Model Train Resource: G-Scale (Garden) Track Plans To Inspire Your Own Layout Designs

© 2011 by Aurelio Locsin

The term G-scale is something of a misnomer, since its proportions can vary from 1:30.3 to 1:32, depending on country and manufacturer. A more accurate label is G-gauge, which refers to width of the track at 1.772 inches of 45 millimeters. This number remains constant across all the G scales. Other constants are the durability and large size of the engines and cars, making them suitable for running outdoors in the yard. The following track plans can stimulate your own garden railroad.

T. and A. Sheil have compiled the largest online collection of G scale track plans that I know of. The first page contains only six layouts, but scroll to the bottom and click the designated link to wander through several pages of diagrams. I especially like that they’re all laid out on a grid of one-foot squares, making it easy to see if a potential pike will fit in your yard. Each plan also shows the number and cost of the Aristocraft G-gauge track needed for its creation.

You can still have a G-scale pike in a small area as shown in the 11-by-14-inch layout by micro-layout master, Carl Arendt. A sector plate allows two diesels to carry a passenger car and tipping car among a fiddle yard, gravel loader and truck transfer facility.

There’s even room for a small bridge and a gate. Be sure and browse other G-scale jewels on the website including a double-deck pizza layout in 3 square feet and the G-Whizz Traction Company in 2-by-3 feet.

This classic garden layout is a simple figure-eight with one spur in 35-by-78 square feet. The structures, which come from wooden kits, are spread across a landscape of trees, tunnels and a small lake.

Destinations include an interlocking tower, a distribution center, a freight depot, a passenger station and a fishing cabin. Click “Photos” for pictures of the layout. Unfortunately, all the videos are currently offline.

This indoor 25-by-36-foot pike is set in the 1930s and includes floor-to-ceiling mountains and walk-through valleys constructed from styrofoam. The track plan near the bottom of the page seems a tangled mess, until you realize that scenery and multiple levels segregate the runs. Some of the scenes include a snowed-in mill, a hot air balloon and cable car, a duck pond, and a roundhouse and turntable.

Returning to the great outdoors, the Los Gatos Railroad is designed for operations and sprawls on top of a raised bed. The track plan diagram isn’t the clearest. But the pictures and video clips should fill in the missing details. The pike uses DCC and RailOp software to generate switch lists. Highlights include a circus train, a yard with two engine sheds, a small western town and loads of living plants.