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Here's a very brief video made up of clips taken during yesterday's running session, the final clip showing the train passing over the sprung points before crossing onto Low Shott viaduct.

It's been a while but I had Worsley Dale up and running again yesterday albeit with a very limited roster. Almost all of the stock had been removed from the layout for safe keeping while I've been enjoying following other interests and so only a couple of loco's were brought back out in order to run some of the new Heljan Cargowaggons. Typically, I'd previously sold several Cargowaggons a few years ago believing that they wouldn't fit in with my plans at the time, but then looking at videos of the later EWS period it seems they would have had a place after all! Anyway, I now have five of them and one of the videos I've seen shows a rake of them running behind a pair of class 37s in EWS livery and so here's my take on it. Okay, so the wagons need some weathering but that will give me something to do later. Once again it was a relief to find that all that was needed was a wipe over the rails with a Garryflex rubber before sending out the 'IPA' laden track cleaner before I was able to commence running. Even the 'spring points' needed very little attention. I've also refrained from feeding the birds so the track was much cleaner than it normally is - just a few plants in need of a trim.

Here's a few more updated pics, I've been trying to work away over lockdown on the landscaping, 30 bags of soil went in to the main section to bring it up to a higher level, I had a garden gazebo that had been wrecked by high winds so I cut the patterned curves from it and painted them with hammerite to make the bridges. They probably aren't perfect scale wise but I think they look quite good. Been plodding away all summer when I get a moment, planted a few plants in the rockery so it's getting there..

Joined this forum what I thought was a couple of years ago, and when I checked my email yesterday I couldn't believe it was actually 5 years ago. Have been having a look for ideas etc and have managed to convert a hidden corner of the garden into an outdoor layout. There were various challenges along the way, the land ran at a gradient so some deep digging was required at one section and then elevated supports at the other, so all in all its taken about 2 years to build. It's still a work in progress, I have work to do to try and raise the ground to make it look less high, all garden cuttings etc have been put in last few years, and it's still ongoing. I'm planning to build a rockery and plant flowers to bring it just below track level, and had a first attempt at soldering the track yesterday but a bit to learn on that front still. My father in law helped with the cement work, and he also blowtorched the roof felt on to give it a great finish. First trains ran July 2019, after a good track clean it's running again no problem so far. It's still a work in progress with a few imperfections so I'll try upload some pics below.

Evening all, I'm Chris from sunny (well, sometimes) south Devon and I'm currently in the middle of building my first garden railway for my little lad who is 4 this year. A quick bit about me I suppose. My father and I built a 00 gauge layout in my bedroom when I was about 8, we then moved to the loft and expanded. We moved to Devon and again started a project in the loft this time switching to DCC. Years have flown by! We were just getting to the scenery part of the loft then I moved out, got married and had a little dude with another on the way. My son is MAD on trains and with permission from the chief we have been given the green light to get a garden railway setup. It will be a single line loop which doubles back on itself giving the impression of a double line most of the way around and my dad is building us a nice bridge to add to the interest. We are using inside the garage as our main station and "Thomas style diesel works". I've done a lot of research and went with 18mm ply supported by lengths of batten, treated fence posts, paint, 15yr roofing felt etc. There seems to be a million ways to do it and a lot of opinions on the right way so I've just gone with what works for me. The layout will be DCC operated with point motors, signals etc and hopefully controlled by something like the Z21 system so I can tweak train speeds from the comfort of my chair in the garden using my phone or tablet. I'll be having a go at building the platforms from scratch and also a dabble at weathering buildings etc for the first time. Anyway, enough waffle, lets have some pictures Hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying the nice weather when it appears. Cheers P.S - I decided to call it the pickle line as that's our nickname for our son

Hi All, just thought I'd share my new project from Sunny (well actually it's been raining all day) Sydney. Still in the planning/build stage. Im using an existing retaining timber wall for most of the track bed. it's a simple single loop of track with a relief section for the station. I've got all my OO British Rail rolling stock, plus lots of German Swiss HO stock, so will run them all.

Hello Stephen, I can see you've put some real hard work in there, it looks great. There's nothing like seeing the trains going round in natural daylight, is there? Cheers, John. PS I was like you - joined years ago then forgot about it!

More pics.

Selection of clips with the few mineral wagons I have running on the Garden Railway. Must invest in some more freight wagons! I have also started making some false floors for the wagons with coal loads on top. I'll show these in a future video. No progress yet with the platforms. Link to my You Tube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmxyrVYHbKF0NODKlqzh6A?view_as=subscriber

Been a while, hope you are all well. The Z21 arrived today so we can finally run a few trains around at the same time. Impressed with the system so far and I've managed to set up the supplied router as an extender for our home WiFi which means I don't have to manually connect to the Z21 network and now have home WiFi coverage in the garden.

Some running today

I went with just a few mm wider than streamline in the end. My sweeping curves are actually a lot wider than 3rd radius than I first thought so should be fine. More progress today and a few pics of the garden to give you an idea.

I'll have to do a short video to show the space but this might give you an idea. About another 3m to where the fence joins from the left (in the process of painting) then around to the bush where the loop will be. For anyone wondering what the mesh fencing is, we have 2 house cats who have the back garden to roam around. The system is really good as they can't get out and other cats can't get in 👍

A fabulous FREMO day Yesterday I was privileged to be able to help out the British FREMO section as they ran a layout operating session in Sussex. This modular approach to HO layouts uses the FREMO specification which is extremely popular among our European neighbours. It means anyone can build compatible modules which can be combined into an ambitious layout for a running day, or as this was, a weekend. For each get-together, someone has to mastermind designing the layout from all the modules on offer. Then, rolling stock is added to the mix, everything is zapped off for further magic by the FREMO HQ collective in Germany, and the end product is an operating timetable complete with driver instructions for each train and signalling instructions for each station master. The layout is properly signalled, and trains have to be offered and accepted by phone between stations before a signal is pulled Off and a train can move. The British guys have decided to specialise in 1960s and ‘70s German outline rolling stock and layout modules. The photos here show the mix of modules which is possible, varying from non-scenic (or not-yet-scenic) to highly detailed. Here's the fiddle yard at one end of the layout with the trains for the 'day' all ready to roll. With a suitable school hall to set things up in, this provides a brilliant experience in running a railway, whether (like me) as a driver of a succession of trains throughout the day, or as a signalling stationmaster. This shows a stationmaster on the left with his timetable and, on the right, the driver's instructions for a particular train. Some of the detailing was amazing and captured atmosphere really well: The contingent from Crawley Model Railway Society had brought along perhaps a dozen modules featuring their superbly detailed Nordhausen station, approach sidings and loco shed yard, all of which are fantastically detailed and looked authentically German. It’s worth pointing out that these are usually private events held for the benefit of those involved. They’re not suitable for the public attending as the layout is unprotected and designed primarily for access by the operators. It was great fun, and I'm very grateful to Geoff and the group for inviting me along for the day.