Garden Railway Forum

I joined this association just this month. As a result of the late date I got a rather large package in the post with all this year's magazines as well as some DVDs and the Ffestiniog guide.

I suspect most of you are already members but I have to comment- I couldn't be more pleased with the quality of the magazine. I randomly picked up the August issue and was amazed at all the photographs of model and real narrow-gauge steam locomotives, the reviews of models, the pictures of peoples' gardens, and more.

As some of you know, my part of the world closely resembles the ice-planet Hoth for most of the year, and I haven't done anything with the "garden" at my new house yet. So I am stuck tinkering with my Roundhouse "Billy", which is becoming less and less of a "Billy" as time goes on, and building kits on my workbench. Additionally, as far as I know there are no garden railway enthusiasts in the town where I live.

This magazine will allow me to participate in this hobby to a greater and much more enjoyable degree. It's nice to see gardens and garden railways and people from an altogether more civilized part of the world in nice big glossy pictures.

I am very pleased that I joined this association, even though my wife, who understands nothing of men, made fun of me for it.

I too love being a member of 16mm assoc. The magazine is a great read and I love the feature publications.

I don't have a garden railway (yet) and I'm the only person in my country that dabbles in live steam railways. Biggest problem here is not snow/ice but wind - we often have gales and storms.

Busted Bricks:114984 wrote:I too love being a member of 16mm assoc. The magazine is a great read and I love the feature publications.

Thank you - that's nice to hear!

Some of you may know that I'm Vice-Chairman of the Association and a Board member, so it does my heart good to see things like this. I will be feeding this back to the Board.

BTW, you'll be in for a good mailing in February - apart from SMT and the Bulletin, there will be the Show Guide, a copy of the new Constitution and the Annual Report, so warn the postman.......................... (it will go out as two separate mailings, so don't panic if it's not all in one bag............)

I've already benefitted from joining the association. The article in the August issue- it's in my flight bag at work so I can't credit the author- about how to make your railway fit into your garden- gave me a lot of hope about my own miserable situation when I found out the author's garden is close to the same size as mine! Also I was able to show my wife the pictures of his garden, in which the railway is very unobtrusive and fits in nicely with the borders.. I haven't had any idea how I was going to develop my own garden and fit a railway into it, and since reading that article I have already had a few good ideas.

This, plus the nice welcoming E-mail (and invitation to visit his railway!) from the membership secretary, has made me feel more interested in this hobby than I have in years. I don't think one can do garden railway-ing alone. Even though I live in Canada, being a member of the 16mm association is going to give me a lot of pleasure.

Maybe when I next visit England I will get to meet some of you!

I also got surprised by the superb quality of SMT,
which after all is just a member magazine.

BTW: I'm quite sure I have seen a photo of your Billy in SMT,
but I don't remember which issue.

A year ago I was new to garden railways, and wanted to find out as much as possible. I joined the 16mm Association - it was the best thing I could have done. Not only is the magazine brilliant, but the handbook contained better (simple, but comprehensive) explanations of many of the choices one is faced with - whether concerning trackbed construction, for example, or choice of motive power. There's a wealth of detailed info out there on the internet, but nothing I found of that clarity to help a beginner like me to get the underpinning info to understand what knowledgable people are expounding about.

I'd also like to add my praise for the SMT, I joined a couple of years ago after being a member when I was much younger under my father. To see the progress the SMT has made in that time is great, it just keeps getting better. The 150 edition is a very good example and worth getting your hands on if you can.

I have always liked browsing through the magazines for ideas and solutions, never fail to learn a load of things on each release, and the quality as well as the content is great.

Don't forget the annual Show! This years one is shaping up to be another good one!

I'm the 16mm Association's show director

Keith S:115003 wrote:Maybe when I next visit England I will get to meet some of you!

If you find yourself in the UK in May or later in the summer then consider a visit to The Crowfoot Light Railway which is in our back garden in Suffolk. Let us know if you intend to drop by.
Our 16mm Ass open day next year is Sunday 15th May 2016 and we try and get the same weekend each year.

Take a look at our website noting the 'Sketch Plan' which shows the size of our garden.
www.crowfootlightrailway.webs.com

Also take a look at our latest garden railway video which was taken before we closed it for the winter. (We are fair weather modelllers and May is about when we get things going after the winter.)
https://youtu.be/Gfqa_6PtOQs
Hope this works.

andymctractor:115032 wrote:

Keith S:115003 wrote:Maybe when I next visit England I will get to meet some of you!

If you find yourself in the UK in May or later in the summer then consider a visit to The Crowfoot Light Railway which is in our back garden in Suffolk.

................... and of course, the Butterley Garden Railway operates every Sunday and 2nd and 4th Wednesdays in the month - a special opening is not beyond the bounds of possibility, given some notice.........

I enjoyed your video Andy- my garden is just over double the size of your gazebo, so I'll have to keep my railway a little more basic!

I'm expecting to be in England near the end of January- I don't imagine there is a lot happening at that time, but the reason I'm going then is that I have training every six months in Switzerland now and I thought I'd take a week off and come home via England. Despite my family being English, I've never been "home"- I haven't worked out yet what I am going to do or see or whom I shall visit. More or less my entire family is there, but they are all over the place. I should probably start planning but I am terrible at planning. I don't even know where anything is.

My membership card arrived this morning....

Along with a letter that informed me that my next subs will be due at the end of Febuary!

stoker:115574 wrote:My membership card arrived this morning....

Along with a letter that informed me that my next subs will be due at the end of February!

.............. but you have had a full year's worth of stuff (except for the February mailing, which is going to include and awful lot of stuff!)

Large packet was delivered by the postie this morning...the plain wrapper meant that I got a 'knowing' wink....

'er indoors is starting to look worried

Well, SMT is sometimes referred to as "SMUT"

Some of my my KEMR articles have been inspired by the Carry On films!

Hello Keith. S, Regarding your message above about not being able to do garden railways by oneself...actually prior to the internet that was the case. A issue of SMT every two months and the rest of the time...just me and my imagination!