Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Garden Rail

It is said that you can never have enough narrow gauge locomotives, and we all share the enthusiasm for these delightful examples of Victorian and Edwardian engineering. But, that is not how it was back in the industrial revolution; they were built to work and their job was to haul goods wagons, mostly filled with minerals. The world was powered and heated by coal, and every lump had to be transported to its point of use. Other materials such as iron ore, building materials such as ballast, road stone, gravel, sand, bricks and cement had to be transported too. Occasionally, it has to be said, that some misguided entrepreneur felt that a narrow gauge railway would be of benefit to farming communities, and of course, the Lynton and Barnstable railway…

Back in 1947, the highlight of Dad’s month was the arrival of Meccano Magazine. Of course, his old copies went long ago, but they were recently reissued on CD, so I have had a chance to read them. What a cracking publication it was, too – many articles on a wide range of things, not just the eponymous construction toy. Naturally, I homed in on the model railway articles, many of them relating to Hornby O Gauge clockwork, which is what Dad had. 1947 was a time of austerity, and even if you had the cash, extra items for your model railway were nigh-on impossible to get: they simply weren’t available. The focus of the Meccano Magazine writings was therefore on adapting available resources and creative use of imagination. I…

The vast majority of my locos and rolling stock are bashed from 45mm gauge G scale commercial models. This is primarily because, when I started my adventures in the garden, I wanted models I could buy off-the-shelf, while trying to hold down an onerous full time job. At that time, there were very few ready-to-run models of UK prototypes available, and so, to make my purchases more appropriate for my UK-based railway, I had to adapt whatever I could lay my hands on. Being a bit of a skinflint, I always keep a weather-eye open for bargains, so when a brand new LGB ToyTrain diesel loco appeared on eBay for less than £50, I snapped it up. Initially, my intention was to keep it on the shelf as a spare…

April – the traditional date for the 16mm AGM, and NGRS. We’re right at the start of the garden railway season, with layouts emerging from hibernation and their owners forced to consider a bit of maintenance after the ravages of winter. Gardens are starting to wake up, and this presents me with a little bit of a problem with the Garden Rail display. Plants. Or rather, the lack of them. Last year, I was able to empty my mum’s greenhouse, but that was June. A couple of months earlier, and the shelves are bare. Well, there are some old pots and a ball of sisal twine, but nothing to make an attractive display with. This caused me a bit of worry, but while I was explaining the problem to Chris,…

THE LINESIDE HUT I was very surprised to find that the owners of The Lineside Hut had retired. There was a brief mention in the April GR, but that was all. I was putting together a rake of their coaches and am now wondering if anyone has taken over the business. Surely it hasn’t all been binned?! There must be others in the same situation, can you as Editor of GR find out for us if there is any hope of some form of resurrection? Martin Carton Editor: I’m afraid it isn’t likely to be good news. When I spoke to them in December, there was no plan to pass the range on to some-one else. As you say, this is a great shame. CARDBOARD COACHES I really enjoyed Brian…

It was a cold, wet, Monday evening as the Guildford Group Clubhouse door was flung open and our ever-enthusiastic Chairman entered asking ‘Evening boys and girls, anybody fancy taking Mwch Grumblyn to Warley again?’ I peered around at the assembled throng and concluded our Chairman, James Mander, must have been the inspiration for the Specsavers advert. James stood there expectantly, raindrops falling off his coat, as mugs of tea paused on their repetitive journey between table and lips, biscuit chewing ceased, while the firing up of multiple brain cells was almost audible. After first reminiscing about previous visits; the joys of the Lynton & Barnstaple, wild tales about mishaps with vans and the major consideration of decent eating establishments in the vicinity, the conclusion was ‘yes’. Just over a year…

More than 10 years ago, I started building Clumber Central, my Gauge 1 garden railway. By 2016, I had an up-and-running railway with station buildings and an 18-arch viaduct. At this stage, I began to realise that taking stock out of storage in the garage and carrying it up to the railway was a bit of a chore. It would be so much easier to construct a set of storage roads or carriage sidings in the garage, and run stock out directly to the railway. There was a problem, in that I needed to bridge a three-foot gap, that was five and a half feet above ground level. By chance, I found a photo of Great Northern Bridge 59 over Canal Street in Nottingham. This suited my purposes as Clumber…

Many issues ago, I showcased some wonderful GWR buildings made by John Candy, largely from resin molds, that he had made. John is not the kind of guy who hangs around, and for around a year he has been experimenting with 3D printing with some great results. On a recent visit, I observed some interesting items on his workbench. The items were a WH Smith bookstall, a 1920’s GPO type K1 telephone kiosk, and a row of indoor telephone ‘silence cabinets’ as found on station concourses and indoor markets. These models can all be 3D printed (John uses a Snapmaker 2.0 A350 with PLA filament). The programs had been specifically written by John, using the OpenSCAD language, and are being generously provided to Garden Rail readers, as free downloads, (STL…

ROUNDHOUSE ENGINEERING 16mm scale ‘Harrogate’ The first prototype has been unveiled to the public, and will be appearing on Roundhouse stands at exhibitions this year, or can be seen at the Doncaster showroom. Specification Internal gas firing using the ‘FG’ type burner 0-6-0 outside framed chassis with two double acting slide valve cylinders operated by internal Walschaerts type valve gear Exhaust enhancer Controls fitted as standard are:-steam regulator, safety valve, pressure gauge, displacement lubricator, gas regulator and reversing gear Water gauge and top-up system Rechargeable batteries Full radio control for both regulator and reversing valve gear using 2.4GHz R/C The wheels are adjustable between 32mm and 45mm gauge Length over buffers 375mm, width 105mm, height 130mm Available with insulated wheels Available in any standard Roundhouse colour Price: £2390 Upgraded 16mm…