Garden Rail December 2024

You may well be familiar with the lead layout in this issue – it’s the Vale of Weedol Tramway. The Tramway has provided the backdrop to over 60 articles by stalwart contributor Dave Skertchly, but we’ve never actually seen a proper write-up of the line. Well, that omission has been corrected this month. Why, you may well ask. Well, this is Dave’s last appearance in these pages for a while. He has decided to head back to university to study animation. On one hand, this proves you are never too old to learn something new, on the other, I suspect he will be in for a shock when he discovers that the Students Union bar doesn’t stock pints of Auld Phagbutt! We wish Dave well in his future endeavours, but…

Should you choose, for some unaccountable reason, to visit Mid Wales in winter, you will be aware of the intense cold, the peculiarly soaking rain and the incessant wind that sweeps up the valleys and right through your raincoat and winter woollies. Halfway between Aberystwyth and Chirk, coincidentally just about at the site of the Bala Lake Railway, you will come across the small town of Llatireggub. As you turn your collar against the wind, the lamplight glistens from the ancient cobbled street. Listen carefully and you may hear the sound of choir mistress, Gladwys Topnote, orchestrating the Men of Harlech. As you proceed along the high street towards Llatidos Chapel, you may just discern the deep and sonorous voice of Evan Elpas, rehearsing his weekly blood and thunder sermon…

EXCLUSIVE! Rail Simulator: drive your favourite locomotive Action packed event includes: • 60+ of the UK’s best model railway layouts• The biggest retailers and manufacturers• Under 16’s go FREE• Clubs and society stands• FREE Ride on Railway• Impressive World of Railways Cinema Zone Special Pre-Book Package: just £20! • Adult ticket – you save £5 on the pay-on-the-door price• Car parking discount code – you pay just £10 (£18.95 on the day)• Early entry from 9.30am (non-booked visitors enter from 10am)• All visitors get a show souvenir edition of BRM worth £6.99 For more info, visit: NFRM.co.uk…

As garden railway owners will know, it’s not all about the trains and the track. The beauty is often the diorama – that fantasy world where your trains run through hills and valleys, forests and tunnels, calling at stations and steaming through picturesque villages. And at the end of the day, it’s a case of putting the locomotives, carriages and rolling stock away for the night in the workshop or shed – safe and dry. The same doesn’t go for the buildings dotted around your layout, however. They usually remain outside at the mercy of the elements and the creepy crawlies. After all, what self-respecting nest of woodlice wouldn’t love a cosy farmhouse or a tall-spired church to call home? Maintaining a garden railway’s buildings – whether that’s lots, or…

Goods trains should have a van for the guard bringing up the rear. Their job will be to apply the van brakes to control the train, so it doesn’t start pushing the loco on the downhill sections. More to the point, I think a goods train looks wrong without a brake van on it. With this in mind, I was delighted to be offered a Small Gods Van kit by Timpdon Models for a review build. On the stand, it looked like it would be perfect to hang on the back of my skip wagon train that appeared on these pages a couple of months ago. I have a Welshpool and Llanfair brake from Accucraft in my fleet, but it’s just too large for the skips. As with all the…

The National Festival of Railway Modelling Date: 23/24 November, 2024 Venue: Hall 5, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, B40 1NT Times: Saturday 10am to 5pm. Sunday 10am to 4:30pm Web: www.nfrm.co.uk Beds 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers ‘Steam in Beds’ Show Date: 23 November, 2024 Venue: Eaton Bray Village Hall, Dunstable, LU6 2DJ Times: 10am to 4pm Web: www.bag16mm.org.uk Lapworth Garden Railway Show Date: 14 December, 2024 Venue: Lapworth Village Hall, Old Warwick Road, Lapworth, B94 6LD Times: 10am to 4pm Web: www.johnsuttonmodels.co.uk  Midlands Garden Rail Show Date: 1/2 March, 2025 Venue: Warwickshire Event Centre, A425, Southam Road, Leamington Spa, CV31 1FE Times: 10am to 4pm Web: www.midlandsgardenrailshow.co.uk The National Garden Railway Show Date: 12 April, 2025 Venue: NAEC Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, CV8 2LH Times: 9:30am to 5pm Web: www.nationalgardenrailwayshow.org.uk All events…