Garden Railway Forum

No problem Dan.

R.e the viaduct, I agree thats it's a very impressive bit of work, but did they not consider the possibility of it floating had the water risen further?

It was mentioned by someone, I believe it may have been the lady in charge of that group, not to sure!

Discussion of this project has gone rather vocal online elsewhere, and indirectly has caused a Moderator of the 16mm NGM Association Facebook Group to resign.

But consider this. It was never intended initially to build a garden railway. It actually started out as a model railway from Liverpool to Goole (160 miles) before the venue changed to the Great Glen (71 miles). Various motive power options were considered in 7mm scale, and the extruded plastic track was likely designed for that purpose ( https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/wp-co ... 074787.jpg ), with the decision to use a Roundhouse Silver Lady coming quite late on. This helps explain why no-one seems to have the scale & real world distances & heights quoted sorted out properly.

Rod Nipper (Team C member) is writing an article for inclusion in February's SMT, and similarly Phi Parker is writing an article for March's Garden Rail after discussing the Silver Lady woes with Chris Lee.

Following a comment on the RMWeb Forum discussion I've found out that the Silver Lady had been modified with a toothed belt pulley wheel on the centre axle, and hopefully we are going to see how this is used in future episodes - a rack railway?


As someone else said elsewhere online, if you treat it as a 21st Century Carry On style production it can actually be interesting in places, and has already generated new interest in SM32/16mm scale products.

Chris Cairns

Chris, the fact that it was originally planned for 7mm explains a lot.

Well, I'm enjoying it.

Watched the recording last night and I must say it is differently better, but only just, the hi-viz is or shall I say was, still in all it’s glory! But the two young kids driving the loco and the other 3 who were standing over the loco as she passed didn’t have anything at all, I think the 3 who were standing over her was irresponsible by the organisers.

But the Viaduct looked amazing and the bridge, even though it looked a bit of a comedy was good to. So going to keep on watching it, it’s good for a laugh if nothing else.

Disappointing that a steamer didn't get to use the viaduct, but the trestle bridge came up trumps, and the spiral looks interesting - looking forward to the last episode next week.

I thought last night was good. The team they got running the silver lady who understood steam locos showed what can be achieved. I did think that gassing up with the burner lit was a bit daft though, still who needs eyebrows anyway?

Big Jim wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:15 am I thought last night was good. The team they got running the silver lady who understood steam locos showed what can be achieved. I did think that gassing up with the burner lit was a bit daft though, still who needs eyebrows anyway?

Indeed Jim. They made brilliant headway simply by being organised, which their experience enabled. I think he would have got away with the refill with burner lit if he hadn't unbalanced it!
I realise that they were working to a limited time frame, but it is a shame that a little more thought wasn't given to creating a level trackbed - simply connecting pieces of track doesn't make a railway

Can't help it but there was a tear in my eye when she pulled in.

Considering I have not been too enthusiastic about the way the whole event was stage managed, in the end it was quite an emotional moment.

Yup, I enjoyed it to the end. And my wife did too!

But a few questions do come to mind...

1. At one point in the first episode, the scale distance was described as "half the Trans-Siberian railway" and I haven't worked out that calculation (even taking into account the apparent late change of scale).

2. Talking of the change of scale, both the start and end stations were to 7mm scale. The builders of the end-point said they'd had 4 weeks to build it and the construction/running took 2 weeks. So was the switch to SM32 really taken just 2 weeks before the build started?

3. Fairly early on, it was explained in detail why Silver Lady needed to run backwards up significant gradients, so how come this was not done on later uphill sections (including the - unsuccessful - rack section)?

4. Couldn't the second Silver Lady - used on the inclined plane section - have stepped in when the first one had problems? (Actually I suspect it was provided on condition that it wasn't steamed and so could be resold, but it wasn't explained.)

5. The carriages that Silver Lady started with were removed with a statement about adding weights, but were then never referred to again. (In retrospect, it is a pity that a vehicle - or even just that toy rhino - couldn't have been transported by rail all the way.)

All in all, though, a fun bit of TV. If a completely bonkers premise.

Which ever way you look at it, it was a huge achievement. I know it was somewhat stage manged to make good telly but in the end they did manage to do something that was rather incredible.
Rumours have surfaced that there is a plan for a second series.

Big Jim wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2018 8:54 am
Rumours have surfaced that there is a plan for a second series.

Oh dear.

CSL wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:38 am4. Couldn't the second Silver Lady - used on the inclined plane section - have stepped in when the first one had problems? (Actually I suspect it was provided on condition that it wasn't steamed and so could be resold, but it wasn't explained.)

I paused and rewound the section where the two locos pass and the downhill loco looks as battered as the uphill one! I don't know, but I suspect there were two locos used for the run, and this might (might!) explain the many losses of continuity between loco shots, some showing a dome and some not, handrails missing then reappearing, etc.

CSL wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:38 am5. The carriages that Silver Lady started with were removed with a statement about adding weights, but were then never referred to again. (In retrospect, it is a pity that a vehicle - or even just that toy rhino - couldn't have been transported by rail all the way.)

Discarded on the basis that having the train derail every time the loco did would be a right pain, I reckon.

CSL wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:38 amAll in all, though, a fun bit of TV. If a completely bonkers premise.

I agree.

Can we start a petition to stop a second series?

No idea what the viewing figures are, and whether it appealed to anyone not already interested in model railways, but I do think it was a missed opportunity. A properly engineered railway over a shorter distance would have made for a much more inspiring programme I think, and would provide a draw for those wanting to go and run their own loco over the same route. Heck, it might even make some money!
There is no doubt that those involved enjoyed the experience (even if only when looking back on it afterwards! ). It was good viewing (in a voyeuristic, 'train crash' kind of way) and the technical build team achieved some great builds.

Now that might be a second series - send just the technical build team to various famous places around the country and get them to design and build solutions to get a loco across/over/through the challenging terrain.

A third series could be they travel the globe meeting similar challenges

Fourth series - on the moon

Fifth series - the fifth dimension

Ok - I'm off for a lie down

It might be blasphemy for me to say this, but if they end up doing a second series, I might suggest that they not use a narrow gauge locomotive, that would aid with the constant falling off problem, maybe gauge 3?