The UK ’s only magazine that’s 100% dedicated to outdoor railway modelling. Expect to see stunning garden railways from the UK and abroad, expert advice to help you create one of your own, show reports plus product news and reviews.
CALLING MANX MODELLERS! During my recent holiday on the Isle of Man, I visited the excellent Model World shop in Ramsey. Chatting to the owner, she tells me that there are many garden railway modellers on the island. Where are you all? We featured The Lighthouse and Gorsebank Railway in May 2020 (You can see this online here: www.world-of-railways.co.uk/model-railways/the-lighthouse-and-gorsebank-railway/), but that’s the only one I know about. Come on guys – you know I’m a sucker for all things Manx, so drop me a line with a couple of photos and we’ll get you on these pages. Modelling on a relatively small island must present some interesting problems. Since the loss of Trackshack, there’s no hopping in the car to buy bits. Even a trip to a show involves either…
The Blackhead Light Railway passed the 40-year milestone at Christmas 2022. How the heck did that happen? Over the years, the railway has moved location once, developed, declined, been closed and lifted, and finally restored and revived. It has been quite a journey. And so it begins… It’s a familiar story, I had been modelling in OO for a number of years, but when we moved to our first house, I did not have access to a large area to continue that layout. I did, however, have around 60 feet of garden. I asked Santa very nicely if I could have a Mamod loco, and one duly appeared under the tree. If my wife had known then, what she knows now, I would have probably received socks. Although I had…
As a very small boy in the early fifties, my indulgent mother read the Rev. Awdry stories to me at bedtime. It launched my obsession with trains and in particular steam locos. My favourite was Edward; with hindsight, a rather elegant pre-grouping 4-4-0. Nowadays, engines with faces aren’t really my cup of tea, but they do bring back childhood memories. My own G scale interest in British locos started with buying a second-hand Bachmann Emily, and immediately setting about to create something closer to a Stirling Single. GNR number one, being a loco my father saw steaming in the thirties, and we both saw when it was steamed at the Great Central in the eighties, not long before he passed. This was the first step on a journey of building…
It’s always exciting to find a new manufacturer in our hobby. Red Star Steam Packet has introduced a number of laser-cut kits and components, and supplied a couple to Garden Rail. Here, I’m looking at the four-plank wagon. A very comprehensive set of instructions are available for download. Now, I could follow those to the letter, but like any good kit, there are also possibilities for customisation, so I’m making a few changes along the way. Talking to other garden scale modellers, this is a very common approach. Anyway, let’s let the pictures do the talking. Conclusion Let’s start with the basics. This kit is amazing value for money. Built straight from the box, a nice-looking 32mm gauge wagon will be the result. Everything fits as it should do, and…
Any modelmaker interested in industrial rolling stock uses a lot of wheels. Many model sets are wellmade, accurate, and expensive, and you need a lot. There are also injection moulded wheels that come in a greater variety of styles and sizes. The same is true for 3D-printed wheels. I have used both types and turned metal wheels from blanks. Wagon and coach axles, in our scales, are commonly, 2mm, 3mm and ⅛”. To run properly, the wheels must be square to the axle and then set properly in the wagon chassis axle bearings, which are true to the track. How can this be done? Well, there are many solutions. The first is to buy the best made-up wheels sets you can afford and design your chassis around them. You will…
Our property, with a significantly sloping garden, presented a few difficulties in designing a garden railway. After much deliberation and a conversation with a landscape builder, a plan was formulated to construct a shunting yard, which set the tone of the developing railway. Whilst three live steam locomotives lead the current stable, a 2022/23 winter project was formulated to build a diesel shunter for those days when a quick railway operation is needed. A Roundhouse diesel chassis kit, HBKD2, was chosen for the build, as the electric motor is set below the footplate between the frames. This configuration leaves maximum space for radio equipment and batteries in the bodywork above the footplate. The hunt was then on for a suitable, but unusual locomotive design to fit the inter-war years character…
