Garden Railway Forum

Another impressive trestle at Nowa Nowa on the coast road from Melbourne to Sydney
Rik

Popped round to a friend of Greg's yesterday morning to run a train or two on his garden layout and on his garage layout. Hottest October day on record in Sydney but it only reached 36C where we were.
Rik

BTW The Roundhouse Darj loco which Keith is holding was used by Terry Robinson to prototype his SLOMO device before developing and marketing them commercially.

Rik

I'm getting shed envy. There is a lot to be said for having an indoor "garden" railway when the weather outside it too hot or too cold.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Wed Oct 22, 2025 11:39 pm I'm getting shed envy.

It's every Aussie bloke's birthright to have a shed as a retreat from the world.

Sadly that institution is under serious threat from the dropkicks in Canberra and their fellow travellers in the chattering classes, who want us to all live in little hi-rise boxes, with a couple of flower pots for a garden..........

Graeme

ps. has Greg taken you on a hobby shop/tool shop/bookshop crawl yet?

GTB wrote: Thu Oct 23, 2025 1:16 am ps. has Greg taken you on a hobby shop/tool shop/bookshop crawl yet?

Stopped off at HobbyCo this morning. Surprised me how much UK stock they had on their shelves.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: Fri Oct 24, 2025 10:53 am Stopped off at HobbyCo this morning. Surprised me how much UK stock they had on their shelves.

There's still a lot of 'Ten Pound Poms' in Aust. who keep the faith alive. The advent of Aust. prototype models in the '80s largely replaced the market for US models, but didn't affect UK models to the same extent.

I was talking to a friend in Sydney the other night, if memory serves he was off to a model railway exhibition at Rosehill Racecourse this weekend.

Graeme

GTB wrote: Fri Oct 24, 2025 12:17 pm I was talking to a friend in Sydney the other night, if memory serves he was off to a model railway exhibition at Rosehill Racecourse this weekend.
Graeme

I'll mention it to Greg, but I think he has a full day planned for today. Tomorrow I'm off to New Zealand.

Rik

Now in New Zealand. By the time I'd got through immigration ( I had to have my shoes disinfected as I'd visited farms in the UK and Oz) and gone through the rigmarole of hiring the campervan, I was too late to ride on the Glenbrook Railway, but I did see the last train of the day entering Glenbrook. Plenty to see at the station. Loads of modelling ideas.
Rik

Yesterday was a rare treat. Imagine building your own 15" gauge line on your back garden. Then imagine buying 60 acres of a mountain next door. Then imagine spending 26 years extending the railway to the top of the mountain - with ten bridges, five zig zags, three tunnels and a spiral with a double decker bridge leading to and from the spiral. Much of the work was done by pick and shovel by one man. Incredible!
Rik

The Driving Creek Railway at Coromandel

Rik

The instigator of this feat was Barry Brickell, who gave up teaching to set up a pottery business. He started constructing the railway to transport earthenware clay from the hillside above the pottery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_Creek_Railway

Any idea what this is ... one of his many pottery pieces adorning the abutment of one of the tunnels ... but what does it represent?


Rik

Rik,
Looks like a rail bender, or Jim Crow as the Americans call it. Something I imagine he would have used a lot with so many curves.
Grant.

What a beautiful landscape and wonderful images, you really are living the dream.
I hope to hear more of your meanderings when you return home safely to us.

LNR wrote: Tue Oct 28, 2025 12:23 am Rik,
Looks like a rail bender, or Jim Crow as the Americans call it. Something I imagine he would have used a lot with so many curves.
Grant.

Spot on! Goodness knows how many curves he shaped with it.
Our driver and guide suggested "crow bar" originated with the Jim Crow. Makes a lot of sense.

Rik

Not a criticism just observation... as Barry Brickell was both artist and engineer he would have been aware of the operation of the Jim Crow. The sculpture appears to show a left-hand thread, could that be correct or artist's licence?

ge_rik wrote: Tue Oct 28, 2025 12:05 am Then imagine spending 26 years extending the railway to the top of the mountain - with ten bridges, five zig zags, three tunnels and a spiral with a double decker bridge leading to and from the spiral.

I'm trying. I've got a good imagination, and it's a lovely thing to imagine. But I keep remembering it's taken me 10 years to get a few metres of level O gauge down and keep them weeded...

Peter Butler wrote: Tue Oct 28, 2025 10:59 am Not a criticism just observation... as Barry Brickell was both artist and engineer he would have been aware of the operation of the Jim Crow. The sculpture appears to show a left-hand thread, could that be correct or artist's licence?

Let's go for artistic licence - unless, of course, it's something to do with being south of the equator ..... ,

Rik

Yesterday was an interesting experience - the Forgotten World Railway

Rik