Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Garden Rail

There’s a definite American theme to this issue. Our lead layout is the amazing Fairplex Railroad, which is celebrating its centenary this year. 100 years of history means it can’t fail to be fascinating, and the article doesn’t disappoint. Started as an adjunct to a model boat display, it now occupies a vast permanent site. All this, along with a need to entertain the public properly, and professionally, even though it’s run by volunteers, requires a well-trained team. A long way from the haphazard way most of us operate our lines. There’s plenty of hands-on interaction too, just the job to encourage the next generation of garden railroaders. What a display. I’m sure more than one reader will be tempted to head to Los Angeles to make it part of…

1 The alternate gauge is simply set by slotting the solebars into the corresponding slots in the van’s base. The builder just has to specify the wheelsets they want when purchasing the model. 2 The axle boxes are screwed into the captive nuts in the sole bars. These nuts are a tolerance-fit, but the instructions suggest you take the crosshead screws to tighten down the bolts into the sole bars. Once the bolts are in place, remove the screws and you are provided with small square covers, which glue over the bolts to keep them in place and to hide them from view. These small covers come on a sprue of ten. Only eight of these are needed, but I was glad to have a couple of spares, as these…

I have always been fascinated by railways, it started from a young age, watching the mainline steam and shunting from my grandparent’s back bedroom window that had a fantastic view of the marshalling yard and mainline in Stockport. One area in particular was the architecture, especially the bridges. Although I am not new to railway modelling, having had a 00 gauge railway from an early age, I was always jealous of the folk who had the space and money for larger scale, and especially live steam. My current railway came about after a move to a new life in Somerset, having had the opportunity to escape the London Rat Race and needing to work for a living. The garden we ended up with is probably not suitable for a railway,…

The dates for the 2025 show have been announced: March 1-2nd…

It all began in a tent. In the city of Pomona, the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds sits, as it always has since its inception, waiting for the annual LA County Fair. In addition to the educational exhibits, animals, food, and merchandise booths, the Fairplex Garden Railroad maintains its presence on the grounds (now named Fairplex), as it has since 1924. In an area roughly the size of a football field, over 60 men and women volunteer twice a week, maintaining and improving what some have called an historic artifact. This G gauge railroad has been in operation since 1924, and has operated in its present location since 1935. One can sense history when you enter the grounds. The railroad has operated every year except during World War II, and during…

A part from American locos bought second-hand after the Great War by several narrow-gauge railways, some British standard gauge railways bought locos from Baldwin at the turn of the 20th century. These included the Midland Railway, the Great Northern and, my next-door neighbour, the Great Central. The Traffic Superintendent of my Midgley Glen Light Railway keeps a close eye on goings-on ‘over the fence’ and, as he has a bumper crop of Express Rhubarb traffic to move every year, he recommended that the Receiver and General Manager take a look at these big, cheap American locos. The Bachmann Big Hauler (BH) has been around for many years and in many different forms, some more sophisticated than others. The one I ended up with was a track power, sound-fitted version, with…

When I joined a steam up at the London Museum of Steam and Water (Kew Pumping Station), I ran a train comprising of eight coaches, about two thirds of my passenger stock. I realised then just how much passenger stock I had built over the last half century. Nearly all my passenger stock is based on the Glyn Valley Tramway, how it was, and how also it might have been had that lovely line not closed. The starting point was the book Narrow Gauge Railways in Mid Wales by James Boyd. It is not possible to over-emphasise the value of Boyd’s work recording our delightful narrow gauge railways before they disappeared. This book was published in 1951, 72 years ago and hence the research probably dates back 80 years or…

The Fairplex Garden Railroad started back in 1924, when the Pomona Model Yacht Club displayed their models in a temporary pond for the annual Los Angeles County Fair. Herman Howard, a local workshop teacher, built and added a trolley car in 1/2” scale and, with the help of his brother Homer, built and displayed a railroad circling the pond. Later, the display included a model of the recently opened Puddingstone Reservoir. The display grew more elaborate and in 1935, the brothers were given a section of land on the grounds where they began to build the largest outdoor garden railroad in the United States. Originally, the layout was a square, 100ft by 100ft, but in 1936 it was expanded to its present size of 100ft x 300ft. As the years…

I do like to see a garden railway populated with a few figures and possibly an animal figurine or two. It brings the railway to life, with a little imagination, you are stepping into another world, which can make a nice distraction from today’s stresses. To populate our lines, we are quite lucky to be able to take our pick from either ready-painted figures, or we can go down the route of painting our own from the various suppliers available to us. I have travelled down both these routes, and have been very happy doing so. Why bother going through all the trouble of painting your own figures when you can buy ready-painted ones you may ask? Well, sometimes it’s nice to have the individuality of a figure painted to…

MODEL ENGINEERS LASER LNER Y6 Tram kit Gauge 3 A Gauge 3 version of the company’s existing Gauge 1 Y6 Tram. Designed to be an entry-level model, built using tab and slot construction, the body parts are all laser-cut in plywood for assembly with any suitable glue. We are told this shouldn’t take more than an afternoon! The brass roof is pre-rolled, only needing supporting ribs to be added. A pre-welded chassis made from 2mm thick steel forms the basis of the model. All axles can be driven either by a pair of motor/gearbox units or using coupling rods as per the prototype. To complete the model, you will need to order buffers from Walsall Model Industries, either original GER round-backed stocks or later LNER square-backed stocks. You will also…