Leaderboard

I've been trying to make the most of the glorious weather but at times it's been unbearably hot. I really wanted a BR Blue day today so got out a mixed lot of MK1 coaches along with a selection of Mk2's. In the morning I had 26024 hauling a rake of 6 Mk2's, capturing a few clips on video but forgetting to take any photos so I had to return to that later in the afternoon. Here (below) 26024 has just exited the shed onto Low Shott viaduct. (below) I've been trying for some different angles for photos and this next one is a bit awkward to access but seems to work well, though I maybe should have moved the bird bath and stand in the background. Later I had large logo BR Blue 37401 'Mary Queen of Scots' hauling a mixed rake of 9 BR Mk1 coaches in BR Blue/Grey livery. (below) A rare shot from inside the shed as 37401 departs Shieling Bridge. 37403 'Isle of Mull' is a ViTrains model and although it looks the part it's not a very good runner, in fact it takes ages to move off from a standing start. The MK1's are in need of some weathering although I had actually thought of selling them in order to thin my collection down a bit. There's no rush to do anything just yet. It did take me some time to get the MK1's running reliably. I fitted them with Hornby R8220 bar couplings and had to do a fair bit of swapping coaches round before I was able to keep them all coupled together.

Afternoon, Well I thought it high time I shared my garden railway with you all. It's approx 70' x 30' double track main line, and features several challenging gradients which requires some trains to actually be driven as opposed to being left to run themselves. All controlled by Lenz DCC, with a wifi connection. This allows me to utilize a couple of old iphones with touchcab software giving me total fdredom to control trains from anywhere in the garden (and the top garden when SWMBO calls!) Era is mainly BR Blue but with the occasional foray into the modern day. Loco's are the usual mix of current manufacturer with some older Lima stuff being slowly restored to service. 90% of the rolling stock is Lima which I find runs fantastically outside. So just to give you all a taste I uploaded my first video to Youtube today with a pair of sound fitted 37's on a heavy enterprise working.

I've gradually been getting some more stock out onto the layout though it's all ones that have been seen previously. I don't expect there being anything new anytime soon although I do have two RevolutioN Cargowaggons that haven't yet been seen either on Skew Bridge or Worsley Dale. They arrived along with my IWA log wagons a few weeks/months ago now so I might give them a run in the coming days and see if they perform any better in the garden than the log carriers did. I attempted to do a bit of filming today but I find it gets in the way of actually enjoying running trains. I'm not sure it's worth it to be honest as you can't sit back and relax when you've got a controller in one hand, gopro camera in another and nowhere left to hold your phone. I never was any good at juggling. 24009 was never intended to be a 'Scottish' loco for Worsley Dale. It was one of many impulse purchases I made and I only recently discovered that it actually spent time in Scotland between 1971-75 so that's good enough for me to add it to the roster. Being a Sutton Loco Works model fitted with sound and stay-alive it performs brilliantly and sounds as good as any loco I've heard. Saying that...I'd had it running for probably 30-60 minutes before I just happened to notice something by the side of the track near Low Shott viaduct and it turned out to be a sandbox & pipe. I hadn't had any mishaps so it had obviously just fallen off. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have seen it. 37401 'Mary Queen of Scots' is one of my 'go to' loco's along with 37025. I tend to grab the weathered ones before the pristine ones although I haven't yet dared tackle the SLW 24's. 37401 is seen here at one of my favourite locations for photographs as it exits Stack Gill viaduct and runs along Stackgarth Gill. Another of my favourite photograph spots is by the side of Low Shott viaduct and 37401 is seen crossing the viaduct immediately before entering the shed and Shieling Bridge station hauling one of my favourite wagon rakes - the OTA log wagons. And although the weather today has been extremely pleasant, during the early part of the day it was almost impossible to get photos or videos that were not affected by sun shining directly in the camera lens or that didn't have the shadow of the camera itself (or worse..me) in the foreground. 45010 had direct sunlight to contend with as it hauls the West Highland excursion rake across Stack Gill viaduct.

Hi All, Well, I'm back again, can't believe it's been over a year since my last post! This time I've got a video, it's not great camera work, but it will do! As I realised the good weather was coming to an end, I was determined to get some filming done. I hope you enjoy it? Many thanks Mark.

It's heart-breaking news. Someone who contributed so much to the forum but who has sadly been taken before he could realise his layout dreams. We've shared Tony's ups and downs for over 7 years, and the poor man has endured his fair share of downs during that time, but he somehow managed to keep smiling and 'moving ahead'! I will miss his presence greatly here as I am sure the majority of our members will. My heartfelt condolences go to his wife and to all his family. Rest in peace Tony.

Just some pictures...

Dear Thomas, since a lot of Years I thought I'm very alone with the idea to bring HO scale trains outside. I searched Youtube and the www to all this topics, with some small results. Yesterday Evening I found your link and got here and I'm totally impressed by your work. This is absolutely amazing... Since 2 Years I got back to my childhood hobby (where I gone also outside with Roco Line/ but just for 1 day) and since that date I'm testing with DCC and Roco Line all over my house (but so far just inside). Some rails of RocoLine are stationed since over a year in my garden for testing for the weather influences. First of all I want to build some parts inside to get more in detail with all the electronic and computer stuff to know what is the goal when I wanna go outside. Your explanations and experiences here are helping me... (I cannot put in words how much) Keep it up and I'm looking forward to see more. Kind regards Bjoern

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.

My first turnout completely built by myself.

Ballast! Probably a bit overkill in the garden, but I did say I wanted to take my indoor railway outside!

Found this video of a really great H0 garden layout based on US motifs. Probably from the Czech Republic, but it really gave me new ideas. Have a look, it's worth it.

So with the ‘Brio’ blocks assembled and checked, the next stage was to put some tops one them. These arrived in the form of some 9mm ply....which was reclaimed and free! ...and then some upvc cladding to the sides, and some roofing felt on top.... ...and finally, some nice GWR Green (current livery) to tidy everything up... I’ve started painting the posts a stone colour so that they bland better with the garden. It’s surprising just how sturdy the structure is! This brings my work up to date, with all of the main sections done bar the felt, and once I’ve done that, I’ll make the frames up for the station area. Watch this space....

Despite getting the sprung points working I just knew there had to be a better, perhaps much easier way. I kept going back to what @ThomasIsaid about fastening a spring to the points and to a screw alongside the track - it's most simplest form. I'm just making things far too difficult for myself! So overnight I'd come up with a couple of methods that I thought I'd try this morning using materials I have to hand - well materials is hardly the word because what I've now done requires just one thing - a short length of springy wire (and a soldering iron!) It really can't get any simpler than this. This is the other point that I've tested this out on and the reason I've soldered the springy wire to the rail ahead of the point is because it's a left hand point and the stock rail curves round. I just couldn't get it to work the same as on a straight length of track. You can fiddle with the wire itself to adjust the tension and it requires little effort to move the points over. This is an old point and there's a bit of resistance between the point blades and sleepers that I need to ease before I'll be satisfied it's good to go. Just occasionally the points don't move fully back across but I can see which sleeper is causing the problem. I think I need to do this with the first point now as it's a much more reliable way to spring the points.

The first set of blocks are laid so I stuck some track on top and sent a train down as a test. The roofing felt isn't glued, the track isn't glued or pinned yet and I had to use a temporary board to run off. It was really just to get something working - anything. By the time I did that, it had gone dark. So all I've got to prove it is a grainy video. I'll stick it up anyway and try to get some better footage in the light.

It's that time of the year again (or thereabouts) where I finally get round to reporting on how the railway has fared over the winter months and come up with plans for the coming year that I'll doubtless not adhere to. At first glance there doesn't appear to be any major damage or deterioration to the track but I'll know more once I get the chance to power up and run something round. There's the usual overgrown vegetation to cut back around the circuit, such as here on Stack Gill viaduct where this Peony has sprung into life. However, as in previous years it's not the plants that are giving me problems but the bloody pigeons who have again chosen to nest in the tall shrub at the bottom of the garden, accessing it by leaping up from the top of Stack Gill viaduct. In the process they have dislodged a fair section of parapet wall that I only repaired last year after they had done exactly the same. I couldn't say for certain how many different adhesives I have used on the parapet walls over the years but even though most of them set rock hard initially, it isn't long before the adhesive becomes pliable and the structure weakens until it's eventually dislodged. As soon as I can get round to it I'll be using the same sand and cement mixture I resorted to last year to replace all the parapet wall that is still held in place by adhesive. Plans for the coming year? Well I don't really have anything in mind other than the aforementioned repairs to the viaduct. I'd like to get certain areas ballasted, especially the ones where I tend to take most of my photos but that's something that may or may not happen this year, we'll just have to see.

A small update - Some pictures of how the outside section is looking, the plants are growing nicely and really help bring it all together. Inside work continues on the station area with a Metcalfe kit almost finished. I decided to add lighting to give some extra interest. Chris

Hi Guys, not to bad a weekend. Have been out laying track for two days . My finger nails are a mess, with working on top of roofing felt. I have still got about half of the wires to join between rails yet. Unfortunately promised the C E O we would go away for a couple of days. Of cause its going to be dry and when we are away and come back rain. Still she deserved a treat for allowing me to proceed in our limited garden we have. Here's a picture of a Dapol Virgin Pendolino EMU. got for a cheap price. Runs nice to say the track a mess, but oh those fiddley copulins. Not made for my saw fingers and poor sight. (men in white coats here for me tomorrow) I not finish and thinking of stage 2. Thankyou all for your very useful articles about your railways its a enjoyable way to spend a odd wet hour looking at all the ideas

Hello together! I wanted to give you a sign of life from me again. At the moment I'm finishing the wiring of the layout with the 10 boosters. I've also reached the last level indoors. With kind regards Thomas

Well at last I have started on the baseboards. I have completed the two straight boards, just have to cover with roofing felt. I am fortunate that a neighbour is going to give me a hand as far as raising them off the ground, about 2 feet high. I just got the two loops at each end to sort out. So still a lot to do before anything runs.

Throughout 2021 I was working on the electronics side of our hobby. Although I have a background in electronics I was out of date, and the Arduino revolution had completely passed me by. I've been playing catch up. But this has mainly been on my indoor projects. My first project on Amblethorpe is a passenger information display for Colwick Station. It shows "live" train information, but it's of fake trains. I've not connected it up to sensors on the track so it is not triggered by the coming and goings. This is possible, but I don't run Amblethorpe to a timetable so there is no point trying to do it. There are 3 screens each 22mm by 11mm with 128*64 pixels to play with. The type is tiny, either 6px or 5px high. They cost £6.50 per screen. They are dynamic, with some trains randomly delayed or cancelled. The clock ticks off the seconds minutes and hours. The destination stops scroll across the screen when required. These 3 are driven by a single Arduino micro controller, which cost £3.50. it all runs on 5 volts, and this can be pulled off the DCC track bus using a two quid voltage regulator. So the whole thing cost £25. I used my plotter cutter to make a hosing out of black styrene. It's a bit bulky, but I hid most of it by placing a Welcome to Colwick sign on the top. This year I'll get round to motoring the points on the Paltyville Ridge & Peak Railroad using and Arduino to provide the control and frog juicing.

Spotted this on my bike ride today. Not sure what class it is, but definitely a 3-car EMU.

Stabling yard # 2 is finished so far, only the last points still have to be connected to the (still missing) decoder. And then next to # 2 there will also be the stabling yard # 3, which will have 9 tracks with a usable length of about 1500mm for push-pull trains and railcars. But two points are still missing for the beginning with #3.

Worsley Dale is officially open for 2021! Tracks were cleaned and cleared early today and power was applied shortly afterwards. I was immediately greeted with a short circuit! There's nothing really complicated on Worsley Dale, it's little more than a circle of track so what could possibly be the problem? I checked from one end to the other and found nothing amiss so it wasn't something just across the rails so that leaves just the two sprung points which each have frog juicers fitted. I should really have removed them before winter set in but they are housed within plastic boxes, cushioned with foam, and then placed within another structure but the one near Low Shott viaduct, a Tam Valley frog juicer, had failed. That's the third one I've bu**ered up! The Gaugemaster ones are fine. This may be partly to blame as I mentioned yesterday. The frost and ice has obviously got to this though the interior where the frog juicer is located within its plastic box was completely dry. While the damp conditions may have cost me a juicer they've created a wonderful garden of colour on some of my stonework which appears to be thriving... And it's even spreading along the lineside on Stack Gill viaduct. Who needs static grass! So here's a short video of 37425 hauling a short rake of coaches around today. It's the only train running just now - the sun may be shining but it's still a bit cool out there.

Thomas and the snow Annie and Clarabel were delighted to see the snow, but Thomas wasn't so sure. "I don't think we'll be able to get out of the carriage sidings" he said. Even when they turned round to face the other way, the enormous depth of snow defeated them: "If we try to move from here, we'll just get stuck!" said Thomas. Annie and Clarabel were very sad. "Isn't there anything you can do, Thomas?" they said. So Thomas jumped everyone across to another track, but still the snow was too deep to risk. "It's no good" said Thomas. "There's too much snow today. We'll just have to stay at home." So he blew hot steam into Annie and Clarabel's pipes to keep them warm and cheer them up. The Fat Controller told Thomas that the whole line was completely snowed-in, and even the girder bridge was impassable. But as he said, things like that don't happen very often in Dorking, so we hope the trains will be running again soon.

I use "Typhus corrosion" from the Warhammer paint range, which has a sand type substance in the paint.

nearing completion ok my skills not not great but it will do with just a bit of 60git to sand it flat just need to cut some keys stones now to complete a 50 mm gap in span 7 of the viaduct

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.

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..

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

Some running today

A little later than planned but here finally is a video with action over the past 2 days mainly featuring the SLW class 24 quartet in yesterday's bright sunshine.

Yes Mick, the two viaducts are still there! Both are in need of repair, I should rebuild them, but that's too big of an undertaking to stomach, just the thought of replacing 8 metres of viaduct in-total......! I will have to put a speed restriction on the trains crossing! WEAK BRIDGE! Only half of the line is at ground level, after the pond the ground drops away so the track is about 500mm above ground, running over elevated rockeries before entering the garage. Here are some photos of the extension to the garage, which includes two tunnels (one has an oversized ventilation shaft, but it's fun to look down and see the trains pass through), and yet another viaduct.

Yesterday I began the process of filling the gaps with earth and stone. Months ago I rescued the stones form a friends driveway before she had it tarmaced. I didn't know if I had enough, which meant it was guess work as to how much earth I'd need to fill with first. We did about 72% of the filling. Getting the point where the final position of the trackbed blocks has yet be decided. This morning I placed some track down and, for fun, popped some coaches on. This turned out to be helpful, it shows me how long my passing loop will have to be, allowing for a loco on the front. Up shot is that I can'y make it any shorter. I'm still uncertain which point to use where. I have two right hand and two Y. I've started thinking through how I can create a connecting line to the Snicketway baseboards. I'm going to use some 18mm ply which should be ridged enough for the 70cm length it will span. For the radius I'm following the track that came with train set, which ensures that it won't be too tight. This afternoon I'm going to have to lower a couple of the ridge blocks by 18mm to allow for the linking track to be able to pass over them while the track stays on the level. Feels like real progress now. Should be sticking down roofing felt and laying track soon.

First trains of the year About time too, I hear some say. Well, up till now the weather hasn't been great this year, and there's always real life which conspires to get in the way of running trains. But with this recent spell of fine weather - and no social obligations intervening(!) - I was able to make the most of today. It was a Southern day in honour of the sunshine, and the first train past was a coal train hauled by an N Class 2-6-0: Then a West Country appeared with a passenger train, seen here running past the goods train at Northdown Sidings: Running across the Northern Viaduct and past Foxdale Carr Hall: Heading past the new footbridge on towards Foxdale Bank: And past the commemorative platelayers hut: Just caught a threequarter rear view as she passed: Then the N Class reappeared on a local passenger train: Rumbling past empty coaching stock in the sidings:

After years to procrastination I have finally started work on the Paltryville Ridge & Peak Railroad. My second railway in the garden, it will run close to ground level below Amblethorpe which is on a shelf about a metre above. Running on 16.5mm gauge track at 1:48th scale it is an American Narrow Gauge O Scale commonly known as On30. Paltryville is a fictional location found in The Miserable Mill, the forth book in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The book begins with the children traveling on a train to Paltryville when they find themselves working as slaves in the Lucky Smells Lumber Mill. The Ridge comes from the design of the layout. The main run will be on a raised bed built from aerated blocks. The blocks have been carved to create a rock face effect, the railroad will run along the ridge. The Peak is in there because I like the interlaced alliteration and that the abbreviation P.R.& P.R. Ground works have begun. Blocks have been carved. Track is on order.

All boards covered with felt. I was not 100% had a bad night food wise. My neighbour is a god send. I just help by being a goffer. Eevern placed an oval of track on and ran a small tank engine. Needless to say It help with my feelings. Now I need dry warm weather to start the first loop.

Bone on an MGR. First time I've got to run this loco! Aside a faulty point switch, having to adjust one corner of track, and having to clean the contacts for one of the dublo light signals, winter had been kind

While I've been messing around weathering the hoppers and mineral wagons, I've had the WD 2-8-0 No.90630 hauling them round the layout. I keep stopping the train to remove the next wagons in need of attention, replacing them with ones I've either just weathered or modified in some way. 90630 hasn't been used for some time and unfortunately although the sound still works it appears to have lost its ability to smoke. On odd occasions it emits a puff or two but generally there's very little sign of any or even nothing at all. Storage doesn't do any of these models any good. Here's a couple of photos taken this evening showing 90630 hauling the rake of recently weathered mineral wagons. I've attempted to remove the colour light signal from the background which seemed a bit inappropriate for the setting. Part of the rake of 28 loaded 16t mineral wagons I weathered years ago can be seen alongside in the sidings - the remainder are behind the camera, giving me room for the photo. And again a smokeless 90630 is seen hauling the rake of minerals and hoppers past the sidings. Monochrome suits these well I think.

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.

Hi Marcus, Andrew and Clay Mills junction, many thanks for the kind words am improving every day soon be coming home , longest time in hospital ever.. No idea when I will get back to my layout wife wont let me go down to the shed, plenty of projects to work on, ship will be rebuilt in one full section with a complete hull and got a spitfire I am working on . You get a mag with parts every fortnight going cost $2000 when finished Mark1A 1/18 scale fully working model Tony from down under keeping on moving ahead

It may seem a little strange to have what would normally be a permanent structure, bolted together, so let me explain. We currently live in a rental property as my father is terminally ill, and we may need to up sticks at shortish notice - hopefully not too short notice as I like having my Dad around. I’ve not seen any ‘portable’ garden layouts before, but those of you that already know my modelling style know that I don’t do things by the book, and if I start off with a plan, it’s normally 6 times removed when it gets to its final incarnation! The triangle originally had three double junctions but I wasn’t happy with it, so I decided I’d take one of the return lines underneath the straight lines to / from the shed, but this didn’t quite work out how I thought, due to the rather large Minorcan Palm, so Plan C arrived whereby one set of lines now go under the other and converge by the shed. These pictures will explain.... The gradient works out at 1 in 48, and this is achieved by lowering the right hand chord slightly as it passes under the other lines and then it rises to meet them just before the shed. ....more pictures to follow...

Just a few clips from yesterday of the sprung points using the short length of GEM Mercontrol steel wire soldered to the rail sides. You can see the tie bar moving back and forth as each wagon passes through in the first clip of the class 20. Apologies for the rather extended whistle from the Black 5 in the final clip!

I've spent the majority of the day filming again but this time instead of chasing trains round the garden, I've remained in the same place and everything today has been filmed over Low Shott viaduct. I've missed not having the steam train running so I've got the coaches back out on track and coupled up to Black 5 No.45010. I noticed Andrew had placed some crew in the cab of his Black 5 and it really makes a difference so I've done the same with mine. Here's a photo of 45010 running tender first across Low Shott viaduct: And then to show the difference the addition of a driver and fireman makes, here's a photo of 45010, still running tender first, having just crossed Low Shott viaduct. Thanks Andrew. Next I think I need some lamps on the front. Over the next few days I intend doing a lot less filming because there's still work to be done on the layout and it's best to do it while the weather is settled. I also need a break from videos because you can't enjoy a running session the same when you have a camera in your hand all the time. Sometimes you just need to sit back and enjoy it.

Thanks for that Thomas. It's by no means as impressive as Maximilianshafen but of course they are two completely different settings. I hadn't realised just how many video clips I had taken today and while a few of them were unsuitable I've put the remainder together in a video of just over 10 minutes duration.

They're very nice Chris and yes, typically Scottish traffic so will go nicely behind a 37 freight once I've sorted something out with the couplings. I've finally put together some clips from today (includes one from yesterday too but it all looks the same) and there's a little over 8 minutes worth which is a bit longer than my usual videos. I was going to split it up but decided in the end to leave it as it is. There's only 4 loco's featured as that's all I've got out at the moment and one of those is 26024 which did a good number of circuits again today with the track cleaner and also on a short freight. It would be nice to know just how many scale miles that little engine has done for me!

Mick, You're very welcome. That is just to say a big Thank You on behalf of all the contributors and visitors to this superb website which you have diligently maintained over so many years to provide so much enjoyment and encouragement to people interested in model railways. Long may it, and you, continue! Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Decade, Andrew

I've ordered some small bags of scatter material and static grasses in order to try them out before deciding how I'm going to tackle the embankments. In the meantime I've been painting up some more toy filling material ready to cover in scatter to simulate bushes and shrubs. The ones I did a few days ago don't look too bad when placed on the layout so I'm going to need lots more of them. Today I've painted some in brown and some in a dark green colour so that I can have several 'varieties' rather than them all looking much the same.

Just before dark I took this overall photo of Shieling Bridge showing progress with the platform lights. I think it's going to look good when the remaining lights are fitted but it does highlight the need for lights in some of the buildings, something I was hoping not to have to do. A little later I posed 37401 on track for these photo's. Photo's taken with my phone camera and a bit grainy but I'll experiment with other camera's at a later date. As mentioned earlier, I think the lights will offer opportunities for alternative photo's to the standard shots I'm used to taking. Has it been worth the effort? Well yes I think it has and it's a relatively inexpensive addition. I just have to remember the lights are there now when I'm reaching across the layout or cleaning the track. Wonder how long it's going to be before one comes a cropper?

Well you're certainly proving all the doubters wrong and showing that OO/HO in the garden can be very successful and worthwhile. Just wait until you can show them a fully operational layout next year! I think the forum provides the required inspiration and motivation to make a start in OO/HO outdoors. It shows what is possible and provides advice on things that are best avoided. Each individual member introduces their own ideas and you've added some novel methods yourself which should aid others who dare to follow in our footsteps! I think you win the prize for the most expansive OO/HO garden railway featured here so far and it's been very interesting following along. Looking forward to the recommencement of construction in 2019.