In May 2014 I decided that I needed a front garden
railway. I don't have much of a front garden, at most
3.5 metres by 5.5 metres and with a 0.5 metre
slope across the short dimension. But I didn't have
anywhere else to put a railway and so it needed to be
done. The space is so small that realistic curves are
impossible however I did want to run real steam so I
commissioned Roger Melton of Just The Ticket
railway supplies in Salisbury to build me a Gauge One (i.e.
45 mm track spacing, with an accepted scale of 1 metre
== 32 mm) loco that would fit. And, of course, it had to
be a 0-6-2T tank engine of the type that would have run on the
Rhymney Valley line in South Wales in 1964, the year I was
born. In discussion with the secretary of the Welsh Railways Research Circle
I determined that the "native" 0-6-2T engines of the Rhymney
Valley line, with the flat-topped tanks, as seen in the Rhymney
Valley line books, were all withdrawn by the mid 1950s so the
engines that would have been running on that line in 1964 would
be ex-GWR 0-6-2T 56xx
series engines, in BR colours, with slanted-top tanks.
Roger said he couldn't commit to a timescale, so the engine
has been in the making for a little while. Provided it
will go around the tight radii I don't mind. Now that he's
not far off completion it is time for me to begin work.
Below find my front garden railway diary, starting with the things I did in the years
of waiting and then the clearing
of the space. Updates on progress are then in chronological
order, most recent at the top.
20 Ton BR Brake Van
6 January 2018
Over Christmas and the new year I have completed the Northern
Finescale BR 20 ton brake van kit. I'd guess it took
about 15 to 20 evenings to complete. I made the roof
removable with a few magnets to hold it in place so that I could
mount the battery box for the rear LED light inside (affixed with
velcro pads), running the wires underneath the model. The
weathering part was much more pleasurable than I expected: just
spend your time idly dabbing with this and that colour until the
model looks "used". Since I've painted the vehicle bauxite
and labelled it XP I also bought and attached vacuum brakes so as
not to be drummed out of the G1MRA scale accuracy club.
The model was painted as follows:
wooden body (the "bauxite" bits): two coats of
Humbrol 133 satin and then dry brushing with some
splodges of Humbrol dark grey wash and Humbrol rust wash,
wooden flooring: as wooden body, then a rethink to
Humbrol 26 matt followed by dry brushing with Humbrol
dark grey wash where mucky boots would fall,
roof: Humbrol 32 matt then dry brushing with some
splodges of Humbrol dark grey wash and Humbrol rust wash,
vents on roof: Humbrol 32 matt then a good coat of
Humbrol dark grey wash followed by dry brushing with some
splodges of Humbrol rust wash,
chimney: Humbrol 32 matt then a rethink to Humbrol 64
matt followed by spots of Humbrol 21 gloss and dry
brushing with splodges of LifeColor UA722 Roof Dirt,
concrete slabs: Humbrol 64 matt then a good coating of
Humbrol dark grey wash,
chassis: Humbrol 21 gloss then a fair coating of
Humbrol rust wash,
lamp hooks: Humbrol 04 gloss and then a spot of dry
brushing with some splodges of Humbrol rust wash,
handrails: Humbrol 04 gloss, painted while off the
model (after a test fitting) and then touched up after
fitting, plus some spots of Humbrol rust wash.
Ready For The Winter
17 December 2017
The front garden is now covered in weed fabric and lying fallow
for the winter. However, I have made a small amount of
progress in that I have constructed and painted the track-side hut
kit. I cut out the window panes with a small Dremel jig saw,
used the kind of resin you put on glass fibre to glue it all
together and then painted it as follows:
two coats of white car spray primer all over,
wood: two coats of Humbrol 70 matt then several
dry/patchy coats of LifeColor UA721 Sleeper Grime,
brick: one coat of Humbrol 83 matt to get a nice
yellow brick (though I didn't shake the tin well and hence it
came out gloss, which looked rather good, so I would use gloss
in future),
chimney pot: one coat of Humbrol 73 then dry brushing
with LifeColor UA722 Roof Dirt,
flashing on the chimney: LifeColor UA722 Roof Dirt
roof: gloss black then dry brushing with
LifeColor UA722 Roof Dirt,
window/door: gloss white (with gloss black for hinges and
door catch) then dry brushing with LifeColor UA722 Roof
Dirt.
Gauge One AGM
14 October 2017
Since it was being held just up the road from me in Huntingdon, I
decided to visit the Gauge One society AGM; not to go to the AGM
itself, of course, but to meet useful people in the show on the
same site. Here are the useful things I did:
Met with Roger Melton in the flesh for the first
time. We confirmed that I would like my loco to be gas
fired and that I would like him to add 2.4 GHz remote control.
Met with Cliff
Barker who makes true scale Gauge One track. Since
I have such a small amount of track and it is "on display" I
think I will dump the Peco track and use his stuff instead.
Met with Rail Real Estate (Murray Johnston and his wife)
who make very good trackside buildings at a very reasonable
price. I bought two:
The water tower will allow me to actually refill my engine from
it (fitting a plastic hose between the filler pipe and the
up-pipe and running a hose from the up-pipe at the base to a
supply tank); the trackside hut will be a nice simple first kit
to build.
Met with Brunel
Models who happen to be building a bespoke halt-type
station for someone at the moment which would fit perfectly in
my layout. They are also able to make facias for
viaducts to your measurements, which could come in handy.
Purchased a 16 ton grey steel coal wagon (by Accucraft) from Fine Scale Brass;
again the kind of thing I would see long trains of running to
and from Penallta and other collieries on the Rhymney Valley
line, though this one needs some rust added to it:
While talking with Cliff Barker about the track
I asked about remote control of points and he talked of a design
they had in mind but which was too time consuming to
produce. It sounded really cool and so he pointed me at
the Model Electronic Railway
Group. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year,
MERG is a UK-based model engineering group focussed on the
electronics and computing side of railway modelling. How
excellent - I joined immediately. What a productive day.
Cleared
24 September 2017
After a few hours each over a few weekends spent with pick-axe
and fork, and as many trips to the dump, the front garden is
cleared. The large stones were saved to one side and five frogs,
one toad, one bumble bee and a newt were rehoused.
Fortunately there is good soil right down to pavement level,
which gives me lots of room to get imaginative with a river I
have in mind. Now I will leave it over winter, covered to
avoid any unwelcome growth.
As I've been waiting for the engine for a little while, the
front garden has become somewhat overgrown. So I've begun
by clearing it; excuse the statement of political allegiance, I
took the "before" photo in the run-up to a general election.
One thing is evident: I will need a cutting at the back and a
viaduct of some form at the front if I'm going to have a dead
level playing field. As you can see, I've trimmed the yew
tree to give me room to run underneath it.
Things
I Did While Waiting
27 August 2017
While I've been waiting for the engine I began a plan
using WinRail
X2. This is just a rough idea, laid out using Peco
G45 track (which I have also bought), and doesn't take into
account the position of the yew tree. The inner oval is
not part of the implementation, it is simply a standard oval of
Peco G45 track for visual reference (since I can set such an
oval up in the loft).
Also, while visiting a model railway show in Bishops
Stortford, I came across a chap who made station signs; I had
one made (we live on Victoria Avenue):
