Garden Rail July 2024

Our main feature this issue centres on the National Garden Railway show, the biggest show aimed at large-scale modellers in the UK. When you wander around the event, it’s easy to forget that the whole thing is put on by volunteers. Alan Regan is the man who had to juggle all the various elements of the show – backed up, of course, by a team from the 16mm Association. He’s the one who has to remember to tell exhibitors that they can’t wear open-toed footwear during the setup (yes, really) and try to sort out how to cram everything into the new hall. Up and down the country, the doors open on shows because of the efforts of unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours work for the love of…

New venues always throw up a few interesting challenges. Moving the NGRS back to Stoneleigh Park from Peterborough might have seemed like an easy move for the team putting on the 16mm Association show, but there was always going to be some fun and games. The first hint was an email informing me that I couldn’t bring my van up to my stand. It seems Stoneleigh is funny about vans in halls, and so everything would have to be carted in from the car park. That’s not a long way, except when you normally bring in about half-a-ton of material to build a garden! Plan B was required. Earlier this year, for the Midlands show, I installed a circle of LGB track on some tables, piled up a bag of…

A 1:19 scale fully grown tree is around 3’ high, but populating the lineside with plants this big would generally be impracticable operationally as you’d never see the trains! Looking at photographs in Garden Rail, most people go for growing, small-leaved plants beside their low-tracks. Quite effective trees are generally represented by slow growing conifers. Across the valley from where I live, the slopes are wooded, and near the top on the exposed north-western side, where the soil is thin, some of the oaks grow on little more than moss-covered rocks. They are only a fraction of the size of those that grow lower down. A sort of natural bonsai. Maybe, it would be possible to get small-scale trees for garden railways? A couple of years ago, I collected some…

It won’t be that long before the nights start to draw in and running trains as the sun goes down becomes part of the fun. We’ll certainly be entertained by photos appearing on social media, and hopefully in Garden Rail, as keen garden railway owners eke the last few running sessions out of the year. Those photos look a lot better if there are working lights in the coaches, but fitting them can be a fiddle. Fortunately, at the NGRS, Coach & Wagon Works pressed a new kit into my hand for review, which should make fitting illumination a whole the bag lot simpler – at least all the bits are in, which is a help. The kit is sensibly generic, containing the components required to do the job, but…

Every so often, something different appears on my doorstep, and this biplane is certainly that. Modeltown tell me this model is loosely based on a Sopwith Pup. It is a fair rendition of the original, but a basic kit, which you can personalise if you wish to. A quick search of Google Images reveals the breadth of paint schemes available, so you can’t really get it wrong. The Pup was originally called the Sopwith Scout, but was nicknamed ‘Pup’ as it was the smallest aircraft in Sopwith’s hangar. There are so many variants of the Pup too. A twin seater version for training or observation, single seaters with various machine guns, some even mounted on top of the top wing, the aircraft was even adapted to carry a bomb load.…

Garden open day as part of the National Open Garden Scheme Date: 7th July, 2024 Venue: Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 1SD. Follow signage upon arrival. Times: 11am to 5pm Model Tram, Bus and Railway Exhibition Date: 17th and 18th August, 2024 Venue: The National Tramway Museum, Crich Tramway Village, Crich, Derbyshire, DE4 5DP Times: 10am to 5pm Web: www.tramway.co.uk The Yorkshire Garden Railway Show on Tour Date: 28 September, 2024 Venue: Barrow Hill Roundhouse Railway Centre, Campbell Drive, Barrow Hill, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S43 2PR Times: 10am to 4:00pm Web: www.yorkshire.16mm.org.uk/Yorkshire16mmShowhomepage.html Exeter Garden Railway Show Date: 26 October, 2024 Venue: The Matford Centre, Matford Park Road, Marsh Barton Ind Estate, Exeter, EX2 8FD Times: 10:30am to 4:30pm Web: www.exetergardenrailwayshow.com Beds 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers ‘Steam in Beds’ Show Date: 23 November,…