The West Willows Railway
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2025 1:13 pm
Hi everyone!
I recently joined the forum, as I wanted to share the development of my 'first proper garden railway', this is actually my third layout, but my previous attempts were temporary efforts in rented property gardens - and you would think these would act as learning experiences - but we'll see how they don't a little later on
First a potted history of previous lines.
The first line was the Dolffanog Fach Light Railway, a 45mm gauge oval in gravel on ground level using LGB set track R1 radius curves. A passing loop and sidings were added to create more visual interest and the loop extended after the initial build. It was great to get trains running, and easy to remove once we had to move on. The line saw a a good amount of service and if I find more pics I'll put them up. The ground-level aspect was a pain in the knees, and so I knew future lines would need to be raised.
The second line, The Molehill Tramway, was built during a trying time. My dad fell ill in 2021 and I built a temporary line out of a circle of Mamod track on some decking board, which sat on the blocks that usually live between pallet layers! It was remarkably hardy and trains ran well. Sadly, we lost dad later that year.
The line lasted a good 18 months before we moved into our (current) purchased home in 2022. It's safe to say that railway was a project that distracted from what was otherwise a terrible time, and it's existence probably kept my wife and I sane during an otherwise challenging part of our lives, encouraging us both to spend time in the garden and focus on what was in front of us and keep us grounded. We had plenty of afternoons watching trains slowly rattle around the circuit and this played into my wife's support for a larger circuit at our current home.
The New Project
So that brings us to the present day - the garden has needed a fair bit of work to get it into it's current state - but the layout will be in a raised bed to the left, meeting a happy medium between 'off the ground' and a railway in the garden.
I'm not experienced with concrete or blocks etc, so I decided that I wanted to start with timber as I find it easier to manipulate. Over the years I will slowly replace sections with Filcris (when budget allows) But it's safe to say this is a first draft of what I want. I have used mostly reclaimed material from a car port that used to occupy the garden and from the fencing - it's good quality wood with life left in it that should last a few years.
The frame, simply baton screwed to posts in the ground.
I learned a lesson after setting up this area - which I wasn't aware of until it came to laying track - I'll elaborate below*
The rough layout starting to get a top put on. The posts are based in deep gravel, the idea being it may be easier to replace sections in the future.
I couldn't have made the progress I have without help from the family, my wife is helping my youngest daughter here - her ear defenders are for the jigsaw I'm using nearby....not the screwdriver
And finally after 5 weekends of posts, drilling, measuring, and sawing, we ended up with our basic layout, and track work has begun.
I'd like to mention I intend to go around the layout and tidy up with the jigsaw once we have a final track plan sorted - I appreciate everything looks a little rough at the moment - I'll put a bit of that down to over-excitedness or maybe tiredness depending on the say I was laying the sections.
*As I hinted in an earlier caption - the area where the two sets of points are at the bottom of the photo is troublesome. I have mis-judged the angle of the point work and need to make some adjustments if I want to keep the current set up. I went in all guns blazing with excitement and learned that i should have taken extra care here. I'm also no longer happy with the idea of a loop for what I intended to be the station area so the track work will be getting a tweak during the next session. The soil level will raise once the line is constructed to level everything out. The rocks that appear later in the photos were dug up this weekend as we started looking at preparing our garden for turf...turns out there was a lot of rocks, concrete and slate to be found.
After seeing everything in place I did have a thought, that being to go around the layout, trimming edges, levelling minor lumps and bumps, then possibly wrapping the top in Shed felt. From there, I could later ad edging to the top and ballast the track in the future to improve the over all aesthetic - any thoughts and suggestions welcome regarding all of the above!
And that is everything up until now - I hope to get back out into the garden next Sunday - fingers crossed the track work can progress. I'd like to have something running in the next few weeks - fingers crossed!
I recently joined the forum, as I wanted to share the development of my 'first proper garden railway', this is actually my third layout, but my previous attempts were temporary efforts in rented property gardens - and you would think these would act as learning experiences - but we'll see how they don't a little later on
First a potted history of previous lines.
The first line was the Dolffanog Fach Light Railway, a 45mm gauge oval in gravel on ground level using LGB set track R1 radius curves. A passing loop and sidings were added to create more visual interest and the loop extended after the initial build. It was great to get trains running, and easy to remove once we had to move on. The line saw a a good amount of service and if I find more pics I'll put them up. The ground-level aspect was a pain in the knees, and so I knew future lines would need to be raised.
The second line, The Molehill Tramway, was built during a trying time. My dad fell ill in 2021 and I built a temporary line out of a circle of Mamod track on some decking board, which sat on the blocks that usually live between pallet layers! It was remarkably hardy and trains ran well. Sadly, we lost dad later that year.
The line lasted a good 18 months before we moved into our (current) purchased home in 2022. It's safe to say that railway was a project that distracted from what was otherwise a terrible time, and it's existence probably kept my wife and I sane during an otherwise challenging part of our lives, encouraging us both to spend time in the garden and focus on what was in front of us and keep us grounded. We had plenty of afternoons watching trains slowly rattle around the circuit and this played into my wife's support for a larger circuit at our current home.
The New Project
So that brings us to the present day - the garden has needed a fair bit of work to get it into it's current state - but the layout will be in a raised bed to the left, meeting a happy medium between 'off the ground' and a railway in the garden.
I'm not experienced with concrete or blocks etc, so I decided that I wanted to start with timber as I find it easier to manipulate. Over the years I will slowly replace sections with Filcris (when budget allows) But it's safe to say this is a first draft of what I want. I have used mostly reclaimed material from a car port that used to occupy the garden and from the fencing - it's good quality wood with life left in it that should last a few years.
The frame, simply baton screwed to posts in the ground.
I learned a lesson after setting up this area - which I wasn't aware of until it came to laying track - I'll elaborate below*
The rough layout starting to get a top put on. The posts are based in deep gravel, the idea being it may be easier to replace sections in the future.
I couldn't have made the progress I have without help from the family, my wife is helping my youngest daughter here - her ear defenders are for the jigsaw I'm using nearby....not the screwdriver
And finally after 5 weekends of posts, drilling, measuring, and sawing, we ended up with our basic layout, and track work has begun.
I'd like to mention I intend to go around the layout and tidy up with the jigsaw once we have a final track plan sorted - I appreciate everything looks a little rough at the moment - I'll put a bit of that down to over-excitedness or maybe tiredness depending on the say I was laying the sections.
*As I hinted in an earlier caption - the area where the two sets of points are at the bottom of the photo is troublesome. I have mis-judged the angle of the point work and need to make some adjustments if I want to keep the current set up. I went in all guns blazing with excitement and learned that i should have taken extra care here. I'm also no longer happy with the idea of a loop for what I intended to be the station area so the track work will be getting a tweak during the next session. The soil level will raise once the line is constructed to level everything out. The rocks that appear later in the photos were dug up this weekend as we started looking at preparing our garden for turf...turns out there was a lot of rocks, concrete and slate to be found.
After seeing everything in place I did have a thought, that being to go around the layout, trimming edges, levelling minor lumps and bumps, then possibly wrapping the top in Shed felt. From there, I could later ad edging to the top and ballast the track in the future to improve the over all aesthetic - any thoughts and suggestions welcome regarding all of the above!
And that is everything up until now - I hope to get back out into the garden next Sunday - fingers crossed the track work can progress. I'd like to have something running in the next few weeks - fingers crossed!
