I was thinking about building an outdoor O-gauge Train loop through my garden and was wondering if Lionel tubular track can be used for this purpose? This would be much easier than going with a larger G-gauge, as I already have track and rolling stock available for an outdoor layout. I leave in the north where there is snow in the winter (would not run trains then) and hot in the summer.
Has anyone used Lionel tubular track outdoors?
I want to run the trains using a local battery source, maybe stored in a box car behind the engine, so that I do not have to deal with running electricity through the tracks, and having problems with rusting track and constant track cleaning. Has anyone converted an O-gauge engine to run off of battery power (as opposed to track power)? I know this is possible for G-gauge.
If this is possible, can Lionel tubular track switches be used outdoors? I could cover the switches when non in use, to minimize weather issues, rust, etc occurring at the switch mechanism.
Thanks for any help or experience with using O-gauge trains outdoors.