- It's a long held ambition
- I needed the space to create an entire narrow gauge railway system
- My eyes and fingers ain't what they used to be so large scale seems a good option
- It's a good way of getting fresh air and exercise
Rik
Hence the avatar?Sylvian Tennant wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:58 pm I just love trains and had the money and inclination at the time. Oddly enough I have moved back into planes as trains have left me a bit burnt out with everything that's been going on in my life.
It's a constant in my lifege_rik wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:38 pmHence the avatar?Sylvian Tennant wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:58 pm I just love trains and had the money and inclination at the time. Oddly enough I have moved back into planes as trains have left me a bit burnt out with everything that's been going on in my life.
Rik
I used to fly model planes, fair size ones, up to 111cc. I gave them up due to the lack of decent flying weather, it was always either raining or blowing a gale every time it was a weekend, during the week it was always lovely weather, but I was always stuck in work lolSylvian Tennant wrote: ↑Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:58 pm I just love trains and had the money and inclination at the time. Oddly enough I have moved back into planes as trains have left me a bit burnt out with everything that's been going on in my life.
Perfect!Keith S wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 3:45 am In our little garden world, no-one died of cholera or spanish influenza, everyone came back from the war, no-one got sent to the workhouse or died in penury. Everyone raised chickens in a lovely little cottage by the tracks or worked in a signal box or a crossing-gate; rich men did nothing more injurious than to appear pompous in a bowler hat, and sheep always got off the line when the loco blew its whistle.
Wonderfully expressed sentiment Keith. And thank you for saying 'British' and not English. It is those (non existent) halcyon days we're trying to represent. Maybe all my future photos should be in black and white?Keith S wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 3:45 am As for me, it's a way to enjoy live steam. I love seeing steam machines doing work. I appreciate stationary engines, but the work they do is not interesting unless one has some peripheral interest. Steam boats are lovely, but playing with them requires a large degree of meteorological co-operation, and also the working bits are often hidden on scale models. Traction engines are also very appealing, but realistically it's difficult to have fun operating something that crawls along at 1/2 mph and needs to be directed. The steam train is the obvious answer: it steers itself, the steam motion is visible, it does real work, and I happen to have a peripheral interest in railways thanks to my Father being very much a railway fanatic as well as a talented model builder.
Steam trains also offer lots of fun in terms of building accessories. It is almost impossible to have enough wagons and coaches, which add to the interest level and value of the engine itself.
Additionally there is all the appeal that garden railways have for anyone, steam enthusiast or no: gardening, landscaping, history, culture - yes, British culture: there is no other nation to whom railways are more important. Also, "nostalgia": The typical British steam train, particularly a little narrow-gauge one, brings to mind the bucolic, idyllic and almost certainly fictional pre-war Britain where working machines such as tractors, sewage-pumps, generators, and locomotives were lacquered, gilded, decorated, and lovingly maintained and always properly lubricated, and their operators were important men (in a working-class kind of way). In our little garden world, no-one died of cholera or spanish influenza, everyone came back from the war, no-one got sent to the workhouse or died in penury. Everyone raised chickens in a lovely little cottage by the tracks or worked in a signal box or a crossing-gate; rich men did nothing more injurious than to appear pompous in a bowler hat, and sheep always got off the line when the loco blew its whistle.
This all sounds ridiculous, but it's also what the British live-steam garden train represents to me: a harmless and pretty world where tinkering with machines is high art and no-one stabs anyone in the back.
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