Puckdropper wrote in
news:4m_Kd.74$Xs6.26@trnddc01:

I'm thinking about putting an HO Scale railroad in the
garden when I plant it this spring. I'm posting here
because I need advice on what I can lay track ON that would
be sturdy and not harm my tomatoes, strawberries,
watermelon, carrots, green beans (or whatever else I
plant.)

most people use G scale for garden railroads for two reasons.
it's big enough to actually see & it's not as fragile as HO.
that said, i would use exterior plywood for your roadbed & post
really big signs warning people about RR Crossings
one other drawback to HO is no matter what you plant, it's
going to be completely out of proportion to the trains. if that
doesn't bother you, then go for it!
lee

At the moment, my main question is how to securely mount
the track. I plan on soldering every joint so electric
connectivity isn't a problem.
The track is about 1" wide with plastic "ties" between
the rails.
Normally, track is mounted by putting a nail through the
center of the tie in to a board or with glue. However, a
1/2" nail like I use wouldn't be sufficient to hold track
in place on dirt/weed block.

Also, HO scale track is somewhat fragile. Any ideas on how
to prevent having it stepped on? (I'm sure many gardeners
have come across a similar problem.)

If there's a better newsgroup for this, I don't think my
ISP carries it... There's no rec.models.railroads.garden
like there is rec.models.railroads.ho

--- Short introduction to model railroad scales in general.
(For the curious.) ---

Model railroads are railroads built to resemble the full
scale railroads that I'm sure everyone has seen or at least
crossed their tracks. They're built to different sizes
(each with their advantages and disadvantages) called
/scales/ and they usually have letter names. O scale (1:48
proportion) was one of the original so when trains came out
that were roughly half of O scale (1:87) it was called HO
for "Half O."

Puckdropper



--
It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still
differentiate
between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing
the vital
connection between them. -Leo Buscaglia, author (1924-1998)