Peter Ager

Britannia with overnight freight

Just ten years ago I submitted an article to the Gazette about my garden railway and the editor at that time, John Kneeshaw, kindly agreed to print it. The track has been in place now for over twenty years and has needed very little attention in that time. This is probably due to the over engineering approach I have to everything I do. The concrete foundations support concrete blocks laid flat with the top blocks standing on their side. These top blocks having a groove cut across one end and the centre to accommodate a tightly fitted wooden strip enabling the track to be screwed in place. Two coats of car underseal provide an authentic looking track bed.

J39 with an Autumn mineral train

The track is laid and screwed down before the second coat of underseal is dry, so providing additional adhesion. A Cotswold stone wall encompasses this structure and includes raised flower beds so the trains, and plants, are at waist level.

Visiting Collett goods on passenger duty

If there is a weak link in this construction it is the wooden strips that need to be replaced every few years as they tend to rot. I started with teak strip as it has self-lubricating properties, but found that tanalised battens used on shed roofs to hold down felt, cut to size and thoroughly soaked in wood preserver last much longer.

After twenty years I found that the underseal was also wearing away, so last winter I needed to lift the track and apply two fresh coats. This also gave me the opportunity to replace many of the wood strips. If I am still around to repeat this maintenance exercise in a further twenty years, I will be very pleased.

Visiting Churchward Prairie tank

An Easter Egg Special for the grandchildren is the first operating train of the season. Before this event the track is cleared of winter debris with a hose, any foliage is removed, a wiring check is carried out and a fine sheet of wet or dry is used to rub over of the lines. In common with many outdoor railway operators, I have trouble keeping the nickel-silver lines clean enough to ensure a good connection with my locomotive pick up wheels and find that further use of the wet or dry or a Garryflex block is necessary before each running session.

When writing ten years ago I had just one train of my own but still have many visiting long trains that come along with their owners to run on my 140ft loop. My original Gresley J39 hauling its cargo of coal wagons destined for London from the Nottingham coal mines has been joined by a Gresley B17 Footballer. This has a horse box and rake of Gresley teak coaches destined for the Newmarket races. There is also a Britannia with a fast overnight freight, destination: Bishopsgate. A distinct East End of London flavour as I vividly remember all these trains from my childhood. A special mention should be made of my Connoisseur Models J39 as it has covered in excess of 25 miles now without missing a beat and demanding no more of me than an occasional drip of oil.

All three trains can run unattended on the same track with the assistance of a timer and some electronics. Three dead sections at the back of the loop support the locomotives. These sections are energised sequentially at ten second intervals for five seconds, which is sufficient for each train to progress to the next section. By the time of its arrival the previous train would have moved on and as the section is dead once more, the train halts. The train leaving the front section travels on round the loop to take up residence on the free dead section at the back. The sequence starts again after a prescribed time, usually three minutes. A capacitance is included in the energising circuit so the locomotives do not see an instant 12V when moving off. Flywheels in the locomotives ensure a gradual retardation.

J39 with a mixed freight entering Box Tunnel

There is no scenery accompanying the railway, just natural garden planting, but my wife, who is the head gardener, respects the need to have plants of a suitable size and spread to keep the trains both visible and free from obstruction while complementing the scene. One concession is the inclusion of Box Tunnel. This is a box plant (Buxaceae family) trimmed as a sphere growing over the track with a 4in plastic pipe over the track acting as a tunnel liner. There have been many entertaining incidents with my well-trained garden, but two around Box Tunnel are worthy of mention. The first involved a visiting A4 with a considerable rake of coaches entering the tunnel at speed, but preceded on its exit by an express frog with a distinctly put-out look. The second was at the start of the Easter Egg Special when the whole train was derailed in the tunnel, shedding its cargo of precious eggs. Although the track had been cleaned, I failed to locate the family of snails that had overwintered in the roof of the tunnel.

B17 emerging from Box Tunnel

There are many plants that complement a garden railway. Alpines are a natural accompaniment and we have found sempervivums (Crassulaceae family) are particularly aesthetic. There are many varieties of this plant, they survive our winters and take on a jungle like backdrop for the railway. Miniature, slow growing trees look fantastic, but pruning is essential as they will grow in time. One specimen we have had for twenty years is just taking on the profile of the BR loading gauge on one side.

Structure

For the past fifteen years my wife and I have opened our garden on the National Garden Scheme for the wonderful nursing and health charities they in turn support and to date we have had in excess of three thousand visitors. For this summer we have convinced four other local gardeners to join us and details can be found under ‘North Worcester Gardens’ on the NGS website, ngs.org.uk. We enjoy sharing our garden with others, but if tempted to visit please remember, trains do not run in the rain and we are first and foremost a garden.

B17 with a Newmarket Special