Aloha Micmic!
The best advice I got was from a gentleman named Tom Trigg, now passed, who said “Get outside and get dirty!” This was followed by another bit of advice from a recovering garden railroader which was “Get something running…get anything running!” There is something about seeing a train in motion to make you want to keep it in motion and improved the 1:13/1:17/1:20.3/1:24/1:29/1:32 world in which it is running. Finally, if you plan to involve family, may I offer CINCHOUSE’s (Commander in Chief, House) directive: “It cannot be just YOUR hobby!” I have measured success by the memories made, and her mandate has paid dividends that make me a 21st century Cornelius Vanderbilt in the memories department!
I think most of the folks on this forum took a very studied approach to their planning, and the results really show. I took a sandbox approach, laid out a general track plan in the yard, built the garden, then had at it, fixing and learning in the defined space of the garden as we went along. I documented that pretty well in a blog on the old Garden Railways forum: Progress on the Triple O.
Finally, as a fellow resident of the backside of the global supply chain, I would advise that you go with the materials at hand. The books and magazines are full of stuff that never comes to Hawaii, vendors that send everywhere but here, and materials that won’t hold up in our climate. Real railroads used whatever was most economical and got the job done, so the choice to use what is at hand is, to my mind, at least in the spirit of the prototype! The same for rolling stock and locomotives…the LGB STAINZ in hand from the local thrift story actually doing something in your garden is a LOT more satisfying than waiting for shipping on the iron horse you really want to be less than a mortgage payment. So, if you see it locally, GRAB IT, run it, and enjoy it. You can always modify it later.
Now, “Get outside and get dirty!”
Eric
