Garden Railways UK

• Editing a recent interview and reviewing internet marketing options for the site #

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to have a chat with James Thomas, owner of the East Croydon Light Railway.

The ECLR is a small “OO” gauge line in James’ garden, set in Croydon itself during the 1940s.

What inspired you to model this area?

I grew up in Croydon myself, so the railway has always been a big part of my life. My father worked on the railways during the war, so my early years were filled with stories about trains.

How long have you been modelling railways?

I’ve had an indoor layout for a number of years, but I’ve always wanted to do something more useful with the garden. It’s rather small, so there’s not much else that it could be useful for.

How have you coped with the recent bad weather?

It’s not been very nice, but I’ve wrapped up warm and gone out to have a quick play on a number of occasions lately. It’s such a waste to have it sat out there not being enjoyed.

What did you find most challenging in building your line?

The most challenging part was actually at the planning stage. I had to do a lot of research to make sure I got the look of everything right. I think it really paid off in the end though.

The modelling itself was more fun for me – and I had plenty of family and friends willing to give me some assistance.

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Look out for the next part of this interview, coming soon.

• 10. Let’s start with the obvious – it’s fun!
• 9. They help you learn new skills, and rediscover old ones
• 8. A great conversation piece – how many people have a working railway in their garden?
• 7. Social aspects are great. Everyone wants to lend a hand and have a go
• 6. There’s always something new to add, or something that you might want to change
• 5. The satisfaction of running your first train
• 4. It makes your garden a whole lot more interesting
• 3. On a related note, it encourages you to take care of your garden to keep your line looking nice!
• 2. They’re great fun for the kids
• 1. Be honest, it’s what you’ve always wanted and dreamed of since you were a child – treat yourself!

• Not exactly in a garden but a cool video of a narrow gauge train – http://bit.ly/3E0G04 #
• Calling model railway clubs: Get in touch to be features on gardenrailwaysuk.com #

• Testing Twitter integration with the blog at http://www.gardenrailwaysuk.com #
• Planning some internet marketing for the site #

Over the coming weeks and months, we plan to feature different model railway clubs on this website, especially those which focus mainly on outdoor modelling.

If you’d like your club to be featured, and get a chance to show off the things you’ve been working on, leave a comment here and we’ll see what we can do

Make sure you include your email address in the correct box so we can contact you for some more information, photos etc. Email addresses are not viewable by the general public.

The Alhampton Miniature Railway is a private garden railway in the village of Alhampton in Somerset.

Every year, for the Alhampton Village Fete, the railway is opened up to the public.

Power on the railway comes from steam, and there is a wide range of locomotives and rolling stock for visitors to experience.

Tickets are £1.50 for one round trip on the railway.

The winter climate of the UK is not ideally suited to constructing railways in your garden – but that doesn’t mean you can’t work on your line

This is the time in which you should be planning out things for the future – drawing track plans, purchasing track and stock, and getting a good idea of what you need to do when the weather brightens up.

This will help you get started on building as soon as possible – and, of course, get you running your trains as soon as possible!

Railway modelers are divided when it comes to the decision of how realistic to make their railways.

Some base their layouts on real lines, with every last detail based on it’s real life equivalent, and meticulously copied from photographs.

Others prefer to invent a fictional location and base their line around that. This option gives you more freedom, as you can pretty much add whatever you want to the layout, without regard for historical or locational accuracy.

Personally I prefer to design layouts based on my own ideas. It allows me to decide to run steam only trains one day, and a modern intercity service the next. It also means that if I acquire a piece of scenery, I don’t have to worry about whether or not it fits in with the time period or location of the layout.

The degree to which you plan your fictional location can vary. Some modelers will write pages and pages of back story for their location, and set it in a specific time (an example would be a 1940s village in the North of England).

As with everything, how you plan your layout depends on your personal preference. You can always change your mind, after all!