Garden Railway Forum

I've been going through and sorting all the 100s of pictures I'd taken during the few years of my railway. With all the amazing posts on here I thought it might be time to share a short history with you, if you would like to read it. It's my first project and a simple line for us to enjoy as a family.

My railway started back in June 2018 when I was gifted an old Mamod set. I'd talked about a line in the garden for quite a while and this was the nudge I needed to get going. We played about on the decking with the Mamod track and enjoyed just running the loco round and round with the couple of wagons we had.
As a long term railway modeler it was time to start planning our first railway and get a loop running as quickly as possible.

Our railway started as a simple loop at the bottom of the garden. I was able to get some points and peco track second hand which kicked started the project. Using the old Mamod track for the two ends of the curve and the peco track for the main section and a simple station loop and siddings.

The line is built on breeze blocks, we just leveled out the ground and buried them to create a track base. Probably not the best idea in August as the ground was quite hard, but slowly we got there and a railway started to be formed that we would run.

One more post, I can't add more than 2 images at a time!

sjrixon wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:41 am One more post, I can't add more than 2 images at a time!

Yes you can Take a look at the "How to..." page:
https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 62&t=13243

It's good to see how folks build and develop their railways, so thanks for updating us. Please keep 'em coming

The other side of the loop starting to come together..

I do like a good story. Especially if I know it's going to have a happy ending .....

Rik

Looks like this is going to be a very nice line. Liking the curving line to pass those trees....

Thanks everyone.. I'll start on the next few words and photo uploading

A couple more pictures to show the completion of the loop. We worked really hard to get a loop up and running fairly quickly. It was at this point that I found out the Mamod wasn't up for the job. Not making around a loop, stopping on the curves, or running so fast down the back section that it would then crash as it entered the curve..

sjrixon wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:17 am I found out the Mamod wasn't up for the job. Not making around a loop, stopping on the curves, or running so fast down the back section that it would then crash as it entered the curve..

Sadly - yep, that's Mamod's, unless you're prepared to put a lot of time and tinkering in, and even then results can be disappointing

That is a shame it wouldn't run round your curves. Has for the speed, I am not sure if you can put R/C into them, if you can that would help tremendously.

She is a very old Mamod.. I've kind of decided that I'd have more pleasure with Bertie or even a Katie at this stage. Maybe one day I'd strip her down again and replace more parts, but I don't really have the time or the experience yet.

In August 2018 I brought my first PDF Hunslet from the Garden Railway Show at Bressingham Steam Museum, really nice day out and had a long chat with Peter to find out he was also a member of the Reading Society of Model Engineers. I still can't quite believe the news about Peter, he was amazing for this hobby and I've build three of his locos and will miss talking to him.



Completing the loop spurred me on to get the Hunslet running so we had something to run on our railway. By December the Hunslet was up a running, with the cab and lining added a little later. I'd also built a few kits from the usual suspects, we were starting to have quite a nice little railway.

Really nice photos of you locos and rolling stock there.

The SL1 and Hunslet make a really nice pairing. What I'm about to suggest may well be heresy, but what about converting the Mamod to battery electric operation?
Also quite like what you've done with the edging roll, too.

As this is a look back I suppose we may hear more about the Mamod later. However mine with was fitted with a Tom Cooper gas burner many year ago never gets a run these days. Katie and Taliesin were much more fun and there are others too now.


Don

It is, but no to the Mamod.. I fitted a meths burner, but was never happy to the plan is to buy something proper

Old Man Aaron wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 3:49 am The SL1 and Hunslet make a really nice pairing. What I'm about to suggest may well be heresy, but what about converting the Mamod to battery electric operation?
Also quite like what you've done with the edging roll, too.

I had thought about a conversion.. But I've now got 4 battery locos, not sure there is too much point. She is languishing in a box, I'd rather spend my time and money on something else..

sjrixon wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 11:31 am I'd rather spend my time and money on something else..

I was thinking about that... I know you were after something with R/C, possibly just on the regulator, but have you considered a Regner? Don't know if they're making the Konrad at the moment, but the Vincent seems to be available. Beautifully slow running, powerful, characterful and copes well with sharp curves. I've got one, which I love, and an RH Bertie which really isn't ideal for shunting or end-to-end operation, the slip eccentric's a bit of a pain, really...

Nice to see how your line developed, by the way...

Andrew.

That's quite nice!