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WELCOME TO MY GARDEN RAILWAY

I don't for one minute profess to be a modeller with the talent of say Tony Wright - but like many, I just like messing around when I have the odd moment away from my job. Now my garden railway is in no way meant to represent anywhere in particular - in fact it's not like any other garden railway I have seen - it's simply a way of animating the garden - imagine sitting on a hillside and watching steam trains all day - we can't really do that any more so I thought I would create my own 'hillside'.

In 1998 I moved from Enfield, North London, to Goffs Oak in Hertfordshire and inherited a large garden - 175ft x 30ft - and decided this would be the perfect venue for my long wished for garden railway. In 1959 my mum and dad had taken my brother and I to Arding & Hobbs, Clapham Junction, and purchased our very first model railway.

We were particularly lucky in owning a large Victorian house in Gauden Road, Clapham and built our model in one of the vast rooms at the top of the house. I can't remember exactly when, but it must have been about this time I decided I wanted a garden railway - it's only taken 40 odd years to not only get a suitable site but enough money to be able to build it!

I was a complete beginner to outdoor modelling and drew upon the help and guidance of many people - Jane Sullivan in particular was a tremendous help. Graham Muz, John Nicholas, Roger Merry-Price, Henry Boucher, Chris Tooth and Roger Murray have all be kind and helped a ham-fisted lag like me at least achieve something nearing a working model. Two other friend have helped in all sorts of ways and without them my dear Devon Belle would never have got off the ground let alone up the gradient - Mike Radford and Phil Woods - ta lads I must buy you a drink at some time... They stopped me making many mistakes and steered me in the right direction - many thanks to them all. The railway and garden are far from finished so I will periodically update this site. I hope the problems I encounter, and hopefully, solve will assist anyone else building their first garden railway.

George Reeve 2008

Ilfracombe portion of the Devon Belle breasting the summit of the 1 in 80 climb.

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My Way Planning and Design Construction Phase 1 Construction Phase 2 Construction Phase 3 Electrification Couplings Bridge Photos		The 'Brighton' in full flight. WELCOME TO MY GARDEN RAILWAY I don't for one minute profess to be a modeller with the talent of say Tony Wright - but like many, I just like messing around when I have the odd moment away from my job. Now my garden railway is in no way meant to represent anywhere in particular - in fact it's not like any other garden railway I have seen - it's simply a way of animating the garden - imagine sitting on a hillside and watching steam trains all day - we can't really do that any more so I thought I would create my own 'hillside'. In 1998 I moved from Enfield, North London, to Goffs Oak in Hertfordshire and inherited a large garden - 175ft x 30ft - and decided this would be the perfect venue for my long wished for garden railway. In 1959 my mum and dad had taken my brother and I to Arding & Hobbs, Clapham Junction, and purchased our very first model railway. We were particularly lucky in owning a large Victorian house in Gauden Road, Clapham and built our model in one of the vast rooms at the top of the house. I can't remember exactly when, but it must have been about this time I decided I wanted a garden railway - it's only taken 40 odd years to not only get a suitable site but enough money to be able to build it! I was a complete beginner to outdoor modelling and drew upon the help and guidance of many people - Jane Sullivan in particular was a tremendous help. Graham Muz, John Nicholas, Roger Merry-Price, Henry Boucher, Chris Tooth and Roger Murray have all be kind and helped a ham-fisted lag like me at least achieve something nearing a working model. Two other friend have helped in all sorts of ways and without them my dear Devon Belle would never have got off the ground let alone up the gradient - Mike Radford and Phil Woods - ta lads I must buy you a drink at some time... They stopped me making many mistakes and steered me in the right direction - many thanks to them all. The railway and garden are far from finished so I will periodically update this site. I hope the problems I encounter, and hopefully, solve will assist anyone else building their first garden railway. George Reeve 2008 Ilfracombe portion of the Devon Belle breasting the summit of the 1 in 80 climb.