[studeclunker]

Hi, my net name is studeclunker. I live in northern California. My this is a tiny font, isn't it? The place I live in is located on the side of an arroyo overlooking Hwy. 299 and Grass Valley Creek which empties into the Trinity River. The natural scenery is pleasant enough. I'm currently looking for G.R.R. sages to advise me in how I can move my collection out of the display case and into the yard. I've had two small garden railways. Neither was of any consequence. Both were just a loop of track with a side-line at the station. It kept my son happy for hours at a time though. Now I'd like to do something like I've seen in Garden Railways Magazine. The area I'd like to place it is in one of two places. One is flat and very compacted. It's been a parking lot for old cars and junk for decades. The other is our orchard (some orchard, it's got three whole trees (LOL).

). The parking lot is about a hundred-fifty to two hundred feet long with a green house in the centre-rear of it, by about fifty to seventy feet and mostly sunny. The petite orchard is about fifty feet square, grassy and very shady in places.

My rolling stock consists of LGB, REA/Aristocraft, Bachman, Lionel and a few odd pieces (some very odd). There is currently not much trackage. I could use some brass rail to go with my tie strips. In that way I'd be able to triple my track. Anyone have any ideas? Just a few buildings. Most of them are pretty beat up and in need of fixing.

So I suppose one could say I'm here on a fishing expedition. fishing for ideas and information.

Thanks in advance...

Studeclunker

 

[Pete Thornton]

Studeclunker,

First - Welcome to MLS. You'll find lotsa info here, plus a bunch of guys way-too-ready to tell you how to do it.

Next thing I can tell you - if you click the 'edit' button on your posted message you will find a Size box top left with a drop-down list: this is size 2 (10pt). Size 3 is a bigger option.

The 'Beginners Forum' usually has someone asking a question like yours. In fact, as you have about 20 questions in the above, I'd recommend asking them one at a time in the Beginners Forum. Start with the location and then ask about the track?

A couple of thoughts to get you going. Everything in the garden (and in life) is a trade-off, and garden railways are just the same.

Trees are pretty but they drop stuff on your railroad. You say only 3 trees, but shady. Shady = track cleaning, especially if your trees leak sap. Maybe the compromise would be to run the track clear of the trees but put your chair(s) under the shady tree?
Alan Miller's book, Getting Started in Garden Railroading is a good reference. Alan's an MLS member, and he 'borrowed' a bunch of our photos to illustrate his book.


As Jerry says (below) a raised track is much more pleasant as you get older, and it improves the 'look' of the trains running around you. Maybe a 4' high roadbed on your old flat area would work?

Final thought - it is nice to have somewhere to store the trains under a roof, instead of picking them up and bringing them inside. Some folk build a 'box' along a fence and store the trains in there. Others run into their basement or garage. Your greenhouse might work, but keep the sun off the trains while they sit idle, or you'll have some "sway-backed" cars!

 

[Jerry Barnes]

Well, in the open area you would be going with plants that tolerate sun, in the shady area the opposite, but may be better for you being out of the sun/heat. You will have some branch/leaf problems at times that you will have to clean off, and falling fruit, I guess. I would advise keeping the track up at least a foot off the ground, makes it a lot easier to get the train onto the tracks. You could use the ladder method or use garden blocks. My yard is pretty flat, look at my web site and you can see what I did.

 

[R.W. Marty]

Welcome neighbor,

I don't know if your aware of our local club, see here; http://shastagrs.com/

We have several members in the Weaverville, Lewiston, and Hayfork areas.

If we can be of any assistance just shoot me an email.

Welcome to the forum
Rick Marty

 

[Gary Armitstead]

Welcome to MLS.

My first summer out of high school, 1961, I worked for the Bureau of Reclamation as a student surveyor, in this area. At that time, we were able to walk down into the area where Trinity Lake now resides. They were still cutting very tall trees down deep in that canyon. We were still building the dam at that time. Weaverville, Whiskeytown, Lewiston all familiar names. It's God's Country up there. You definitely have the scenery for a great railroad!

 

[Torby]

Hmm. I think if I was known as Studeclunker, that I'd try to change that

I usually tell people to:

1. Get a loop of track on the ground. You've already done that.
2. Browse the forums. Read the Garden Railways. Visit a few gardens.
3. Ask lots of questions like "How'd you do that?", "Why did you do it this way?" and "What works well for you?"
4. Go wander around the area where you want to put it.
5. Draw a rough sketch of what you have in mind. Post it, and some photos of your place. and ask, "What do you think of this?"

repeat steps 2 through 5

Take lots of pictures. We love pictures here

 

[Spule 4]

Studeclunker.......what a "Lark" of a name there.....

 

[studeclunker]

Okay, here's a try at another way of doing things...

Well, that didn't work. Perhaps the owner of the page only allows the first class members the priviledge of fonts and sized text. I spent all my money on rolling stock and trackage this week and can't buy a better membership right now (LOL)!

Yes, Spule, I did have Larks. In fact I just sold the last two a few weeks ago. My current ride is a '56 stationwagon. Studeclunker is what my Mother called the cars. When my Grandmother died, Mum inherited Gram's new Studee. She hated it. I was able to drive the car to school for a year and loved the thing. So, in rememberence of Gram and Mum, my user name everywhere is Studeclunker.

I'll post some pictures of the garden area (took 'em today), just as soon as I get them uploaded to my Photobucket account. I'll post them in the Beginner's forum.

Thanks for the welcome and info.

Yours,
studeclunker

 

[Matt Vogt]

Hello, Studeclunker, and welcome to MLS!

For some reason, I'm not able to pick a font size and then type in it . I have to go back after , highlight my type, and then change the size. Perhaps it is something to do the fact that I use Firefox. There are places to buy track without the ties, if that is a question of yours. It is considerably cheaper that way - perhaps half the cost. California and Oregon Coast Railway is a favorite of mine, for both service and price. Keep us posted!


Matt

 

[Torby]

Dad bought a Studebaker when I was little, not yet in school. He took us all for a ride. Then he took the engine apart and painted the right front fender purple. It sat next to the driveway and rusted until Mom had it hauled away. It did run when he first got it. I remember going for a ride in it!

 

[Stan Cedarleaf]

Ah yes, Studebakers. Dad got a brand new 51 gray 4 door. Loved it. Many years later, I was able to find a 53 Starliner and drove it for a few years.

Welcome to MLS.

 

[Jerry Barnes]

Buddy of mine in high school(1962) had a couple of Champions, he cut the roof off of one so we could ride around in a convertible!

 

[aceinspp]

Welcome to MLS. As you can see lot of folks jumping in to give ya hand. Good luck in your choice of location for the RR. Later RJD

 

[studeclunker]

Okay, as was suggested I'm going to move this to the Beginner's forum. I've taken the pictures and will post them there. Thanks again, all.

 

[Spule 4]

I always wanted one of the uber rare Diesel Larks after a friend told me about them. Very few, a couple two doors and wagons, the rest were four doors for Taxi service, based on 6 cyl body/frames.

 

[studeclunker]

Posted By Spule 4 on 03/17/2009 8:03 PM
I always wanted one of the uber rare Diesel Larks after a friend told me about them. Very few, a couple two doors and wagons, the rest were four doors for Taxi service, based on 6 cyl body/frames.


To my knowledge there is only one two-door that survives. No others have surfaced of any type, wagon, sedan, or otherwise. The sole survivor is shown regularly on the east coast. In fact, I've seen pictures of it at the international meet in South Bend. Also, Studebaker didn't make the motor. You can do a search on the Studebaker web page for the forum thread on the car.

Here's a quote on a thread about the survivor diesel:

There has been some discussion before about diesel Larks. Today I was at Torrey's and took these pix of his diesel ('63 two-door, automatic transmission, four-cylinder 64 hp Perkins diesel). It was assigned a six-cylinder body number. Torrey thinks there were six two-door sedans built, 10 station wagons and an unknown number of taxis. They were all assigned six-cylinder numbers.

The thread can be read at this location:

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26995&SearchTerms=diesel,car


By the by, if you folks are really interested in Studebakers, might I suggest our club's website:

http://studebakerdriversclub.com/

or

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/forum.asp?forum_id=2

for the driver's forum.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled forum subject... Me!

Uh, I mean, trains.

Yeah, we're supposed to be discussing model trains.

 

[Spule 4]

Right, Perkins motor. Reportedly, there is a four door floating around in MD/VA somwhere according to a longtime Stude/Packard restorer and friend.

I have often thought of putting a non turbo OM617 in an early Lark Six, while the purists would shudder, remember the Merc-Stude ties, and only 8 hp less than a stock six. And at least it "aint a Shebby Three-Fiddy" to quote the natives around here.

To get back to topic, a while back a friend of mine that is an Alco nut was tracking this down since it was here in TN, recently broken up however reportedly. I think he has pix....

http://www.monon.monon.org/railpixs2/stude3A.jpg

 

[studeclunker]

Yes, I've heard about that one before:

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14391&SearchTerms=locomotive

It may have gone for scrap:

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12037&SearchTerms=locomotive

 

[Spule 4]

It used to sit near Clinton, TN on a siding, passed it a few times, not knowing its history.

 

[John J]

WELCOME TO MLS from THE NEW RIVER & WESTERN RAIL ROAD NEW RIVER ARIZONA