A shelf layout in the garden…

Visiting Larkrail this weekend wasn’t just an exhibition, it was a long weekend spent with my now, very good friend, Simon Castens. Beyond the day itself, and the help I could offer in preparation too, we enjoyed time chewing over modelling, discussing book ideas and clearing and playing with his lovely garden railway…

Not your usual sort though, ‘one’ quite special. Gauge One is standard gauge on 45mm track. Simon uses finescale standards and DCC power, using Cliff Barker scratch-built bullhead track and is absolutely inspiring.

Just as we find inside, real stations and run around loops take an awfully large amount of space. Simon’s current line centres around a junction between the LSWR, a fictional GWR branch and a light railway and quay, somewhere, dare I say it, in the West Country. The long turnouts and gentle curves of the main and branch are rather lovely to behold, even without a train…

The quayside features a fearsome gradient down from the junction (all good fun) with some inlaid track and a real water feature. There is just something about being in the outdoors. The way national light falls on models and creates a different visual texture. Light, dark, colour all seem much more ‘real’ than we achieve indoors… Simon has created something rather special here, a sort of scale modelling I’ve never previously encountered.

Clinker and the Pannier!

Clinker the dog however, sees the railway as a short cut or a race track. Whilst SBR secured granite ballast has survived the onslaught some of the finer details have not… structures and stock must be removed (obviously) between running sessions. Whilst there is still much to do Simon and I enjoyed a very pleasant evening cleaning up the undergrowth, and morning running trains. Both the Bachmann Brassworks 57xx Pannier and the resin 22 were gorgeous models and I look forward to visiting again in future, seeing progress and playing with trains in a more traditional sense - in my imagination operating it like a giant shelf layout!

And that’s my reflection, sat here on the sofa with my own dogs once more this morning. Gauge One, perhaps traditionally considered as a live steam scale has a great deal of real characterful modelling to offer… more, that it allows those with a garden to adopt some of my Small Layout Design principles combined and create something with real character even if they don’t have space for a loop outdoors, or perhaps anything indoors either…

Thank you Simon for the hospitality this weekend. I look forward to being able to share more on our next project soon. Until next time…

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