I met Lee many years ago at a toy and train
fair. We became good friends and when he retired and moved to Lincolnshire
I decided to visit him and his lady. Upon arrival I found him in the garden
with the early stages of a garden railway. I will let Lee tell
you about the railway.............
Having been introduced in 1986
to Gauge One, after playing around with 00, 0, N and
even 0(16.5mm), I thought the idea of having larger trains
running in the garden is what appealed most. The seed was probably planted
when at the age of 8 , I saw Beconscot Model Village.
I have constructed four railways. This is owing to having moved three
times since 1989. The first was built around three feet off the
ground. This is a perfect height until you want to actually get in to the
garden!
A lower track was called for and the second railway in the new house was
around 18 inches off the ground. As usual, constructed of timber.
This takes a while to build so most weekends were dedicated to it. Everything
has to be weatherproof of course. This was double track with a few
sidings. Care has to be given to future growth of shrubs, trees etc.
The third move and subsequent rebuilding meant a much smaller garden,
about 36x36 feet. Here there was not much room for anything else except a
circuit running round the edge. The radius here of course was only 12 foot
in some cases. Fine for a medium speed electric loco but not much use if you are
running steam engines (they are not as easy to control).
Finally or hopefully) I have settled now, and so down to the
latest railway. This was started in May 2004 and by August I
had laid 180 feet of track. Its a large garden so was not complete by any
means. I have devoted a lot more time to the building as I knew just a couple of
hours a week would mean it would take a lifetime to finish.
By December the out and back with a circuit was complete.
This is mostly single track with passing loops, a tunnel, a bridge across
a pond, and an extension yet to be finished.
However, I have now decided to run a track further afield, this will then
be a total of around 600feet for a single line (possibly the largest
in the country).
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