Given enough space, many of us would love to build a long garden railway. Trevor Jones visits the Iden Railway which does just that and attracts visitors from all over the world. Photography, Trevor Jones.
Above: Gresley ‘A3’ 4-6-2 60103 Flying Scotsman speeds along the main line. This locomotive is built and operated by an Association member from Holland.
“Gauge 1 starts in the workshop,” Paul Abrams told me when I visited his garden layout. After all, until fairly recently nearly all locomotives were either scratch built or constructed from kits, as were coaches. However, commercially built stock has now become available.
Paul had built an ‘OO’ gauge layout prior to moving to his current home 12 years ago. He found a 150sq/ft level plot with a small building on it which he enlarged and rebuilt into the immaculate house and two bedroom guest house it is today. The choice of a level square plot was influenced by his wishes to construct his dream garden railway.
The aim of the Iden Railway has and always will be to provide a large running line for members of the Gauge 1 Association where they can operate their locomotive – part built or complete – with scale length trains on the extensive running lines. Its main feature is a dou…
