The essential guide to construction by Chris Hatton

The subject of GARDEN RAILWAYS is ever growing in popularity. In the past published works have often concentrated on the use of live steam and the larger scale models, valid choices indeed and where there is often little option but to venture outdoors for reasons of both safety and space.

Unfortunately this has also been at the expense of the basic requirements to run a successful garden line, namely the civil engineering, and which, regardless of the scale to be used, is of vital importance. It is certainly not just a question of hammering posts into the garden and placing boards on the top, nor placing breeze blocks on top of the flower-bed!

Chris Hatton – himself a qualified Civil Engineer, has addressed all these issues in detail and possibly for the first time. In this new book Chris deals first with the layout planning stage and then the all important methods of construction, together with the preferred building style to be used according to the modeller’s requirements. Included are a number of useful constructional drawings specially designed for outside use. In essence the do’s and don’ts of Garden Railway construction, ‘and it does exactly what it says on the tin’.

Written in an easy to follow style and copiously illustrated throughout, the reader is guided through the myriad of aspects of building and operating a garden railway from scratch to completion, and discussing issues that people building indoor layouts would scarcely have to consider.

96 pages (A4 format) Colour photographs.

Includes chapters on:
Planning the line
The Materials involved
Constructing the base
The major civil engineering work
Laying the track
Electrics
S&T Point and Signal operation
Creating the environment
Finishing touches
Stock and operation
Conclusions

References and recommended reading list.