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OO in the garden does work!

The geography of the garden was the most difficult problem to overcome in the planning stages. The drop in height, from the house to the bottom boundary, was something like 6ft. It meant that careful construction was needed so as not to make the gradients too fierce. I took advice on this from Jane Sullivan who had a garden railway to beat all garden railways. She has a ruling gradient of 1 in 80 and was able to run full length trains without too much of a problem.

I decided to follow this line, but before any railway construction could take place I needed to secure the garden boundary with new fencing. I used a trellis fence purchased from a local garden retailer. All was pressure treated with fence posts secured into the ground using the fabulous quick drying POSTCRETE. Although not necessary, I treated the fence and posts again before constructing the track base.

I needed to construct a shed too where the electric's and stock could be stored and again I was able to purchase this cheaply from a local source.

A problem I hadn't figured on was how to convince my wife, who is an avid gardener and not at all used to my presence there, that this was not a takeover of her beloved hobby, but a way of creating interesting animation in HER garden. My promise to create a gazebo, new footpaths, sheds, raised flower beds and a pond was a heavy (literally) price to pay but was something far less of a burden then say the LSWR had to face when building their main line to the West!

The line is loosly based on the SR west of Salisbury. It means I can run virtually any type of SR train and stock, from a T9 on a two coach local on the North Cornwall, the 10 coach 'Brighton' over the Okehampton Line between Exeter and Plymouth or the magnificent Devon Belle on the West of England main line - full length with observation car - more on this later.

The line is 7.5 scale miles long and is literally one big loop. Not rocket science - simply a tear-drop loop at the house end of the garden and a return loop in the shed, creating the effect of double track over the rest of the line. For a bit of character I added a bridge too. Now the heavy work is over I can look forward to perfecting the stock and adding detail to the line.

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My way Construction Phase 1 Construction Phase 2 Construction Phase 3 Electrification Couplings Bridge Photos		OO in the garden does work! The geography of the garden was the most difficult problem to overcome in the planning stages. The drop in height, from the house to the bottom boundary, was something like 6ft. It meant that careful construction was needed so as not to make the gradients too fierce. I took advice on this from Jane Sullivan who had a garden railway to beat all garden railways. She has a ruling gradient of 1 in 80 and was able to run full length trains without too much of a problem. I decided to follow this line, but before any railway construction could take place I needed to secure the garden boundary with new fencing. I used a trellis fence purchased from a local garden retailer. All was pressure treated with fence posts secured into the ground using the fabulous quick drying POSTCRETE. Although not necessary, I treated the fence and posts again before constructing the track base. I needed to construct a shed too where the electric's and stock could be stored and again I was able to purchase this cheaply from a local source. A problem I hadn't figured on was how to convince my wife, who is an avid gardener and not at all used to my presence there, that this was not a takeover of her beloved hobby, but a way of creating interesting animation in HER garden. My promise to create a gazebo, new footpaths, sheds, raised flower beds and a pond was a heavy (literally) price to pay but was something far less of a burden then say the LSWR had to face when building their main line to the West! The line is loosly based on the SR west of Salisbury. It means I can run virtually any type of SR train and stock, from a T9 on a two coach local on the North Cornwall, the 10 coach 'Brighton' over the Okehampton Line between Exeter and Plymouth or the magnificent Devon Belle on the West of England main line - full length with observation car - more on this later. The line is 7.5 scale miles long and is literally one big loop. Not rocket science - simply a tear-drop loop at the house end of the garden and a return loop in the shed, creating the effect of double track over the rest of the line. For a bit of character I added a bridge too. Now the heavy work is over I can look forward to perfecting the stock and adding detail to the line. Ilfracombe portion of the Devon Belle, breasting the summit of the 1 in 80 climb. The treated trellis can be seen with the original neighbours fence beyond.