Garden Railway Forum

Preseli Chris wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 4:39 pm Hi Drew. Nice to see your video clips .re your tube rail what is the diameter ? would it be possible to insert fence wire to enable you to bend the rail without it creasing ? Your fish pond is looking very good.

Sorry, I somehow missed this before... In theory it should be possible, but as the rail was purchased secondhand there were already a few kinks here and there, and there were some lengths of wire (rail joiners) pushed in some of the ends that prevented inserting a wire along the length. I found that removing all the ties (sleepers) first allowed the rail to be gently bent into curves with minimal creasing. The bigger issue I had was twisting along the rails' length but I think I've managed to mostly work that out.

I've been finally getting back into it after letting the railway sit since June. The plants sure are happy! Most of the Irish moss is starting to spread out, and the marigolds are growing out enough to keep trains from passing the halt. This week's projects have been clearing unwanted vegetation and leveling the bricks under the track. I keep meaning to post progress, but it's always too dark for pictures when I'm done!

Loving the light railway vibes in that picture!

Quick evening update with some of the track fixed down and a bit of ballast in place. I tried building a slate fence and piling up some larger chunks around the upper pond; I'm relatively happy with the effect but much of it will need to be redone when I fill the ground level up to the top of the bricks. The two wooden stakes behind the marigolds are a rough mockup of the first tunnel portal.

The other day the word came in from the Small Controller that our railway lacked a crossing, and that the situation must be remedied... Never mind that there's no room for a road or much of anything in the middle for which to cross! Needless to say I took steps to remedy the situation as quickly as possible The Irish moss on the other side seems to be growing well enough to feed a few tiny sheep, so maybe they can use the crossing. For the amount of traffic expected a few signs probably would've been sufficient, but I really like the look of this style of gate. I don't think the Small Controller and his little sister the Young Stationmaster will mind the addition.

I personally think that a brilliant idea Drew. The Small Controller is a wise little man. You could put where those few slates are a small track to the hard surface and put a small pen/coral has you say in America and Canadian. Then it would look even better....
And the YoungStation Master would be even happier still.

All looking good Drew. Its amazing how a few details always completely change the overall effect.

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 11:57 am I tried building a slate fence and piling up some larger chunks around the upper pond;

The wall looks pretty good with real slate, but I don't know if you've seen Trevor's printed ones?
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13656

FWLR wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 9:21 am I personally think that a brilliant idea Drew. The Small Controller is a wise little man. You could put where those few slates are a small track to the hard surface and put a small pen/coral has you say in America and Canadian. Then it would look even better....
And the YoungStation Master would be even happier still.

Thanks Rod, I'm thinking I might add some more grit/ballast to the path once the ground is settled in a bit. Food for thought

philipy wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 9:30 am All looking good Drew. Its amazing how a few details always completely change the overall effect.

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 11:57 am I tried building a slate fence and piling up some larger chunks around the upper pond;

The wall looks pretty good with real slate, but I don't know if you've seen Trevor's printed ones?
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13656

Thanks Philip. I hadn't seen that! I'll have to load up some black PLA and give it a try. I admit, I hadn't found many prototypical pictures of wide slabs of slate fencing, but was mostly copying taking inspiration from the Dyfrdwy Tramway, an excellent 7/8ths garden railway: https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2022/0 ... m.html?m=1
Trevor's model looks more like most of the photos I've seen of real slate fencing. Like the swinging crossing gates, I have never seen a fence of that type in real life, so I'm open to suggestions from those of you that have!

No time for trains this week, but my copy of Railway Adventure finally arrived in the mail. I was out in the garden leafing through the photos and one of them looked familiar... I feel like I might be on the right track!

(PS- Don't mind the station building, the young stationmistress has erected a temporary structure while the usual one is removed for repair.)

Perfect!

Such a fine book... I don't necessarily agree with Rolt's diagnosis of the cause of the world's ills (which include nationalisation of the railways, among other things), the last few pages about the desire to save something precious are just wonderful...

Andrew wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2024 1:49 pm Perfect!

Such a fine book... I don't necessarily agree with Rolt's diagnosis of the cause of the world's ills (which include nationalisation of the railways, among other things), the last few pages about the desire to save something precious are just wonderful...

I haven't started reading in earnest yet (nearly finished with "Narrow Gauge Railways: Wales and the Western Front") but I do plan to keep in mind that it was written early in preservation, and we've had the benefit of seven decades of experience since then.

A few years ago I read a book on the history of the Linux operating system which was published in 2001, celebrating the first ten years of development. It was not only a lesson in the nearly-forgotten early struggles and triumphs, but also a great reminder of how far we've come in the twenty that have followed!

I finished, it was a good read! Very interesting to read more in-depth about the early years, having watched the slightly later "Railway with a Heart of Gold" and read much of the history of the years since then. I've now started on "Narrow Gauge Railway Modelling" by D. A. Boreham which was another pick from Rik. (I seem to be getting most of my reading recommendations from the forum lately... Anyone for a book club?)

I took some inspiration from the descriptions and photographs of Dolgoch and made some repairs and modifications to Thornas: I enlarged the front buffers, will do the back ones as well but need to print more of the discs. I even accidentally imitated a little bit of the characteristic sag.

Having seen how vastly detail can improve a model, I printed Philip's excellent backhead for Luna and painted the cab interior to match. At some point this spring Thornas suffered a fall and lost his rear buffer beam so a replacement was borrowed from his yet-unfinished classmate Rose, a tram. 2mm nail art rivets were added and I'm happy enough with the effect to order some more for the rest of the locomotive; the trial 100 won't get me much farther (only 36 left).

Been a few months since I've done much modeling, but we had a nice fluffy snow today that was perfect for plowing.


I don't know if I've posted about this diesel... It's built around a toy train chassis and the body is mostly from Thingiverse, with a few modifications.

Not able to watch your video Drew, keeps on telling me to sign in.....

FWLR wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2025 4:42 am Not able to watch your video Drew, keeps on telling me to sign in.....

Rod, I heard about Youtube starting to do that sometimes. Are you on mobile?
Try this one on my Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@drewzero1/113972184343380848
If this keeps up I'd better sign up for Peertube or something!

As for the diesel, that was built on the motor bogie from a "Caterpillar" licensed toy train (seen in the background of the first picture). Powered by 2 AA batteries. No remote, sound, or even reverse yet, but plenty of room to add those in the future.

The body was from Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4129195
Originally I had built it as designed, but the front end didn't sit well with me. It just seemed too modern for my (undefined) era. So I designed a slightly rounded nose with one headlight, inspired by a streamlined NG diesel I saw in a Horst Lichter video. I also modified the side panel to add a door which allows access to the batteries, it's a bit finicky but it was fun making the handles actually work. It all appears to pass inspection. However, as this is my first non-self-made motor block, I was unable to fudge the tolerance on the gauge to cope with the (ahem) inconsistent quality of my trackwork, and it usually derails at one point where a tight curve is slightly under gauge. I will have to sort that out when it's warm enough to work on the track again!

Nice little videos Drew. (both versions work for me).

drewzero1 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2025 5:08 am

FWLR wrote: ↑Sun Feb 09, 2025 4:42 am Not able to watch your video Drew, keeps on telling me to sign in.....

Rod, I heard about Youtube starting to do that sometimes. Are you on mobile?
Try this one on my Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@drewzero1/113972184343380848
If this keeps up I'd better sign up for Peertube or something!

Hi Drew,

I was on my laptop and I did sign in there and I started to watch a video. So I came back and it still didn’t work. I’m on my mobile now taking my dog for a walk. So I will try it again later.

Always a delight to hear a child expressing excitement. Wow indeed!
(both videos worked for me also).

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Mon Feb 10, 2025 12:16 pm Always a delight to hear a child expressing excitement. Wow indeed!
(both videos worked for me also).

Been feeling a bit down about the trains lately, had a few models break from accidental falls or heavy play, wondering sometimes (when trying to piece together poor battered Thornas once again) if the time and effort have been worth it at all. Then I hear that reaction and yes, it absolutely has! The 'wow' is my four-year-old son, whom I sometimes refer to as the small controller. He lets me know what new trains I should build. The "Hi! Hi!" is my two-year-old daughter, who is in charge of the station and lets me know what people/figures I need to print and paint next. I think the consensus at the moment is that I need to construct a more permanent snowplow car/mount and work on this diesel so the weights will stop falling off. And never forget to play with the kids!

It’s working now Drew and I love it. Your refit of the grill is superb, I bet it was fun trying to get the door to work, but you did and they don’t look out of place. Shows what people can do with a little bit of patience and perseverance.