Garden Railway Forum

Jay's light railway (JLR)

Virgin garden which is 45foot by 20foot




Planned station area.



progress so far.




the boards are B&Q decking as they are £4.98 each and this weekend its buy 1 get 1 free, the deckild by the fence concreate posts with strong brackets and in between them uprights held in place with met posts,this is strong enough to sit on..

The first loco to run on it.


The plan is to run along the garden to the end and have a return loop to run back to the conservatory where the station will be built then another return loop by the end of the conservatory/patio area..
Cant engrough on the garden to much as a 3 year old who likes trains and will happily control the rc battery ones pretty well and a 1 year old,The track sides will be fenced in from ground leval to about 2 inch above track leval.
Future plans is to double the main line to allow continuse running with several trains at once.

jay1976:96957 wrote:Future plans is to double the main line to allow continuous running with several trains at once.

Just remember to allow a good distance between the tracks - one delightful railway in north Notts had a section of double track which didn't have sufficient clearance for two larger locos to pass - we only found this out on his Open Day.......................

the double track would be on seperate planks so should be ok..but was thinking of 3 boards width when i do it so should be plenty even for 7/8 scale..

Good start Jay on your line.

On my double-track section my spacing is around 150mm measured from the centre point of the sleepers.

The size depends on what you want to run though so get the dimensions off a website and build accordingly.

Looking good so far

However, be careful with the decking, we used Travis Perkins decking when my Dad and I first started on our railway and after around a week or so it had warped to an un-usable state...

Dannypenguin:96965 wrote:Looking good so far  :)

However, be careful with the decking, we used Travis Perkins decking when my Dad and I first started on our railway and after around a week or so it had warped to an un-usable state...

I agree about being careful, but to reassure Jay slightly, I've used the same B&Q stuff for part of my line and it has withstood last years cold winter and this years wet winter with no apparent problems.
It is worth mentioning that I covered it with roofing felt before track laying, though, so the wood itself shouldn't have got much more than splashes.

Was thinking of laying felt over the wood as well as I have half a roll of felt left over from re doing my shed roof,someone else said felt it as the wood would also last a bit longer..I have to relay the track anyway as I am adding in a point at 1 section and as the track isnt fully screwed down it would only take a few mins to move whats been laid so far..

Felt looks rather more like ballast than decking does, as a bit of a bonus.

jay1976:96980 wrote:Was thinking of laying felt over the wood

Yeah, I'd recommend it. I've changed my wood now but I still added felt to it just to be safe, and as phillipy said, it looks more like ballast!

Great start mate! Look forward to bringing my stock over for a steam up in the future

On a bit of advice I relaid the track on felt and also while doing this added a point and made that section a bit wider,ran out of weather and now time as on nights during the week so can only really work on weekends,

Looking good.

You can box that in and lay ballast as well (no need to glue down).

Have you left a gap between the window sill and the decking to allow water drainage?

faller double railcar..




quick run up and down the line for now.


wobbly track but thats how i laid it and thats how i wanted it..very narrow gauge look..


from temporary buffer at end of the track.The point will go to the loop which runs behind the camera allowing out and back for now there will be another loop at the other end as well and points will be sprung loaded or maybe auto change over of the point on the loop



small controller running his train..


and loaded with scrap


gives a idea of the loop,the red track is big big track and was used as a rough template,the metal frame is a old workbench suk into the ground and is very strong.. plan it for now to lay a loop of rack on wood and maybe later a station will go here once i get planning to go along the opposide side of the garden making a big circle..

top job nice to see the kids getting in there and helping

How do the trains cope with the track? I'll bet that they look fab coming towards you waddling about the place!

well the red hglw loco i have is fine flat out as my boy has found out..and misty the red mamod is ok
and yes they do look good coming towards you with a small waddle in the wagons..the track does go downhill from the house slightly(I made it like that as well) as I plan in the future to go all around the garden but i need to save for that and this way i get trains running

Went and bought this open bogies coach off a forum member.








Gave the wheel bearings a quick oil up and it rolls along nicely..

Reminds me of the Bressingham carriages.

yes and thats why i bought it..I hope to be able to get a few more made up later in the year as well.. I used to live in hinderclay not far from bressingham and used to sneak in from the standard gauge end as you could walk across the field and if quick and timed ok you could run quickly beside the standard gauge track and into bressingham for a few free trips round the railways until they changed how tickets were sold at the gate and you need a ticket to travel..
I got a few pics of my times at bressingham as well and remember the garden line with princess(now replaced) and the hunslets with open carrage which most are now closed roof..

Looks brilliant Jay, glad it's gone to a good home!