome.  Trainchaser

You may want to think about dead rail running, the issues with put door track can be many. In G scale we have solid brass track and LGB track cleaning locomotives.

Stainless steel track and a good, powered, track cleaning car?  I knew a fellow with a fair size outdoor layout and he enjoyed it greatly, especially if it snowed as he loved to run his rotary, and wedge snow plow style snow removal equipment...as long as it was a 'scale' amount of snow, not a foot of it. I understand leaves, sticks and twigs are a common issue too.   The #1 Gauge outdoor guys have a ton of info on their sites, and probably a good place to learn about the pros and cons.

You have very limited choices for outdoor track.  Gargraves makes a stainless steel version.  Switches are a big problem and I've noticed that most outdoor layouts don't have any.

I have no experience operating outdoors, but wanted to throw out some ideas.  Others that have, may give more input.

You could go Dead Rail.

Another alternative, Gargraves track is available with Stainless Steel Rail and plastic ties.  They make the plastic ties in both black and gray color.  The gray is recommended for outdoor use because it doesn't get as hot when the sun shines on it.  Atlas of course is rust proof (unless you find some of their "early" track), but is way more expensive.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

@TRAINVHASER posted:

I have become separted from my wife bought a new house North end of town,wnat to build new layout my garage is 30feet wide 40 long. Most of that space is used by my wood working shop, so I was curious if  I could build an outdoor layout. I intend to keep it about 4feet above ground. Will use presuer  treated lumber. Build it wide enough for a 3 track main. And build covers for the track to protect the road bed from the enviroment . Y our comments and ideas will be welcome.  Trainchaser

IMHO, O scale is not meant to be run outdoors. G scale yes, O scale no.

Go to YouTube and search "outdoor o gauge train layout" and you will get some videos of outdoor O layouts and some "how to" videos to give you some ideas.  If you go with Gargraves track, you will want the UV-resistant plastic ties and all stainless steel rails (the "Phantom" blackened middle rail will rust).  Some people use Atlas' nickel silver track with plastic ties.  I don't know if their ties are UV resistant, though.

Andy

O Gauge is very viable and enjoyable outdoors.  It is done all the time in England because homes are small and the backyard may be the only place to run O gauge and larger trains.  Several people have built O gauge outdoor layouts here in the USA.  You can find them on YouTube.  

I am involved with building the G&O garden railroad that is located in the SF Bay Area.  Here is a link to the G&O Story on this forum:

https://ogrforum.com/.../the-gandamp-o-story

Please read about building and operating the G&O.  I think that you will enjoy operating trains outdoors as much as we do.  NH Joe

OK Abig thanks Joe

Thanks to everyone for the advice I'll investagate this some more then deside . thanks  Mark

If the ties are plastic, be sure they are UV resistant, otherwise the sun will eat them.

I have used the Atlas track for my loop around the back yard. It is advertised for outside use with UV resistant ties.  I take it down for the winter. You can search on the forum for "My Backyard Garden Railway" for pics of my layout.

And our train club we have an outdoor garden railway large setup Both G scale and I have some loops set up for O scale 2 rail and 3 rail O gauge. I have used 3 loops of Atlas O track and we also have some G scale narrow gauge track that is same as 2 rail O Scale gauge. I spiked in a middle rail for 3 rail. We also have a loop of dual gauge G and O. You can search some of my posts for photos mostly on the weekend photo fun. We run Easter through October every weekend that it is not raining.

As for turnouts this has increased maintenance needs with the micro switches needing replacing or rebuilding after a couple of years the water gets in.

Depending on how big you build it and if you intend to run in the winter if it gets really wet or really cold you might want to pull it down and put it up in the spring again.

I have just laid the track on the fake plastic grass rolls at home over painted plywood and we use mainly gravel at the Garden Railway.

As for maintenance and keeping the rails clean has not been an issue we use drywall sanding screens to clean our track. Just run it around the layout before use we run most every weekend. As long as it is clean track has not been an issue with electrical and signal pickup from the rails.

The advantage of using G scale narrow gauge track is that you can get long rail lengths and use tight screw clamps to join the rail ends to keep rails tight together and only 1 power connection on a big loop of track the long rails and tight clamps give very good electrical flow, also the wider ties are more stable on the gravel and wider tie spacing is easier to clean if you have an overhead tree. As clamped together the track floats on the gravel and can expand and contract with hot sunny day or cold and freezing.  On the home layout  under some big evergreen various tree types there are a lot of fine needles that build up in the ties. Use a leaf blower to blow them out before running.  Note Atlas O Gauge track the small rail connectors occasionally need tightening over the year to keep them reasonably tight.

How about a small portion inside so you can tune trains anytime with a 'doggy door' so you could flip a switch and send them outside?

HeyPRRICK     Great  idea will do keep them out of the weather  Thanks

Reddit user u/flintlockfay is currently building O gauge outdoors and I thought of that thread as soon as I saw this topic.

Apparently the plan is for 2 rail electric operation with nickel silver track. 

I would invite those who operate O gauge outdoors to consider doing articles for publication in the magazine. There are a number of different approaches that can be used to model a smaller scale like O outdoors, and seeing how others have done it, along with explanations of the various pros and cons involved, can be both instructional and inspirational. Contact me at editor@ogaugerr.com