Written by Paul Race for Family Garden Trains

Garden Railroad Structures

Trains need people and businesses to serve. Industries give your railroad a raison d'etre, while they add a sense of realism and points of interest. Houses and stores symbolize the communities that the railroad serves.

For several years,we neglected to provide much detail on structures, since so much has already been written about them for the smaller scales. However, as the hobby of Garden Railroading has matured, we've recognized the many differences between structures built for indoor railroads and structures built to look good and to last in harsh weather conditions. (We've also recognized the economic differences, which is one reason trashbashing caught on early and continues to be practiced.)

Deprived of cardboard, brick paper, and many kinds of paint and craft products, learning to use weather-resistant materials such as PVC, concrete, and aluminum, or to protect other materials, such as wood and plastic, against the weather, many garden railroaders have "pushed the envelope" for model structures, in terms of size, realism, and durability. As the rest of us stumble in their wake, we occasionally pick up tips that we can apply. That's where Family Garden Trains comes in. Our hope is to provide articles that summarize what we have learned so far in ways that any new hobbiest can understand and apply. Eventually we hope to add other articles that provide details and alternative methods that may appeal to the more experienced modeler.

Our primary goal is to help you populate your garden railroad with structures that you can prepare with reasonable (but not exceptional) skill and effort, for prices that won't dwarf your investment in the rest of your railroad. At no point will we claim that our way is the only way, or even necessarily the best way. Rather, we describe approaches that have worked for us and will probably work for you.

The articles currently available in the Structures category include:

Stuff to Have on Hand - A list of products you should keep in your shop so you don't have to run to the store for a couple dollars' worth of glue or primer every time you want to work on a structure.
Painting Plastic Structures - Updated October, 2007 - Detailed instructions for making a plastic building kit far more attractive and weather-resistant before exposing it to the elements.
Painting the Colorado Model Structures Tower - NEW October, 2007 - A simple and inexpensive building project to help you get started customizing buildings for your railroad.
Glazing Windows with Lucite® - NEW October, 2007, A step-by-step example to help you add a professional finishing touch to your buildings.
Trashbashing 101 - An overview of techniques for turning non-models into useful structures you can use on your railroad.

In addition, if you want to get some buildings onto your railroad now, with very little fuss (and not too much expense), check out the Buildings for Garden Railroad catalog page.

Tell me about your projects

Our club, the Miami Valley Garden Railway Society, has several individuals whose structure-building efforts far exceed my own, so I know other folks have also pioneered new techniques. Do you have any new technique or recommendation you'd like to add to our list? If you do, especially if you can come up with how-to descriptions and photos, I'd love to post them here.

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