Garden Railway Forum

Tryng to sort out my dilemma of having a garden railway without a garden, I decided to setup something on my balcony which measures roughly 3 x 2 meters and has glazing which is nice considering the rough finnish weather for the most part of the year.
Basically looking originally like this. Just a rectangul space. The glazing can be opened if needed and the space does not have any heating.
Purchased and installed a 3 meters long steel cable tray. It is quite narrow, only 30 cm but still looks like I can even have some parallel tracks. Trying out the setup with some Peco track.

Two tracks seem to have good clearance looking at your second picture Allu. Hope you can work out a plan that your happy with.
Grant.

An impressive start Allu.

A previous member of the forum had a similar balcony railway - Egor in Russia.
viewtopic.php?t=11223

Not heard from him for a while. I hope he's OK, given the current situation in Russia - your near neighbour - though I do realise they are not your closest friends at present

Rik

yes i saw the topic from Egor sometime ago, it was in fact an inspiration for my project although my plan is smaller without continous run. But something to operate, do some shunting and also to have some background for photos. lets see how this works out

This may provide some inspiration a tiny layout whose concept may fit into your space.
The owner is a member of this forum.


If you are not absolutely committed to maybe consider O gauge, a smaller scale which will allow more track to be crammed in.

Very smart indeed, I have not seen this before. Lot of good ideas to utilise the space, ie. the swiwelling turnouts and arranging the layout into 2 levels. Also the clever usage of backdrops and tunnels gives more feel of depth.

Great start Allu.

What a nice place to have a layout, sun and a view, such a cheery location to model.

I look forward to your next post to see your progress. You have done the hardest bit in just starting. Just enjoy yourself and indulge your creativity.

Keep having fun.

Dan

Aye, do keep us posted. It's a great little spot.

GAP wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2026 11:42 pm This may provide some inspiration a tiny layout whose concept may fit into your space.
The owner is a member of this forum.


If you are not absolutely committed to maybe consider O gauge, a smaller scale which will allow more track to be crammed in.

It's impressive what @gregh has been able to integrate within such a small space, and all without having to suspend one's disbelief too much about the railway and scenery. Here's his project thread for that layout: viewtopic.php?t=14092

Thanks for 'advertising' my indoor line Drew.

Allu - keep up the dream- you will finish up with a great little time waster but have an enjoyable time building it and running it!

The track plan for this small layout will be obviously a small shunting one. I have already one small industrial battery loco which is perfect for the setup. But, I am also purchasing a small live steam quarry hunslet which I will operate on a separate, temporary ground floor oval track. A question for the more experienced live steam operators, do you think it is at all possible and enjoyable to run the manual hunslet sometimes on the 3 meters long shunting layout?

Allu,
I have spent enjoyable whole days doing nothing but moving wagons and pass cars around Leawarra. Leaving a loco standing just quietly blowing a little steam at the safety, oiling around.and generally absorbing the sights and sounds.
I feel you should be able to do the same, you certainly get to understand controlling a loco.
Good Luck.
Grant.

Laid aluminium mesh with fine (about 2 mm) eyesize. Idea being I can scatter real peat and soil on top of it, between the track underlay which will probably be made out of XPS foam. At least the draining will be efficient

That mesh is a great idea, wish I had done something like that years ago with Leawarra station as the timber I used has no drainage except for the gaps I provided and is showing many signs of rotting.
Grant.

Ought to work nicely. That balcony seems to be both indoors and out!

Old Man Aaron wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2026 7:26 am Ought to work nicely. That balcony seems to be both indoors and out!

In fact that is the idea I have. With the limited space I have I still try to have something what has the "garden" feeling, wth real plants. During warmer times I can have the glazed windows totally open so the layout is open to elements and during the winter, with the glazing shut, I can still continue with it in semi-warm conditions. If necessary I can even install 1 or 2 infrared heaters, they would keep the 6 square meters balcony warm enough

Does the floor of the balcony have a drain for any water spillage?

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2026 9:10 am Does the floor of the balcony have a drain for any water spillage?

Rik

Yes, just beneath the shelf. And the flooring is concrete so no problems with water

Well, back to square one. After experimenting some time with the half finished switching layout on the narrow shelf I definitely can say it does not work satisfactory with a manual steam loco. So I dismantled the whole thing and have now decided to take another approach, I will setup a small oval on the balcony floor level with garden-like elements. Photos soon appearing here when I progress

Good luck with Plan B, Allu

Rik