These pages will be in English, most hobbyists into small scale live steam models are not living in Sweden, albeit we are a few here in Sweden. I also belong to a UK based association from where I might have one or two visitors, I hope…
Starting out (the ancient history…)
I had a dream… about large scale live steam models in the garden, 5″ or 7 1/4″ track was the intent. But once I got myself a lathe and realized that the first 10 years likely will be spent to either making or saving for machinery before I can start building what I from the beginning wanted to build, I resigned and gave up.
I did however manage to build a small skip in ”some scale” for 7 1/4″ for a friend. Even if simple I learned a few important lessons, for instance ”press fit” is really really just a shim over ”slide fit”. If not, you need to put the axle in the freezer and the wheels in the oven and then ”persuade” them to fit with a sizeable hammer… (that’s what I did…).
I also learned that asking the guys in the workshop at work for some ”leftovers” is not always the best thing. I got some wheel blanks in a nice looking steel, however it behaved a bit odd in the lathe… Seems high quality Avionics-grade steel bar suited for NC machining is not the best for a beginner with no lathe experience… In the end, I got all together and was quite proud of the result!
(If and when I find the image of the skip I know I have AND get it into the computer, it will appear here…)
New beginnings
Since then quite a few years, decades, has passed… After a few recent very dramatic and mind depleting years I found myself in a position where I could, and needed, to find stuff to do.
The new beginning was an offer from Accucraft on Facebook, a demo model of their W&L No14 at a good price was offered in their FB-flow. I had the money and more or less saw the ad appear before me. What else to do than send an E-mail immediately?! So with that I had an engine, no garden or any well thought through ambition to go any further.
I noticed and decided not to go for the Accucraft small Decauville in 7/8ths. Not a big thing at the time but the model lingered in my mind and I could not let it go… The game changer came when my father passed away and left me some money. He had an interest for trains that I have inherited, what else than to honor his memory and spend some of the money to pass that heritage forward. On eBay I found and bought a Decauville in the US at a decent price. Ambitions were raised a bit…
Now I had two locomotives, and as it turns out, I also had a small garden, with a corner slope that begs for a garden railway, well, there are a few geological adjustments to make… It is also possible, almost suitable, to get a steam-up and ”grand central station” in an area behind the garage, just next to the slope. Plans for a 16 mm scale SM-32 layout (or ”loop”) started to grow. Raised track but perhaps some ground level as an option, perhaps in 45 mm?
Time will tell, and whatever it tells, I intend to report about it on this web page!
/Anders