16mm scale Lego garden railway

[tebee]

I'm planning to build my garden railway using Lego track as it's exceedingly cheap especially the points. Now some people have warned me off this as they suggest the track might not survive outside long. So what I've decided to do is build a temporary line this year quickly, firstly to see how it all works and to see if the track degrades quickly in sunlight.

So I've been trying to think of a low cost way to build this as I seem to exist in a perpetual state of poverty these days. I was thinking trying what Woodie Greene did on his 1:32 Mogollon Railway in Texas. He used extruded insulation foam board supported by photographic tripods, the latter being of course, conveniently adjustable. But finding sufficient tripods at car boots and the like will take time, though I liked the above ground idea as it also means I don't have to clear out another area of garden first, It's got somewhat overgrown this year, as I've been ill and unable maintain it. It's still much better than it was when I came here 2 years ago and almost all of it was covered by 6 ft high brambles - it was a former farm which had been neglected for over 10 years.

So another idea has occurred to me, I had my test line last year on a plastic garden table. I can often pick these up cheaply at the local recycling shops, a quick tour of these produced 4 of them, two free and the other two for €10 each ! The plan is to use them for the stations and connect them by wooden bridges to give a longer run. There is an old gravel road which used to access some fields and is fairly flat, so I'll lay them out along this. It's around 600 meter long so I don't think I'll run out of space.

I have about 60 points and a bit over 100 meters of track so that should be enough to do a good test. Not planning on any scenery either buildings or plants , though I may stick a few rocks on the tables to prevent them blowing over

[tommygander1941]

I love hearing people wanting to use LEGO, definitely try 3D printed track for example from TrixBrix. They also offer more radii and other different track pieces compared with LEGO's official offerings. Also the LEGO track works out to 2ft 4 1/8 inch gauge in 16mm scale, along with each LEGO brick working out to 6 inches in the scale.

So really LEGO is pretty good for narrow gauge modelling.

[ge_rik]

This is going to be interesting. I hadn't realised Lego trains in the garden was a thing.
But ........





I like your approach recycling garden furniture. It must be UV resistant.

Rik

[philipy]

I hadn't realised Lego trains in the garden was a thing.
But ........

No, nor me.

I have to say that having watched these, and in particular the 2nd video, I'm somewhat bemused that having put in so much obvious skill and effort, he uses very obviously unprototypical 'toy' track!

[ge_rik]

I hadn't realised Lego trains in the garden was a thing.
But ........

No, nor me.

I have to say that having watched these, and in particular the 2nd video, I'm somewhat bemused that having put in so much obvious skill and effort, he uses very obviously unprototypical 'toy' track!

Maybe it works out cheaper ????

Rik

[Phil.P]

Track, and wheel 'standards' are what make or break a systems resilience..
If you have 'something' that works, and is robust enough to survive the rigours of life outdoors, then live with it.

Think LGB track.. Overscale, the wrong 'colour' ridiculous curve radii, but it is pretty bomb-proof.

Phil.P

[tebee]

Got tracks laid out on a couple the tables yesterday. End one with return loop I'm quite happy with , though I may smoot out some of the curves with more 3D printed track pieces later. Passing loop less so, and it's not heading off in right direction to where I want to put next table, so I'll probably change this one.







And in the usual one step forward, another back, way my progress seems to go, last night Tiger, one of my cats, took a flying leap on to some shelves in my work room, knocked the thing he was trying to land on off, then went into a desperate panic to avoid falling, sending things flying all over the place, before he crashed to the ground surrounded by a pile of things including my one completed loco, which is now back in kit form with a least one bonnet side disappeared into the ether!

[ge_rik]

I didn't realise LEGO did a three way point. Do they do a double slip as well?
A revelation.

Rik

[ge_rik]

I didn't realise LEGO did a three way point. Do they do a double slip as well?
A revelation.

Rik

Just answered my own question

https://ebay.us/m/GiYYtY

c £15 Inc delivery - wow!

Rik

[tebee]

If you buy from China, it's even cheaper . They had a sale on recently, I couldn't resist





There's also a single slip and a Y point available

[Old Man Aaron]

Wow, options for Lego track has changed a bit since I last used it. (20 years ago!)

Best of luck, you've certainly come a fair way already in hacking through all that bramble.

[tebee]

There are more options now because there are a lot more people other than lego making it . There's a good selection from various Chinese makers, which this year has been expanded to include single slips and a range of large radius curves.

In the eU there is Trixbrix https://trixbrix.eu/ some injection molded, some 3D printed. Good example of that they do here




There's also lots of places to download stls to print your own and a cad library to help you design your own

[GAP]

I didn't realise LEGO did a three way point. Do they do a double slip as well?
A revelation.

Rik

These may be something like what you are looking for.
I am thinking about using one in my indoor layout shunting yard

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2770871 Described as "Crossing switch garden railway (LGB)"
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/cammon-f2a4

[tebee]

I didn't realise LEGO did a three way point. Do they do a double slip as well?
A revelation.

Rik

Yes and they also do a single slip -

[ge_rik]

Excellent. It does remind me of contractors' track or the sort of track found in slate quarries.

Just watched the video of your H0 layout. That looks like a very impressive and ambitious undertaking.

Rik

[philipy]

They do look impressive and potentially very useful, but I'm afraid I can't get my head around the Lego knobbles. That is stretching artistic/modellers licence a tad too far for me.

[tebee]

They do look impressive and potentially very useful, but I'm afraid I can't get my head around the Lego knobbles. That is stretching artistic/modellers licence a tad too far for me.

I decided I could live with them, possibly because I have a lot of interest in operating trains.

I did consider 3D printing the track without them as the designs are freely available on the internet, but decided that life was too short, especially at my age !

I've used some 3D printed sections to make track planning more flexible, and they also look better than the Lego flexible track. I do wish I'd finished printing the points I'd planed as the Lego ones have a very odd geometry.

[tebee]

I've got provisional track layouts done for all 6 tables now, these may change as I construct the linking sections though. Here's the pics

[ge_rik]

I'm intrigued by the three way point. I can see how the blades will direct the flanges left or right but going straight seems a bit hit and miss to me. Does it work ok in practice?

Rik

[tebee]

I'm intrigued by the three way point. I can see how the blades will direct the flanges left or right but going straight seems a bit hit and miss to me. Does it work ok in practice?

Rik

All the points have just a single curved blade, similar in principal to tramway track. Seems to work OK in practice.