How To Projects Sidewalks and curbs for a garden railway

Sidewalks and curbs for a garden railway

By John Vorhes | June 27, 2022

A few materials from a home-improvement store create realistic detail for your downtown

Email Newsletter

Get the newest photos, videos, stories, and more from Trains.com brands. Sign-up for email today!

Sidewalks and curbs for a garden railway: My downtown area had realistic paved streets. Now it was time to add some sidewalks and curbs.

city scene on a garden railway
The author used shower floor tiles and tile adhesive to create realistic looking sidewalks for the downtown area of his garden railway. Photo by John Vorhes

I went to the local Home Depot and found inexpensive small square shower floor tiles in a natural stone color. I also found some beige plastic tile edging, which I’d use as curbing.

Hand holding a section of “paved” sidewalks for a garden railway
he author holds a finished section of sidewalk. The tiles were glued to a plastic backing, and tile adhesive was used as grout. The curb is made from plastic tile edging. Photo by John Vorhes

Making the sidewalks is straightforward. I glued the tiles onto a plastic backing and added the tile edging to finish the ends. I added grout between the tiles to finish it off. I chose a dirty concrete color, but there are several other color choices, depending on your preference.

Hand showing the underside of a section of “paved” sidewalks for a garden railway
The backside of this sidewalk section shows how the plastic tile edging was added to form a sidewalk curb. Photo by John Vorhes

I installed the sidewalks in my downtown area, and the effect next to the streets is quite nice. I hope you give this technique a try.

backed-off city scene on a garden railway
The sidewalks and curbing look great once they are in place on the railroad. Photo by John Vorhes
You must login to submit a comment