Small Balcony Garden Railway

[E.V.]

Hello everybody!
Long enough I read this wonderful forum, but just now I decided to show my work. My name is Egor. I live in Russia (60 km from Moscow), so English is not my native language unfortunately. I use the Google translate, so please forgive possible errors in advance.
A couple of years ago I thought about building my own garden railway, which could be used all year round. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment in a big house, besides the climate in Russia does not contribute to year-round work outdoor.
I decided to make a small garden railway layout on the balcony in our apartment. My wife let me take half of it for my hobby. I present to you my work.




The theme of my layout is the US logging narrow gauge railway in the early stages of development. I like live steam locomotives, so I do not have any electric model, as there is no power on the rails. But I equipped all of my steam locomotives with a radio control system. Due to the balcony is very narrow I had to apply non-standard radius - about 510 mm. The rails were bent with the rail bender, which my friend kindly lent me. Such a small radius pass well locomotives 0-4-0 - Accucraft Ruby and Bowande Falk. To get inside the layout I made the drop-down part on the hinges. On my layout, I embodied my long-standing dream of having a turntable, although it is small, but quite working.
A few photos with details:










Turntable:




Unloading ramp:

[Gralyn]

You have managed to fit a lot into a small space . Brilliant.

[tom_tom_go]

Thanks for sharing Egor.

Having a railway whatever it's size is better than no railway at all

Is the turntable motorised?

[markoteal]

Great railway fitted in beautifully! The smallest live steam line on here????????

[Dwayne]

Egor, a warm welcome from Oklahoma! Your English is a million times better than my Russian (which is zero). A visit to your wonderful nation and seeing life in Russia is on my bucket list. I watched a series of Youtube videos called "Real Russia" that gave me an insight to everyday life in Russia. Ya'll are no different than us in spite of what certain criminals in suits over here we call politicians keep chanting.

Love the small layout, the theme and your rolling stock. Thanks for sharing.

[Peter Butler]

Excellent work Egor under challenging circumstances. You have a nice railway and a very understanding wife... lucky man!

[E.V.]

You have managed to fit a lot into a small space . Brilliant.

Thanks!

Thanks for sharing Egor.
Having a railway whatever it's size is better than no railway at all
Is the turntable motorised?

Thanks!
No, turntable is manual. It is absolutely flat and does not require any hole.

Great railway fitted in beautifully! The smallest live steam line on here????????

Thank you! I hope my railway will inspire someone who also lives in the apartment for their own construction.

Egor, a warm welcome from Oklahoma! Your English is a million times better than my Russian (which is zero). A visit to your wonderful nation and seeing life in Russia is on my bucket list. I watched a series of Youtube videos called "Real Russia" that gave me an insight to everyday life in Russia. Ya'll are no different than us in spite of what certain criminals in suits over here we call politicians keep chanting.

Love the small layout, the theme and your rolling stock. Thanks for sharing.

Many thanks!
I unfortunately visited so far only in several European countries and was not in America, but my modest experience confirms that people in all countries are approximately the same. I hate politicians, I hope there will come a day when all countries will live in peace and harmony.

Excellent work Egor under challenging circumstances. You have a nice railway and a very understanding wife... lucky man!

Thank you! I agree, I was very lucky with my wife

[daan]

Hi Egor,

Great to have a russian moddeler on the forum! A warm welcome! Though it's small, you managed to get a lot of things onto the layout and together with the 2 live steam locomotives, it really is a nice railwayline. Thanks for sharing

[bazzer42]

Thanks for posting Egor. I met up with a couple of railway guys thus afternoon and we agreed you can build a railway anywhere with some planning. That works lovely, loco number 4 looks interesting.

[DG]

Egor,

thanks for sharing. Your railway is inspirational. You have achieved so much in a small space. Brilliant

By the way. In your first photo there is a branch heading off in the direction of your apartment so do I detect your expansion plans? Maybe you could sell the idea of a plant food or water delivery system for the pot plants on your balcony. Great stuff.

Dave

[E.V.]

Hi Egor,

Great to have a russian moddeler on the forum! A warm welcome! Though it's small, you managed to get a lot of things onto the layout and together with the 2 live steam locomotives, it really is a nice railwayline. Thanks for sharing

Hi Daniel,
Thank you for your kind words!

Thanks for posting Egor. I met up with a couple of railway guys thus afternoon and we agreed you can build a railway anywhere with some planning. That works lovely, loco number 4 looks interesting.

Yes, locomotive 4 - the jewel in my collection. Most of all I am amazed that she has a full REAL Stephenson valve gear. Those I can control the reverser like a real steam locomotive.

Egor,
thanks for sharing. Your railway is inspirational. You have achieved so much in a small space. Brilliant
By the way. In your first photo there is a branch heading off in the direction of your apartment so do I detect your expansion plans? Maybe you could sell the idea of a plant food or water delivery system for the pot plants on your balcony. Great stuff.
Dave

Thank you Dave!
Of course, I would like to expand my railroad, but I'm afraid that this is not yet possible. On the other half of the balcony is a folding table, where we like to have dinner on warm summer evenings.
I am very grateful to my wife that she allowed me to take at least half of the balcony.

[LNR]

I can only agree with all that's been said, and I'm sure it provides many happy hours of enjoyment.
Grant.

[jim@NAL]

very good looking line .just shows what can be done in a small space very clever keep us posted with pictures etc looks like you have some interesting locos too

[River Lin]

Hi and welcome.
Lovely layout. Garden railway without a garden. Love to see a video of No.4 running.
David

[E.V.]

I can only agree with all that's been said, and I'm sure it provides many happy hours of enjoyment.
Grant.

Thank you Grant!

very good looking line .just shows what can be done in a small space very clever keep us posted with pictures etc looks like you have some interesting locos too

Thanks! I will update this thread in a timely manner.

Hi and welcome.
Lovely layout. Garden railway without a garden. Love to see a video of No.4 running.
David

Hi, David,
Many thanks. Make a video with my Bowande Falk - my goal for the next weekend.

[-steves-]

Hi Egor

I love that railway, its great, very cute and goes to show you don't need a huge garden to enjoy your hobby. Loving the turntable, I assume its hand made just for your line?

My only one concern would be the lack of a buffer stop on that line where it looks like a loco could run off the end of the track, is there anything there to stop that?

You have done fantastic work and if it were mine I would be extremely proud

[E.V.]

Hi Egor

I love that railway, its great, very cute and goes to show you don't need a huge garden to enjoy your hobby. Loving the turntable, I assume its hand made just for your line?

My only one concern would be the lack of a buffer stop on that line where it looks like a loco could run off the end of the track, is there anything there to stop that?

You have done fantastic work and if it were mine I would be extremely proud

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your kind words!
No, that turntable available commercially. Produced in Germany by Modell-Werkstatt Heyn. Site:
http://modell-werkstatt.de/turntables
At the end of the way (near the unloading ramp) two miniature stop block are laid, which perfectly prevent accidents. By the way, I use one stop block to accurately stop the locomotives on my small turntable. Everyone knows how difficult make accurately stop a live steam locomotive (even equipped with radio control) ...
Stop blocks I also purchased in Germany:
http://modell-werkstatt.de/stop-block-code-332-track

[E.V.]

I did not wait for the weekend and made today a small video with a locomotive 4 (Bowande Falk). I apologize for the extraneous noise, our house is located not far from the busy street and the main railway line.

[bazzer42]

Lovely video Egor, No 4 does run nicely. Now we need shots of the nearby railway!. Can you see it from the apartment?

[E.V.]

Lovely video Egor, No 4 does run nicely. Now we need shots of the nearby railway!. Can you see it from the apartment?

Thanks!
I hope the admin will not be very unhappy if I make a little offtopic and post the photos I made this morning on the way to work. I apologize for making them by a mobile phone camera.
If I look left from my balcony, I'll see the railway ....


Suburban train to Moscow


Our local station



Occasionally (about once a month) an excursion train with a steam locomotive arrives. There are the photos from last winter: