Steam Toy's and Garden Railway's In The Sun...

Hi all. As tomorrow's forecast did not look great, I decided to head down to the Garden Railway site today and have a go at running some trains. Arriving at about midday, I opted to put out all the buildings as well as the electric signal and the electrically-operated Turntable. The railway hasn't been ran in this extensive form since the 'Bonfire Night Special' last November and so it was nice to see it this way once again; though alot of work to get it there! Later in the afternoon, as the sun shone and the breeze blew, I felt like getting my Mamod SW1 (of 1985) out for a run. After steaming up, the Steam Lorry made quite a few runs (with a good size 'tablet fire' in the box!) up and down the driveway, performing very well indeed. After 25 minutes or so the SW1 had "cooled off" and so, rather than steam her straight back up again, I decided to get the Wilesco (D405) out too! The Wilesco is much more modern in design compared to the Lorry, using a conventional double-acting cylinder, clutched-gearing and a large, circular sight-glass. Both engines performed well and, meanwhile, many trains of varying types, origins and sizes were running up and down the 00 gauge metals of the garden line. With cups of tea flowing throughout the day as well as home-made Chips & Scallops, it really was the best place to be! We finally finished our extensive running, steaming and putting-away by 6pm...PHEW(!)...what a run!