This page lists products that are especially useful to beginning Garden Railroaders. If you don't know what Garden Railroading is, my article "Go Outside and Run Your Trains," on the Family Garden Trains Primer page will give you some idea.

Another helpful Primer article is "Building a Garden Railroad on a Budget." That article gives you some idea of the sort of expenses you may incur as you begin to move your trains outside. That article argues in favor of taking "baby steps" when you're starting out. But if you work your way through the sample budget sheets in that article, you'll soon realize that:

• You can put a "test track" on level ground for little more than the cost of a starter set and an extra loop of track.
• Building a nicely landscaped small-to-medium garden railroad with a pond and buildings will cost you several times that much - not because the train will cost you more, but because everything else will.
• At first, you will probably spend more for gardening and landscaping stuff than you will for track and trains put together. This shouldn't scare anyone who's used to spending time (and money) at the garden store each spring.
• At first you should expect to spend more for track than you do for your trains. (If you "chintz" on trains and structures at first, you can always fix that with another trip to the store, but if you chintz on track, your railroad will never be what it ought to be.)

I can't help you order bolders and mulch online, or even with Dwarf Alberta Spruces, but I can help you make the most useful initial investments in track, trains, and structures. The goal of this page is to save you time and money by helping you locate the most useful (and generally the most affordable) products for when you're first starting out.

Update for 2015 - Every year we rework our "short list" of products folks should consider starting out with. Some years the list gets shorter; some it gets longer, depending on the state of the economy three years ago - yes, it takes 18-36 months for global economic changes to affect our market. Thank goodness, we've had a few good years in a row, so stuff that was hard to find in 2010-2013 is starting to reappear again.

The other thing that has happened is that several vendors who used to do their online business through sites we could link to directly are now doing most of that business through Amazon. So most of our train links just go there these days. Once you get to an Amazon page, though, you can often find multiple vendors selling the same thing. So you can do "competitive shopping" (more-or-less) directly from the Amazon page.

Also, certain train products tend to come online late in the season. So once you get to a product's Amazon page, look at the "other people have bought" and "other people have looked at" lists to see if something's come online since I most recently updated this page.

For information about why model trains and related products seem to "come and go" even in good years, please see our article "About Pricing and Availability." Please contact us if you have questions about availability, quality, or, suitability of any product listed on this page.

A Note about "Buyer's Guides" We post these descriptions to help you make informed decisions and to learn what is available, even if the suppliers we usually recommend have a short supply. In some cases, we will allow a description to remain online, even without a supplier link, if we have reason to believe that the product will become available again later. If you want a particular product, but we have no supplier button or the supplier's page says they are sold out, let us know, and we'll try to help you find one elsewhere. We apologize if this causes you any inconvenience or confusion.

Note about Suppliers: While we try to help you get the products you want by recommending suppliers with a good record of customer service, all transactions between you and the supplier you chose to provide your trains or other purchases are governed by the published policies on the supplier's web site. So please print off any order confirmation screens and save copies of invoices, etc., so you can contact the appropriate supplier should any problems occur. (They almost never do, but you want to be on the safe side.)

Stuff You'll Need at First

• Large Scale Starter set - a complete train with a little power pack to get your started. Probable cost range: $150-400
• Extra track - one or two large loops of track, as well as any other straight pieces or turnouts (switches) you need to complete a small but functional railroad outside. Probable cost range: $150-400.
• Buildings - A few attractive, sturdy structures that go together easily, so your trains have a "community" to serve.
• Groundcovers - a few plants you should try to get started early so you gain experience and "starters" you can spread around as your railroad grows.
• Trees - a few miniature trees to consider.

Starter Sets

Note: Like several of the other trains on this page, this set was an early favorite Bachmann Big Hauler fans, but was unavailable for several years. This reintroduction includes many mechanical improvements over the 1990s version. However, it is nearly sold out again, so if you like this train, don't wait too long to order.

Bachmann has reengineered this locomotive several times so it's more reliable than ever. It has operating headlight, smoke, speed-synchronized sound, and a coal tender. It pulls a coach and observation car with lighted interiors.

Track for Outside

LGB invented the track that most garden trains run on. Track from AristoCraft/GeneratioNext and USA Trains is totally compatible with LGB, but it has better connectors. Bachmann's brass track (not the stuff that comes with their trains) is also compatible with the other brands shown here.

Note: Piko's larger curves aren't always exactly the same as the other brands, so if you have to mix and match curves, consider sticking with the other three brands on this page. Otherwise read the product discriptions carefully.

Because of the uneven availability of track in 2014, you might wind up using track from more than one manufacturer. That's why we have a cross-reference list of the most popular pieces. The pieces that I've found most useful are shown in bold. For more details on the track options listed here, as well as many other choices, please check out the Garden Railroad Track Options page.

STRAIGHT Track with Solid Brass Rail	AristoCraft/ GeneratioNext Std. Gauge (US) #	AristoCraft/ GeneratioNext Narrow Gauge (Euro) #	LGB (Euro) #	Bachmann ) #	Piko #	USA Trains #
1' Straight Track (usually comes in a box of 12 pieces)	30030	11000	10000 (300mm)	94651	35200 (320mm)	R81000
2' Straight Track (usually comes in a box of 12 pieces)	30060	11060	10600		35208	R81060

CURVED Track with Solid Brass Rail	AristoCraft/ GeneratioNext Std. Gauge (US) #	AristoCraft/ GeneratioNext Narrow Gauge (Euro) #	LGB (Euro) #	Bachmann #	Piko #	USA Trains #
4'-Diameter Curve Track (12 pieces make a circle. LGB calls this "RI".)	30100	11100	11000 (R1)	94653	35211	R81100
5'-Diameter Curve Track (12 pieces make a circle. LGB calls this "R2".)	30110	11500	15000 (R2)	94654		R81500
8'-Diameter Curve Track (16 pieces make a circle. LGB calls this "R3".)	30115	11600	16000 (R3)	94655A		R81600
10'-Diameter Curve Track (12 pieces make a circle.)	30120	11800				R81700
15'-Diameter Curve Track (24 pieces make a circle.)			1800

Buildings

About "Beginning" Piko Structures The first several Piko structures listed below use essentially the same basic components and construction, so if you start, say with the smallest "Gingerbread" house, then move on to the schoolhouse or stores, you'll be able to apply any "lessons learned" as you progress. For maximum results, follow our detailed instructions on painting and assembling these.

Piko Gingerbread Houses - These little houses are great for setting up a small town without a lot of space. They look tiny in the photo (taken from the package's cover art), but they're large enough to look fine with any garden train. In addition, I have a whole article on how to paint and assemble these so that they'll last for many years outdoors. I started with the yellow one because I liked the trim the best. (Yes, it's blue now.) I've had this outside for four years, year-round, and it still looks as good as when I set it out.

In fact, starting with a "Gingerbread" series house is a pretty good idea. It's one of the simplest sets to paint and assemble, but it uses the same walls and basic construction as many of Piko's US-style buildings, including the Schoolhouse and the Church below.

Ground Covers

"Groundcover 101"

Springhill Nurseries, a reputable sponsor, offers several which you may find useful. Simply click on the button on the right, then use the following plant names as search terms to get started early. Note: Some groundcovers that are sold for general use are too invasive to use on garden railways. If you have a question about any particular plant, and I haven't discussed it in my "Groundcover 101" article, please contact me and I'll tell you what I know about it.

• Creeping Thyme - This describes a range of low-growing Thymes, including Magic Carpet Thyme. They are often sold for planting in between stepping stones. They are very handy for filling in "brushy" areas on your railroad. Thyme thrives in full or partial sun, especially on elevated, fairly dry areas such as "hillsides." See my article on "Inexpensive and Low-Maintenance Plants for Garden Railroads" for more tips about using creeping thyme.
• Irish Moss - Another Garden Railroading favorite. Beautiful, low-lying clumps of very tiny leaves, full sun or partial shade, zones 4-7
• Purple Ice Plant, also Golden Ice Plant - I haven't used these but some of my friends have used them with success. They have small leaves and bright flowers; fine in dry areas, zones 5-9

Dwarf and Miniature Trees

"Trees for your trains"

• Dwarf Alberta Spruce - This is the most popular garden railroad tree throughout most of North America. It isn't hard to keep trimmed to a conical shape and to keep relatively small. It's also become a popular landscaping plant, so it's not hard to pick up cheap. If it's croweded, though, the branches on that side will die, so be careful about letting things grow up against it.
• Hetz Midget - A little arborvita that usually comes with a dozen trunks in a single pot. Cut off all but the thickest, and you'll find it fairly easy to keep in a "deciduous" shape.
• Boulevard Cypress - These grow slowly and can be kept in a nice deciduous shape with minimum trimming.

Many more conifers are useful if you don't mind training them a bit, or at least being judicious with the trimmers. I like conifers because they can represent all kinds of trees, and they stay green all winter long, looking cheerful.

A few non-confers can be useful, such as laceleaf Japanese maple. Just know that the ones you buy are all grafts - the laceleaf branches are grafted onto a "generic" Japanese maple trunk. The branches tend to grow out, not up, so you'll have to trim the lower branches for a few years to force upward growtn.

Again our article on "Trees for your trains" has lots of information on trimming.