When I got my new stock boxes out at a (late 2019) garden railway meet, and explained they were from The Works, one of the other members asked me if I’d got the idea from the current* Garden Rail. In fact I hadn’t read it, but it seemed The Works boxes were all the rage, so in case my approach adds anything to that in Garden Rail I thought I’d better blog about it…
Continue reading Stock Boxes from The WorksCategory: Planning
A Cab for Konrad (2)
With a clearer idea of the cab I wanted to build, I started out (under the expert supervision of Mr Tony Bird) cutting pieces from 1mm brass sheet. Continue reading A Cab for Konrad (2)
More Steam
Oops. I seem to have bought another live steam locomotive. I really wasn’t intending to. Continue reading More Steam
One Year On
It’s (just over) a year since I started work on Phase 1 so I thought I’d revisit my site survey photos in a ‘then and now’ fashion Continue reading One Year On
Hello, Millie
She’s here! Continue reading Hello, Millie
The Candidates in Steam
Some readers have been a bit reticent to give their opinions on my shortlist of live steam locos! I realised my rather dry summary of the specs might not be enough – I needed to see the locos in action and so do you. Fortunately, there are some rather good videos out there. Please, watch them, and give me your thoughts! Continue reading The Candidates in Steam
The Steam Dream
After a summer of trains pottering round my little circuit of track, and tinkering with rolling stock kits, the prognosis is fairly clear: I have the garden railway bug, and it does not appear to be curable.
I need a live steam loco. Continue reading The Steam Dream
The Eastern Ledge
The track will run in front of a dry wall made of old red sandstone – but at this point it is about 200mm above lawn level. I needed to build up a base for it – and, because I like the look of this rough and crumbling wall, I decided to build a low wall between track and lawn in the same manner – creating a ledge along which the railway would run.
Trackbed and Badgers
I’m worried about badgers. Sure, lay track on soil or turf, and you’ll soon have problems even without any wildlife becoming involved. A couple of rainy or frosty nights later your trains will be rolling up and down newly emergent humps and hillocks. But badgers could really exacerbate the problem. I read plenty of advice that agreed the trackbed needs to be solid and stable, but also that there are several completely different ways of doing this, each with their pros and cons. I’ve not come across any confirmation of which is the most badger-proof.
New Territory
The story so far… At the end of my gripping previous post on where to build my railway – I ended on a cliffhanger. Two possible locations, both suffering the limitations of my narrow, steep, garden. Which would I choose?