Beginners' Guide to Garden Railways

[ge_rik]

I've put together a beginners' guide to Garden Railways - https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2022/0 ... lways.html

I've had a few (mostly helpful) suggestions (mainly through the 16mm NGM Facebook page) about missing info and where clarification is needed. If you fancy casting an eye over it to see if you spot my (un)deliberate mistakes.

Bear in mind that it's for beginners, though. I've tried not to get bogged down in too much detail - particularly in areas of contention (gauge/scale - ballasting - steam v electric etc.). Though it is a bit like stepping through a minefield.....

Rik
PS - You may notice I've plugged the forum a few times .....

[Old Man Aaron]

A lot of time and effort went into that, and it shows. Brilliant work as always, Rik.

Quite like the use of stakes to determine the lay of the land, will have to remember that one for my next line..

[ge_rik]

A lot of time and effort went into that, and it shows. Brilliant work as always, Rik.

Quite like the use of stakes to determine the lay of the land, will have to remember that one for my next line..

Thanks Aaron

I probably pinched the idea from someone else - might even have been in Cyril Freezer's Garden Railway book which I read through extensively when planning my railway.

Rik

[ge_rik]

Hi all
As an adjunct to my beginners guide, I've put together a questionnaire which is, hopefully, designed to help newcomers work out how they could power and control their electric powered locos - ie track or battery.

I'm making the assumption that people who want to run live steam locos usually know that's what they want to do.

If you fancy having a go at it - https://uquiz.com/vjVi2g

As it's been made with a freebie online quiz maker, it's not particularly sophisticated and incapable of interpreting nuanced responses ( eg how replying X to one question might affect answering Y to another question). I'm assuming that going through the process of thinking about the questions is probably more useful than the result it produces. If so, do you think there are some questions or some answers missing?

Rik

[philipy]

Hi Rik,
I've had a go through your quiz. It's pretty comprehensive but I think Qu 23 needs the ability to give more than one answer i.e personally I use flexible track but scratchbuild pointwork to fit, as necessary. Then towards the end there are one or two typo's -I guess you were getting tired!

[ge_rik]

Thanks Philip. I've just checked through and can't find any typos, but then after a while I get word blind. I don't suppose you can remember what they were?

Rik

[Jimmyb]

Thanks Philip. I've just checked through and can't find any typos, but then after a while I get word blind. I don't suppose you can remember what they were?

Rik

Rik, just done the quiz again, looking for spelling an incontestabilities:

Q 17 - No space between number and Sq

Fairly large (up to 100sq metres)
Large (over 100sq metres)

Q 23 - I will use a combination

Q 27 - last answer "I have the skills and knowledge I need to use battery power, which is why I wouldn't want to use it" confuses me, also LiPo come ready built.

So this is all I really found, though being dyslexic spelling isn't my best subject.

[ge_rik]

Q 27 - last answer "I have the skills and knowledge I need to use battery power, which is why I wouldn't want to use it" confuses me,

Hi Jim
Thanks for the feedback and your stalwartness (if there is such a thing).

I must admit this response was put in to try and sort out a few individuals who are averse to battery power no matter what ,,,, I think you might be able to identify the sort of person I have in mind (not on this forum I hasten to add!)

Rik

[philipy]

I think Jim has found the ones I noticed and probably a couple that I missed. The Qu 27 one did strike me as a bit confusing.

[ge_rik]

I think Jim has found the ones I noticed and probably a couple that I missed. The Qu 27 one did strike me as a bit confusing.

Now corrected them and made that response less ambiguous.

I'll stop tinkering with it for now and let it settle for a while. It's like making a model from scratch, now I've made it, I think I know how to make a better one

Rik

[SimonWood]

Your responses suggest that powering your locos with batteries and them with a radio control system would best suit your needs.

Well, that's saved me a lot of work rewiring all my track and locos!

Serious point: the questions about things like track and fishplates are things that complete beginners may not have decided yet. Indeed that may be a decision they make after choosing how their locomotives will be powered... So maybe an undecided option is needed?

Extremely pedantic point: I care a great deal about slow running and much less about shunting! But I couldn't express that

[ge_rik]

Your responses suggest that powering your locos with batteries and them with a radio control system would best suit your needs.

Well, that's saved me a lot of work rewiring all my track and locos!

Serious point: the questions about things like track and fishplates are things that complete beginners may not have decided yet. Indeed that may be a decision they make after choosing how their locomotives will be powered... So maybe an undecided option is needed?

Extremely pedantic point: I care a great deal about slow running and much less about shunting! But I couldn't express that

Looks like I missed a word out of that response.
Maybe I can resolve that with "slow running and/or shunting"

I can easily add the "not decided" to that question. I put it there to get them to think about it if they are intending to use track power but if they are complete novices the significance might be wasted on them.

I'll look again at that question

Rik