No name - Garden Railway

[-steves-]

Hi

This year I hope to build my first permanent garden railway. I have had 16mm for the last 5 years, but only ever used other peoples railways, the clubs and a temporary few bits of track laid on the grass on nicer days.

The full details of the layout with pictures will be kept on to date here http://www.16mmforum.co.uk/viewtopic.ph ... p=215#p215 but I shall try to provide a few updates on this forum as well.

A few plans in place, it's going to be a simple raised oval, using decking and supports, pretty much the same as my dad's track as that works very well for him and when I was running all my stock on it. Its a 45mm gauge, 6'6" half circle at each end, has 2 inner passing loops on the inner near side and one branch line used split into 2 as a steam up area for 2 loco's and the back straight will be 18' long. At some point in the future I hope to be able to lay a 32mm track inside that, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Here is one of the pictures from the full write up, as you can see, very very very early days, lol.

http://www.16mmforum.co.uk/download/fil ... &mode=view


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[-steves-]

Most of the wood has now been purchased and will be treated this afternoon. The garden still needs lots of work before we can start putting posts in, but we will strip off the top layer of grass, weed screen the entire area, then start putting posts in, and finish it off with a slightly raised area of about 2 tons of plum slate. There will be a lift up part to allow access to the middle of the oval.

I work quite long hours during the week, so my only time on this will be the odd weekend and with looking after my wife who is just starting a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy this is going to take many months / years to complete, so much work heading our way me thinks, but it will be worth it long term

[LNR]

Best of luck with the build Steve, you've made a start so the end has just got a little bit closer.
Grant.

[-steves-]

Best of luck with the build Steve, you've made a start so the end has just got a little bit closer.
Grant.

Thanks Grant. They do say making the start is the hardest bit, fortunately I have the full support of my better half who has been helpful with ideas and the amount of garden I can use as its going to be 25' long and 9' wide at its widest point. It will be so nice not having to go somewhere else or trying to lay track on bumpy grass just so I have have a steam up

[-steves-]

Can people let me know how they chose names for there railways and what their inspirations were for doing so as I am really stuck on that one at the moment. I just never thought the TARR (Temporary and Random Railway) cut it, lol

[merlin2]

Good luck with the build Steve, once you have few feet of track laid it becomes a great inspiration to make further progress.
I am sorry to learn of your wife's illness, and hope that the treatment is successful and that she makes a good recovery.
As regards railway names; ours is not very original. The house name is Summerlands and the railway is therefore the Summerlands Light Railway. (not to be confused with another line by the same name - the home of the famous 'Chuffer')
If I were to rename the line, which I won't be, I would likely opt to call it the Axe Valley Railway; the actual valley being just down the road.

[-steves-]

Good luck with the build Steve, once you have few feet of track laid it becomes a great inspiration to make further progress.
I am sorry to learn of your wife's illness, and hope that the treatment is successful and that she makes a good recovery.
As regards railway names; ours is not very original. The house name is Summerlands and the railway is therefore the Summerlands Light Railway. (not to be confused with another line by the same name - the home of the famous 'Chuffer')
If I were to rename the line, which I won't be, I would likely opt to call it the Axe Valley Railway; the actual valley being just down the road.

Well we do have a hill close by called Gog Magog, which I always thought was quite a cool for name for anything in near Cambridge, so with that in mind, something like the "Gog Magog Hillside Railway" might be appropriate as my railway will be raised too, so GMHR?

[merlin2]

I like it Steve; sounds like a cross between a Welsh and an Indian line - food for thought as regards alternative scenarios?

[philipy]

Can people let me know how they chose names for there railways and what their inspirations were for doing so as I am really stuck on that one at the moment. I just never thought the  TARR  (Temporary and Random Railway) cut it, lol

My original station is situated under an Elder tree and in the autumn gets bombed by the berries, so "Elderbury" seemed as good a name as any

[-steves-]

I like it Steve; sounds like a cross between a Welsh and an Indian line - food for thought as regards alternative scenarios?

It does doesn't it. I quite like the idea of a welsh railway, that goes between 2 highland villages into a mine, would give me an excuse for both gauges that way too Not sure what I can do in the way of scenery on a flat small board type railway, but definitely food for thought, thank you

[-steves-]

Can people let me know how they chose names for there railways and what their inspirations were for doing so as I am really stuck on that one at the moment. I just never thought the  TARR  (Temporary and Random Railway) cut it, lol

My original station is situated under an Elder tree and in the autumn gets bombed by the berries, so "Elderbury" seemed as good a name as any

I like that, that also gives me an option to call mine the WBL, Walnut Branch Line, due to the fact it sits under 2 whopping big walnut trees and will get covered in walnuts and branches every time the wind gets up, sad, but very true

Another less appealing option could be the SCABWL, Squirrel, Cat and Bird Waste Line, I don't think any explanation will be required for that thought!

[Dwayne]

Steve, took a gander at the photos on the other site you mentioned. Looks good.

I'd be tempted to shift the track and switches on the left side to the edge of what looks to be a patio which would give more room in the center of the layout. In turn, you gain some space on the right side along the fence to work with.

As for the name of the Norinoo Junction Railway, it's an acronym of a quote by Lao Tzu.

- The town of Norinoo Junction is the theoretical source of the railway's name.

- The town of Mags was named after my dog Maggie.

- Keylock Siding at Mags was named after my departed little dachshund Keylock.

- The town of Hope after my dog Hope.

- The town of Brendita after my wife Brenda (a reference to my once mentioning to her it would have been easier, quicker and cheaper to fly her from Canada to Mexico and then have her don a black wig and just walk across the southern border to gain access to the US)

- The abandoned townsite of Inukshuk is named after Inukshuks found scattered across Canada.

[andymctractor]

Can people let me know how they chose names for there railways and what their inspirations were for doing so as I am really stuck on that one at the moment. I just never thought the  TARR  (Temporary and Random Railway) cut it, lol

There are some real fun names going about.  I tried to think of something that meant something in English but sounded (at least to a none Welshman) as though it had Welsh origins.  This didn't work very well.
I ended up naming 'The Crowfoot Light Railway' after the Crowfoot Primary School which my garden backs up to.   The Crowfoots were a family who played a large part in the history of my home town.  
Putting 'Crowfoot' into Google brings up a Canadian First Nation tribe so if I needed an image for a shield I could use something related to that.

May I make a suggestion for you related to garden railway design?
Have you thought about setting out a seating area where you may both sit in comfort taking into account sun direction and prevailing winds etc? Do this first and design the rest of the railway round it so you have somewhere for you both to monitor progress and make future decisions in comfort and together.

Just a thought.

Good luck to you both

[MDLR]

Mine's a bit boring................. Having got a real location for the line (see http://mdlr.co.uk/plansnmaps.html and http://mdlr.co.uk/real.html ) the name was easy - Mid-Derbyshire Light Railway!

[Peter Butler]

Can people let me know how they chose names for there railways and what their inspirations were for doing so as I am really stuck on that one at the moment. I just never thought the  TARR  (Temporary and Random Railway) cut it, lol

My railway is based on a preservation line which allows the use of any locos and stock I might wish to make. It is the 'Brockhamton and Umbridge Railway Preservation Society' or BURPS for short! If you can think of a suitable, and not too rude, word, I'm sure the title will soon follow.
I do hope your wife is getting all the help she needs and makes a full recovery, meanwhile, the bench idea seems a good way of including her in your activities and sharing the experience.... I have one on my line...

[James from Devon]

Hi Steve

Congratulations on making a start. There is much fund and satisfaction to be had from the build phase so enjoy it and don't worry about timescales.

I started the build and the name for my line came a little later. It kind of named itself in a way, I live at the top of Staple Hill, hence.. Staple Hill Light Railway I am in the same boat as you now as I will be having a second station / village and am currently stumped by the name. Hoping one thats funny and not too rude will turn up.

My friend Graham lives just up the road in the village with his fantastic South Hams Light Railway, there is a location in the village called Shinners Bridge, Graham nicked that and changed it to Sinners Bridge..my favourite garden railway station name!

Sorry to hear that your good lady is unwell, I hope that she makes a swift recovery. I wish her, and you, all the very best.

Jim

[Big Al]

As I live in Collier Row a part of Romford in Essex I use the name C.R.L.R. Collier Row Light Railway,  As your location is Cambridge & Peterborough you could use C.P.L.R.

[SapperAnt]

Well done on making a start

Mine is the 'Reddish Vale Light Railway' named after the country park five minutes walk from my house. The stations (Somerford, Windmill Lane) are named after real streets.

There's a sort of fictitious history it was built to serve the Calico Print works which were once in the vale....but that history has never "stuck" if that makes sense.

[-steves-]

There is a meadow just down the road, which even this land was once part of, called Ditton Meadow. So with that in mind, I guess it could be called Ditton Meadow Light Railway, so many options coming to light here, really do appreciates everyone's input

[IrishPeter]

Mine has a variety of names, but the one I seem to use most these days is the Far End Tramway - as it goes to the Far End of the yard. More formally it is the Pinedale and Far End Light Railway, but only the more avid anoraks can remember that without an effort. The Pinedale bit comes from Pine Dells, which is the neighbourhood I live in. The other identities are Skebawn and Castleknox, for when the Irish Stock comes out, and the Furudal Jernbane for the Norwegian train.

The back story is that it started out as a quarry tramway, but when the standard gauge railway reached town it went into the passenger business as the SG served the Old Town, not the little seaside resort and harbour of 'Far End.' In the summer it can be very busy with the passenger train shuttling back and forth as quickly as turn around times will allow, and short section working so that the quarry traffic can be moved down to the harbour; but in winter it is much quieter with the odd quarry train, and the occasional passenger run to meet the SG branch train.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ