Rail Modeling: The Greatest Hobby!

Building a garden railway requires quite an intricate process. There is research, planning and harnessing of skills of a motley nature – soldering, carpentry, masonry and above all gardening.

The scale models are themselves a marvel of engineering – packing powerful motors and digital circuitry in an awe-inspiring shell which is brilliantly tooled to look just like the real.

The size of the model is not free for all. To help interchangeability, development and expansion, the scale as well as the gauge have been standardised internationally.

Some of the scales used are Z (1: 220), T (1:450), HO (1:87) and G (1:24). The last is the most popular scale for outdoor garden railways. Among the standard gauges are G (45mm), O (32mm) and HO (16.5mm).

Never Enuf Garden Railway is contructed in the scale G – the gauge being 45 mm. While HO scale trains are essentially meant for indoors, G is built to withstand the rugged outdoors. Hence the tracks are of brass and the sleepers are UV resistant plastic; and its size lends itself beautifully to the real outdoors.

The construction of the Never Enuf Garden Railway started in 2010. Over the years, it has been populated with houses, lakes, tunnels and the many bridges which have been fabricated to help the trains cross the water bodies; some with concrete and others with aluminium sections and wood.

Scratch building is one essential collateral activity of railmodelling. It gives deep satisfaction to create model buildings from a variety of material. Most of the buildings in NeverEnuf are made from sunboard and have withstood the test of time handsomely so far.

Garden trains can be powered in at least three ways: through tracks, with on-board batteries or by live steam.

At Never Enuf, all tracks are powered with adequate jumpers installed between sections of tracks to ensure seamless conductivity.

Surely, with the passage of time, live steam will chug in, but for the time being, the focus is on the length of the layout.

Garden trains can be powered in at least three ways: through tracks, with on-board batteries or by live steam.

At Never Enuf, all tracks are powered with adequate jumpers installed between sections of tracks to ensure seamless conductivity.

Surely, with the passage of time, live steam will chug in, but for the time being, the focus is on the length of the layout.

What started as an experiment in G has today over 400 feet of running track. There are radio controlled (RC) boats which criss-cross in the water bodies, and a fast nearing completion RC City with its own tram and RC vehicles in a scale of 1:19. Automatic block signalling, level crossing, on board sound and even a working ropeway add to the complexity.

Today, there are many talented rail modellers in India and around the world, with more and more people getting interested. Hopefully, there will be many more who take up this wonderful hobby and translate their love for trains into something as rewarding as this. Whatever your age, you can make a start today!

For train lovers, watching these small trains weave their way through real forests and over cement viaducts is real joy!