Garden Railway Forum

Looks like you'll end up with a nice long run.

Love the engine shed, right up my street!

Looking forward to further updates,

Andrew.

I agree with the others, that's a wonderful looking train, beautifully done, congratulations!

With best wishes,

Andrew.

Thanks Philip!

I think I'll give it a miss this evening, but tomorrow looks dry so I might manage to SBR the un-glued ballast in the evening...

All the best,
Andrew

The weather in Kent has been lovely this weekend! I do like all your planting Andrew. It's rained all day here but brightened up beautifully now - can any of the resident SBR gurus remind me if I can apply the stuff to wet chippings? Glad you like the greenery Tom - it wasn't really planned that wa...

Weather here is still miserable..Haven't seen the :sunny: for 4 days now.. :( Unfortunately it's raining here too - it started the moment I set foot outdoors! I'm hoping I'll get some decent evenings this week so that I can still run some trains next weekend. Fingers crossed... Cheers, Andrew.

Those last two are super piccys! :D The age old question yet again, what is your ballast? Glad you like 'em! The ballast is "Alpine Green" horticultural grit, which I purchased from B&Q a few years ago. I'm hoping they still sell it, because I've run out and am planning to buy some mo...

Good advice Philip, thanks! I needed to cover it earlier while I watered in the Postcrete platform (actually, I think that may have been an idea I pinched from you!) but it's now drying beautifully in the afternoon sunshine... And thanks Mitch - sorry, no Russell action just yet, but I did get to do...

Hello all, With a busy weekend ahead I started work early today, before the kids got up, to make sure that there'd be at least some progress on the Penlan station project. This morning's task was to add the platform. I'd prepared the ground a little earlier in the week, painting the wooden edging wi...

That looks excellent! I'll be carrying out ballasting myself this weekend - I've already dry ballasted and levelled the first siding, will add SBR to that this evening then do the rest of the station site. I've purchased a turkey baster for the job, thanks for the tip - the large syringe I used last...

So what's the green used on the Colonel Stephens livery? Nobody seems to know what the actual colour is used on the Ffestiniog railway today. John I go for Revell Matt 48 for mine, which is slightly "bluer" than the shade often used - I reckon it gives a slightly faded look, which I like....

I really enjoyed that, thank you! You've got a lovely line, and the realistic operation really brings out the best in it. I love the huge selection of wagons too, some of them are wonderfully decrepit looking but still working hard! Although my line doesn't quite offer the operating potential that y...

Very nice! And I think your 16mm used car lot is the first I've ever seen!

Cheers,

Andrew.

Looking really good Andrew, I like the ideas of using brick track beds. Thanks Kevin! The combination of bricks and Postcrete makes for fairly easy ground-level track laying - because this was just a siding I was slightly less careful than I might have been with levels etc, which made things even q...

Nice Andrew. Mind you, with all those short lengths of rail, the cost of the number of rail joiners you used must have pretty much equated to a length of new rail! Luckily, when I came to look I found that I'd over-ordered last time I purchased fishplates. And, since the siding literally used up ev...

Thanks for the update, things are looking good - I love those carriages! Scrabbling around on my hands and needs with various bits of shrubbery poking at me as I try to progress the landscaping on my ground level line can sometimes make me wish I'd gone down a similar route to you - your layout look...

That's looking great - it looks like it will be excellent for smooth reliable running, and is the perfect blank canvas for whatever else you want to do I'm very sorry about your father, but glad you've found your railway a positive way to take your mind off things a little. With very best wishes, An...

Good morning! A lovely day yesterday saw a fair bit of progress on the current project in the garden, sorting out Penlan station. A simple brick trackbed for siding was Postcrete-d into position, and the track assembled on top. In true railway tradition, this unimportant siding was laid using bits a...

Having stock just sit in the morning sun is atmospheric in itself! Absolutely - I know just what you mean! That's a fantastic looking rake of carriages, thanks for the picture. I've got a half-finished model of a Hudson "toast rack" that I started about 10 years ago, I really must finish ...

That's going to be fun! The option for indoor running seems like a good one, and I love the siding that runs into "the works", ie the workbench. It will be so satisfying to trundle a finish project off the bench and onto the rest of the line for a test run... That idea's not possible with ...

Glad it's all coming together, I look forward to seeing pictures of trains running in due course - take it easy though, don't over do it!

All the best,

Andrew.