My mother-in-law (the gardener) and myself (the model railroad enthusiast) are strongly considering garden railroading. I have no previous experience with "outdoor" modeling and was wondering what you do about leaves. We have three acres to play with but with a large quantity of oak trees. Needless to say, extensive raking in the fall. Have considered netting in the trees to divert the leaves to "non-railroad" portions of the yard. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

Mike, I have a large red maple in the middle of a loop at one end of my layout. I to have used an electric leaf vacuum which works wonders. I use chicken grit for ballast in a trench with weed barrier. I use yellow glue and water mixed in a sprayer to keep the ballast in place. I can break it up if i need to move track around. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me. Good luck

Mike, I originaly used a leaf blower (electric) set on low to blow leaves off the layout, but a couple yrs. ago I bought a blower/vac and found the vacuum to be superior at "de-leafing" the layout. Plus, the leaves are ground up and take less space in the yard waste can. You just dump the vac bag right into recycling can or compost bin.