Autumn on the Maesffordd

Take a look at this fantastic video on YouTube of 'Autumn on the Maesffordd Railway' - the atmosphere is just great!

Exeter Garden Railway Show Video

Here's a YouTube video showing selected highlights of the show... (also available in high quality if you watch on the YouTube site here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xORFJA-gRYM&fmt=6)
UPDATE: The Exeter show site http://www.exetergardenrailwayshow.com has embedded this video on their video page :-)

Exeter Garden Railway Show

Well, I've finally found some time to write about our trip down to Exeter to the Exeter Garden Railway Show yesterday. After a two hour drive (thanks Ray!) we arrived at about 11 am. First impressions on going into the hall were that it was larger than I expected, and on wandering around we certainly weren't disappointed. A good number of layouts, with live steam power dominating :-) Also a good number & mix of traders. We spent a relaxed few hours, wandering around taking in the sights, sounds & smells.

Everyone was very friendly, and we had lots of interesting chats with vendors & exhibitors. It was nice to meet & chat to David Hicks, whose Bagnall Wing tank I'd admired in GardenRail a few years back. Likewise Colin Binnie, whose steam motor looks ideal to base something home-built upon, and also Tolhurst Model Engineering, who kindly took the time to show us how their multi-fuel options worked in their Quarry Hunslet. Very clever, and the attention to detail on their locos looks second to none. Definitely time to start saving! (I fancy 'Dolbadarn' with the full cab!). I also met up with an old family friend John, who was exhibiting the garden Tram layout. He lived a few doors down when I was growing up, and bares at least some responsibility for getting me into railways in the first place!

There were some lovely models being run; the standard of the layouts was excellent, with Sticklepath, Mendip Vale & Southdown having a particularly good level of scenic detail. It was fun to see what I think was one of Tony Bird's Crackers running. The Gauge 1 layout was certainly impressive.

All in all an excellent day out - we'll definitely be back next year!

Back to the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway

Went with extended family & little ones to the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway on Saturday, just in time to catch the last train of the day! A good time was had by all, and we enjoyed riding behind live steam loco Sandy River, a US outline 2-4-2 in the still very mild weather! The Eastleigh Lakeside Railway is one of Britain's Great Little Railways.


Steamed Mortimer on Sunday afternoon; it was extremely windy and I needed to set the gas very high to stop it blowing out! This wasn't helped by the Bernzomatic butane I'm using at the moment, the last couple of cans of which seem to make the burner very erratic when first lit - seems as though there might be some kind of impurity in it which burns off in the first couple of minutes. This happens with both my gas-fired locos... Anyway, a nice run once in steam.

Exeter Garden Railway Show

Saturday 25th October 2008; looks like it should be good...

Drive a Quarry Hunslet!

On the subject of Kew Bridge Steam Museum, I see they are advertising for volunteer drivers on their waterworks railway. Unfortunately I don't think abandoning the family two weekends a month is an option; although driving a quarry Hunslet would be fantastic!!!
Never mind, I shall have to be content with the Kew Live Steam Model Railway Show, on November 15th & 16th.

Twyford Waterworks Autumn Open Day

As the weather brightened up this afternoon, I decided to drag the kids out to the nearby Twyford Waterworks Autumn Open Day. Although the site isn't the most pushchair friendly I've been to(!) we had a nice hour or so there, mostly looking at the small industrial railway that services the works lime kilns.

There were two Lister loco's there; one of which was shunting a few wagons - looked like fun to drive!





The waterworks feels a bit like a more rural version of Kew Bridge Steam Museum, with some obvious similarities: former waterworks, a narrow gauge industrial railway, and both with a Hathorn Davey Triple Expansion Engine. That said, I guess Twyford doesn't Kew's unique large beam engines!

Summer 08 Video

Here's a new YouTube video of summer activity on the line. This shows the line since the reverse curve at the rear was eliminated, and features Mortimer, Cackler, Toby & the Baguley-Drewery.

A Station Building

I finally got round to starting construction of the W & L Lt Rly's first building tonight - a Lineside Delights Small Halt Kit which I bought a while back at Merstham.
Whilst I love lines that have the full scenic treatment, I don't really have any desire to turn our garden into a model village (though I love those too; especially Bekonscot). The main purpose of the line is to allow me to run live steam loco's & some trains, and I can live with a garden that isn't planted 'to scale'! That said, I think a few railway related structures are quite in keeping...
So the first structure is a modest halt, which will actually go at the terminus at the end of the line! The plan is to make a small platform (probably from timber and some offcuts of roofing felt) for it to sit on. As the picture above shows, I managed to get the basic structure assembled tonight; there is some detailling remaining before painting. Watch this space...!