I want a garden railway!

Yes, it's true. I finally have a desire for a railway.

That's not a fair statement. I've had inklings towards a railway for some time.

My childhood 'N'-gauge never really got far. A freight train, and a passenger train with one diesel and one tank engine, and a couple of buildings.

The concept of a 'Z'-gauge briefcase railway was appealing. Can you imagine a layout of flex track building a simple diorama. All in a compact form. Great fun, uses some creativity, and would satisfy the urge. But have you tried buying for a 'Z' gauge system?

Another idea was just to build some static dioramas. Display cases about a foot long, and 4" deep. That would give the option of say putting a streetcar on a high street. A painted or printed backdrop of mill chimneys, and frontages for the buildings. Tracks set on cobbles. Could work. How about a deep picture frame and put a logging train, or Swiss train hugging a mountain side with trees and trestle bridges?

The next obvious one for me is a Lego system. That sounds great, but it would just take up space, and the boys would want to borrow parts. Who could blame them?

So, garden gauge? How about that? We have a yard that is 15'x19'. I can do something with that. I am thinking of running it at ground level. There is nowhere really to bank up earth or terrace it. I would like to use this as an excuse for a shallow water feature too. No one uses our back yard. It's too small to run, or ride a bike. The basketball hoop is unused. The sand box is retired. It's too hot in the noon sun, it's too dark and closed in the evenings, and we're close enough that partying outside at night would disturb the neighbours.

So my next question is what do I go with? I'd love live steam. I'd like Lego. I want ease of maintenance. The electricity out there is completely in the wrong place. And I want to keep it low budget.

The other thing, since the sandbox is coming out, I think I'll pull out the bench too. I have carte blanche in one wall of the garden and an eccentric shape of soil. I can see pea gravel, alpines, and miniatures. I can see moss and baby's breath. I don't see banzai though.

Are my ideas above my energies and skills? Only time will tell.