Up until about four years ago, bicycling and golf were my outdoor obsessions, but things changed and I had to find a hobby that kept me a little closer to home, i.e. within baby monitor range. A backyard pond and associated landscaping filled the bill, but after two years I was starting to get a little bored. Then I came up with a novel idea — why not add a little train track with a choo-choo zipping around? Betcha that’s never been done before. A quick Google search and well, you know.

The local train shop guy knew as much about G-scale as a chicken knows about dishwasher repair, but he did have an Aristo-Craft starter set (in Sesame Street livery) that he couldn’t seem to sell, even though it was marked way down to just $400. Go figure. I bought it, and had minutes of fun watching Elmo drive his bogus diesel switcher round and round the 4-foot circle. I started to think expansion. The train shop guy was eager to sell me all the track I wanted, at six bucks a foot plus tax, but my wife had all but filed divorce papers when I came home with Elmo in the first place, so I knew I had to find another solution.

It was January, and I wanted to start right away, so my criteria were: not too complicated to fabricate parts, can be assembled with frozen fingertips, toddler-proof, looks okay, impervious to Canadian climate, under a buck a foot. After a few weeks of experimenting, and some phone calls to the local metal suppliers I decided to try a system that used 1/8 by 3/4-inch aluminum flat-bar for the rails, and 3/4 inch square cedar ties, notched on my router.

I butt-joined the “rails” with four-hole fish plates carefully drilled to line up with two holes at the end of each section, held fast with 1/4” stainless machine screws and nuts. I built a forty foot dog bone loop this way, with ties a foot apart, right on the frozen ground. Elmo was delighted. Two feet of snow buried it. I dug it out. Elmo was ecstatic.

I designed a permanent eighty-foot line on my computer, and when spring came drove about 30 2X2 wooden stakes to the proper depth, at precise locations using x/y coordinates. Then I wheel barrowed in dirt, level with the stake tops, creating an embankment. Using 3” nails I fastened a tie strip (pre-drilled oversize) to each stake and then inserted the outside rail all the way around. Aluminum flat-bar is very flexible, so no pre-bending was necessary. The stakes held the curves nice and smooth.

Next I inserted the inside rail adding ties every foot or so to keep it in gauge. I put my father-in-law on the end of a 2X2 dirt tamper, and I dumped 1/4 inch screening gravel into the trench he made, which he also tamped while I had a beer. The loose fitting nails allowed me to lift the track, add more ties, and then set it back exactly where it was. I’d learned how to notch the ties precisely, so they clipped on with finger pressure.

At some point I took to halving the ties lengthwise and putting them closer together for a more 1:29 scale look. I broke more ties this way. Had I known I’d wind up in seven-eighths, I would have let them be. After ballasting one last time with some concrete in the mix, I removed the nails and held my breath. Everything stayed put just fine, and has so far.

The flat-bar method is surprisingly strong longitudinally and will span gaps without any support, which is handy if your trestles aren’t ready. In fact, balancing carefully I can walk down my track just like the real thing. It is great for clearing snow. Last summer the heat didn’t warp it. This winter’s not over yet, but it seems unaffected. Years ahead we’ll see.

As for looks, well, let’s just say it passes the ten foot rule, provided that you keep the ballast level with the tops of the ties so that you don’t see the rail penetrating the sleeper. Conveniently, seven-eighths is a scale where dirt/moss/weed-covered sleepers are often desired; so every so often I dump little piles of dirt along the right of way and let my critter spread it.

I struggled in vain to keep those aluminum rails conductive, finally switching to batteries after about a month, which was a smart move. There’s been enough written on that subject. Turnouts? I saw no reason why not, and was starting to build one (but with 1/2” deep bar instead of 3/4, for a lower profile) when my train shop guy offered me a whack of used code 332 rail at a price even I couldn’t refuse. That turnout quickly became 332, and this spring I’m confident it’ll fit easily into the existing loop.

Pete Kurelek