Things I Still Need (As of 2003-2005)

Editors Note, 2023 - This page is actually no longer on the main index, but there are some links to it out there, so I'm revisiting it.

It is interesting that many of the issues that kept our hobby from being "optimum" in 2003 were still issues in 2016, when we moved away, leaving the fountain, the track, several buildings, and one train for the young family who bought our house.

I actually ran underground wire to attach electricity from the house to the railroad, but I didn't have it hooked up by the time we moved.

I did buy a bunch of Sterlite containers to hold the trains I wanted to schlep in and out. I stored them in the leaky, unheated, drafty garage, but they did okay, and it was a lot easier than schlepping them out of the attic. Also, I gave away most of the boxes those cars had come in, since they took up more room than the trains.

Regarding time, I never had the time to work on the railroad or the individual pieces. I'm retired, and I barely have it now. But we've enjoyed the hobby since I put the first loop of track around the pond in 1999, and expect to enjoy it until we have to move again.

We now return you to the article as we wrote it about 2003 and updated it slightly in 2005:

Things I still need include:

• Electricity permanently running from the house to the pond/railroad area. That will require wiring inside as well as outside the house, since there are actually no outlets on that side of the house, inside or outside. Old house, what can I say?
• Safe, dry storage for my equipment. Right now, most of my best equipment is in the attic, the only safe dry place to keep it (and yes, we vent it in the summer). This makes it real hard to get things down and operate them, but the basement is way too damp and the garage is a leaky, overgrown shed that offers no real security. So I keep a few cheap pieces out to run and keep the rest put up except for big important events, whic means they get a lot of time off.
• A good way to transport equipment to the site. Right now 90% of it is still in the boxes it came in, which, frankly, aren't suitable for hauling it in and out. Have been looking at clear plastic storage bins, but haven't been able to find anything with the right height and length combination.
• Time to do more on the railroad. I own an older home that requires a lot of work I haven't done because I'm self employed and usually wind up getting more work just when I should be getting around to painting or whatever. One of these days. . . .
• Lots of cosmetic work, decaling my locomotives and cabeese, etc.
• I'm sure I'll think of more later.

In the meantime, you poke around the site, enjoy yourself and imagine what you could do with a shovel and some rocks yourself if you had half a chance. And leave me a note if something gives you an idea. Also, if you're heading toward the Dayton/Springfield Ohio area, and you want to see a beginning garden railroad that will make you feel better about your attempts, drop me a line.

To learn more about what makes my railroad work and what could be improved, check the other links on the New Boston and Donnels Creek page.

Next - Proceed to our article "Refurbishing Garden Railroad Roadbed," which describes how we used cement roadbed to addressed the massive burrowing animal and weed growth problems caused by following the track-over-gravel-on-a-dirt-pile instructions of the desert-dwelling garden railroad experts and GR editors.

Previous - Return to our article "About the Owner/Author/Lead Editor," which describes Paul's circumstances and approach to garden railroading in the early 2000s

Return to our article "NB&DC Rolling Stock," which lists the sorts of cars I was running on my railroad in the early 2000s.

Return to our article "Motive Power, which was written in 2003, and updated in 2008. It describes the locomotive we were using most of the time to pull trains on the New Boston and Donnels Creek.

Return to our article "June, 2003 Photos, to see what our railroad looked like four years after we broke ground, and one year after the 2002 convention.

Return to our article "Layout So Far," which describes the track plan, plants, etc. of our garden railroad as of the early spring of 2003.

Return to our "January, 2003" article, which includes photo of our railroad caught in a 6"-8" snow right after running trains at Christmas.

Return to our "June, 2002 Photos article, which contains photos of our garden railroad as it was set up for the 2002 National Garden Railway Convention in Cincinnati.

Return to "What to Do When a Tree Eats Your Railroad."

To return to our article "Stress Testing on the NB&DC RR," click here.

To return to our NBDC 1998-2000 Pictures page, click here.

To return to Landscaping and Pond Construction, 1998-1999, click here,

To return to our page About New Boston and Donnels Creek" click here.

To return to the New Boston and Donnels Creek Index Page, click here

To return to the Family Garden Trains Home Page, click here