Garden Railway

[Sue]

I promised a photograph of Bob's railway construction in our field in France. I had hoped to put this article in the hobbies forum but could not find an appropriate title and did not know how to add one. ( Help please Stanley)

The idea for this model railway , believe it or not was mine. We have so much space in France and you may remember a couple of years ago we accidently set our field on fire. Where upon we had to call the pompiers. The fire was dealt with by 2 fire engines, plus the fire chief in his car and two gendarmes in their car. Since then we have tried to come up with a design to try and keep the field under control. We now have several fruit and veg plots, a wild flower plot and lots of other ideas. The railway track is another way to USE the land. It gives Bob a chance to extend his hobby, and hopefully the grandchildren will have lots of fun in future years. The track will meander around the field visiting the various areas we are trying to establish.

First we have had to cut back the field( and keep it cut back,HARD JOB), then weedkilling mainly by covering the ground with heavy duty plastic for several months. At our last visit the track was dug out to about 3 inches, levelled, and lined with heavy duty polythene. The track was laid and gravel used to bed it in. A junction has been placed where there will be a turn to the right down a tree lined path ( sounds good , it just means a gap in the trees that have taken over!)

railway track3.jpg

Watch this space for further progress, although it may be slow as there are other pressing DIY jobs both in the house and in the garden.

[Stanley]

Brilliant! Never mind about the category Sue, it could come under anything from Gardens to Shed Matters! You'll have so much fun with it! You're following some good men. Have a look at this.



Newton Pickles, his dad Johnny, Walt Fisher and a lad riding behind Newton's loco Dyak Queen at Blackgates track near Bradford in the 1950s. Big boy's toys!

[Tizer]

Great stuff Sue! I admire your enterprise and look forward to seeing the railway develop and finding out how you build it. Do you have to make everything yourselves or can you buy some bits `off the shelf'?

Uses for your land - if you're using a log burner have you considered `growing your own logs' (fancy term biomass)? Willow, poplar and ash grow fast and you can coppice or pollard them. Keep a few sheep too and they can keep the grass down between the small trees.

[Whyperion]

UK Modelshops tell me that for 16mm Garden Railways

Show and Sale Elsecar S Yorks 29 /30 Sept 2012

Or for Sales only ( Proceeds [profits ?] ) to Tallylyn Railway , Telford - Garden Railway Market - 9th March 2013

I think PECO also make rail sections , not too far from Tizer in East Devon - Beer Heights 7 1/2in 1 mile railway although straights from extrusions and a production line of ties/ clips and wooden sleepers is not to difficult to set up and build.

Over in Lincolnshire I think there is a sugar beet farmer about 15 years ago whom decided it was a bit of a distance to travel around his flat fields , so he bought a shunter and a couple of former coal wagons and built a full size railway ( costs offsetable against tax ! ).

If you wanted to go 2 foot sized ( probably easier to pick up items and I think were often used on farms / quarries / sand extraction / military operations ) Leeds Kirkstall Abbey Light Railway

[Sue]

Bob has made a number of the rails and sleepers but bought some on ebay.He has made the riding truck but has still to make the engine. Thanks for the sales tip.
As for the land yes, we do have a burner and we are growing ash and willow for that purpose as well as to create a woodland ecosystem.
Love the photo Stanley

[Whyperion]

I've done a bit of internet digging , couldn't find the sales page I was looking for but found for steam outline only:

http://www.prestonservices.co.uk/miniatures.html

They have a 5" gauge loco on at £2k which seems cheap ( boiler cert extra I presume ) , They are based at Canterbury, Kent

[Sue]

I'll pass the info on to Bob. He is out at the moment at the model engineering club meeting

[Tizer]

We went to the annual Taunton model railway exhibition last Saturday and I was impressed by how things have changed since I last dabbled in model railways (only about 50 years ago!) although it was good to see the old names still there - not just Hornby but Peco, Graham Farish, Bachmann, Superquick etc. It was especially pleasing to see the very small layouts on show and I've posted a few pics below...

The first is `Dotcom Railroad' - built in a computer monitor.


and this is `Abigrace Halt', built in a small case:


`Just to watch the trains go by' has a remarkable amount of interest in a very small area:


`Blackdown' was originally built a long time ago but then languished in a shed on the Blackdown hills for many years. It was recovered recently for rebuilding but they found mice living in the tunnels! The industrial bit in the middle is based on the old Blackdown Hills ball clay industry.

[Sue]

These are great

[Stanley]

Newton's five inch gauge loco in the shed at Vicarage Road in 1980.

[Tizer]

Sue, I'm glad you liked the layouts. The local modelling societies want to show people they can have a fun model railway even in a tiny space, and it can be a simple but dynamic one which suits young kids, or a complicated scenic one for the older kids (or either for the oldies like me!). One thing I forgot to mention - the exhibition was packed with visitors and they were parting with serious money on the trade stands too. Compare this with a local craft show the same week were there were hardly any visitors and not much money spent (except for Mrs Tiz buying a beautiful and clever piece of wood carving!). I've always thought that the more men who dabble in railway modelling the less trouble there would be in the world!

Newton's engine is impressive - that would have been a spectacular exhibit!

[Sue]

Ah now our craft fair last week was very busy, with lots sold.

[Tizer]

I'm glad to hear that Sue - perhaps you'll have to teach the folk down here how to do it!

[Stanley]

Tiz, it started off as a tank engine but half way through he decided to make it a tender loco. Not based on any specific design, he made it out of his head.....

[Tizer]

his photo shows limited edition private owner wagons sold by Burnham model railway society. Most of them are in the livery of local companies in the Somerset area but the most notable thing is that the profits have been given to small local charities and amount to a few quid under £10,000! They keep on bringing out more, so the flow of money to the charities continues. As the money goes to a good cause, I'll probably buy a few myself and put them on the mantelpiece!

[Stanley]

Slightly off-piste but on the subject of collectable models, when I finished Ellenroad I got two presents, a pewter tankard from the Friends and the model below from the Chief Exec of Rochdale, John Pierce. I have kept it in its original box and the kids may get a dividend out of it!

[Tripps]

Why a coach? Was it perhaps one of Yelloways?

[Whyperion]

I looked at the full size picture , its Ellen Smith Ltd of Rochdale , en Route to Southport( Not Stockport as I had originally read ). The legals on a similar on sale today on the net say Ellen Smith Ltd , so I am not certain of the companies history's. If it is Corgi Ref 97212 it is a limited edition , and is currently purchasable for under £20.

Checking the company histories , Ellen Smith Ltd is a Change of Name from Tripvast Ltd in 1991, with Ellen Smith (Tours ) Ltd being formed in 2002. The original Ellen Smith Ltd was incorporated in 1937 change in 1991 to SMITH PROPERTIES LIMITED and dissolved around 1995, probably to allow the original founders families to realise their investments in a time of changing in the coach touring business.

Being Corgi its to a fit the box scale , approx 7mm / O Guage at a guess.

http://www.old-bus-photos.co.uk/?cat=416 Seems to have as good an overview of Ellen Smith as any other place.

[Whyperion]

While looking in my heaps for something otherwise not totally related the first magazine I pulled off the top of the pile was Bus Fayre Vol 13 No 9 , March 1991 (Autobus Review Publications , Queensbury ) On Front cover narrative was Rossendale and Ellen Smith Tours. The article from page 295 by R H Lawton , covered the expansion since 1986 of Rossendale Transport Limited. This itself was part of the much loved Lancashire Joint Boards ( I think everything from water, gas , electric , tramways and buses had some kind of local co-ordination from the 1920s onwards in the urban parts of the county ). In this case Rawtenstall and Haslingden , formed Rossendale Joint Transport Committee as late as 01st April 1968, predating Rossendale Borough Council formed 1st April 1974. Although most of their bus services remained within the borough, from 1982 operations expanded slightly reaching Bolton and Burnley for example. With bus service deregulation in October 1986 the company registered services in Rochdale, opening up a depot in that town toward the later part of 1990 following on from earlier fleet growth from running additional Manchester area routes . In January 1991 the company announced the acquisition of Ellen Smith Tours of Rochdale , including 14 coaches , the 1991 excursion and tours programme and offices Newgate, Rochdale and Bury Road , Rawtenstall , but not the garage in Wardlesworth. The article state Ellen Smith's livery to be black and white. This information corresponds with the companies house information above and give the detail which I had not previously found on the web.




Not quite Garden Railway ( the track rusts , but if you have clockwork locos I understand some plastic curtain track can be modified to have the correct spacing for OO railways ) , up coming events are:

Local to Pendle : -
Sat 17th November 2012 / Sun 18th - Pendle Forest Model Railway Society - Model Railway Exhibition http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/events/63 ... Exhibition

Park High School, Venables Avenue, Colne, Lancashire
Pendle Forest MRS Annual show with a range of layouts in various scales & Gauges. Plus traders and 'drive a train' for kids. Reg Charity 1002022


Localish to Tizer : -

Sat 24th November 2012 Whitstone School, Charlton Road, Shepton Mallet, Somerset http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/events/62 ... Train_Show
The HRCA (Hornby Railway Collectors Association . This exhibition will showcase the trains produced by Meccano LTD between 1923 and 1964, with layouts of Hornby 0 Gauge and Hornby Dublo. For variety, other model railway manufacturer's products will also be on show. Trade stands will cover new and second hand products over a range of model railway interest. Free admission to children accompanied by an adult.

I cannot get to either ! - still stuck in London but poss at small O gauge event near High Wycombe on the 18th November.

[Sue]

Well it's been some time and there hasn't been a lot of progress on the garden railway. Bob had to relay some of the track as the bought track didn't have enough sleepers and the rails moved apart. However this year we have managed to clear the next phase of the track ready for laying next year.( after Bobs hernia op).

The plan initially is to go all the way round the field, or orchard as it is now called due to our tree planting exercise, then we shall do extra bits of track to visit the various veggie plots that we have. A long term project but now the house is nearly finished more time can be devoted to it. It should be available sometime for the three granddaughters to have rides.( Did I tell you that the expected third grandchild will be another girl).
The first picture shows the orchard and one veggie plot, the others show the present next stage of the route through the trees.

[Stanley]

Wonderful to know it's going forward Sue. So much potential fun for everyone!

[Sue]

I keep having ideas about the route, that's my bit of fun, and no doubt I will have a ride or two.

[Sue]

Well the railway hasn't grown much but we have an engine and a passenger truck and three grand daughters visiting this summer. Watch this space

[Wendyf]

Sounds exciting!!

[Stanley]

It does doesn't it. I shall be on the qui vive.....