Dorkingian

Earlier this summer we had a visit from "King John", seen here with a train crossing Foxdale Bank:

Some photos of Bo-Bo electric "John Hampden" here (also with improvised coaching stock): http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/84103-dorking-garden-railway-videos-in-00-scale/&do=findComment&comment=2016039

Yesterday we had a majestic Metropolitan visitor in the shape of Heljan's new London Transport Bo-Bo electric loco "John Hampden", complete with some LT goods rolling stock. Looked good and ran well: Unfortunately there aren't any suitable coaches available to go with this loco, so we had to improvise: We spent the afternoon reminiscing about growing up in Metroland, and arranging plausible scenes to photograph, based on the line from Rickmansworth to Baker Street and the parallel ex-GC line to Marylebone (well, almost plausible, if you make allowances for the absence of conductor rails): I knew those old tinplate LNER teak coaches would come in useful one day!

My track base is either decking board (for straight sections) or old bookshelves or whatever I had available for cutting out the curved sections with a jigsaw. Both of these are given a couple of coats of creocote, as real old-fashioned creosote isn't readily available now (and pre-treated decking board still seems to absorb more). It's the same approach whether at ground level or not. While this won't last for ever, it starts out flat and is fairly easy to lay track on.

When considering what gauge and scale to choose for a garden line, you need to think about what rolling stock you already have or will want to buy. You can forget about British-outline standard gauge in G scale unless you're a millionaire - and can wait for everything to be custom built for you. There's not a lot of ready-to-run BR rolling stock in O gauge either (and the prices are impressive and the scale isn't always consistent). So unless you like continental/US trains or British narrow gauge, then 00 is for you. It works fine in the garden: there's more maintenance, but the scenery is already there! My Dorking Garden Railway playlist gives a modest indication of what can be done in 00: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsMgMXSgho4Uk3OLauEHcUKzqUzm1F7ei

Another new video, called A North Country Retrospective, can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4v0gtD2rRw Perhaps I'll call the next one Jurassic Junction!

There's a new video at:

Here are a couple of shots of the latest engine to arrive on the DGR - a Southern N Class 2-6-0. Don't forget there's a playlist of Dorking Garden Railway videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/Dorkingian

Here's a new Dorking Garden Railway video, this time with a Great Western flavour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1edL8XCy6o&list=UUd1ACIZyclJqIjOg3GWB2_g

Earleir this week I had a day out visiting the Danes Wood Railway also in Surrey. The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=078URpJczdw&list=UUd1ACIZyclJqIjOg3GWB2_g

Those are really interesting comparison photos, thanks, Gary. The Trainorama model obviously wins hands down on detail and appearance. But the Lima 44 runs quite well, so I just wondered what sort of performance the Trainorama loco delivers. Thanks again. These days the replacement for the Lima 44 is the Trainorama model. It is an excellent model with proper mesh grills, accurate detail, scale knuckle couplers, flush glaze windows and the list goes on... Ok, the Trainorama model had cost me $150.00 (on sale, generally $200.00), whereas the Lima model cost approximately $65-70.00, way back in the mid 80's, some 30 plus years ago... Hope you enjoyed the comparison ! Cheers, Gary.

After visitors arrived at the weekend with a bagful of old Tri-ang locos, we dusted them off and got them running, although old, coarse wheels don't go too well with Peco points. There's a two minute video of the proceedings here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvdKgb8b6Y4&list=UUd1ACIZyclJqIjOg3GWB2_g Even includes the venerable Tri-ang Stephenson's "Rocket". Previous Dorking Garden Railway videos are at the location below (I quite like the Australian one): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsMgMXSgho4Uk3OLauEHcUKzqUzm1F7ei Below is a still photo of the more mainstream locos from the weekend:

Some of the old Lima RTR Australian rolling stock isn't too bad (if you ignore the huge coupling gaps). There's a video of my collection in operation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76Ch4yFGJeY&list=UUd1ACIZyclJqIjOg3GWB2_g and a couple of stills below:

The Dorking Garden Railway in 4mm scale mostly features 1950s and '60s trains. The layout at present is a single track continuous run of almost 70 feet, with plans for double tracking. The emphasis is on running trains - and videoing them. Here are some typical scenes: There's a playlist of Dorking Garden Railway videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/Dorkingian