GARDEN WIN

this Helmsman

Rail
AUGUST 2018
controller

TALYLLYN
ISSUE 288

When a professional model maker

PERFECTION
modifies a ready to run LGB mechanism,
the results are spectacular

rs for
modelle
ing
suppor t

www.garden-rail.co.uk
08

BEDDGELERT
9 770969 952085 >
AUGUST 2018 | £4.75

US outline G gauge inspired by a Welsh trip

2 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
 GARDEN Contents
Rail
IN SHOP • DIGITAL • MOBILE • APP
4 VIEW FROM THE END OF
THE PLATFORM

6 THE BEDDGELERT RAILWAY

Chris Page
Incorporating GARDEN RAILWAY WORLD 15 BUILDING DOUGLAS
Issue 288 • August 2018
Simon Atkinson
Publisher: Steve Cole
stevec@warnersgroup.co.uk 23 RADIO CONTROLLED COUPLING
Editor: Phil Parker
phil.parker@warnersgroup.co.uk AND UNCOUPLING
T: 07879 664 383 David Anderson
Design: Neil Sayer Garden Rail: Published monthly
Advertising: Bev Machin by Warners Group Publications
bevm@warnersgroup.co.uk T: 01778 392055 25 BUILDING A TREFOR QUARRY
Allison Mould WAGON IN 7/8THS Next Issue: 289
allison.mould@warnersgroup.co.uk T: 01778 395002 On sale: 16 August 2018
Production: Pat Price Hen Efail
Email patp@warnersgroup.co.uk T: 01778 391115
Advertising Designer: Amie Carter 30 BUILDING A GVT BRAKE VAN
Email amiec@warnersgroup.co.uk
Marketing Manager: Carly Dadge Greg Oehm
Email carlyd@warnersgroup.co.uk
Columnists: David Anderson, Simon Atkinson, 35 WIRELESS DCC
Dagnall Clutterbuck, Hen Efail, Adrian Foster,
Dagnall Clutterbuck

15
Greg Oehm, Chris Page, Dave Skertchy

www.warnersgroup.co.uk 38 HELMSMAN CONTROLLER REVIEW

40 GARDEN RAIL COMPETITION

©Warners Group Publications plc 2018
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understanding that there are no copyright restrictions.
Although every care will be taken, all materials submitted FROM SCRAPS
are at the owner’s risk and Warners Group Publications Dave Skertchy
cannot be held responsible for loss or damage however
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Reliance placed upon the contents of the magazine is 58 MAILBOX
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59 DIARY DATES
Printed by: Warners Midlands plc
Next Month: Steve Howard builds
Distribution 62 ALBERT’S “WRONG GAUGE” LOCO “Kati-Ann” a unique live steam
News Trade – Warners Distribution Adrian Foster
T: 01778 392417 locomotive from Roundhouse parts.

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Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

3
 WELCOME
VIEW FROM THE END
OF THE PLATFORM
T
his issue has developed a
construction theme. Our cover
shows Simon Atkinson’s amazing
model of Talyllyn Number 6 “Douglas”.
Based on a LGB mechanism, this
might be the most detailed model we’ve
featured in Garden Rail.
Now, Simon is a professional
modelmaker – he was responsible for
some of my favourite space ships on
TV – and this means he takes a different
approach to building a model. Where
I would hack away at plastic sheet with
a knife, he draws the parts up in CAD
and then laser-cuts them in a special
acrylic. The results are beautifully clean
and precise.
You might conclude that the article
has nothing to say to most of us.
After all, very few have a laser cutting
machine tucked away in the corner
of our workshops. I know I don’t, no
matter how much I covet one, especially
after reading the article. However, when
I look at the shots of the build, there are
ideas and techniques I think I can use
and hope you do too.
One of the details that impresses me
are the lagged steam pipes. These are a
feature of many locos, but how do you
model them? Simon tells us.
We don’t need to own a laser cutter
to take advantage of one – plenty of
manufacturers are turning out kits for
You meet all sorts in this job. Apparently this is a genuine
Canadian trainspotter! He’s enjoying Terry “Tac” Foley’s
magnificent G1 Hudson at the Accucraft UK open day in June.
4 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
Let’s get building
us to buy. We can build these straight
from the box, or, as Greg Oehm has
done, detail and modify them to
produce a model unique to us. In a
similar vein, Hen Efail turns a simple
laser cut open wagon from Bole Laser
into a characterful model too. The joys
of using wood is that it actually looks
like wood, at least in our larger scales.
In my minds eye, I can just see both
of these models trundling through
the countryside along a typical British
poorly maintained narrow gauge track.
Scratchbuilding is still popular too,
and Dave Skertchy has a few interesting
techniques to show while building a low
loader and JCB digger load.
We can’t escape progress however
and David Anderson has developed a
radio control coupling system
to allow operators to shunt
trains while drinking a couple
of tea (or anything else) and
not spilling a drop by all
that pesky bending down.
Then we plough headlong
into the future with Dagnall
Clutterbuck and automatic
DCC operation. Don’t worry
if this doesn’t make a lot
of sense to
you, it’s
left me behind, but I know people who
are very, very into electronics. If I fancy
giving it a go, I’ll be shoving this issue
under their nose...
All this will hopefully inspire people
to do a bit of modelling. The weather is
(as I write) lovely and so why not move
the workbench outside?
The big news this month is that to
celebraite Garden Rail’s 25th birthday,
we have a silver controller and radio
control unit (silver jubilee you see)
donated by Helmsman Model rail. If
you aren’t familiar with their products,
I’ve reviewed the units on page 38. All
I can say is that it’s a shame I’m not
allowed to win the competition, but I
know that the reader who does will be
delighted with their prize. n
The editor
is doing a little
modelling when the
demands of magazine
publishers aren’t eating up
his time. Work on detailing the
cheapest model locomotive kit in the
hobby are progressing, and one day will
appear on these pages. Eventually.
 LAYOUT FOCUS
1:22.5

The Beddgelert
Railway

Chris Page took a while to realise his dream garden railway, but a trip to the Welsh
Highland sparked his enthusiasm.

F
or as far back as I can remember, A trip to Princes Risborough to visit Bachmann built 463 on a mixed freight starts
I’ve had a train set. Whether it GRS furnished me with a basic 0-4-0 to cross the removable section which lifts out to
allow trip hazard free access to the garage.
be a wooden Brio one, a chunky shunter, a gondola wagon, and a guards
plastic Duplo, a less chunky and van. We also came away with quite
endlessly versatile Lego, or a scale, a bundle of track. Then it was to the
Cullen Oak Depot. 463 waits for 5 to use the
lifelike and detailed OO. They’ve garden, where I put spade to the soil turntable, so it can begin to marshall its train.
always been there, and I’ve always and very quickly realised I had no idea
enjoyed them.
Then, one fateful day, my parents
told me they were booting me out of
the attic space that my siblings and
I had occupied for quite literally all
our lives. It was to become the master
bedroom, and my OO layouts days were
numbered. But it was OK they said,
they knew how much my layout meant
to me and promised I could have free

“
reign of the garden and put a railway in
there.

This was huge

”
news. A garden railway.
The stuff of dreams!

6 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018


Eastbound meets Westbound at Liberty Bridge.
what I was doing. This was a far cry
from tacking track to a baseboard. Add
to that, what appeared in the shop to be
a lot of track, once laid in the garden,
took up very little space, not nearly
enough to realise the grand plans I’d
dreamt up in my head.
Disillusionment set in, and I quickly
realised that this was not a hobby that
could be enjoyed on a paperboys wage
so the rolling stock gathered dust,
the track sat under my bed, and my
interests wondered toward the two
wheeled variety.
Fast forward another lifetime, and I
was on a visit to Snowdonia with my
girlfriend in May 2017. While out
being tourists we stumbled across the
Welsh Highland Railway, and bought
a ticket to ride along a portion of its
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
LAYOUT FOCUS
1:22.5
length. As soon as I saw the NGG17
come round the corner at Beddgelert, I
felt a stirring of a strong desire to play
Left: 463 approaches Thyme Junction with a
mixed freight.
Below: Staffordshire Bridge spans the main line
that loops the garden, bringing in the line from
the turning loop, terminus station, and depot.
7
 LAYOUT FOCUS
1:2
trains once more. I owned a house, I
had a garden, I lived with my brother
(who would definitely not object!) and I
had a decent disposable income. Before
I knew it, I’d scoured the internet,
joined Facebook groups, searched eBay,
and consumed magazines in order to get
up to speed with what was out there.
The Internet wasn’t a tool that was at
my disposal last time around, and I was
going to make full use of it now. Within
a fortnight I’d managed to secure 250
feet of track, two locos, and a small
collection of wagons, all second hand. It
was time to get serious.
The first thing I did was decide upon
a route. My garden isn’t exceptionally
large, about 80x25 feet. A point to
point ‘line’ might have got a little
boring, and having had the outrageous
fortune to come by a job lot of 250 feet
of track, I had more than enough for a
circuit.
8 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
A rickety stretch of line
forming the back straight
of the passing loop. Trains
entering the Beddlygert station
terminus approach from this
direction.
A basic route was plotted, trying my
best to meander, in order to create a
visually pleasing, interesting aesthetic.
Rather that, than an arrow straight, end
to end blast. This was about as far as I’d
got with the build last time around 20
years ago, at which point I’d run out
of knowledge and it acted as a stalling
point. With my trusty tool ‘the Internet’
at my side, I was sure not to encounter
that problem again. This time around it
was too far the other way - information
overload!
Build it on bricks, build it on
blocks, raise it up on a board, set it in
concrete. The options were numerous.
I wanted the look of a ‘real’ railway,
so having it floor level was the way
to go. A cement base run all the way
round, while hard wearing, and good
at stopping unwanted plant growth,
was going to prove expensive. I ended
up laying a membrane first, piercing
it to allow for drainage, then a layer of
hardcore. Like with so much of this
project, I was very lucky. This time in
the most unlikely of ways. A footpath
round the rear of my house, was sadly
subjected to some heavy fly tipping.
Some builders had decided to drop tens
of rubble sacks, all fit to burst with the
remains of someone’s bathroom. It just
so happened to be absolutely perfect for
filling in the first layer of of my tracks
ballast! But I digress.
The membrane would prevent plants
pushing up through the track, and the
hardcore would provide a nice solid
base, much like real ballast on the full-
size thing. I then pre-drilled holes in
house bricks, inserted rawl plugs, and
placed the bricks around the circuit at
various gaps. Spacious on the straights,
a little closer together on the curves. I
then poured in a small amount of the
6mm ballast I wanted ‘on show’, enough
to cover the hardcore, and to partially
surround the bricks.
I then went about laying the track,
screwing the sleepers into the bricks.
The bricks being weighty and secure
enough to hold the curvature. I then
worked all the way round until I had
a circuit. Once the track was down, I
poured over more ballast, and worked
it in and under with a large stick (for
packing), and brush from household
dustpan. It all came together rather
quickly. A healthy dose of child like
enthusiasm helped me carry on late into
the evenings.
The only real challenge occurred with
where I wanted to put in a removable
section that I could lift in and out and
allow access to the garage without risk
Liberty Pass dives under the bridge, carrying the
line in from the turning loop containing the terms
station and yard.
 LAYOUT FOCUS
1:22.5
No.5 is held in Badiddlyboing Spring station to
allow an express passenger through. The station
building is tiled using a real roofing slate, roughly
cut up into postage stamp sized pieces and
glued into place.

of tripping. At this point on the circuit,

the line climbs slightly in order to work
it’s way round a raised patio, so having
it sunk into the floor wasn’t an option.
The line is raised up on house bricks, so
my solution was to cut some steel angle
and place it over the edges of the house
bricks at each end of where the span
would be. I then welded some spans to
join the two edges, giving me a frame
that perfectly hugged the length of a
brick. Once track was attached with
some bolts, it provided a very sturdy
(and not too heavy) bridge, that had
minimal lateral movement and allowed
hassle free carriage of trains.
That was that! I’d done it! A garden
railway had been built. Except....it was
boring. It was just a circuit. It wasn’t
a real railway. It didn’t have a station,
or a passing loop, or a siding, or an
engine shed. None of the good stuff.
What pushed me over the edge was
only being able to run one way round
without lifting the loco and re-railing it.
Something had to be done.

Right: A mixed freight starts to cross the

removable section which lifts out to allow trip
hazard free access to the garage.

A passenger train reaches the summit of a

particularly steep incline to cross Staffordshire
Bridge. The strength of the bridge is in the 1”
angle steel that forms to channel to hold the
track. The wooden structure is purely aesthetic,
and is made from strip wood available form most
large DIY stores in 3 metre lengths.

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

9
 LAYOUT FOCUS
1:22.5

An Eastbound freight waits for a Westbound

passenger service as it approaches
Badiddlyboing Spring.

I had enough track left over from

my initial purchase to cover me for an
extension of sorts, but no points. Back
onto the the Internet I went, and some
second hand points were on their way.
There was a small, overgrown patch
down the back of the garden, that I
gather had previously been a green
house. After an afternoons clearing
and levelling, I proposed to put in
a small, almost circular loop with
one way in and out, accessible via a
triangular junction off the main circuit.
This would allow a train travelling in
either direction on the main line, to be
switched off towards the smaller loop, to
be turned and sent back the other way.
Much more like it.
Features like this were going to enable
me to actually operate the railway,
rather than passively sit and observe.
With this extra branch down to the and fitted within my budget. So it was thing we have in these modern times
loop, I could put in a bridge, a stone quite serendipitous that I ended up is the Internet. Such an unfathomable
wall cutting, a level crossing, even a modelling American narrow gauge. wealth of knowledge on the most niche
further extension for a terminus station. Despite all examples of prototypes of subjects, and the ability to make
All ingredients that make for a really that I own having actually existed in contact and trade ideas with individuals
enjoyable railway. 1:1, there’s just something whimsical with those same interests. I very much
The more I added in terms of features looking about the American stuff I find doubt if I’d have been able to put
and detail, the railway grew more of appealing. Saying this, I’ve tried to keep together the railway you see in these
an identity. Although inspired by the the layout itself fairly geographically pages in less than a year without it.
Welsh Highland Railway, the first loco ambiguous, so as to not alienate friends You most certainly wouldn’t be reading
I bought was a 4-4-0 Centennial. This of mine who may want to come round about it!
was because one of my favourite films and play. When all is said and done, Many thanks to my friend Gareth, for
as a child (or indeed as an adult) was “My railway. My rules”. So just run manual labour, welding skills, and cider
Buster Keatons ‘The General’. It also what you brung! drinking. Also to my girlfriend Elly,
happened to be available at the time, The older I get, the more I curse the who’s viewed it all with good humour,
ways of the modern world, and the and doesn’t appear to have been put
tint on my rose tinted view of the past off me by my slightly obsessive railway
No.463 coasts down the bank into Badiddlyboing. becomes heavier. However the greatest related antics. n

A rickety stretch of line

forming the back straight
of the passing loop. Trains
entering the Beddlygert
station terminus approach
from this direction.

10 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

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Garden-Rail.co.uk 288| August 2018
13

Building Douglas
Simon Atkinson is a professional model maker, so when
he set out to build a model of Talyllyn Number 6, the
results were destined to be impressive.
INTRODUCTION
Douglas is the Talyllyn Railway’s 0-4-0
Well Tank locomotive built originally
by Andrew Barclay in Kilmarnock as
one of a batch for the RAF regiment in
1918. He arrived at the TR following
donation by Douglas Abelson in 1954
and has been hauling trains on the
glorious Mid- Wales line ever since.
The basis for my model is an LGB
Stainz motor block and valve gear, the
wheelbase of which is almost spot on for
the 1:15 scale model I planned to build
back in 2016. As the Talyllyn track
gauge is 2’3” - a model gauge of 45mm
resulted in an overall scale of 20mm -
1’ or 1:15. This hybrid scale results in
nice chunky models, but does mean
everything has to be made from scratch!
My fondest memories of the Talyllyn
are from my earliest visits between
1967 and 1972 and It was this period
I decided to model including the
beautiful green livery carried at the
time.
RESEARCH
The first stage of the project was to
gather as much information as possible
on this delightful locomotive. A wide
selection of photographs are available
online but a significant source of
detailed reference detail that kindly
supplied by a group of extremely
patient and helpful folks who work
on the Talyllyn - Kes Jones, Stephen
Thorpe, Andy Young and Andy Thomas
who clambered on Douglas taking
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
CONSTRUCTION
1:15
photographs from every conceivable
angle in almost instant response to my
frequent-requests. Several drawings were
also given to me including the original
Andrew Barclay General Arrangement
plans which helped greatly in working
out the cab fittings in particular, the
current loco having been rebuilt and
altered progressively over the years.
With the Stainz dismantled down to
its motor block I began drawing up the
locomotive on computer (Coreldraw)
and adapting certain dimensions to
enable my model to fit neatly around
the mechanism. I gradually added
detail as photographs became available.
Although of the correct wheelbase and
wheel diameter I planned to use the
Valve gear as fitted to the LGB model
15
 CONSTRUCTION
1:15

Laser cut test versions of the frame and

well-tank produced in heavy card
ensure a snug fit around
the LGB motor
block.

so some compromises were Once happy with the cardboard pieces, the final
inevitable but my material, cast acrylic sheet is cut.
overall aim
was to make
Douglas as expensive, but is a beautiful material
accurate as to laser cut resulting is accurate sharp
possible above clean edges. The material is bonded with
the waistline. Dichloromethane solvent which is run
into the joints using a fine brush.
CONSTRUCTION
With GA drawings FRAMES
completed I transferred onto The main frame, tank and buffer beams
the laser cutter to produce several test were produced first, these sections
The footplate cuts of frame and well - tank elements feature heavy rivet detailing which I
and frames in heavy card to ensure a snug fit recreated using styrene rod let into laser
are assembled around the motor block - with various cut holes in each piece. The rod was left
using solvent tweaks to align with the cylinder proud of the surface, fixed with solvent,
and styrene
rod let into
block and motion bracket completed I and sanded back to the correct height
laser cut holes switched to the main material used in once dry. The curved rivet heads were
and then domed to the build - Cast acrylic sheet. achieved by rubbing across the tops
represent rivets. The majority of the model is of the rod with wire wool. The frame
produced from various thicknesses components were then assembled and
of cast acrylic sheet - .5mm, 1mm, the cab footplate added along with the
2mm& 3mm. The thinner sheet is quite square frame which runs the full length

The smokebox saddle

Test fitting the LGB cylinders

in the frames.

16 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018


of the loco joining the front buffer
beam.
A master was made at this stage for
the buffer base and head, and a silicone
mould produced. The parts were cast in
PU Fast- Cast resin and once cleaned
up, glued to the buffer beams with
Spring detail.
CONSTRUCTION
1:15
The cylinders were
built around the
existing Stainz
unit. Acrylic pieces
are fitted front and
back, filled in and
shaped with car body
filler. Bolt details on
the valve chest were
cut from hex strips
supplied by Plastruct
Above: The LGB motion
bracket is adapted by adding
a combined tank filler support
based on the prototype
inking the
frames to
the motion.
A single master was made for
the buffer base and head, and
the parts were cast in resin.
water-thin superglue (I use
ZAP-CA produced by the US
company PACER along with
their activator Zip
Kicker. For heavier
joints I use ZAP-
A-GAP which has a
higher viscocity)
The cylinders were built around
the existing Stainz unit, again, laser cut
pieces fitted front and back and filled
in with acrylic panels and shaped with
car body filler. Bolt details on the valve
chest were cut from hex strips supplied
by Plastruct.
I adapted the existing LGB motion The buffers
bracket and made a combined tank are simply glued
filler support based on the prototype to the buffer beams with the thin
linking the frames to the motion. (Pink bottle) ZAP superglue.
Retaining the LGB valve gear is the
main compromise to accuracy but as
a fully functional chassis I wished to reader can determine how well the
avoid remaking the gear and cylinders. adaptation succeeds!
In reality Douglas has slightly inclined Brake details and reverser linkages
cylinders and a single crosshead slidebar fitted to the chassis were assembled and
from which the crosshead hangs – the test fitted at this stage.
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
17
 CONSTRUCTION
1:15
Working in clear sheet means window glazing is
automatic, if you make sure to mask it with Tamiya
tape very early on in the build.
CAB
The cab was constructed
next. Laser cut sides
and front from 1mm
acrylic and assembled around blocks of
urethane resin ‘Tooling Board’ material
which formed the curved fronts to the
bunkers. All rivet detailing as previously
discussed including that around the
window frames which were added at
an early stage in order to keep the clear
window areas free from scratches. The
windows were masked using Tamiya
masking tape and remained covered
throughout the build and painting
process. The cab rear was built in the
same way with Plastruct styrene angle
section used in the corners to reinforce
all the joints.
The cab roof is vacuum formed styrene
sheet, formed over a tooling board
master shaped to match the cab sheets.
The boiler back head was cut from
2mm acrylic with 1mm overlays to
suggest the cladding seen on the
prototype. The wrapper is
.5mm styrene sheet bent
to fit and cut around the
regulator handle support
bracket. This assembly
featured a cutaway area at
the rear to slide over the
protruding end of the LGB
motor block.
The boiler back head starts as 2mm
acrylic build up with 1mm overlays
to suggest the cladding seen on the
prototype. The wrapper is .5mm styrene
sheet bent to fit and cut around the acrylic
regulator handle support bracket.
18 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
Curved tank parts are blocks
of urethane resin ‘Tooling
Board’ - a material available
in various densities which can
be cut and shaped by hand or
machined leaving a very fine
finish.
The cab roof is vac-
formed, the plastic
detailing adding strength.
BOILER
Douglas’s boiler was turned
from Tooling Board. The rear
end of the boiler featuring a recess
to locate over the firebox section
now fitted to the front of the cab. A
hollow section was created which was
subsequently filled with fine lead shot
glued in position using thin superglue
and activator to form a solid weight.
In addition weight was added into the
front and rear of the chassis following a
test run. The boiler detailing was added
using styrene strip to create the boiler
bands and smokebox door hinges. and shaped to fit around the regulator
Chimney and dome were both lathe assembly with styrene rivet detailing.
turned and mounted on an M4 screw The steam pipes were constructed
thread for fitting to the boiler. The from styrene rod with laser cut flanges
regulator assembly added later from at each end. These located at the rear of
styrene and TB sections and connected the cylinders and were left removable for
to the cab with the regulator rod in subsequent painting. The lagging seen
1.5mm brass. The dome cover plate in the photographs is fine bookbinders
was heat formed over the shaped dome twine wrapped around the rod and

Reversing lever
and bunker
detail. Bolt
heads are cut
from hexagonal
Plastruct.
bonded with superglue. All of the fine
pipework seen on the model is styrene
rod of varying diameters.
With cab detailing completed and the
addition of electrical connectors and
cab support brackets, the loco could be
prepped for painting.
PAINTING
I use the super HALFORDS Grey
Plastic Primer as a base coat. It has a fine
nozzle and always produces a superb
finish. Once any gaps are filled a second
coat is applied and lightly sanded with
600 grade Wet and Dry paper.
Colours were mixed in cellulose paint
and the first coat of satin cream applied
to the upper sections of the interior.
On the exterior, the first colour sprayed
was the red buffer beams. Once masked
The boiler and chimney are turned
on a lathe from Tooling Board.
In primer, you can see all the detail and
appreciate just how precise the model making is.
off a coat of gloss Deep Bronze Green
applied to the cab surfaces and the
boiler barrel. Following this I produced
laser cut masks in Tamiya tape which
matched the model precisely. This
masking took an age to apply in order
to align correctly around the window
frames, but once completed was ready
for the next colour – gloss black. The
final masking was applied to isolate the
window surrounds which were now
sprayed with a superd ALCLAD brass
finish.
LINING
Once fully unmasked I applied laser
cut vinyl lining, again using the same
computer files which resulted in a neat
fit on the edge of the black surrounds.
This was extremely fine and took several
Smokebox
door fitting
from plastic.
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
CONSTRUCTION
1:15
Cab back.
attempts to fit, but the result was well
worth the struggle!
Brass name and builders plates were
made for me by Narrow Planet – these
were applied to the cab sides and rear
with ZAP CA.
In order to tone down the high gloss,
a satin lacquer was sprayed over the
whole model and followed by some
subtle weathering and washes.
The final detail elements to paint
included the cab fittings and pipework
which received a base coat of satin
The dome cover plate was heat formed over
the shaped dome and shaped to fit around the
regulator assembly with styrene rivet detailing.
19
 CONSTRUCTION
1:15
Spraying the black onto
laboriously masked body
sides.

Meet the Modeller

Simon Atkinson is a professional
modelmaker with over four
decades of experience designing
and building for film and TV
audiences as well as the aerospace
and motorsport industries. Anyone
a similar age to the editor will have
sat and watched Simon’s work in
the BBC TV series Blakes 7 where
he was responsible for building the
Liberator and London spacecraft.
Railway modellers will be familiar
with the Just Like The Real Thing
range of 7mm scale locomotive kits
from his masters for Pete Waterman.
Now inspiring a new generation,
he lectures in model making at City
of Glasgow Collge.
Simon is also an illustrator and
musician, in fact his list of talents
is far too numerous for these pages,
but can be found on his website
www.satkinsoncreativearts.com

Laser cut vinyl lining being carefully released Lagging for the steam pipes is fine bookbinders
from the sheet. twine bonded with superglue.

Plates are etched brass from the Narrow Planet
range.
black, and a dry brushing with MR
HOBBY Brass paint.
Following completion of DOUGLAS
I have set to work on two bogie coaches
which will form the first part of a full
Talyllyn Train. I hope to detail their
construction in a later article. The
ultimate plan is to build an outdoor
model of Abergynolwyn Station to my
new chosen scale of 1:15 and to run
my trains there. My original 16mm
scale model of my favourite NG station
featured in the Dec 1990 issue of
Railway Modeller. n

Garden Rail Resource

Narrow Planet
PO Box 297, Bexhill-on-Sea,
TN40 9HF
www.narrowplanet.co.uk
Please mention Garden Rail
when contacting suppliers.

20 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

 In 2014 Kevin & Elizabeth left their jobs and their extensive
“Flatland” railway in Cambridge and bought a B&B in the Malvern
Hills where a new Flatland Railway is being built in the garden,
with running rights for guests, naturally.

We invite you to relax in the peace of the 1820’s former rectory and
its 2 acres of wooded garden. Four en-suite B&B rooms and three
self-catering apartments are available for short or longer breaks.

Malvern is a great place for hills, historic houses, Worcestershire

pottery heritage, and we’re in striking distance of the Severn
Valley and Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railways.

www.thedellhouse.co.uk
2 Green Lane, Malvern Wells, WR14 4HU
stay@thedellhouse.co.uk - 01684 564448
Track Info: 45mm, code 250 Peco, unpowered, level, 8ft radii.

Garden-Rail.co.uk 288| August 2018

21
 www micronradiocontrol.co.uk
sales@micronradiocontrol.co.uk

micron radio Dept GR, Uplands House

Castle Howard Road
Putting you in ... control Malton, YO17 6NJ

Eliminate worry about dirty track, stalls, shorts, and all the frustrations of track power.
Battery power and radio control – the future of model railways
Visit our website or send a A5 Large Letter SAE with 'GR' written on the back
An on-board battery and R/C receiver frees
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R/C trains can operate alongside track

powered locos, either direct control or DCC.

Receivers and controllers operate on 2.4GHz

using the popular Spektrum DSM2/DSMX
protocol. Receivers have a short wire aerial,
some are available with extended aerials for
use in totally enclosed metal bodied locos.
R/C Receivers
The range of R/C receivers covers all scales
and gauges; from N to SM32, Gauge 1 and
beyond with motor currents from 0.5A to 6A.
The smallest receiver, suitable for N and 009,
measures 9x9.6mm. A selection is shown
here.
Hand-Held Controller
A range of hand-held controllers, from simple,
single loco to multi-train units. All are pocket
sized and available with forward / reverse on
one knob or full-range throttle and separate
direction control. See our web site for details.
We can build bespoke controllers with knobs,
switches, push buttons to match your needs.
Live Steam
The Rx102 receiver
has outputs for servos
to control regulator and
reverser servos plus on/off outputs for lights or
sound module. The Rx102 can also drive an
external ESC for high current motors.

All Deltang receivers have Sound

multiple auxiliary outputs for controlling lights,
coupling actuators, sound modules or
whatever on-board function your imagination
wants to implement.
Batteries
On-board batteries can be NiMH or LiPo for
best size/capacity ratio. LiPo cells can be
charged in the model and frequently topped
up when the loco is resting. Most locos do not
need the full 12V - 4V or 8V from 1 or 2 LiPo
cells is usually sufficient. For space restricted
installations, a single LiPo cell can be used
with a small upconverter to give 9V or 12V.
Mtroniks or MyLocoSound
sound modules can be used
to complement your R/C
installation. Receiver outputs
control motor sound and
trigger bell, whistle, horn...
Installation
Receiver installation is easy – disconnect the
wheel pickups, locate the battery, receiver and
on/off switch and attach the motor wires. Micron
provides an installation service if you don't feel
up to doing it yourself. Contact us for details.

John Sutton Books & Models

Specialist in Industrial and Narrow Gauge Railways

I sell a wide range of new and secondhand

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QUALITY to narrow gauge and industrial railways
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Check website for details
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22 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
 TECHNOLOGY
ALL SCALES

Radio controlled
coupling and uncoupling

Why walk around the garden shunting when you can automate the process?
David Anderson shows us how.

M
any years ago Tri-
ang realised that in
OO gauge it was not
possible to model prototype
couplings as they would become
too small and fragile for the mass
market the firm focussed on. They
came up with their “Tension Lock”
type couplings which although not
having a scale appearance (far from
it) greatly increased the play factor
by allowing coupling and de-coupling
to be carried out remotely by reversing
over a sprung ramp placed where this
operation was most likely to be needed . The disadvantage here is the need to
It was one of the better systems amongst fiddle around with a piece of wire in The coupling bar in raised and lowered
quite few others. order to hook the little chain onto the positions.
Fast forward 50+ years and we now hook and vice-versa. Pity the folks that
have the advent of cheap reliable radio model in 4mm scale using tiny three As trains of coaches are normally
control systems which can bring this link couplings – a magnifying glass is uncoupled less frequently I concentrated
function into our present day garden surely needed. I thought as the eyes get on making a wagon with the necessary
railways to allow remotely controlled older the pieces need to get bigger? equipment on board. I assembled a
shunting and so bring this extra I wondered if I could design a scratch-built open wagon using 2mm
dimension to our operations. Not scale simple mechanism which would permit styrene sheet, this gave plenty of room
-but more interest and fun. trains/rakes of our size of wagons to be inside for the “gubbins” required.
There are a several types of coupling connected and disconnected by remote I’m sure it would be easy to modify
systems in use on our garden railway control. any commercially available wagon or
stock, one of the most common is the One of the great advantages of guards van if there is enough room
central buffer with a hook protruding modelling in the larger scales is the ease above and below the floor. What was
upwards. This can be found on with which you can make your own needed was a bar at one end that could
Roundhouse locomotives and many models from basic materials. This is be raised and lowered and would locate
other types. what I came up with. over the hook on the loco’s buffer.
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
23
 TECHNOLOGY
ALL SCALES
A piece of piano wire was bent to shape
and mounted on pivots so it moved
through an arc at the end of the wagon.
This has a wire rod passing through the
end planking linked to a standard servo
laid on its side on the wagon’s floor. I
used a standard size simply because I
had one doing nothing but a micro servo
would do the job. Next to it is a four cell
AA battery box with integral switch and
on top of it is mounted a three channel
receiver. A smaller battery box (AAA) size
would be OK if space is at a premium
and you might even get away with using
only 3 drycells.
My Tx is a steering wheel type. The
servo is plugged into a channel so it can
be controlled by the Tx’s trigger. This
gives proportional, progressive slow
control of the bar’s raising and lowering.
Pull to raise, release to lower. If you have
a stick type then maybe use one of the
rotary knobs , its your choice.
I can control my industrial diesel loco
by using the steering wheel for speed
and direction . To couple up, slowly
approach the wagon (bar raised) and
buffer up. Release the trigger to lower
the bar, move away with the train.
Simples! Of course the reverse sequence
will leave the train/rake wherever you
want to leave it.
I have control of the loco and the
wagon by binding the two Rx’s to the
same Tx but you can control a wagon
completely independently from, say, a
friend’s loco using a his own (different)
R/C system. He can be the driver, you
can be the guard in charge of coupling
the train.
My scratchbuilt wagon utilises
Meccano axles with steel wheels
turned from bar stock for me by a
friend (thanks Trevor). Grub screws
are on order to replace the ugly but
24 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
unobtrusive dome head ones. I had
acquired some miniature ball races from
eBay at roughly £1 each and decided to
try them out. Problem: The ball races’
I.D. is 4mm and the axles are 4.06mm
diameter. (4x10x4 size) I discovered that
by rubbing the plating off carefully they
became an interference fit on the axles,
result! So with the races mounted in
place in the styrene sheet “axleboxes”,
held in place with a smidge of contact
adhesive, I was in business.
I took the newly built stock out onto
the garden line and found the ball race
wheels had an unforeseen snag. They are
so free-running the wind could blow the
wagon along and buffering up had to be
precise as one small shove from the loco
sent the wagon away, only for this to be
repeated over and over unless control
was precise.
What was needed was some sort
of handbrake. Looking at my Tx I
realised I had a spare channel, No3, a
toggle type. The photos show my brake
mechanism which consists of a micro
servo mounted under the floor so its
operation from one extreme to the other
causes a piano wire bar (similar to the
coupling bar) to pivot onto or away
from the wheel treads. This bar has
short lengths of silicon model aircraft
fuel tubing slipped over it to act as
Inside the wagon showing the servo, battery
pack and receiver.
brake blocks. The tube is very “grippy”
and holds the wheels so they can’t
rotate. A bit of “give” in the linkage
ensures the servo does not remain stalled
and drawing a lot of current when at its
extreme movement
With this I can apply the handbrake
by one push of the Ch3 button, buffer
up and couple up, release the brake then
and move off with the train.
SO WHAT ABOUT COST?
Well the Flysky 3 channel system can
be bought for under £25 (Tx and Rx),
if you need an extra Rx they cost about
£7, the Micro servos are under £10, the
battery box under £3, batteries , wire
and other bits and bobs from your scrap
box or model shop, just a few pounds.
You see you could be a railway shunter
for not a very great deal of money!
The coal load is removable for access
to the battery box switch. It is made
from Eezyloads “seams like coal”. Mix
up with PVA adhesive and place in
position on a sheet of styrene plastic,
when set the glue dries transparent and
the result is realistic.
You may spot the push rod is held onto
the servo arm by pushing it through a
small piece of silicon tubing, this very
useful material is handy for preventing
coupling hooks and chains from falling
out of the buffer if the wagon is inverted.
Just push the pin through a small piece
and it won’t go anywhere unless you
want to remove it. n
Garden Rail Resource
Eezyloads
15 Kilnbarn Way, Haywards Heath,
West Sussex, RH16 4SD
www.eezyloads.co.uk
Please mention Garden Rail
when contacting suppliers.
The brake mechanism under the wagon.
 CONSTRUCTION
1:13.7

Building a Trefor Quarry

Open Wagon in 7/8ths
Hen Efail builds a simple coal tub with character

T
he Trefor Quarry in North Wales track to represent 18” gauge, so ordered MDF are glued together with a pair of
is perhaps less well known than the the suitable option from the Bole Laser end plates to create the frames. Once
large slate quarries further south in Craft website. A few days later a slim these were dry I primed them, and then
the county of Caernarfonshire, however it well packaged box arrived, with a laser applied model filler to smooth out the
legacy remains with the large crushers still cut MDF and ply, 3D print and metal layers - as in my opinion this can be a
standing, menacing over the village and parts, everything you need apart from real let down from laser cut wood kits,
the pier only recently being demolished. glue to assemble the kit. where multiple layers are joined and
Opening in 1850, it produced high Starting with the chassis, 3 layers of not smoothed. Once dry, this can be
quality granite, exporting setts and
becoming the world largest granite quarry
by 1931, until closure in 1960.
The railway had a large quantity of
wagons for moving granite around
the quarry and down to the quayside,
initially using Quarry Hunslet
locomotives, and later Hudson Hunslet
24hp diesels. Bole Laser Craft offer a
range of these in 16mm scale, as well as
the open wagon in 7/8ths scale.
My garden railway represents a North
Wales slate tramway in decline and I
thought that one of the open wagons
would be a good wagon for transporting
coal from the wharf up to the mill. I
model in 7/8ths using 32mm gauge The finished, but unweathered wagon.

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

25
 CONSTRUCTION
1;13.7

3D printed couplings are included with the kit.

sanded and then another coat of primer

applied.
I fitted the wheels, axle boxes and
couplings with the provided self tapping
screws. A nice touch is the wheel jig, that
allows you to assemble Binnie wheels to
the right gauge consistently, something
you can use on other kits in the future.
The body was next, and fits together
very simply. It is PVA’d together, and
superglue used to add the metalwork. I
found PVA could be used to join this to
the chassis too, despite it being primed.
All too often I see people scared of
applying a dirty or weathered finish to
their garden railway stock, although
it’s much more common in the smaller
scales. I didn’t want this to look new - in was dabbed whilst still wet to give the Garden Rail Resource
fact anything but, so I’ve used washes impression it is old, faded and flaking.
of Humbrol enamel paint to build up A finishing touch was to add some Bole Laser Craft
a worn paint finish on the bodywork. I real coal to the interior, I shook this Yew Tree House, South Street, Bole,
used Humbrol 72 for the inside, and 64 about to give a staining up the sides and Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 9EJ
for the outside, and left it thin enough ends, and then sealed it with Testors www.bolelasercraft.com
so you could still see the grain. Dull-cote, before adding a few more Please mention Garden Rail
I left this to dry for a few days, and chunky bits loose inside. when contacting suppliers.
then once I was sure it was all dry I All that was left was to take it outside
used a thick wash of Humbrol 173, and and give it a test run. The kit is well
then wiped it off immediately to leave designed, and produces a lovely model,
residue in the plank gaps and around that with care can be taken to the next
the metalwork. level with a weathered finish. n
The metalwork was then painted with
Right: It’s a coal wagon, so some scraps of coal
a mix of Humbrol 33, 173 and 27004.
can be seen inside.
The number and ‘for Mill use only’
text was added using a Uni Posca Below: Lettering is hand drawn using white ink,
white ink pen, the text on the body the dabbed away to simulate wear.

26 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

28 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
 E
AY
THE GAUGE ONE
MODEL RAILWAY
C
G

ASSOCIATION
A

Just imagine the thrill, spectacle and sound of a large scale

express train like this one running through your garden,
or perhaps a more sedate goods train hauled by a modest
tank engine. Whatever your tastes, G1MRA — the oldest
established large-scale and garden railway association can
help you realise that dream. Bene½ts include our renowned
quarterly Newsletter & Journal, a wide range of construction
book publications, friendly local groups and trade supplier lists.
G1MRA layouts are regularly featured at major exhibitions
nationwide - check our website events list for details.
For joining details please visit our website, or write to:
G1MRA Membership, (GR)
Warners Group Publications,
West Street, Bourne, PE10 9PH
Tel: 01778 392479
G1MRA@warnersgroup.co.uk
Website: www.g1mra.com

Garden-Rail.co.uk 288| August 2018

29
 CONSTRUCTION
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Building a GVT Brake Van
Greg Oehm builds the IP Engineering kit with plenty of extra detail.
A
s far as I’m aware, there are no
survivors of the Glyn Valley
Tramway’s brake vans, but I
found a 1927 postcard image from
Chirk, where the end of a brake van
could be clearly seen. Tantalisingly,
the postcard image, which shows a
guard about to climb into the van, can
be recreated with any suitable 16mm
figure and this van, so I figure the IP
Engineering kit is pretty darn good for
correct scale.
The model scales well beside the
same manufacturers GVT Box Van
as seen in Garden Rail 283 - a quick
run-over with the ruler reveals brake
van dimensions that scale to 10' 5¾"
long, by 5' 5¼" wide and 6' 6" high,
not including the curvature of the roof.
Without having any plans to hand, the
“feel” is certainly right. It is also a very
enjoyable build, and so is well worth the
cost of purchase.
30 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
BEFORE YOU START
Using a good glue is essential - I use
an exterior grade PVA adhesive, which
boasts on the bottle the join is “stronger
than wood”. I have no reason to doubt
that - I did a handyman job around the
house a while back and stuck a piece of
timber to another, then screwed them
together. When I no longer needed
that work, I removed the screws and
salvaged the wood for starter fuel for the
fireplace. I had to break them apart with
a hammer - and then it split along the
grain. I think the wagons built with this
glue will be sturdy enough.
Invest (or find/scrounge) a sheet of
glass at least 6mm thick. In fact, get
two or more. With two, you can place
laminate-type constructions between
them and place heavy objects on top to
either ensure they are flat before gluing,
or to have pressure on them while glued
pieces dry. I have seven pieces each
about 250mm x 450mm, and 10mm
thick. Not only do they provide a good,
flat base to build on, I use them as a tray
to store parts on when I have to clear
the family table for dinner (I also have a
very indulgent other half!).
CONSTRUCTION
I won’t go into great details about the
construction process, as the instructions
provided by IP Engineering are more
than adequate to assist even a novice
builder. It is a good idea to lay out the
parts in their supporting frets before
construction and familiarise yourself
with where each part goes, and read over
the instructions thoroughly. I found that
with that preparation done, I was able
to build the van pretty easily with only
a quick reference to the instructions to
ensure I was still on the right track.
I did find that some of the parts were
a little delicate - they have panel detail

The kit, as supplied by IP Engineering
cut in as part of the laser cutting
process, which cuts in about half
the depth of the ply. Care is
needed in removing parts
from the fret as some parts
in this kit can easily snap
off. Leave removing any
infill scrap ply as late as possible as
that will help support delicate areas.
I only decided on this step AFTER I
had broken two pieces - better late than
never…
The step hangers below the verandah
weren't as robust as I would like. I
strengthened them with two small
pieces of thin ply forming a backing
plate. Satisfied that this would not affect
the later fitting of the underframe,
it was a simple matter to glue them
behind the step hangers adding
considerable strength.
A great suggestion in the instructions
is that one should consider when in
the construction process to paint your
wagon (Cue offstage, a
The basic tools of "riveting": a pin vice
and drill, pliers and pins (before and
after shortening).
First steps: Ensuring
the basic box is square by
working on a sheet of glass.
chorus of “Wandering Star”). My own
wagons are often a complex paint job,
with carriages and brake vans the worst
offenders routinely using seven or eight
colours - rather amazing, especially for a
van that is largely grey.
My usual practice is to build as much
as possible before painting, rather than
paint all the individual parts first to
avoid layers of paint affecting gluing.
With this model, I started by
constructing the basic box,
box then
painted the inside
ins de floor and then
walls by brush.
Once dry, I masked off the
openings and made a false roof
from a good, wide, low-tack
masking tape before painting
the outside. First was the buffer
beam in red. Then it was allowed to
dry and harden off, before I masked the
remainder of the body so it could
ould be
done in medium grey. Then again after
time to harden, the entire basic box
(save for the sole
sol bars) was masked off
to protect the
already-
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
CONSTRUCTION
1:19
completed paint jobs so that the
underframe could be painted.
The remaining parts, running gear
and brake details, were all painted as
separately before assembly, as was the
roof. Rattle can paint is the easiest and
my local-ish hardware store has all the
colours I usually need. Purchase often
comes with a “Don’t do anything
naughty with those” as I leave. I must
have that kind of face….
ADDING THE DETAILS
Confession time: I can never leave well
enough alone. There has to be some
little modification or addition I
can make to improve and detail a
model and a brake van offers loads
of potential.
The simplest enhancement is to
replace the representation of rivets
or bolt heads with something more
realistic. I use dressmaker’s pins.
For this model, they were cut short
and placed into holes drilled where
the rivet is, secured with a smear of
cyanoacrylate. Because you can see
inside the van, the pin has to be shorter
than the wall thickness. The final result
is worth the tedium, there are over 100
individual rivet heads. I think it’s best to
do it in small stages, to preserve eyesight
and sanity. A glass of your preferred
beverage will also take the edge off the
tedium - just make it the one, though!
The strapping is especially narrow, so
care will be needed when drilling these
holes. You may find little bits do break
off, but once the pins are in and the
heads painted to match the strapping,
no-one will notice. Also, try and avoid
drilling right through the wall. It’s easier
said than done, but will leave the inside
wall neater.
While I was working on external
detail, I decided to add lamp irons.
I had bought a few of the very nice
3D-printed operating lamps from SLR
Models. The battery holder incorporates
a slot at the back so you can place it on
a lamp iron, so lamp irons there had to
be. I bought a length of K&S 2.4mm
wide by 0.8mm brass strip and started
by carefully drilling two 1.5mm holes
at 6mm centres in the strip fairly close
to one end. I then snipped off the strip
to get a 23mm length and, with flat
blade pliers (to avoid grab marks on
the brass), bent two right angles 12mm
and 16mm from the base of the strip
where the holes were, giving the shape.
A bit of filing to chamfer the top of the
31
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19
Riveting in progress on the van end.
iron and round the off the base, and I
had a pretty good (and cheap - it’s that
Yorkshire blood of mine) lamp iron.
After painting with satin black,they
were fixed onto the van with five minute
epoxy and 1/8” 14BA screws inserted
through the holes into the bodywork.
Next came grab handles using
some cast brass ones borrowed from
a Brandbright carriage I am building.
In the end, I fitted four - one each on
either side as handles for the doors to
the verandah, and two for the internal
door. This was visible on the outside,
but not inside so I drew the outline of
where the door would be inside with
a fine marker. Once this was done,
I thought that maybe I should have
added internal planking and door detail
on the insides of the van. If I had time
over I would do that, but I’m going
to argue this van has had the external
doors sheeted over inside as there isn’t
much room for goods inside with all the
fitting out in place. That’s my excuse for
missing this bit of detail (and also for
32 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
Riveting on the strapping, soon to be
touched up with black paint.
the lack of catches for the outside), and
I’m sticking to it!
LOOKING AFTER YOUR INSIDES
I feel a brake van must at the very least,
have a brake standard, stove, seat and
an occupant! All my brake vans and
carriages get populated. If our locos
have drivers, then the rolling stock
needs people too. My guard, Len Tover,
is from the Modeltown range and he
has a very satisfied, smug smirk on his
face. I think he knows he has a very nice
van to manage. By contrast, Albert in
the Brandbright van I built a few years
ago now seems a bit grumpy. Maybe it’s
because Albert’s van has no seat.
The seat in the IP Engineering van was
a simple addition using some scrap left
over from the kit itself. To make the two
sides of one seat, I took one of the infill
pieces and cut it in half, rounding the
tops to take the edge off the cut. Then
from another infill piece, cut a 24mm
length to form the seat bench. With
the bench fixed at 20mm (measured
Left: Finding centre in the van. A paper cut-out template.
The brake standard base, secured in place.
Lamp irons, prior to painting, with an SLR
Models lamp.
from from the bottom of the bench
to the floor), this made up a simple
H-construction bench seat, with high
sides to give the guard something to lean
against whilst the van is in motion.
I used a Brandbright brake standard
which comes in three parts – a base, the
standard itself, and then hand wheel. These
were suitably painted (all black except
for the hand wheel, which is red), then I
considered fitting. There is a shaft at the
base of the standard to fit into the base,
but it was too long. This was a minor
irritation for a moment, until the light
dawned. A hole drilled in the floor takes
the excess and once glued in with the
traditional five-minute epoxy it won't fall
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19

out, unlike the one in my brake composite 3D printing underway -

coach,currently rattling around inside. the stove takes shape.
Building the stove was a bigger
problem. I recently became the proud
owner of a 3D printer, and my overall
intention is to use it to produce slate
wagons and such like. But, having the
printer there, I thought I would use it to
print a pot belly stove for the van. Oh,
what a learning curve this was. Learning
how to draw in 3D on a computer
program was in itself a big challenge. I
started by designing the stove in an app
downloaded from a well-known fruity
phone maker called Doodle3D. It was a
bit cartoony, but it did the job. Evolution of a stove -
the various iterations
Setting up the printer was
of the stove in order,
“challenging” but eventually ended up with the final ersion on
with a neat print after five attempts. The the right, operational
stove was drilled out underneath (6mm and detailed.
dia.), and at the front and at the back
(4mm dia.) to accept a 3mm red LED
so that it would have that comforting
glow of a fire. Two handles, one for
the “door”, the other to represent the
damper, were built from pins and small
beads I had in the bits box, fitted to
the stove in appropriate places, then
painted a woody shade of brown. The I prefer to use LEDs - they are holder, plus switch assembly and a mini
whole stove was then painted black and relatively simple, long lasting, compact terminal block to put the wires into.
sprayed with a satin lacquer to seal it. and, by running them at 3V and a The vero board had copper tracks pre-
Once dry, the LED and its lead was very low current, you are unlikely to printed on it, which was useful in giving
inserted into the cavity, glued in, and need a stepping down resistor (making me a run for the negative side of the
the stove was then installed into the van. wiring simple). But you do need to
The last major part of the build was remember two things - firstly, the long
internal lighting - after all the trouble leg is positive. If you wire this leg to the
doing internal detail, you have to see it, negative, things won’t work.
right? My usual method is to start by Secondly, check out (if you can) the
sourcing a 2 x AAA battery box, until strength of the light. I use yellow LEDs
I realised that thanks to the brake gear (because they give off softer light more
there wasn't space for such a luxury. like gas light unlike white LEDs, which
Instead, I trawled the catalogue of have a garish, blue-white light), and
my nearest electronics supplier, and this time opted for an LED that had
purchased battery holders to suit a 3V the highest light output that was rated
lithium battery (CR-2032 type). At a around 3V. I chose a 2.3V, 12,000mcd
battery diameter of 20mm, the circuitry (millicandela), 5mm water clear lens
would fit easily between the wheels. yellow LED, which seemed right for the The basic circuitry, designed to occupy as
job. Bright, but not overpowering. small as space as possible.
Internal layout of the van, with the light fitting Next step was to make up the vero
seen from above prior to wiring in. board that would support the battery Cosy, innit? The van insides with the light on.

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

33
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19
The van undersides, showing the circuit board
fitted between the wheels and the brake rigging.
circuit from the battery to the common
negative terminal for the wires. It did
also line up with the positive on the
battery holder - but a quick cut (actually
two, to be sure) broke the circuit
between the poles of the battery holder
so a short-circuit would not happen.
For the light fitting I had bought
some 5mm inside dia. brass grommets,
the male part of which fitted snugly
around the LED, and turned it into a
perfect lampshade. The LED legs were
then bent at 90°, insulated with a short
piece of shrink wrap tubing and fitted
through two small holes carefully drilled
in the centre of one of the roof arch
formers. The wires were soldered to
each of the legs just protruding through
the other side of the arch former, and
fed down through the hole in the floor
previously made to allow the wire from
the stove out. At this stage all wires were
left over-long so that I could trim them
to size once the rest of the under frame
was in place. A quick test to see all was
well and it was time to put the lid on.
FINISHING OFF
The final steps were relatively
unremarkable. Handrails and roof
are the usual deal described in the
instructions - although I fitted the roof
before the handrails and under frame,
so that they would not be damaged as I
held the roof down with the ubiquitous
rubber bands for 24 hours after gluing.
Mindful of the need to fit the battery
box and switches between the axles, the
brake hangers and parts were all put
in place to ensure as much room along
the centreline of the van as possible
without fouling the wheels themselves.
I did gain a little extra clearance for
34 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
the electronic gear by snipping away
the superfluous edges of the vero board
before assembling the brake gear, which
was to prove a good move.
Fitting the brake gear is a fiddly job,
and the advice in the instructions is well
worth heeding - set it all up first before
gluing it down. I would add that it will
be better to widen the holes for the
rodding to 1.1mm to make life easier.
I didn’t, and found much too late that
some of the adjustments and threading
of the 1mm rodding broke the pieces a
fraction. I made sure they were secure
with cyanoacrylate and then painted
over the whole lot with black paint.
The broken ends will not be noticed,
but wider holes will allow more slack
around the rod. You will notice in
the photos that my brake gear is a bit
wonky - it’s a detail that won’t be seen
when the van is right way up. I found
the wire that was supplied had a slight
bend, and try as I might, I could not get
the bend out. If I had the time over, I’d
use 1mm dia. straight brass rod instead.
It’s a minor quibble, however.
Once the brake gear was in place, I
placed the circuit board in-between the
wheel and secured it with thick double
sided tape
The finishing touch was a chimney
top - if you have a stove it must have an
outlet! I made mine from 5mm brass
tube cut to a 10mm length using a
modeller’s tube cutter then used an M3
washer which has an outside diameter of
10mm which gave the right look for a
chimney base/flashing, and the two were
stuck together with epoxy. A quick paint
over black, and once dry, it was stuck
in the appropriate place on the roof.
Finally, the job was done.
Overall comments? This is a build
that requires some care, but with that
a great result can be achieved. There
is also great scope for super-detailing,
to turn what is a very nice van into
an outstanding model. I did enjoy
the building process, and adding the
details has been both a great learning
opportunity and a pleasure. The end
result is a van that looks the part and
has real character - and that can’t be a
bad thing, can it? n
Garden Rail Resource
Brandbright Ltd
Unit 3, Holland Business Park,
Holland Way, Blandford, Dorset,
DT11 7T
www.brandbright.co.uk
IP Engineering
Carousell, Spilsby Road, New Leake,
Lincs., PE22 8JT
www.ipengineering.co.uk
Modeltown
The Odd House, 188 Todmorden
Road, Bacup, Shaneyford, OL13
9UD
www.modeltown.co.uk
SLR Models
www.slrmodels.co.uk
Please mention Garden Rail
when contacting suppliers.
Len and Albert comparing vans. Albert does not
look happy, does he?

Wireless DCC, “learning the
lessons of leaves on the line”.
A garden railway that drives itself, Dagnall Clutterbuck explains how he built one.
T
he Easter Cottage Light Railway
started, as I suspect many have,
as a starter set from LGB with
the Stainz loco plus two coaches and a
circle of track. Running it around the
Christmas tree was fun, but limited. A
small plot in the garden was allocated
and a copy of “How to design and build
your Garden Railroad” by Jack Verducci
appeared as a Christmas present.
This introduced me to the interesting
discussion, which sort of railway do
you want? Not what sort of layout, but
do you want to “Engineer”, “Dispatch”
or “Observe”. For myself, I realised
I wanted to “Dispatch” and then sit
back and “Observe”, preferably with
grandchildren around and a beer.
With this in mind, I invested in a
ZIMO sound decoder for the Stainz
and set up a small C-Bus based control
electronics using kits bought from
Giling Computer Applications (GCA).
These boards are exceptionally well
integrated into Rocrail software, which
includes excellent interfaces to set them
up.
An old PC provided the master
control, and I started experimenting
with various low cost control systems.
Soon I had three sidings in a shed, a
hole in the shed and some track outside.
To sense where the trains were on the
track, I decided to use current sensing,
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
TECHNOLOGY
ALL SCALES
Is the future controlling your railway by ‘phone?
with wiring for all the individual routes
being routed back to the shed, where
the current sensing and main controls
were located.
The points for the siding and some
points at the station outside were
controlled by servo controllers in the
shed, and run down very long (~4m)
multicore cables to the points at the
station outside. This system worked
well, and demonstrated the benefits of
having a computer controlled system,
as I could set it running, and the trains
would automatically start and stop
35
 TECHNOLOGY
ALL SCALES

Electronics in the garden. The hardware here

controls a servo, two sensors and station lights,
the “Ticket Kiosk” normally covers the electronics
to provide protection from the elements.

at the stations. I added a Bachmann

“Percy”, he integrated very easily, and it
was fun to watch one train wait for the
other to enter the station before leaving
from the other platform. However,
as soon as it rained, leaves on the line
became a real hazard, as the current
sensing system would intermittently fail,
so an alternative was looked for.
Hall effect sensors are simple and
inexpensive transistors that are sensitive by the end of 2016 the prototype was from the phone or tablet interface.
to magnetic fields. With a magnet working. I could now extend the line (Photo ECLR web.jpg)
under each loco, a Hall effect sensor in and add one of my WiFi modules at Having used this stationary WiFi
the track can easily sense when the train any remote station to sense train arrivals hardware for a while, I realised that the
passed. It is reliable and not sensitive to and to switch points to allow me to bulk of the code was very similar for
rain! I designed a 3D printed housing have sidings. Each station would use “mobile” decoders, and could therefore
for the sensor that clips nicely to one ESP8266 module and need only a be used for battery powered locos. I
the track and allows for some epoxy power supply. I could have used power therefore added options in the code to
waterproofing. But having the sensor from the tracks (or batteries at the allow the code to be used to control
was only half the solution. Coupling it station), but decided a simple bell flex locos and confirmed this worked. My
via very long wires to electronics in the 12V pair run along the track might be track powered DCC locos now all had
shed was not an option, so I started to better, as it would mean I could run live ZIMO sound cards and I was very
look at alternatives. The conventional steam locos later without disrupting the pleased with the chuffs and whistles, so
approach would be to have a dedicated railway signalling network. did not do much to further develop the
electronics board for the sensors plus Using this system means that one can battery powered decoder concept.
some (wired) communications back control the points from a mobile phone, However, last year I discovered that
to the shed. Then to control points, using the Web interface in Rocrail. This someone had developed a method to
another “servo” board would be gives a simple graphic of the layout, and play high quality sound through the
required. This would require at least touching the points symbols will change ESP8266. I was sceptical that this might
three electronics modules at each the points. A loco throttle can also be slow the response of the decoder down,
station. Together the three modules in called up so locos can be hand driven but added this to my loco code, and,
kit form would have cost abut £100, so
I looked for an alternative.
Having an electronics background, Electronics small enough to all fit
I was familiar with the “ESP8266”. in the coal bunker of a small Terrier
This is a remarkable module model.
that is designed for use as
a WiFi interface. It has 8
programmable user interfaces
that can be used as inputs,
outputs or servo controls. Of
course it is useless unless there
is a way to integrate it with the
Railway control software, and
here I was very fortunate that
Rocrail has a active community and
some very interesting features.
My initial concept was to design
a simple and inexpensive piece
of hardware that would wirelessly
(WiFi) interface with Rocrail,
so that it could send and receive
commands, so that points could be
thrown, and sensors could indicate
where the trains are. I decided to use
the Rocrail “RocNet” data protocol,
as it was documented on the site, and
36 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

Component parts, along
with a Hall Effect sensor
by itself and in the housing
(Left) to fit on the track.
to cut a long story short, the mobile
decoder can now play sound clips and
even has a speed variable chuff. All the
sound effects are stored in the ESP8266,
which has a remarkable 3Mbyte storage
for sound clips. In my example code I
was able to put three alternate sets of
chuffs, cut from videos of various locos,
plus “toots” and guards whistles. I was
even able to add the Ivor the Engine
theme tune, plus a “shhffteepuff” chuff.
And this only uses about a third of the
space available for sound effects.
So, how does the system work? Firstly,
you need to have a computer running
“Rocrail”. This can be almost any
computer and there is even a version of
the program to run on a Raspberry Pi.
Then you need the computer to run a
“MQTT Broker”. The one I use is called
mosquito and is a very small program
that runs in the background and
provides the link between the Rocrail
program and messages sent to and from
by my hardware. MQTT (Message
Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a very
low overhead method for transmitting
small amounts of information such
as the data that is needed to run
the railway. As soon a my ESP8266
hardware powers up, it connects to the
MQTT broker, and the MQTT broker
then passes any messages to the Rocrail
program, which has also connected to
the same broker. The diagram shows
how a very simple system with two
stations connects via the WiFi router to
the PC running Rocrail.
For flexibility, the actual functionality
of each electrical port on the hardware
is defined by variables that can be set
and read from an interface in RocRail.
Adding a new hardware involves letting
Rocrail “find” the hardware, and from
then on, the Rocrail interfaces can be
used to set what the ESP8266 ports do.
Setting one as an “input” allows one of
the hall effect sensors mentioned earlier
to be added, or a port can be defined
a servo output, and the end positons
and rate of movement defined. Setting
a port as a PWM output allows it to be
used as a light switch, with a dimmer
action. The Loco version of the code
similarly can be programmed using
conventional “CV”’s, which can vary the
volume of the various sound effects and
the way that the motor control works.
So, if you have Rocrail and a
computer already, what do you need?
I would recommend a simple setup
for each “station” should comprise a
“NodeMCU” and “NodeMCU motor
shield”. The NodeMCU is a ESP8266
on a simple circuit that can be plugged
directly into a PC via a USB cable,
where it can then be programmed
using the “Arduino” IDE (Integrated
Development Environment). The
NodeMCU motor shield is not used for
the motor drivers, but it does provide
a set of pins that make connecting to
the hall sensors or servos very simple. If
you run 5V to the board, it will simplify
matters, but I send 12V, so I needed
to add a 7805 voltage regulator, which
then powers the NodeMCU. If you are
just using sensors and 3.3V servos, this
is all you need to do, but if your servos
are 5V, you need to make a small cut
on the motor shield to disconnect the
3v3 to the row of pins, and add a link
to connect them to 5V from the 7805
regulator instead.
You can use the NodeMCU boards
for a locomotive if you have the space,
but I prefer the smaller but electrically
similar “Wemos D1 Mini” board. To
allow this to power the loco motor, you
will need a “RC brushed electric speed
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
TECHNOLOGY
ALL SCALES
Garden Rail Resource
The code for the NodeMCU/
Wemos hardware is available free
at: https://github.com/dagnall53/
ESPMQTTRocnetSound , where
more details on setting the hardware
up with Rocrail can be found.
Rocrail software is available from:
http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php,
and is free, but a support key costing
12 euro per year helps support the
Rocrail developers
Please mention Garden Rail
when contacting suppliers.
controller with ESC”. The “ESC” is very
important as it means that the controller
can be connected to the main motor
batteries and it will provide a regulated
5V to the NodeMCU (or Wemos D1
mini). To provide sounds, you will
need a loudspeaker, and a resistor and
transistor to interface it with one pin on
the electronics. This allows some really
clever software to drive the speaker at a
reasonable volume. If you want louder
volume and better quality sound, then
you will need to add an “I2S Digital to
Analog converter plus amplifier”. This is
almost smaller in reality than its name
and is a 20mm square board, it needs
three wires connected to the electronics,
but there are still enough pins to control
the motor, have front and rear lights
and some spare pins for other effects.
As for cost, a NodeMCU V1 is
typically less than £7 from a UK
supplier, and the NodeMCU Motor
Shield abut £5. I would recommend
buying them from the same source, as
there is a version of the NodeMCU that
is physically slightly larger and does not
fit the Motor Shield. The Hall effect
sensor I used was a “3144” costing
about £2 each. For the Loco, a Wemos
D1 Mini is probably best, again it is
about £7 or less, and the “I2S Digital
to Analog converter plus amplifier” is
usually found sold as a “Adafruit 3W
class D amplifier MAX98357”, and is
the single most expensive item at about
£8. If you go for the single transistor
alternative, almost any NPN transistor
should do. I used a very old BC107,
and a 2N3904 is recommended by
Earle Philhower who wrote the audio
code. I would add a 1K ohm resistor
between the base of the transistor and
the ESP8266 (rx) pin, so that it is
still possible to upload code without
removing the transistor. n
37
 REVIEW
ALL SCALES

Helmsman CF5LGB Controller

and RF5A remote control unit
C
ontrollers seem to be a blind The CF5LGB controller is a big and
spot for many modellers. In impressive beast. Controls are clear
the smaller scales, I meet many and simple. Volt and Amp meters
can be supplied fitted into the
people still using H&M units that are flat area at the top. On the
older than I am, and wondering why front edge are the on-off
their models don’t run as well as those switch and DIN socket
powered by more modern units. Move for remote control.
out to the garden and I’m not the only
one still using an LGB controller from
a starter set. The question is, should I
upgrade from a Ford Fiesta to a Rolls-
Royce?
The first thing you notice with this
controller is the weight – a whopping
2.6kg – and this with a plastic casing.
Careful examination shows exceptional
build quality. The paint finish is flawless
and everything feels nice. OK, this
paint and prettiness isn’t the be all and At the back of the controller
end all, but unless you are going to poke we find the cooling fins, socket
around inside (don’t) it does impart an for mains power and output for AC
and DC. The “banana” sockets unscrew
impression of quality. to allow the connection of bare wires rather
At the front, there isn’t a lot to see. than plugs if you prefer.
A control knob, direction switch and
overload LED are all that is found on
the massive front plate. In the front
edge there is the illuminated mains on/
off switch and a DIN socket, which
we’ll come to later. If you’d like volt and
ammeters mounted in the top, these are
options although they add to the cost.
Look at the back and part of the
reason for the weight is apparent. A
mains transistor is surrounded by large
heat sink cooling fins. Although the
instructions point out this can get hot,
this set up will obviously handle a lot of
power.
Under the fins we have red and
black banana plug sockets which can
be unscrewed to allow wire to pushed
through or looped around the metal
terminal posts. This is the track power, loco was a Stainz. Unsurprisingly, this was very controllable in both directions
on this model 0-20v at 4.5amps. ran, but it seemed smoother than on with the control knob set at 1/3 to half
Beside the track power, another the standard controller. Not something way.
pair of while sockets provide and I can quantify, but as the railway had Conversations on-line seems to
independent 16v AC supply, again at been undergoing some maintenance for confirm that people are perfectly happy
4.5amps. a few days, I am familiar with the way with the Helmsman range, especially
There’s also a separate power lead just our test loco Otto runs normally. those who had previously encountered
under 2 metres long with a moulded on The highest current drawing piece of problems with high current draw
plug. stock I own is an LGB track cleaning locomotives.
Connecting the controller to my loco. Again, no problem with this, the Returning to the DIN socket
small circuit of LGB track, the first test beast chuntering away quite happily and mounted in the controller front, this is
38 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

The receiver bock is plugged into the DIN socket at the front of the controller. It needs to be located
in clear sight of the transmitter shown beside it.
for remote control units. We are looking
here at the RF5 remote control unit
which is made up of two parts. The first,
the receiver, is a black box attached to a
2 metre length of wire which plugs in to
the socket.
The transmitter handset, weighing a
tiny 136g, connects wirelessly with the
box. On it’s face is a vertical slider and
separate direction change switch.
There’s no aerial to get in the way,
the radio being a 2.4gHz system which
won’t interfere with other devices. The
technology is very clever – switch on
the transmitter and then the receiver
and the unit checks for a free frequency
and then they bind themselves to each
other until switched off again. If you
are using several of these, simply switch
them on one at a time and each will sort
The transmitter fits
comfortably in the hand and
despite being fitted with a
built-in battery pack, weighs
next to nothing. The slider
for speed control is easily
worked with your thumb
for those who drive
whilst drinking a mug
of tea.
itself out. Ideal for the larger layout with
multiple operators.
Each transmitter has a built in battery
which needs to be charged using the
supplied charger for 16 hours before use
or if run flat.
Range is up to 40 metres in plain
sight – I ran out of garden at 15 metres
when testing – mounting the receiver
box higher up helps and ensuring
there’s nothing metal in the way of the
signal. A big benefit of the system for
anyone whose line runs into a garage
or shed is that the controller can live
indoors with the receiver at the end of
it’s cable on a shelf outside. You can’t
mount it permanently as the housing
isn’t officially weatherproof, but
running the cable out of the window
wouldn’t be an issue.
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
REVIEW
ALL SCALES
SPECIFICATION
CF5LGB Controller
Input:
240 Volts AC (other versions are
available)
Output:
0-20 Volts DC – 4.5 Amps
16 Volts AC - 4.5 Amps
Length (over cooling fins) - 27cm
Width – 18cm
Height – 95.cm
Price: £179
RF5A remote control unit
(Requires a suitable Helmsman
controller)
On-board battery (Mains power
charging transformer supplied)
Range 40 metre in clear sight
Length – 11cm
Width – 6.5cm
Height – 3.5cm
Price £135
In use, the controller is responsive and
works every bit as well as you would
hope. Those using track power used
to being stuck in one place can follow
their loco around the railway, or relax
in a deckchair watching the trains go by
unconstrained by any wires.
I described that as Rolls-Royce
equipment earlier and that seems an
appropriate comparison. Helmsman
controllers are made in the UK. You
can ring the owner up for after-sales
service or ask questions. Alternatively,
meet them at a show where the stand
includes a controller with a transparent
casing so we can appreciate the quality
of construction. It must be good as they
come with a lifetime guarantee.
These may not be the cheapest power
unit available, but as I always say to the
small-scale people using half-century
old controllers, this is fundamental to
your enjoyment of the hobby. As such,
these controllers offer excellent value-
for money. n
Garden Rail Resource
Helmsman Model Rail
31 Farringdon Avenue, Blackpool,
FY4 3QQ
www.helmsmanuk.co.uk
Please mention Garden Rail
when contacting suppliers.
39
 COMPETITION

Win
a Helmsman
controller and
radio control handset
T
o celebrate Garden Rail’s 25th Anniversary, and
thanks to the generous support of Helmsman Model
Rail, we are giving away a controller suitable for large
scale models and the radio control handset – full details of
both can be found on pages 38 and 39 of this issue. The prize
is worth over £300!
To win, all we are asking you to do is send in your best
photograph of a garden railway subject. Locos, rolling stock,
buildings – the choice is yours.
Don’t worry if you don’t own a fancy camera, we are
looking for an interesting picture so even a mobile ‘phone
will do the job.
Simply e-mail your entry to phil.parker@warnersgroup.
co.uk by the 5th October and then we’ll put them all before
our panel of judges to decide the winner.
The winning photo will be published in the November
issue of Garden Rail along with some of the runners up.

Warners Group Publications Plc standard competition

terms apply, to view visit: www.warnersgroup.co.uk/
competition-terms/

40 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

Garden-Rail.co.uk 288| August 2018
41
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Garden-Rail.co.uk 288| August 2018
43
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19
Building a Low Loader
and JCB from scraps
It is not often that Garden Rail can announce a breakthrough in materials technology.
Dave Skertchy describes a high technology solution for our railway projects….maybe.
T
he PW gang at Lost’n Bodge
works had been whinging for
months about the labours
involved in repairing the squirrel
damage on the embankment behind
the flooded Gethanyawick quarry. They
demanded one of those mini JCBs on
a low loader “or else”. Having secured
their Christmas Bonus they would all
walk out on strike unless I complied. I
had no option but to think of a way.
It was many years ago now that I had
first built a G Scale low loader for good
friend Paul Webster. It was for a project
we were working on and I recall that
it was very springy and potentially not
very strong. As a consequence I had
44 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
not built one for the Vale of Weedol
Tramway and in time the project was
forgotten.
The stiffness of the frames for low
loaders is a perennial problem and it
was not until earlier this year that hit
upon a solution. Glass fibre when made
with cheap polyester resin shrinks. It
occurred to me that if I were to stick
two plies of 1.5mm plywood together
with two thin plies of woven glass fibre
and polyester, the shrinking resin would
induce a rebar effect in the plywood.
The term rebar is derived from the
steel bars placed in reinforced concrete
to pre-stress the concrete beams, but
it is generally used in engineering to
The PW gang are repairing the squirrel
damage. Well, actually the Engineer (Dave)
does the work, while the rest stand and watch.
describe induced compressive stresses
which strengthen otherwise marginally
strong components.
I made up some low loader frames
using the technology. I had also taken
care to ensure that the fibre direction
of the woven glass fibre was along the
line of the angles in the beam effectively
tying them to the longitudinals. I was
delighted by the strength and rigidity of
the frames.
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19

The frames had been sized to produce which I am sure you will recall are also My first effort at a low loader was in G scale and
a low loader which was just slightly made from a glass fibre laminate. The was rather weak and springy.
longer than my standard North Wales beams were drilled and cocktail sticks
Narrow Gauge Railway coal trucks, added to simulate rivets and bolts. Scrap

The technological
breakthrough, a
Cocktail sticks were aminate of 1.5mm
glued into holes and plywood and glass
then sanded to length to fibre
simulate rivets.

The low loader ready for painting.

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

45
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19
Looking under the
completed loader, you
can see the sneaky inside
bearings, so much easier to build
than the proper version
The digger parts cut out of wood.
The body and tracks stuck
together and sanded to shape.
picture mounting card was used to
simulate the top and bottom flanges of
the “I” beams. Floors and buffer beams
were cut from 5mm and 3mm ply
respectively and the whole lot glued up
46 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
using cyanoacrylate and PVA adhesive
and left on top of the central heating
boiler to dry.
Longitudinals to support the dummy
axle boxes were fitted and the whole lot
painted with primer. The wooden floor
section was over-painted with artists
acrylics. Binnie Wheels and axles and
home-made couplings were fitted and
that was that.
The completed low
loader ready for work.
Inspiration for the JCB
came from a drawing
included in the sales
catalogue, with typical
JCB thoroughness.
And so to the JCB. I had embarrassed
a number of local builders by asking to
photograph their diggers. One builder,
rather sarcastically I feel, asked if I
wanted the number, I of course declined
his offer. I then came across a JCB
dealer who included on his web site a
dimensioned drawing of a mini digger
from the catalogue, and that was just
what I wanted. I printed the drawing
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19

The JCB fully assembled, less

bucket, detail has been added The cab, backhoe and
using cocktail sticks seat in primer ready
for painting

and adjusted it to scale on the printer. its care of duty to its employees
Blanks for the chassis and cab were seriously. Somehow the
cut from MDF while the backhoe Yellow Jackets and hard
blank was also made from the glass hats have done nothing
fibre and plywood laminate. The blanks to help with the heritage
for the chassis, cab and backhoe were atmosphere of the
glued together and allowed to dry etc. preserved railway, but
Unfortunately I had failed to turn on that is progress, or so
the extraction on my bench sander and they say. n
after half an hour I was covered head
to foot in dust but on the other hand
had a reasonable representation of a
JCB. The bucket was made from thin
plasticard and details added using yet
more cocktail sticks. The completed low loader
and JCB ready for action
Painting was the usual automotive
with the PW gang on the Vale
spray primer and spray paint bought at of Weedol Tramway. Dylan
low cost from The Range. the Driver proudly sports his
I was pleased with the result and yellow jacket and hard hat.
posted a picture of it on my favourite
Facebook forum where there was an
immediate outcry. It was noted that
I had omitted the roll over hoop and
the workers had no yellow jackets
or hard hats. I pleaded that it was a
heritage railway and Health and Safety
compliance was not necessary but to
no avail. Having been taken to task
and feeling rather chastened, I bent up
a roll hoop from the wire of a left over
bonfire night sparkler, “waste not want
not” I always say. Dylan the Driver was
made up from my usual car body filler
blanks moulded in small silicone rubber
moulds and carved to represent the
pose of the individual. He too is now
resplendent in his “Yeller jackit and ‘ard
‘at”.
So as a sit behind the newly installed
Armco barrier outside the Sheep
Shearers Arms I can sip at my alcohol Barbara Martin
free pint of Auld Phagbutt and reflect ‘How many shades are there Mavis?’
that the Vale of Weedol Tramway takes
Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018
47
 PRODUCT NEWS

From the Trade information on new products for

the garden railway modeller...
If you are a trader with any new product,

Works
then contact phil.parker@warnersgroup.co.uk
Please mention Garden Rail
when contacting suppliers

THE AIRBRUSH COMPANY you to tuck it under the bench our of

Sparmax Zeta compressor with smart the way. Pressure adjustments are made
stop hanger using the large knob
New from The Airbrush Company on top of the water
is the Zeta compressor. Housed in a trap which forms part
steel casing with a carrying handle of the hanger. A pressure
on top, the neatly designed unit is gauge allows the use to keep
capable of producing 65psi – far more an eye on things. Pressure
than most modellers would require is maintained automatically
even when cleaning out the airbrush so there's no waiting for the
– and doing this quietly and with airbrush to start up every
little vibration. time you pick it up from
The clever feature that the stand.
makes it different from other Air delivery is
compressors is the “Smart Stop contact, even at
Hanger”. A stand for your lower pressures.
airbrush that There's none of the
clamps to “pulsing” that you can
the edge experience with other and assuming the Zeta is as well made,
of the units. would be confident of it providing
workbench, this The editor excellent service for many years even for
incorporates a switch to has been heavy users.
turn off the compressor using a
when you aren't using it. Sparmax Specification
Being able to separate compressor Low maintenance, oil-less single piston
the compressor from the for at least air compressor
work area by 5 feet using a couple of Max pressure 60 psi (4 bar) at 0 CFM
the hoses provided, allows years now Detachable Smart-Stop hanger switch –
designed to clamp on your worktop
Detachable pressure gauge
TRENARREN MODELS Detachable Air regulator for precise air
Pot Belly Stove pressure adjustment
Kit comprises cast resin and white metal Air flow: 14 - 18 lpm (0.49 - 0.64 cfm)
parts and includes a pre wired LED to at open flow
create a 'glow'effect. 2M Braided hose
Can be used in Signal Boxes, Brake Vans Motor: 1/8 HP AC
and in our Building Kits for added detail. 1/8 BSP outlet on compressor
Available from stock via our online shop Dimensions: L24 x W14 x H21.5 cm
where you can find this and many other (9.4" x 5.5" x 8.5")
scenic and detail items for 16mm garden Weight: 4.6 kgs (10 lbs)
railways. Voltage: 220-240V 50Hz
Noise level: 45±dB
Kit No: PW82 Pot Belly Stove Duty cycle: 40 minutes continuous use.
Price: £9.95
Postage & Packing £3.50 Price:£199

Trenarren Models The Airbrush Company

2 Brynglas Walk, Tywyn, Gwynedd, 79 Marlborough Road (East), Lancing
LL360BB Business Park, Lancing, West Sussex
www.trenarrenmodelsonline.co.uk BN15 8UF
www.airbrushes.com

48 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018

 PRODUCT NEWS

WILSON LOCOMOTIVES
7/8th scale Hunslets
During World War 1, the War
Department required 18 inch gauge
locomotives for use in
the supply depot at Deptford on the
Thames. Hunslet ‘Jack’ was the basis for
the design of 12 oil burning locomotives
supplied in ‘khaki all over’ under the
contract code name ’Waril’.
Four of these were later purchased
for the Sand Hutton Light Railway.In
1920 John Knowles & Co ordered a
new locomotive to complement ‘Jack’
and Hunslet offered a coal fired Waril
Class which was called ’Gwen’.
Australian firm, Wilson Locomotives,
now produce this locomotive as a a fully
detailed ‘GWEN’ or in khaki as a ’Sand
Hutton’ version.

Specification
• Gauge adjustable - 45mm or 32mm.
• Outside frame 0-4-0 with simplified
Walschaerts valve gear incorporating
full motion
• brackets and cast stainless steel rods.
• Roller bearings fitted to all axles.
• Goodall fill valve, boiler water gauge,
pressure gauge and displacement
lubricator.
• Gas tank, gas regulator valve, steam
regulator, reversing gear and safety
valve.
• Internal gas firing.
• Coal firing available.
• Brass Dome fitted with dummy
• ‘Ross’ pop safety valves.
• Glazed opening brass windows to cab
front.
• Summerlands Chuffer with FX
Control.
• Dummy whistle on cab and
dummy displacement lubricators on
smokebox with
• copper piping.
• Painted half cab back with black
borders and white lining on sliding
doors.
• Painted cab and cylinder covers with
black border and white lining (Sand
Hutton is khaki all over with no
lining as shown).
• Lining on frame and cab trim under
foot plate.
• Painted and lined sand domes (2) and
boiler bands.
• Colour - red or khaki.
Wilson Locomotives
www.wilsonlocomotives.com.au

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

49
 PRODUCT NEWS
BACHMANN SCENECRAFT
16mm and G Scale figures and animals
Recent issues of Garden Rail have seen
some controversy in the letters page over
the modelling of figures in our scales.
Bachmann UK have sent over their
entire range of new resin-cast figures
and animals in both 16mm and G scales
for us to have a look at. Realistically
modelled as opposed to cartoony, they
offer a huge variety of poses suitable for
eras from steam days right up to date
with hi-viz sporting lineside workers.
Each pack includes two figures
and are available from many retailers
advertising in Garden Rail.
50 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
G scale figures are roughly 83mm
high for me, 76mm high for women.
16mm scale figures are 95mm high
for men and 90mm high for women.
All are supplied pre-painted and
where applicable, with accessories such
as tools, handbags, dog, trolley etc.
It seemed sensible to pass a couple of
sets over to the reader who first started
the discussion, Graham Clover, to cast
his eye over:
Repelled as I am by "garden gnome"
inhabitants of our "Lilliput" universes
I was delighted to have a chance to
comment on the new Bachmann
Scenecraft figures.
Indigestion? Tired and cannot wait for
the shift to finish? Engine crew eyes rolled
to heaven in the hope that they have not
fouled up! - all or any of these emotions,
and more, may be read into the sculptured
expressions of these remarkably lifelike
railway men.
Unfortunately happiness with their
lot does not seem to be one of them.
Bachmann have successfully captured
the true grittiness of life working on the
railway.
The sample figures are well modelled,
their clothes are realistically painted and
will need little patination to make them
work soiled.
 PRODUCT NEWS

They scale out to 5ft 10ins in old money
and certainly look well nourished. Other
characters in this extensive range may well
provide more variety in form and height
and make a very welcome addition to the
track side scene.
It would be great to see what their artists
can do in 1/32nd scale (near enough the
Prices:
traditional common toy soldier size) at the 16mm scale - £19.95 to £22.00 per
moment almost monopolised by Preiser's pack
Germanic inspired range. G scale figures - £11.95 to £14.95 per
Perhaps I would not want to have pack
Bachman's figures as best mates , but they Horses and cattle - £24.95 per pair
certainly look as if they have a story to tell Sheep - £9.95
.
Bachmann Europe
Graham Colover www.bachmann.co.uk
(Fat Controller - Elstree Ponds Railway)

TEN COMMANDMENTS
G scale cast barrels, oil drums and
wooden crates
Moulded in in stonecast plaster,
these wagon loads were originally
designed for the company
owners own G scale garden
railway and are now available
for purchase. For outdoor use,
it's recommended that they are
well painted as the
plaster is porous.
KIPPO MODELS Once treated, they will
G scale house kit apparently withstand
Resin kit for a terraced house the worst the Scottish weather can
in 1:22.5 scale. Rebated throw at them.
corner brickwork, separate
windows, doors, guttering G01 - Wooden Barrels
and individual capping 37mm tall, 20mm wide
tiles. – 3 in a pack
Half relief and G02 - Oil drums 40mm
joining walls for tall and 26mm wide – 3
building a whole terrace in a pack
will available very soon. G05 – Wooden crates
Price: £60 including 52mm by 28mm by
free postage in the UK. 18mm – 2 in a pack
All packs £4.00
Kippo Models
www.facebook.com/ Ten Commandments
kippomodels/ 20 Struan Drive, Inverkeithing, Fife,
KY11 1AR
www.tencommandmentsmodels.co.uk

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

51
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 O Gauge Class A3 & A4
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Hatton’s has teamed up with Heljan to produce O Gauge models of the Gresley
Class A3 & A4 locomotives as well as accompanying
Gresley Teak coaches in a variety of liveries.

We have been working in conjunction with the National Railway Museum to ensure
that these iconic locomotives are brought to life in O Gauge so people can
have a piece of the National Collection in their own home.

3D printed samples shown

Each locomotive will measure around 50cm in length and weigh in excess of 2kg.

Variations available to order

Class A3 4-6-2 - £750

H7-A3-001 2750 “Papyrus” in LNER Grass green

H7-A3-002 4472 “Flying Scotsman” in LNER Grass green
H7-A3-003 2745 “Captain Cuttle” in LNER black
H7-A3-004 60072 “Sunstar” in BR Express blue
H7-A3-005 60035 “Windsor Lad” in BR green with early crest
H7-A3-006 60077 “The White Knight” in BR green with late crest
H7-A3-007 60103 “Flying Scotsman” in BR green with late crest

Class A4 4-6-2 - £750

H7-A4-001 2509 “Silver Link” in LNER silver

H7-A4-002 4468 “Mallard” in LNER Garter blue - Record Breaking condition
H7-A4-003 4468 “Mallard” in LNER Garter blue - As Preserved
H7-A4-004 4489 “Dominion of Canada” in LNER Garter blue
H7-A4-005 4464 “Bittern” in LNER Garter blue
H7-A4-006 60007 “Sir Nigel Gresley” in BR express blue
H7-A4-007 60012 “Commonwealth of Australia” in BR green with early crest
H7-A4-008 60009 “Union of South Africa” in BR green with late crest
H7-A4-009 60008 “Dwight D Eisenhower” in BR green with late crest

For more information check out our website at: www.hattons.co.uk/recordbreakers

Hatton’s Model Railways, 17 Montague Road, Widnes, WA8 8FZ

0151 733 3655 www.hattons.co.uk info@hattons.co.uk
 Letters are welcomed on any aspect of large scale

Mailbox
railway modelling. Please e-mail the Editor:
phil.parker@warnersgroup.co.uk
or post to The Editor, Garden Rail Magazine,
Warners Midlands, West Street, Bourne,
Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH

GARDEN RAILWAY OPENING GRS DIESEL

Whilst a helpful and commendable article in the June
2018 Garden Rail Magazine by Martin Wicks that I fully
understand, but what a sad reflection on today’s society that
we can’t just invite the public to our garden for a pleasant
afternoon looking at plants, drinking tea and watching
miniature steam trains go by without carrying out risk
assessments, putting up danger notices and barriers and
worrying about being sued.
I have held open days before under the NGS National
Gardens Scheme for charity, but after reading Martins article,
all I can say is, never again!
How about putting up a notice that people must sign
before entering along the lines of the following:
Dave Trelfer came across an owner’s review back in February
2005 SMT No.111 by Adrian Foster who imported one in from
America + Two of the skip wagons. It cost him £380 including
taxes etc.
He also mentions it was reviewed in issue No.57. of the
“ Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling Review”
magazine which I do not have in my Library, so have not read
it, but this information may be of interest to purchasers of
this popular model.
John Denbury
GARDEN RAILWAY INVASION

GARDENS ARE A VERY DANGEROUS PLACE AND I recently returned from a two week holiday to find a
YOU ENTER ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. housing development had invaded my G scale garden
railway.
There are nettles that may sting you and cause an allergic Ants had built inside the signal box. Their labours
rash proved wasted as none were there when the signal box was
Some plants, such as roses, have sharp thorns that may later cleaned out. Good weather with sunshine appears to
cause bleeding if brushed against have made it too hot for them to stay.
Other plants may have sharp thorns or spikes and cause
similar injuries Julian James
Steps and paths may have an uneven surface so look where
you are going in case you trip
Some paths may be slippery if wet causing you to fall over
and injure yourself
There are bees and wasps in the garden that may sting you
Some plants are poisonous and should not be eaten
Do not drink any water from water butts
Do not eat anything found in the garden
Tea is made with boiling water so the contents of your cup
will be hot and may scald you
Do not touch the model steam engines, they run on steam
and will be hot and may burn you
Model steam engines may emit steam from the safety valve
so do not get too close
Supervise your children at all times, they are your
responsibility

If you have no common sense and cannot accept
responsibility for your own actions, then please go away and
do not enter as you are not welcome.
Steve Howard
Editor: I felt the point about Martins article was that if you are
going to hold a public event, as opposed to inviting a few friends
over, then some thought has to go into the presentation of the lines
and yes, keeping people safe.
58 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
If you aren’t used to live steam locomotives then it may not
be obvious that they will be hot. When little Johnny grabs a hot
boiler and hurts himself, can you really rely on his parents telling
him not to be stupid? Or do they see an opportunity to make a
few quid using one of the many “No Win, No Fee” legal firms
whose adverts infest daytime television?
That said, part of the planning process has to be deciding how
much planning and signage you need. Hopefully, the article has
made people think, even if they then decide not to carry out most
of the tasks listed.
 MAILBOX

SOUTHWOLD RAILWAY
May I ask if one of the manufacturers
of locomotives for our garden lines
would consider producing a model of
the Southwold Railway engines? At
15mm /foot scale, 45mm track gives
the prototype 3’0”gauge. The wheel
arrangements on the Southwold engines
varied from 2-4-0, 2-4-2 and an 0-6-0 .
The Accucraft Sea Lion in 7/8ths
scale looked as if it might fit the bill but
I have only seen photographs.
Although the Southwold Railway
had the long 6 wheel Cleminson
Coaches they could be easily converted
to bogie stock. They even had some 6
wheel Cleminson system open wagons
lettered up for Moy , the local coal
merchant.
From what I have seen more and
more garden lines are being built to
45mm gauge so it would be nice to
have another line to model, this time
from East Anglia.
Jim Smith

DIARY DATES
Date: 11th August 2018
Event: The East Anglia Garden Railway Show
Venue: Bressingham Steam Museum, Diss, Norfolk
Times: 10:30 to 17:00
Admission: £6.50
Web: www.bressingham.co.uk
Additional Information: Live steam layouts. Free parking.
Nationally known traders. Cafe. Narrow guage passenger
railways. Entrance to museum & gardens. Miniature traction
engine rally.
Date: 1st and 2nd September 2018
Event: Llanfair Garden Railway Show
Venue: Llanfair Careinion Leisure Centre, SY21 0HW
Times: Sat 10am-5pm Sun 10am-4pm
Exhibitors: Layouts in 16mm and G scale. 40+ Traders.
Refreshments. Free parking. Free bus from Welshpool &
Llanfair Railway gala.
Date: 1st and 2nd September
Event: Hollycombe Steam in the Country Model Weekend
Venue: Hollycombe Steam in the Country GU30 7LP
Times: 11:00 to 17:00 (Rides operate from 12:30)
Web: https://www.hollycombe.co.uk/
Exhibitors: Hampshire Area Groups of the Association of
16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers modular layout will be
operating. Other exhibits include miniature traction engines,
fairground models and toy steam.
Additional Information: Free car parking, refreshments
Date: 9 September 2018
Event: White Horse Model Engineering and Garden Railway
Show
Venue: White Horse Country Park, Coach Road, Westbury,
Wiltshire, BA13 4LX
Organiser: West Wiltshire Society of Model Engineers
Web: www.wwsme.org.uk , www.whitehorseshow.org
Times: 10am - 4pm
Admission: £5.00, children under 16 free
Exhibitors: See website for full details
Additional Information: Free parking, refreshments, bar,
engineering society displays, train (5 inch gauge) and traction
engine rides
Date: 6th and 7th October 2018
Event: The Yorkshire Garden Railway Show (formerly Elsecar
Garden Railway Show)
Venue: Richard Dunn Sports Centre in Bradford BD6 1EZ
Organiser: The Yorkshire Group of 16mm N.G. Modellers
Ltd
Web: www.yorkshire.16mm.org.uk/
Yorkshire16mmShowhomepage.html
Times: Sat 10am – 4.30pm Sun 10am-4pm
Exhibitors: See website for full details
Date: 27th October 2018
Event: Exeter Graden Railway Show
Venue: The Matford Centre, Matford Park Road, Marsh
Barton Ind Estate, Exeter EX2 8FD
Organiser: South Devon Garden Railway Group
Web: http://www.exetergardenrailwayshow.com/
Times: 10:30am – 4.30pm
Admission: £7.00, Concessions/OAPs £6.00, accompanied
children free
Exhibitors: See website for full details. Second hand stall.
Additional info - Free car parking. A proportion of the show
proceeds are donated to The Devon Air Ambulance Trust.
Date: 8th & 9th June 2019
Event: Guildford Garden Railway Show 2019
Venue: Stoke Park, London Road, Guildford GU1 1TU
Organiser: Guildford Model Engineering Society (GMES)
Web: www.gmes.org.uk
Exhibitors: See website for full details
All events are published in good faith. Please check with the
organisers before travelling a significant distance as Garden
Rail can’t be responsible for changes or cancellations. To
submit and event for publication, please e-mail phil.parker@
warnersgroup.co.uk
SUBMISSION NOTES
Garden Rail welcomes articles submitted via posted disc, e-mail,
Dropbox (or other large file sending system on-line). Please
ensure that your name, e-mail address, telephone number and
postal address for payment on publication are included. Send
to phil.parker@warnersgroup.co.uk or to the contact address on
the Contents page.
Articles should be submitted in MS Word or other word
processing format. Please do not use fancy formatting or embed
photos in the piece, these should be sent separately at the
highest resolution possible and in JPEG format. Printed photos
of a historic nature will be accepted. Captions for all photos
should be included as part of the submission. You must own
copyright to any material submitted.

Garden-Rail.co.uk | 288 August 2018

59
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Telephone 01522 681989
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Obsolete spares can be made to order.
Send 4 x 1st class stamps for price list

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Email: tgsm1@btinternet.com

• All gauges of model railways
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60 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018


T elephone: 01302 371623
M obile: 07526 768178
or email: anorak sanonymous@ g oog lemail. com
The G Scale Society
ard
Think outside the house and get into the garden!
Contact our Membership Secretary -
Email: membership@gscalesociety.com
or visit our web site at www.gscalesociety.com
G Scale Society on Facebook
We will buy almost any
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AIRFRAMED GLASS DISPLAY CASES .. 61
ALD PRINT LTD............................................ 43
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BARRETT STEAM MODELS LTD ............ 28
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BRESSINGHAM STEAM MUSEUM LTD 29
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CLASSIC LOCOS .......................................... 41
DJB MODEL ENGINEERING .................... 60
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HATTON’S MODEL RAILWAYS ..... 56 & 57
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Garden-Rail.co.uk 288| August 2018
JOHN SUTTON BOOKS & MODELS ..... 22
KENT GARDEN RAILWAYS ....................... 11
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LOCO-BOXES .............................................. 60
MALC’S MODELS ........................................ 60
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61
 CONSTRUCTION
1:19
Albert’s “Wrong Gauge” Loco
Adrian Foster tells the story of the latest BD&HB locomotive.
A
lbert Fosdyke was at it again! He
saw that there was a need for a
locomotive at the Bawtry Docks
& Harbour Board where Albert was
Gaffer, Chief Engineer, Loco Driver
and General Factotum. It also just
happened that Albert’s cousin, twice
removed, Oskar , lived in Germany,
owned a scrapyard and got hold of a
750mm gauge diesel locomotive from
the Flockenstoffen - Klinkerhoffen
Bahn in Bavaria that was surplus to
requirements. Albert did a deal for it
involving several bottles of Black Sheep
beer and a couple of pounds of Bury
Black Pudding.
The locomotive is out-stationed at
West Stockwith where the Chesterfield
Canal meets the River Trent. Here, a
short isolated one mile long 3ft gauge
branch runs from West Stockwith
Basin to Misterton where connection
is made with the former GN/GE
Joint line from Doncaster to Lincoln
via Gainsborough. The locomotive
works alongside the canal and has been
62 Garden Rail 288 | August 2018
known to pull vessels through the locks
– sorry, Panama Canal, we did it first!
Prior to moving to West Stockwith,
the locomotive was regauged by Albert
which involved moving the drive chain
from between the axles to outside the
wheels. Cab doors were also fitted plus
a Fosdyke Mk II toaster inside the
cab. It then spent several weeks in the
workshops of the Burton Electrickery
Co in darkest Lincolnshire where it was
fitted with radio control to enable the
driver to stay in his deckchair alongside
the canal whilst shunting.
The knackered original engine
was replaced with a 115hp Funk
& Wagnell engine with counter
concentric balanced furkling shaft.
Unfortunately this was not very
successful and soon after fitting was the
cause of an accident one day just as the
loco was passing the basin canteen. The
left hand concentric grobble pin broke
and sent the furkling shaft horizontally
through the side of the bonnet,
through the canteen window and
scored a treble twenty on the dartboard
on the far wall. The offending engine
was immediately removed and the loco
stood out of use until a second hand
Italian Ravioli engine was fitted.
Fact is a little less interesting. This is
an IP Engineering K40 Keef loco, built
not quite as instructions and featuring
outside chain drive, Swift Sixteen cab
doors pinched from a carriage kit, an
Andel cab roof from an O & K and
a vivid imagination courtesy of Jack
Daniels. It is indeed radio controlled
with Deltang gubbins. I needed a
45mm gauge loco since one of our
more broad minded members of the
Isle of Axholme/Ancholme Group
insists on staying at this gauge, so
we all need one loco that runs at this
gauge.
So, there you have it, Albert’s latest
acquisition. No doubt at sometime in
the future, Albert’s imagination and
inventing prowess will get the better of
him and another Fosdyke contraption
will appear. n