Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från Garden Rail

The Dyfrdwy Tramway is a little-known 18” narrow gauge slate railway in the Berwyns, just west of Llangollen near the village of Glyndyfrdwy. The history of the line has featured in the June issue of Garden Rail and I have written a complete backstory for the tramway, which explains and justifies my various locomotive and rolling stock projects. As with all garden railways, I see it very much as a ‘real’ railway. It lives, it evolves and it weathers with the seasons. Even without a train, it can be enjoyed. That said, as winter approaches, there are a few maintenance jobs I need to tend to, including some new retaining walls and renewed fencing. Over the winter, I hope to add some more lineside details including a water tower and…

While seeing the Peckett chassis turn over on air is fantastic, the point of this is to build a steam locomotive, and for that, we’ll need a source of fuel. In our scale, Butane gas is normally preferred, and before the coal-firing fans get excitied, there really isn’t space in the cab to swing a shovel, so I need to fit the gas tank and connect it to the burner. I’m a little nervous about this stage. After all, the whole point of this stuff is that it’s flammable. Worse, it’s invisible, so spotting any leaks isn’t easy. Some washing up liquid on the joints if I smell anything will be the only option. I’ll be extra careful with the spanners though. Fortunately, all the really difficult work is carried…

Trade information on new products for the garden railway modeller… If you are a trader with any new product, then contact phil.parker@waenersgroup.co.uk please mention Garden Rail when contacting suppliers PIKO America, LLC 4610 Alvarado Canyon Road, Suite 5, San Diego CA 92120 USA www.piko-america.com PIKO AMERICA G scale Festive railway models Due in the shops in November, Piko’s latest Christmas-themed rolling stock, made in Germany. The North Pole Express Mogul Locomotive features a 5-pole motor and numerous molded-on details including lights, brake cylinders, and working smoke stack. Separately applied is the tank piping, cowcatchers, handrails and ladders. The interior is detailed, and includes an engineer figure DCC is installed and digital sound made by Soundtraxx and operating directional lighting. On analogue operation, nearly all the sound features are available too.…

I guess everyone has ‘their thing’ with model railways – a combination of scale, gauge, period and geography. For me, its much simpler than that, as firstly, I am not really a modeller. My preferences have always been towards the vintage scene and ‘my thing’ is combining toy trains with slot cars. The inspiration for this probably goes back to all those Tri-ang catalogues that my dad bought in the early 60s. No idea why he bought them, as we were strictly Hornby Dublo, but they sowed the seed in me of an idea that grew and grew. I am no slot car racer either. My interest in slot cars is purely to use them as roadways, which was the vision of a man called Derek Brand, who invented Playcraft…

My elevated 7/8ths scale ‘Llwynog Gan Bryn’ garden railway is based on a typical Welsh slate quarry tramway. The main viewing and operating area is shouldered by, and liberally scattered with, loose Welsh slate, geologically representing its locality. However, I feel that my running line, again ballasted with loose slate, doesn’t quite look right running through the garden, which has an almost ‘East Asian’ tropical theme; architectural planting of differing varieties of Acanthus, bamboo, Fatsia japonica’s, ferns, grasses, Japanese cedars, and assorted palms. I wanted my running line to fit in better with its surroundings, away from the main ‘quarry’ area so to speak. For a number of years, I have been fascinated with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway; so much so that I now want my running line to vaguely…

There’s nothing more fundamental to a model railway than track. However, in 32mm gauge, the options have always been a bit limited. There’s a myriad of plastic toy track of course, but if you want metal rails a steam locomotive won’t melt, then you’ll either be saying hello to Peco, or buying in components to build your own. Now though, Cliff Barker, well known for his Gauge 1 and 3 tracks, has brought out a range for the 32mm gauge modeller. Based on Code 180 bullhead rail in either stainless steel, brass or nickel silver, Cliff explains on his website, that while most narrow gauge systems used flat bottom rail, it’s difficult to curve without a rail bending tool. The stainless steel is a good deal less shiny than nickel,…

MAMOD MEMORIES My garden railway had a similar start as the Editor, a Mamod kit arrived with no instructions, but I did manage to get it constructed. The major issues were speed and fuel dropping from the burner, which in turn would melt plastic sleepers, it would only run on a flat surface track on the driveway I will modify the locomotive, which will possibly include a tray underneath the burner, or, I may convert it to gas fired, which may give me some speed control. this project will have to wait a short while as I have my hands full building a fowler 3.5 inch 2.6.4 tank. Dave Bambrook THE WOODY BAY GARDEN RAILWAY As the winter months now see the Woody Bay Garden Railway at rest until the…

If you are interested, there is a lot of information out there about fast charging and cycling of batteries. The internet abounds with tales of exploding LiPo batteries and worse. Fortunately, for us railway modellers, it is not as complex as it seems. This is not a technical manual, but the story of my journey into high-tech batteries, and right back again! It all started when Editor Phil was kind enough to send me a model boat hull. My best friend Dave, had taken up model boats and it was a good chance for us to meet up at the boating lake on Sunday mornings and grumble. Even my doctor agrees that old men meeting up to grumble is important therapy and good for their health. Well, I built the…

I don’t think I can recall a single supplier with a more eclectic mix of kits like Rannoch Sidings. I reviewed its transfer wagon in GR334 and working tipper wagon in last months’ issue, but this bridge kit takes things to a completely different level. If Rannoch produced LEGO kits, this truss bridge would be its equivalent of LE-GO’s Taj Mahal kit; still one of the largest sets available, with 5923 pieces. The part count of this bridge kit does not quite make that number, but still, with around 480 pieces, I could see this would be a very detailed and time-consuming kit to build. Rannoch suggests 24 hours is around the norm, although as I painted as I went along, as it would be a tough ask to do…

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