Layouts
Dunwerken Operation Group
May 12, 2004
By Geoff Horne |
Author
Bio
I am a member of a social group of five persons that are infected with the Garden Rail bug. My official title within this group is D4.
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Dunwerken  As this is my first article I really should make a few things clear. I am a member of a social group of five persons that are infected with the Garden Rail bug. My official title within this group is D4. The group has drifted together by word of mouth and friendships within another section of rail modeling. The garden layout I am talking about is called 'DUNWERKEN'  mainly for the reason that four of the five are retired and we thought we were Dunwerken. How wrong we were. The group was christened the DOGS (Dunwerken Operation Group - sometimes) with the owner of the land that the layout is built on being D1 and down the line to me. A friend thought that the name meant -'Doddering Old Gents Society" but I think we prefer the other name. Anyway back to the layout.
Stuart (D1) built this circle of track in his back yard quite some time ago and dabbled with the odd live steam locomotive on it.   It was a little uneven and a few of the turns were a little tight for his locomotives. He then spoke to Laurie (D2) about coming over to have a look. Laurie in turn introduced Mark (D3). This meant that Stuart now had two people that decided that everything that was done had to be perfect, so Mark brought along a dumpy level to check the track and the rebuild began.
This re-levelling took quite a bit of time and luckily I was not involved at this time. My first visit was the day that the Garden Rail Virus bit me very hard. My wife has had a different view this time about railway modelling because she can see in her minds eye our back yard being FINISHED. Stuart was given a set of three way points (sorry turnouts)  and this has led to more framework and sidings being constructed and then the suggestion of a station building to cover this new steaming area. This building was not to be an ordinary shed, but a scaled down copy of the buildings on the New South Wales Rail network. (Australia) 
That was last September and now things are looking very different indeed. Stuart's land slopes away from the house to about 6 feet at the fence line so an elevated track was the only way to go. He had a walkway constructed from treated pine around the outside with the track itself supported on treated pine posts cemented into the ground. The road base is exterior plywood with Peco flextrack on top. There is a lift out section to allow access to the BBQ area  but we are working on him to build a bridge, after all every railway needs at least one bridge. I built an extra turnout in the steaming yard and have two more to go. I will do another article later on building turnouts in situ. It is very easy to do. The roster at present is mainly just locomotives, except for the odd bit of Bachmann rolling stock. The type of locomotives is quite varied with everything from Mamods to Aster Garretts, A3 Flying Scotsman and Pannier tank  to an Argyle Bantam  A 36 class New South Wales Government Railways locomotive  and soon a few Edwins, when I finish building them. On the other side of the fence we also have a Bachmann Shay and a Bachmann 2-6-0  that have been converted to battery and radio control.
This layout serves the purpose of giving us the opportunity to run in a very nice bush atmosphere.   Stuart's original idea of having this set-up in his back yard has really paid off with the way that I it just blends in with its surroundings. Stuart said that the layout might be on his land but it belongs to everyone.  This attitude is great as I know that by the time that I get mine finished I won't consider it mine alone, but a something and a hobby to share with my friends. Long Live Garden Rail. Top of Page
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