By Ray Turner

Author  Bio Like many of us, I started in model railroading with Lionel when I was seven.

Like many of us, I started in model railroading with Lionel when I was seven. The HO railroad I started in our first house was sidetracked by a move to a house without a room for a model RR. And I was busy raising three kids and working as an electrical engineer anyway.

Many years later I saw a garden railroad and a light bulb came on. My first garden RR was 200' of hand-laid Aluminum track and a waterfall/pond in a small backyard. A move to a new house with a much larger yard plus four years of intense work resulted in the current Mystic Mountain Railroad (http://www.mysticmountainarts.com/MMRR).

An engineer by background (not the railroad type), I enjoy creating things. I've converted 5 engines now to battery power, radio control with sound effects. I've developed systems for rapidly getting trains on to and off of the railroad, because I've found that the easier it is to do, the more often I do it. I have sound effects in some of the buildings. I built a 30' turntable from scratch. I kit bash buildings and cars, e.g. turning an old Bachmann tender into a combo water tower and coal station for a small town. I like mountainous territory so I cast and painted hundreds of concrete rock cliffs. I taught myself to weld so I could make some complex steel girder lift bridges.

Lately my wife and I are creating Fairy Trains whimsical trains to draw more women and girls into the hobby with the men (http://www.fairytrain.com). It definitely has my wife and daughter more interested in railroading with me. A separate fairy garden provides the whimsical venue for our Fairy Trains to run. After exhibiting at a few shows, we decided that non-garden railroaders needed an easier way to get into the hobby than a whole garden railroad project. So we created Garden Pot Track Circles a 2' diameter circle of track with its own power supply that just drops onto a 20" garden pot. Surprisingly small, this can announce that you're a railroader to people on your front porch or on your patio. You can run a Fairy Train of a conventional train (two axle engines and cars, please; it's a bit tight for a Big Boy).

Remote Control

Hi Ray Great article Just what I was after Seem to be having some difficulty locating the rermote unit in Australia Could you send me the web site to contact "All Electronics" in USA I would like to make contact to see if they would freight one to me Regards Eric Marsh

Eric Marsh - 12/22/2007 - 04:21

Helix article

Ray, fantastic article. Wild and creative. I really enjoy your bold steps in conquering a very challenging terrain. Wow! That is awesome! I would love to hear more about your experience with casting concrete. Also would like to see your overall track plan. I have done quite a bit concrete casting on my Bearspaw Crossing experiment railroad blog. You are into it really big time. I cast mine in place, but I am using a faster setting mix and smaller molds. Your rocks really look great. Nice work. Keep uo the great work, and hope to see more or your layout. Warner Swarner

Warner Swarner - 03/20/2008 - 15:09

Sensor

Ray - I will give this a try. I usually use a bank of batteries totaling 14.4 volts (NiMh). Suppose your system will still work in this setting? Usually one cell drops out first, lowering speed that gives me a warning the loco needs a recharge, Thanks for the great article! Bob Charles Ranchester, WY

Robert Charles - 06/17/2009 - 05:51

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