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First year in the garden...

James Hilton

Entry posted by James Hilton

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This weekend is (approximately) the first anniversary of my garden railway...

 

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The past 12 months have proven that a ground level line, built with good solid foundations, left floating in the ballast can survive the worst the British weather can throw at it, from baking hot summer (well spring!) days, torrential downpours, hard frost, deep snow. It is anything but maintenance free, requiring the ballast topping up, 'tamping' areas where the sub-layer subsides, and regular weeding - but it feels like you have you're very own full size railway, it's actually a relaxing side of the hobby I had never appreciated.

 

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And what of the line itself? Well I've scratchbuilt a few buildings and signals, repainted and refurbished a lot of LGB rolling stock and have even scratchbuilt some rolling stock. It's been truly refreshing to work without the constraints of the 'mainstream' scales, and I hope, despite all the scale in-accuracies and other compromises in the models that I have gone some way to capturing the spirit of the narrow gauge lines in Austria during the late 1950s through to the 1980s.

 

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So what for the next 12 months? Well I've another scratchbuild rolling stock project, and a third building I want to create. I've also got a big Eastern European narrow gauge diesel kit on order from a small supplier in Germany. Along with another LGB trainset I'm getting for my birthday, I've plenty of projects to maintain my interest.

 

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Some of you may have spotted a longer 'photo' update in the 'Outdoors' section of the forum, those that missed it, it's here...

Introducing the EJ&KLR

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Jon020

James, a year...! wow how time flies. The railway os looking really superb. I have to admit that my garden has declined a little since devoting more time to the railways... but I think you've hit on a good comprimise here - I'm not playing trains, I'm gardening! I like it! All of the shots look very realistic.. something you'ver attained well with your skills James. I can see the appeal. Maybe there is mroe than P4 eh ;-)

Jon

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James Hilton

Jon - thank you for the comment, it's nice to hear from the old regulars on something other than a 4mm post in my blog! :) Yes, I've found life beyond RTR bashing in 00, fidelity and fiddliness in P4, in a subject I don't know a lot about and in a grand scale that is both expensive and space hungry! The research in old (and new) books on the subject, both in English and German, the hours scouring eBay for bargains, the dreaming up custom liveries and models, it seems to have everything I need at the moment (even got a kit coming from Germany soon - so that will satisfy the kit building aspect).

 

But I guess it was the right thing at the right time. I enjoy the many varied aspects, but I most enjoy working on rolling stock. Therefore, working in the garden, I found the layout kind of takes care of itself, scenery requires a bit of thought and maintenance but it's all really quick, big and chunky, you can get your hands around it... yes I suppose it's gardening. In the smaller scales I never did finish a layout, ever since I was at Primary School... but I do vividly remember the towns, quarries, army bases (etc) that I made in the dirt with my friends for our MicroMachines and Matchbox cars, and then later building railways in the garden with a friends LGB trainset. They were real models in our heads, hours to construct (rather than months and years)... this is I guess the grown up version.

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Will Vale

Sorry I haven't been around as much as I should, I missed heaps of stuff on your blog but this is lovely as ever. You've done so much in a year in effectively a whole new medium.

 

I think the railbus shot is amazingly real, and I like the last one for the way it shows the line weathered-in to the surroundings so effectively.

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