The start of my garden railway

[Aaron0290]

Hi folks,

Have just joined the forum and thought i should get the ball rolling on a thread for my (as yet unnamed) railway.

Currently the railway is quite short, using only 10 meters (ish) of track in a simple oval loop, but it was set up quickly so my daughter could sit and watch the trains until I have some of my more ambitious plans put in place.

In terms of locomotives I have an unfinished IP Engineering chassis with custom body and a Mamod SL3.

You'll have to forgive the lack of vegetation as I literally finished the initial layout last week!

Some pictures;






Most excitingly the Mamod finished it's first ever lap of the track today without launching itself off a corner thanks to my dad bringing over some of his rolling stock to weigh it down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MDFHtA ... e=youtu.be.

My dad also asked to run a couple of his locomotives on the track today;

An IP Engineering "Albert" Locomotive;


And something he custom built from scratch;


I will hopefully be able to provide more details in the coming weeks regarding expansion of the railway into something a bit more expansive.

[CSL]

Great stuff! I recognise the feeling of satisfaction when one's Mamod completes a loop without derailing...

Fully approve of the initial intent to keep children happy (although from personal experience they can lose interest remarkably quickly).

Look forward to seeing more.

[Dwayne]

[bazzer42]

Welcome to the forum Aaron. Some nicely laid track there, especially if it can tame Mamods. This dry weather doesn't lend itself to planting. Nice to hear you have plans it's lovely to see someone's railway develop, keep posting the pictures.
Tell dad his wagons are nice looking builds.

[tom_tom_go]

A small railway is better than no railway at all so well done for getting something built to run trains on.

It looks like you have space to expand if you wish at least.

[ge_rik]

I will hopefully be able to provide more details in the coming weeks regarding expansion of the railway into something a bit more expansive.

Great oaks .......... ! You have taken that first step - the bug has bitten.
To mix a few metaphors

Rik

[IanC]

Great start. When I modelled in OO gauge the advice I often came across was to start small and get something running as soon as possible. It certainly meets that criteria.

Ian

[Aaron0290]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, the garden is 100ft x 60ft so plenty of room to grow, however the Mrs has made it clear that I cannot fill it all with railway track!

I'm planning to add another 25-40 meters of track in a separate loop which will link into the existing track. Have a playhouse to build for the daughter and a row of conifers to cut down before I'm allowed to play though.

My dad has had a short line at his house for the past 15 years so the bug has always been there, but now I have finally cleared enough space in my garden after 5 years of work and various bits of landscaping I can really get into it. I have been waiting a long time for this so there will be plenty of updates to come!

[Soar Valley Light]

You've made a great start Aaron. THe line may be new but it fit's into the landscape nicely. once nature gets cracking it's going to really settle in.

Andrew

[Just Julie]

Lovely

[Aaron0290]

Haven't had much time to do anything to the railway for a while, but today dad came over and helped me adjust some of the track and lay some points for a siding. This of course was followed by running some trains!

[FWLR]

Hi Aarron, Firstly how have I missed your thread.....

I think you have done a brilliant job, most don't do anything for years. Your Dad sure does know his stuff and he is passing on his experience to you. The siding looks good, you will now be able to expand with perhaps a shed or some other building.

[steamer68]

Hi Aaron I love your little garden railway and your dad is great to learn things from. I’m aiming to have an oval layout about the same size of your with one siding. With me small is good.

[Aaron0290]

Hi folks,

Thank you steamer68 and FWLR for the kind words (sorry the reply took so long!).

An update on the railway today, 2019 was a pretty terrible year for the railway in the end as I got made redundant about a month after my last post (everything is back on track now so no worries there!) so the railway got completely neglected for the rest of the year.

As the weather has now turned I made my way out into the garden today to sort the garden out in general and found myself with enough time and motivation to tackle the disaster zone that was the railway. The track had been completely covered by weeds and grass and a fine scattering of sticks from the tree it sits under. After an hour or two of work things are looking a bit better, if not a bit bleak, and I was able to sit with my daughter and run a train round the track for the first time in almost a year!



I had planned a large expansion of the railway this year but with how things are going in the world at the moment that might be a job for 2021. I think the aim for this year will be to build the PDF Models Port Class Hunslet I got last year and another loco kit I purchased last week and then spruce up the plants and perhaps get an engine shed built on the siding. Either way, I definitely plan on making more than one post on this forum this year!!!

[tom_tom_go]

Welcome back, glad things are working out better for you.

[Peter Butler]

Good to see you with us and bouncing back from last year's issues.
You will enjoy the Port Class build I'm sure, PDF kits are well produced and fit together well, just take your time and do plenty of preparation work to remove the print lines.
I have recently added pictures on my thread to show the two kits I have built.

[LNR]

You are definitely not alone Aaron, in having to reclaim your track after a pause in running. The permanent way is a great misnomer. I quite enjoy reclaiming track after winter, with all the growth you can achieve a good bush feel to things. Having a track even a small one provides the stimulus to do more, good luck.
Grant.

[FWLR]

Hopefully Aaron you and maybe your daughter can enjoy a hobby that's gets hold of you like you wouldn't belief. Building kits is a brilliant way of personalising your stock. The work on clearing your track and the beds is always hard at first, but it will soon recover. What plans did you have on extending your line. If you have any rope or string, even washing line, you can lay that down and see it better. Thats what I did when I extended our line at our old address.

Keep us posted Aaron, it's always great to see your line..

[Andrew]

Yep, welcome back!

Hopefully the odd session of playing trains with the family will continue to provide light relief in the crazy days ahead.

Take care,

Andrew

[Aaron0290]

Thanks for the kind words chaps! Clearing the track yesterday has given me the motivation to get cracking again and as such I have already started work on the IP Engineering Guard Van I got at the Garden Rail Show last year.

Hopefully Aaron you and maybe your daughter can enjoy a hobby that's gets hold of you like you wouldn't belief. Building kits is a brilliant way of personalising your stock. The work on clearing your track and the beds is always hard at first, but it will soon recover. What plans did you have on extending your line. If you have any rope or string, even washing line, you can lay that down and see it better. Thats what I did when I extended our line at our old address.

Keep us posted Aaron, it's always great to see your line..

Thanks! As regards the expansion plans, the existing loop will have a much larger loop that runs around the outside of it and then further into the garden and around a tree we have. The plan will be to take up the existing track and add another two layers of bricks to create a raised bed as the garden isn't very level and the amount of tree roots nearby make getting a level track at ground level near the tree impossible (It will hopefully discourage our terrier from running all over the track as well!). We'll be putting some of the new track on bricks and the section around the tree on piles and wooden boards.

I think I'll need another 20-30 meters of track at least and another couple of set of points to allow the outer and inner loops to be connected. The track is the main barrier at the moment as it is expensive ish and I'm currently funneling money into finishing up restoring a car! I will probably look at getting the ground work done as regards raising the current track this year and look at purchasing all the track etc that I need over the course of the year once I have planned things out fully and measured up etc.