Small is beautiful is the modern eco-mantra, although for preference I have always admired big trains on large outdoor layouts. However a significant downsizing in domestic living space a few years ago compelled me to re-examine my garden railway options. The new rear garden was much smaller than its predecessor, a basic rectangle mainly laid to lawn, as estate agents are wont to say. One side is bounded by a garage, the other by trees and shrubs, with hedging at the far end. At first sight it seemed difficult to envisage how both 32 and 45mm lines from the previous set-up might be fitted in, even in reduced form.

 

The first thought was for an external ground-level 45mm line running down the right-hand side of the garden, along the back and partway up the left side. With (very) minimum radius loops at either end a continuous run was just about possible. Also the fir trees making up the hedge gave rise to the possibility of trains weaving in and out of the trees and associated vegetation - clearly I had learned little from my previous attempts at taming the wild outdoors.

 

As before I went for the simple approach and laid the line at ground level, using trenched-in bricks to support the Tenmille track and limestone chippings. It was named the St Aubyn Light Railway, partly after a village in Cornwall near St Michael's Mount but mainly because I had acquired a windmill with that name on it. A tunnel was built behind the right-hand hedge using some old bricks in three unmortared and slightly wobbly courses, topped out with ridge tiles. The need for a 32mm line was met by re-installing my indoor layout, the Tamarisk Light Railway, in the new garage, thereby making sure the structure would not be wasted by keeping a car in it.

 

After a while it became clear that two basic needs were not being satisfied - a Man Shed, where a man can do what a man has to do, and an external 32mm railway. The garage had potential for the former but was limited by the size of the layout it currently accommodated, and the fact that it was a concrete gulag of little aesthetic value and absolutely no insulation. And so a Grand Project was initiated.

 

This had three core components, demolition of the TLR, lining the garage walls with wood and insulation and the floor with carpet tiles, and converting the garden railway to dual gauge. The first was done with little ceremony but with careful preservation of both trackwork and buildings, including a Jigstones ruined abbey very much of the 'big is beautiful because it's mine' genre. The wall lining was done one cold and dark winter when the wooden strips froze solid in their packaging despite being kept in the garage, proof that the new insulation was desperately needed. A replacement window also went in, to better view derailments in comfort. By Spring the transformation was complete, and I had somewhere to hide work in with space for benches, tools and, bliss, a heater.

 

As the ground warmed up attention turned to the garden. I had no experience of dual gauge but pressed ahead anyway. Fortunately there were no points to convert, which made it a little easier. After some thought it seemed the cheapest option would be to keep the existing 45mm track as it was and install a third rail inside it, using Peco SM32 rail. This of course has the disadvantage of being smaller in profile than the 45mm, causing trains to run at a very slight angle to the vertical. No problem - this is narrow gauge after all. Installation involved drilling every other sleeper for 32mm chairs, easy enough on the out section but a pain on the return leg. This was hidden deep in assorted shrubbery and only capable of being reached by kneeling adjacent to, and sometimes on, plants of apparently priceless sentimental value.

 

The two gauges ran reasonably well but after a year's operation I became increasingly disenchanted with the amount of track-cleaning and rubbish removal required to keep them running, particularly on the less accessible stretches. And so another Grand Project was devised, hopefully the last, or at least until another comes along. This entailed splitting the line in two, the front portion being retained as dual gauge but with both gauges electrified and provided with a shuttle unit to allow trains to run back and forth automatically. The rear portion would be relaid as a 32mm line for live steam and battery diesel operation, using the loops at each end to form a continuous run. To reduce the maintenance element both lines were to be re-laid on elevated decking planks. These were robust, capable of being brought home uncut in the car, and most importantly, on special offer at the DIY shop. Screwing them together in an inverted U-shape meant that each line could be about six inches off the ground, reducing the amount of leaf litter on the tracks and of blackbird interference with the ballast. The decking was doused in fence preservative and laid on a bed of chippings, to encourage drainage and hopefully reduce the rate of rot. Left-over sections were put to use as alternative tunnel sides, improving stability and reducing the frequency of ridge tile collapse.

 

For a change, this project met its targets, fulfilled its objectives and achieved its goals, all at the same time. There is still the odd bit of twig and leaf removal required, but nothing like what it used to be, and although the front electrified line still needs a bit of track cleaning it is much less than before and the rails are easy to get to from the grass, sorry lawn. The added bonus of the extra height is not lost on us pensioners either. The 30in radius loops are tighter than I would like but liveable-with, although bogie wagons have been known to derail if the track has the merest hint of twig obstruction, or the wind is in the wrong direction, or some other paltry excuse. Also the odd battery-fatigued diesel does occasionally complain about the curvature and indulge in a go-slow. In due course, my reasoning goes, they will wear the inside of the rails into just the right shape for smooth running. May take a while, but I'm in no hurry.

 

Recently I have discovered 12v LEDs, cheap and easy to run off a low-voltage ring main, and with no fiddling about trying to solder and weatherproof in-line resistors. An ever-increasing number of colour light signals, station lamps and building lights have therefore started to appear. The initial deployment of plastic signal kits worked well but has since suffered from cats using the track as a short-cut to the more remote but potentially mouse-filled areas of the garden. They are just the right height for rubbing against, but not unfortunately the right strength. However I had a supply of two-colour LED displays stored in the garage awaiting just such an opportunity. Some rather crude but robust poles were made up from metal tubing, the displays attached by velcro to allow for a certain amount of feline-induced sideways force, and the poles planted firmly in the ground. So far, so cat-proof, although the greens are looking increasingly yellowish for some unknown reason.

 

Another recent addition has been a basic engine-shed, made out of more decking and ridge tiles. Inside a couple of LED strips create a nice atmospheric glow in the gloom of a winter afternoon. Leaving the sides partially open means there is less likelihood of forgetting what is stored there and attempting some doomed-to-failure double parking. It is still possible to try though, as I have proved on more than one occasion.

 

All this time the quantity of engines and rolling stock has been slowly increasing, as it has a habit of doing in all scales and gauges. My original Roundhouse Pooter has been joined by a Darjeeling Class B, a limited edition Jack, and an Accucraft Lawley. All are reliable and controllable, although the Pooter is showing signs of needing some timing adjustment. I suppose most of us do after twenty years' service in all weathers. Recently a Mamod Brunel vertical-boiled loco has been acquired, and is currently being tested to see if it can become a Really Useful Engine. The number of diesels is now around a dozen, a mixture of kit-built, scratch-built and ready-to-run. Several are of the railcar persuasion and one is a scratch-built body-only model of a Ohio loco, bought via eBay and motorised. Some of the more chunky ones now have the luxury of radio control, courtesy of the cheaper sort of R/C kit. All are named, most of them courtesy of NarrowPlanet - other nameplate makers are available, my lawyer requires me to say.

 

As for rolling stock, I would like to report that it is a carefully-chosen selection of vehicles designed to complement the line and be run in neat, logical sets. The truth could not be more different, eclectic is perhaps the kindest description, an all-sorts muddle the most accurate. Coaches and wagons of all shapes, sizes and wheel counts adorn the stock shelves. Most are kits acquired on a whim, built slightly more quickly than they should be, and pressed into service in random rakes whose only justification for existence was that they pleased me at the time. More recently I have tried to introduce some order into the chaos, buying more than one at a time from the same maker, and even disposing of a number of the more incongruous specimens. However the habit is deeply engrained and the old disorder will not be denied. They still please me, fortunately.

 

The number of buildings and structures has somehow reached the round two dozen. The majority are old enough for me to have forgotten from whence they came, although Welshpool Pottery is one bell which chimes from the distant past. Also in a bygone era I acquired a fairly large sub-set of Jigstones moulds, which now seem to be worth their weight in something quite valuable. These were used quite extensively in making an assortment of buildings, a number of which survive and are still in use. Retirement means that more time is available to work on kits and even the odd scratch-built item. The acquisition of a bench drill and a scroll saw has further expanded the construction possibilities. One important factor which I have belatedly recognised is that a good loco chassis is essential, and my level of engineering skill is such that it's worth paying the extra for a ready-made item rather than try to cobble together something of my own. Essel Engineering is my supplier of choice, although I understand there are others of equivalent standing.

 

The emergence of the Merseyside and West Lancashire 16mm group has had an effect on my garden operations. There is a clear need to maintain a 'travelling consist' of at least one live steam loco, one battery diesel and one rake of presentable rolling stock, all of the correct gauge for the next visit. Logic suggests these items are put to one side and looked after a shade better than the rest. The reality is that the manifest available changes daily, and I am constantly wondering what to take this time, and if it is clean, watered, fed and with no important component unglued and lurking in the bottom of the box. Paranoia over battery life means that I possess more rechargeables than I can either keep track of or keep recharged. So in self-defence I resort to alkaline disposables for the transmitters, on the basis that they are relatively low-current devices and it is easier occasionally to buy a new pack of batteries from the pound shop than acquire yet more rechargeables to forget to recharge, or put in the wrong pile, or both.

 

A garden railway is never finished, it just develops at varying speeds. After a period of relative inactivity, thoughts turned to how the 45mm line might acquire more 'play value' than the straightforward automatic shuttle. There is no room for a run-round loop at the eastern end, at least not without a land-grab that would risk domestic harmony a touch too much. At the western terminus the line could be extended along the front of the pond just enough for a couple of points and a few feet of double track. The perfect excuse for a procurement visit to the Peterborough show. Not that I needed much encouragement, once they had moved the date to avoid clashing with our wedding anniversary I felt an obligation to attend. I trust none of you were taken in with the story put about regarding troublesome trucks.

 

However.... I then started to wonder whether it would be possible to make the whole shebang dual-gauge. The 45mm shuttle used LGB track but the 32mm was code 200l, so the latter would not take the bigger electric locos without bouncing on the chairs. What was needed was a place to run said bigger locos. Back to the workshop for a think, and the solution presented itself right there, in the form of a circuit of the workshop at high level. It would need to be high to clear the window and the door, and as it happened there was already several yards of shelving at just the right height. Full of stuff, or course, so a clear-out would be needed before any progress could be made. 

 

Most of the order went to Track-Shack, who unaccountably allowed themselves the luxury of a good twenty minutes between emails advising receipt of the the order and despatch of same. It was mid-afternoon - perhaps they were on a tea-break? Buffers Model Railways supplied the couple of lengths of track required to avoid having to buy a complete third box, and at a sale price too.

 

The pond itself has recently had a makeover, as its low level under the trees attracted all sorts of decaying vegetable (and I suspect animal) matter. Ideally it needed to be raised a little and bridged - what else is a pond for? However the geometry was against that idea, so a more radical solution was implemented. I have long appreciated the Japanese style of garden, and there was an opportunity to create some rock-and-gravel architecture to enhance the inside of the return loop at that end of the line. I have a book which describes a number of interesting do-in-a-weekend oriental gardening projects. Should get one done in three months, no problem, was the initial view. In the event it did take only a couple of days. The pond liner, complete with water feature, was raised several inches, filled with shingle, gravel and assorted rocks and supported by half a cubic yard of sand and soil packed underneath. To add dramatic effect a slate slab, liberated from a vast waste-tip behind Aberllefenni, was installed to the rear. Erected vertically, it resembles a Space Odyssey monolith, but without the alien intelligence. That I'm aware of, anyway, although I have yet to inspect it closely under a full moon.

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