Here is a belated picture of my rear garden in North Worcestershire, England. As you can see, the rate of ground drop is quite steep. The tramway can be seen clearly as it hugs the perimeter of the garden. The shrub's either side of the garden are trimmed square so the train passing pops in and out of view as it passes along the trackage! Everything is 'old' in England! The hedge at the end of the garden can be seen on a very old map in the local library. Its a old field hedge around 200 years old or so! The stepping stones represent the River Dodford with the falls at the top steps and the gorge at the lower steps. The garden is 62 feet long and 30 foot wide. You dont need acre's for a 7/8"scale garden railway! (20/08/2010)
This tramway is situated in my garden in Worcestershire, England and is built to 7/8" scale.....more or less! In early 2001 soon after starting this scale I found cheap plastic S.A.S figures in a local 'pound-shop' that only cost 49p. each that were very near 7/8" scale....but a small amount bigger! My actual scale seems to be 15/16ths. scale which (in the 'rubber' scale modelling sense) is rather good as it allows me to use not only 7/8" scale stuff but also 1.12ths. scale (Dolls house scale) usefull bits as well that can be used for a tramway such as mine. The company has a extensive works and employ's around 600 souls or so. It started off as a horse drawn affair hence the word 'tramway' however as time went by the work proved too much for the animal's so steam locomotives arrived. The tramway serves the factory and also has extensive trackwork out into the fruit growing fields (see the 'Welcome' page at the bottom as regards to the fields) to collect the produce. There is a large transhipment siding at Reynoldston Junction yard where the jam (or 'conserve' if your posh!) is transfered to the L.M.S. railway for shipment to all of our eager customers! .......This (at the present time) is the fourth variation of the company to appear. In the middle 1970's the first version was a '00' scale line but after a few years of tiny stock I then discovered 7mm 'O' gauge along with expensive locomotives but bigger stuff! This version of the jam company appeared in the Gauge O Guilds publication on minimum size layouts which came out around 1985. Around 1986 I started to visit the outdoor layout at Hampton Loade station on the Severn Valley Railway which was in (and still is) 16mm scale. Now here was a BIG scale! After a few years of modelling this scale I got rather jaded as it got too easy to end up getting a railway by buying everything which a lot of people seem to do! By chance I was browsing 'GardenRail' in W.H. Smith's in 2001 when I came across a article by Peter Bakke concerning this scale! Now here was a scale with a small following and most things having to be 'bashed' or made. The one thing you need in 7/8" scale most of all is .....IMAGINATION, In other words dont stick to the norm of model railways....try and make yours as far as possible from the normal run of thing's! This usually means going 'freelance' but the end result makes it all worth it! The ethos of my railway is to try to make or convert as much as possible so its 'my' line. (I find the cost of kits and R.T.R stuff in this and 1.12th. scale rather more than I am WILLING or WANT to spend) I put a lot of thought into the 'pretend background make-up' of this outfit. A lot of it helps me to go down many route's that I otherwise might not have travelled in my search for a 'different' railway. Apart from the background history you have read I also have a catchy angle....a motto! The company is well known for its motto.....'Jam's for the Masses'....this refers to the company's 'mixed fruit jam' that is very popular with the lower orders as its so cheap!! The reason its so cheap is that its bulked-up with shredded swedes! If you look in your local supermarket's jam section you will find the 'mixed fruit jam' there is the cheapest available! In Morrisons... (English supermarket group) it's 33p. a jar (August 2010) and looks a very strange red colour!.......
These two photo's show the deep drop of our rear garden. The rockery plinth of Reynoldston Junction is around 15" off the lawn. The lower wall is around two foot three inches off the lawn top...not a garden for a ground line (20/08/2010)
