Moving my 00 layout outside in the garden

[Pannier09]

Hello everyone,

I've been thinking recently about moving my 00 layout from inside the house to outside in the garden and I wanted know:

• How do I do it?
• Will my Hornby tracks, Level Crossings, locos and platforms be safe outside?
• How do I protect my tracks from nature i.e rain and animals?
• What do I need?

Many thanks

[thomas the plank engine]

Pannier09,

I can only suggest that you browse through the garden railways that are already on here, and with some luck hopefully should be able to anser most of your questions.
This time however I am not going to make a list of who's, as last time I did that I missed a few out and got my knuckles rapped.

Warning

Sun and plastic are not a good combination, as the plastic will distort

Ian

[Pannier09]

Pannier09,

I can only suggest that you browse through the garden railways that are already on here, and with some luck hopefully should be able to anser most of your questions.
This time however I am not going to make a list of who's, as last time I did that I missed a few out and got my knuckles rapped.

Warning

Sun and plastic are not a good combination, as the plastic will distort

Ian

Thanks thomas the plank engine

So that's a no on the level crossing.

[0121modeller]

I dont have a garden railway, but I've listed a few commonsense points.

Dont ever be tempted to leave any of your locomotives & rolling stock outside overnight or when nobody's at home, keep loco's, rolling stock & the transformer controller or DCC control box etc safely stored indoors.

240v extention leads must also be kept indoors OR a permanant 240v power supply cable & its 3 pin sockets must be adequetly installed with exterior grade armoured cable in trunking & buried as to protect from the weather & possible accidents chopping cable with the garden spade etc.

To deter cats from damaging scenery , I've heard say that if you leave a few pieces of orange peel lying around , cats do not like the scent of this & will avoid.

Possibly install some cctv camera's with infered & motion detection / PIR activating a recording device of some format VHS, DVDR , HDD etc ,

How large is the layout ? I assume the layout is on trestle mounted baseboards , what are the baseboard frames & baseboard top / trackbed made out of ?

You'll need to weather proof all wood & plywood. I use Saddolin stain to protect the timber of my shed & back gate , but if not Sadolin, then use firstly a paint thats solvent / oil-based primer paint, then when dry, apply a solvent / oil-based topcoat, oil-based takes longer to dry but is kinder to wood grains & is more water repellant & it gives screws bolts & nails good protection, unlike water based paints.

Ideally, you'll need some sort of overall cover, a gazebo or similar sort of thing as to cover most if not all of the layout from rain, but something more robust & stable to protect from high winds, a wooden lean-to maybe ? A 7ft x 3ft x 6ft high lean-too made from 4"x2" tanalized CLS timber open framed with sloping roof , dessign & building this yourself works out to be stronger more suitable & cheaper than a 6ft x 4ft shed, I built a smaller lean-too for storing my garden furniture etc.
It all depends what size your layout is.

Dave.

[Pannier09]

I dont have a garden railway, but I've listed a few commonsense points.

Dont ever be tempted to leave any of your locomotives & rolling stock outside overnight or when nobody's at home, keep loco's, rolling stock & the transformer controller or DCC control box etc safely stored indoors.

240v extention leads must also be kept indoors OR a permanant 240v power supply cable & its 3 pin sockets must be adequetly installed with exterior grade armoured cable in trunking & buried as to protect from the weather & possible accidents chopping cable with the garden spade etc.

To deter cats from damaging scenery , I've heard say that if you leave a few pieces of orange peel lying around , cats do not like the scent of this & will avoid.

Possibly install some cctv camera's with infered & motion detection / PIR activating a recording device of some format VHS, DVDR , HDD etc ,

How large is the layout ? I assume the layout is on trestle mounted baseboards , what are the baseboard frames & baseboard top / trackbed made out of ?

You'll need to weather proof all wood & plywood. I use Saddolin stain to protect the timber of my shed & back gate , but if not Sadolin, then use firstly a paint thats solvent / oil-based primer paint, then when dry, apply a solvent / oil-based topcoat, oil-based takes longer to dry but is kinder to wood grains & is more water repellant & it gives screws bolts & nails good protection, unlike water based paints.

Ideally, you'll need some sort of overall cover, a gazebo or similar sort of thing as to cover most if not all of the layout from rain, but something more robust & stable to protect from high winds, a wooden lean-to maybe ? A 7ft x 3ft x 6ft high lean-too made from 4"x2" tanalized CLS timber open framed with sloping roof , dessign & building this yourself works out to be stronger more suitable & cheaper than a 6ft x 4ft shed, I built a smaller lean-too for storing my garden furniture etc.
It all depends what size your layout is.

Dave.

Thanks for the advice,

The size of the layout is 6ft x 4ft and currently not on a baseboard due to the lack of size.