Feb 27 2009
Planning Your Outdoor Garden Railroad - Part 11 - Access
Planning Your Outdoor Garden Railroad - Part 11 - Access
You’ve made tremendous progress and are coming into the home stretch. Now’s the time to tune up your plan using your three dimensional sculpture of the plan.
The three dimensional sculpture of your plan provides information that most software programs and flat paper and pencil plans just don’t deliver.
The three dimensional sculpture of your plan gives you a way to test for access to your model railroad. Make sure that you have modeled plantings, trees, immovable features such as sheds, decks, walkways and plantings. You don’t need super accurate detail or color or textures. The main thing that you DO need is proper massing in proportion, and proper placement. A tree can be a simple dried plant, a shrub or masses of plantings can be simple cut outs made with cheap kitchen sponges. Walkways can be made of a cut up cardboard shipping box. If you were looking at this as a black and white (and gray) picture everything would be just fine.
When you operate a railroad of any scale and in any setting you need access. You need access to the track to put trains on the track. You need access to ALL of the track in the event that a train derails or stalls. Access inside tunnels and on intricate bridges is particularly necessary. Few things are more frustrating than trying to retrieve a train from inside a tunnel when you haven’t planned adequate proper access.
Your visitors need access to the most detailed and most interesting scenes on the railroad. They’ve come to see the railroad. They need unobstructed access to see the railroad. Operators need access to trains, tools, and controls. Operators need access to switch mechanisms. They particularly need good visual and physical access to switching areas and yards.
Casual visitors, family, and others who share the same space for other purposes need access to get to other areas. Make sure there is a clear wide walkway to trash cans, barbecue grills, seating areas, tool shed, garden hose connection, vegetable and flower gardens. You don’t want people taking a short-cut across the railroad because they don’t have easy access to them.
Remember to include meter readers, oil delivery services, and utility repair people to that last list.
You can use your three dimensional model to test for most all of the above access needs. Make a scale model of a person with one arm extended. The best way to go is to make a simple flat cardboard cut out of a person in scale. Make a separate arm for that person in scale too. Using a brass brad with folding legs (available from office supply stores) to make a shoulder joint for the arm.
Using your scale cardboard cut out, test whether your model railroad design provides adequate access. Go through each role and situation with your cardboard cut-out person. This will tell you a lot about whether you have adequate access to your railroad, where and when you need it.
Planning access to the tunnels is mostly a practical problem. TIP: the tunnels should be a little wider on the inside than the bare minimum. If you have a standard tunnel portal opening that’s OK. Make the tunnel slightly wider in the middle. Start widening as soon as you get past the tunnel portal. Widening the tunnel is especially important if the tunnel track is curving. Most derailments happen on curves. Overhanging rail cars on curves lead to bumps into the wall of the tunnel if it is too narrow.
You also need access from the top of the tunnel for real disasters. It is best to plan a movable cover for an opening. in the center of the tunnel roof. Put some loose dirt and small plants on top. Make sure to have an easily accessible an sturdy handle to lift the hatch cover. The hatch opening should be large enough to reach in and retrieve several large trains still coupled together. Tunnel access includes a sturdy place to stand while making this emergency retrieval. If you’ve built up soil on ether side of the tunnel you don’t want to be standing on it when you retrieve the trains. The angle of the soil may cause you to slip. Your weight on the soil may cause the tunnel walls to collapse in on your trains. Consider making a solid, step like formation on either side of the tunnel near the access hatch. Then add only enough soil and plants to complete your scene. This way you will be standing on a solid masonry base while accessing your hatch.
Bridges have natural access from the top. You will need to get close to reach in without damaging the intricate bridges. Make sure to create a clear area near bridges. It should be flat and provide a sturdy surface to stand. If you have a water feature with real water, plan a way to drain it during maintenance. You may need access to pumps, electrical equipment, piping, and the sides of the water area to maintain plantings.
If you have an especially intricate or interesting scene that is sure to draw a crowd. Make sure create a widening in your walkways. Make sure the the widened walkway area is level. It might be useful to built a box for kids to stand on or adults to sit on and watch. A garden bench will also do the job nicely.
Use the above methods near your yard and switching area. This will b the space where many operators will spend all their time on your railroad. Give it additional attention.
If you have water feature or plantings that block access to space or views, adjust your plan. After the adjustments, modify your three dimensional sculpture and test it with your scale figure again.
When done your railroad will be much better for planning better access.
Have fun!
Trainguy
