Look if you will re do the garden ,give it a make over ,build me a decking, put some gravel down ,I will get you one of those train sets you like and maybe you can have a small garden railway. I will just leave it to you to work out where it will fit in

How many of you have started out like this? That was four years ago when my wife , Kathryn ,bless her little cotton socks  -made one of her biggest mistakes yet  she left the details to me the little railway needs a station sweetheart , and if you have a station –you need a least a goods shed , if you have a goods shed  ,you need a water tower, and so on , and so on till the nice gravel area is covered  with railway.

Don’t even think about touching my decking !is the reply if I say that the railway needs to expand and expand it has thanks in part to my father in law Walter, who it turns out is as mad as I am about garden railways-every time we went out –we had to come back with something  for the railway-it didn’t matter that  I got in trouble off upper senior management ,(the wife) as Walter would say-she cant tell me off –sadly Walter passed away last month we miss him a lot but when we look at what we created between us , I feel  as if he is still about  messing around some where in the garden.

I started by reading every thing I could find -garden rail, g-scale journal,

Going on the internet then the very next day –straight out to the garden –well no point waiting till you know what you are doing-and I started laying down the track that came in the starter set, that didn’t go far, my next door neighbour came over to see what I was up to –Kids toy?-no its MY garden railway, he just smiled and walked off

It was about this time that my late father in law Walter took an interest You need more track so off we went to our local model shop Arcadia  the first off many many visits. Tim and Stewart were very helpful, full of good advice, and plenty of tea,

We started to lay decking boards down. These are supported by 2ft spikes driven into the ground every 2 ft or so .the boards are joined together by steel straps on the sides. So far every thing  has stood the test of time quite well, track is pinned down lightly every 2 ft ,wiring is a doddle as we us l.g.b.s   m.t.s  system , the street lights are fed off a 2.5 amp gauge master , via  a  infrared  motion detector , this turns on the lights when a train goes past , at night , saving you having to turn on and off the lights ,signals are where I think they should go –possibly not where they should go-again theses are fed  off the track ,the water feature is there so I could have my bridges

Why do you need a bridge? Well when your railway is called lazy grange bay, you need a bay, if you have a bay,-you need a bridge

 Rolling Stock

We started off small and added  to our stock as things came along , mostly admixture  off arcadia and e-bay, and a few other traders .One off the best things we have done is to fit sound units to most (13-out off 23) off our locos the ones not fitted are mostly small shunters ,railcars , rail trucks ,ect..I really enjoyed fitting the sound units to the smaller steam engines –the  corpet louvet locals , the u series , as I don’t like to see the unit  they have to fit in side the locos and some of them are quit

All the coaches are fitted with steel wheels and lights as well as passengers, who them selves are holding newspaper, books ECT. As well as being fitted with a brake light, this makes them run and look a lot better I think, the only problem with this is it doubles the cost of a coach –but I think it is worth the trouble

Goods stock –various types, box vans a few open vans most are carrying some kind off load-a few tankers, and a beer train, we all need one off those

I don’t really like to do shunting , I am really a train watcher , nothing suits me better than to sit in the conservatory, brew in hand watching a nice freight train , or passenger train at night with all the lights on , in the rain , or to sit out side on the wife’s decking just watching the trains doing what they do best –going round and round- its what summer was made for and if I have made any mistakes –I learn from them , if it looks right –it properly is right ,and lastly –its my railway  and I will run what I want to and do what I want-as long as senior management say-so!

Many thanks to the people who have help and inspired me (you know who you are)

Thanks to my local g-scale group, (northwest) and to g-wizz

Thanks arcadia for the tea and advice

But mostly thanks Walter

Mike Duffy