I am in the process of planning my front yard Christmas display. Last year I ran a train on a large oval with track layed on the lawn directly. The uneven sloped surface of the lawn immediately became VERY apparent and was problematic since I tried leveling it with all kinds of scraps of wood, stone, etc. This year I am determined to make it more level from the start.

 

I was thinking of driving stakes into the ground under the oval and set the tops of the stakes level with a laser level. Then attach 2 PVC pipes side by side to the tops with drywall screws atop the stakes before zip tying the track to the PVC. I don't remember if I read about this somewhere or am dreaming it up.

 

Has anyone done a temporary layout using this or any similar method?  

 

I am certainly open to any other suggestions.  Since my lawn is very sloped part of the track will be off the lawn.

 

Thanks for any suggestions!!!!

 

Paul H.

The "orginial " Splicer, poster here , years ago , built his railway that way , and it was on the Cicnn. Ohio NGRC conv tour , looked great , worked great , he later had to move and it was removed , he also built some large /long wooden trestles between the post / legs . I belive that he used 3 PVC pipes together under the track to support it between post . Cableland Southern Xpress , CSX .

So it should work well for you Paul .

 

And I found a link with pics , look in the background , he painted the PVC black . Splicer really had some uneven ground !

 

Some one on here used  Gutter  Down Spout Pipe.  

 

He cut "V"'s in the pipe at the right intervals to make curves. 

In the archives there is some posts on that sort of thing.

 

One with a guy doing a Christmas layout in the front yard and then Ray Manely has his layout on what looks that could be a temporary layout and not just a permenent one.

 

Anyway you will have to search for them.

 

Bubba

Your querry inspired me to post a topic on my Flexible Spine System, which you might find useful.

 

 

A single spine is not very strong so you will need a pier or support for every span of 18" or so.  If you added 45 degree braces from the pier to the spine you could reduce the number or piers by 2/3 or so.

 

Terl

I have. If you dig through the archives for Christmas train, or Mark's Christmas Layout there are multiple treads showing my holiday layout.

 

David Wegmuller has several pictures of my layout (and even a movie) on his site. This should give you a feel for the construction method.  The PVC lumber sections are 5' long and bolted together with lag bolts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here is a link to the movie from 2006 - 

http://wegmuller.org/v-web/gallery/albums/Mark20061209/Mark2006.wmv

 

-Mark

I use this system.  It was only temporary until I could haul in all the dirt fill and ballast. 

 

 

It works great but is expensive for a large layout.

Paul,

 

Think big! You can cram a fairly large temporary layout in a very small yard - esp if you are willing to cross the driveway or if your neighbors will let you encroach on their yard for the holidays (highly likely if they like decorating for the holidays and you make your layout attractive).

 

To give you a better idea, here is an arial shot of my holiday layout:

 

 

I don't know what engines and rolling stock you have, but 8' diameter is very tight. Still, you have to start somewhere. Here is how my layout looked in 2005 (same yard, just using the small patch to the left of the driveway):

BTW - if you want a simple track system and aren't running heavy brass trains, this is it. The track was heavy Aristo/USA trains track that bolts together, and was simply laid on top of pieces of wood. Slots were cut in the ends of the wood to hold lights. Simple, and it worked great until I started running live steam. Oh yea, and this was an 8ft diameter layout. Worked, but barely.

 

Glad to see another holiday layout in the making. Please keep us posted on your progress, let me know if I can help, and please post pictures of your results!

 

Cheers,

Mark

It is nice to be remembered!!!

 

Just to clarify I used 2 inch and a half white PVC pipes that I strapped together and then used PVC cement between the 2 pipes and then removed the straps...Then I placed these on top of 3 inch white PVC 'supports'...I used flat ended caps and then used drywall screws to screw the 2 pipes to the support 'caps'...Spray painted the whole thing black because I ran out of time and the convention was only a few days away...It was intended to be a viaduct but as was mentioned I had to move before I got that far and it all came down...It was actually pretty easy and went together quickly...It was the wood trestle that took awhile to do correctly...

 

Hey Paul!!! Email me...Same email addy! Hope you and Helen are doing well my friend!!!

I kind of did a hybrid system. Ended up using 3/4 PVC pipe with wooden clamps as in the "flexible spine system" then secured them into the ground by hammering wooden stakes. It's not perfect and the PVC won't bend around my 8 ft. diameter curves. But you live and learn. The track is just zipp tied to the wooden block clamps. The main thing is that it is more level than last years oval directly on the grass.

 

Train or trolley runs in the evenings and I often walk outside to find a few of the neighbors standing on the lawn with their children watching it go and go.  Makes all the work worth it.  My five year old says, "Dad we're like famous so many people come to see the train!" 

 

Thanks again to all who responded and shared ideas on this topic.

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

 

Paul H.