The saying "all good things must come to an end" is very true in life. No matter how good something is, nothing lasts forever. This reflective post takes a look back at my old garden railway which was, up until recent years, a major player in my transition into this hobby. The history of the railway kind of dates back to when I had my first train set at around 4 years old. A Hornby four-wheeler and an oval of track soon morphed into a 6ft x 4ft layout, which grew gradually in size thanks to the efforts of one of my grandads and his trusty glue gun. A house move in the early 2000's removed the space required for the layout and a period of storage for my then fairly small collection of 00 gauge stock continued until late 2004. I suppose I could blame TV presenter Mark Found for what happened next! His inspiring series Garden Railway was airing around this time on the hobby channels and featured a wide variety of garden railways in all gauges and to suit practically all budgets. Grandad No2: who was often happy to support my various whimsical ramblings in return for valued peace and quiet: finally caved to my nags to create a small 00 gauge railway in his garden. I'm still not sure why as I would have never put up with me!
The first trains eventually ran on what became known as Sutherland Steam Railway in spring 2005, with an extension down towards the house being added the following year. Since then, the railway has seen countless trains running in sun, sleet, hail, frost and even snow. In my younger days nothing would stop me, come rain or shine. Those little tracks must have seen more trains than most of the UK's rail network, and have given me thousands of hours worth of pleasure. I had a paper round until I was 16 and this, coupled with a then thriving model shop in the town centre, resulted in a massive growth in the loco fleet. I forget how many there are now, but there's quite a few! One of the things that has resulted in the end of the garden railway is my lack of time. I was at school then: I didn't have a car, a job or a house to worry about, or in fact a ridiculously overactive hobby that I've created into a monster! It's time enough now to let my now late grandad's garden go back to how it was about 15 years ago: train free! But, before the line becomes a distant memory, I thought I'd add this post of how things used to be. The images of the line looking a little dishevelled were taken on April 1st...
We'll start with the site of Sutherland Station: the hub of the line. The old Windmill provided the well known photography location and my Hornby Austerity is seen forging past on a sunny afternoon in 2011, hauling a freight...
The line actually began from the garden shed where we'd converted what was once a storage cupboard with shelving into a small fiddle yard. My grandad was then encouraged to take a jigsaw to his beloved shed and create two portals which would allow trains to leave and re-enter. The holes in the shed were filled by two hinged doors which were lockable from the inside. Once out of the shed the trains had to cross a small alleyway to reach the first wall. Reaching this wall would allow the track to continue across the rockery. Two wooden bridges were created for this purpose and my Bachmann Atlantic is seen crossing the Chilvers end example in 2016...
As of April 1st, the two bridges have been removed and the portals lie locked and dormant. The bridges were completely rotten by this stage, with the Sutherland end example having stood for the full life of the railway...
In 2015, my Hornby Grange sets out from the Sutherland portal with a rake of GWR coaches. This is approaching Sutherland station...
The same location on April 1st shows the bridge missing and the track being slowly overtaken by the ivy. This curve has been replaced a couple of times during the railways life as originally it was the first section of track we laid...
Looking upgrade towards Sutherland station...
When we extended the railway in 2006, the new formation required the addition of two extra wooden bridges to cross the gaps between the walls. One of them was replaced fairly early on with an extra brick-built wall but the latter remained for a couple of years. The second extra bridge was later replaced by moving the formation to allow its removal. Once off the main wall through Sutherland, the trains ran towards the house along a long straight. The same wooden base was used as a track bed...
My Bulleid heads along the same straight section of track in 2016. You will notice the later formation towards the rear of the train...
There was a small junction at Ashford which allowed access to the electrically operated turntable. The spur line was separately powered to allow the adding or removing of locomotives from the turntable roads whilst the main circuit was still operating independently. The section has now seen its last trains...
My Grange passes Pannier Tank No5775 at Ashford in 2011...
Now looking overgrown, the rails are slowly starting to turn brown. The section on the right in the image below was one of the very few sections of track to be made by Peco. In the early days we liked the idea of using Flexi-track and the original smaller loop around the rockery was almost all Hornby Flexi when first built. However, it turned out to be a real pain and could be quite fragile if you weren't extra careful with it. Therefore, slowly but surely, as many sections as possible were replaced with fixed pieces. This one however was left due to the unusual curve radius and with Peco's more hard-wearing Flexi in use it has survived very well. That section is probably the oldest remaining piece on the railway, having been fitted in 2006...
Ashford was the location of a steep bank for trains climbing towards Sutherland from Chilvers. It was a good pull away from the 180-degree curve at the foot of the steep climb and it wasn't uncommon for more light-footed models to slip here briefly during the ascent. In 2011, a visiting Hornby A4 forges up the hill through Ashford station with a long freight, made up of private owner wagons...
Here is a rare view: the turntable in use. This was taken in 2010...
The main line rounded the turntable before climbing back towards the shed and Chilvers station. We fitted a passing loop in 2007...
After the loop there was a final short straight before trains curved slightly right to reach the Chilvers bridge towards the returning shed portal. My Lima King and Mainline Railways Mogul are seen in the loop at Chilvers in 2008. You can see in that shot that the wood bases are only slightly weathered, having been in just over a year at this point: they are much greener now!...
Finally, here is a 2011 overall shot of the railway with all of its buildings laid out...
You'll notice that in most of the photos of the railway the buildings aren't out. This is simply because during shorter running sessions it wasn't worth it: it took longer to set them out than you'd plan to run your trains, especially when we added the internal lighting to them later on! The turntable in particular was a real rarity to come out as that could be a pig to set-up!
It's funny how things change as you go through life. When I was younger these tiny trains in the garden were a massive influence in the steam obsession that has resulted since. We had open days, organised visits, fireworks nights - you name it. Everyone really embraced the little railway and it always created interest. Now though, if you'll pardon the pun, we've come to the end of the line and, once again, my model trains will have to find a new home. Thanks Grandad, it was all worth it...
Sutherland Steam Railway
2005 - 2019
A Wonderful Memory
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