So sang Sandy Denny in one of her best-known Fairport Convention numbers. And there I go again – showing my age… ☹ (Even if I only found that song a decade later.)
I can’t quite believe even how long it is since I last up-dated this blog, so what follows is a round-up of the Bryandale Railway happenings in the 2 ½ years since I last posted any news.
I suppose the best thing to say is that the BR is still in existence, and 2025 represents twenty years since the first tentative construction took place. I’m not sure whether I really thought I’d still be doing this two decades on or not, but garden railways have proved to be an enduring interest, even if there have been long periods of inactivity. From what I can tell, I’m not alone in that.
The back-story is not of major importance here, but suffice it to say that some of those periods have been as much a product of circumstance as choice. But as life moves on, I am thinking about what retirement will involve – which could happen as soon as this summer, but certainly in the next year or two. I think garden railways do have a role in that, though I need to consider the fact that the knees and everything else are now considerably older than they were when I first built my ground-level line.
Older yes – but perhaps a bit wiser too (well, maybe not the knees). While I still adhere to my original philosophy of keeping it close to the prototype, I suppose I have yielded to some of the compromises that more seasoned modelers knew all those year ago.
So there has been work going into the BR since last summer – I just haven’t got round to updating the blog until now. Some of this was prompted by the feeling that battery power might provide an acceptable compromise when time and energy was too short for steam raising. Much like the real thing, I guess. The line has had a battery railcar for some years now – but I began to think a diesel loco might not be out of order. Initial plans for a scratch-build were advancing slowly – then Locoworks announced their Upnor Catle model, which more or less hit the bullseye for what I had in mind. What’s more, the sound-fitted option removed one of my earlier objections to battery power. So an order was duly placed, though it had to be postponed on one occasion due to income constraints. However UC eventually arrived last summer, and has been a success, even if its haulage powers on my steep grades limit it to light trains.
In advance of UC arriving, I felt it necessary to get the line back into running order. To be honest, it had been rapidly disappearing under a rainforest for some time, and was increasingly an embarassment in the street. So plans were hatched for a major re-think that would deal with a number of increasingly pressing issues all at one time.
Rather indulgenty (if not hubristically), I whipped up my enthusiasm by re-reading my own book, written when enthusiasm still outweighed experience – but it did the job. Quite a lot of work was achieved last summer, though the wet autumn and winter put a premature stop to things. I am now starting to address some of the remaining issues, so hopefully by the spring, the BR will be in a stronger operational position.
The rest of this post consists of a photo-commentary on the various things that have been happening.
July 2024 saw the start of vegetation clearance. Some of the original plants were life-expired, while the rosemary bushes had grown to unmagageable proportions, and it was decided to remove them. Likewise the large New Zealand flax that had self-seeded next to the line. Not only was it obstructing trains, but it was starting to push over the adjacent brick gate pillar. Heavy work, completed with much assistance of John, our building maintenance guy.
The desolation after major deforestation.
Around the same time, experiments were conducted with replacement track, I didn’t want to lose the bullhead rail, but while many of the late Zoe Topper’s wooden sleepers were sound, the chairs were increasingly pulling out of their holes and de-gauging the track. I purchased some more of Cliff Barker’s sleeper units, and discovered that the existing Tenmille Code 200 rail will go through the chairs given some judicious trimming of the latter. So a gradual process of track reconstruction was instigated – though I must say that trimming several thousand chairs by hand (three or four actions per chair) rapidly paled. Nonetheless, the job was completed over a number of weeks.
Track bed improvements were also made in areas where vegetation had previously prevented – easing one or two steep grades where the initial track bed had subsided – and also raising further The Pit – the bottom end of the loop where it passes underneath the line to Queen’s Forest Road. The gradients in and out had long defeated trains in damp conditions, and raising the line a couple centimetres has eased this considerably.
Track-relaying underway in August 2024.
Fortunately, the hand-made scissors crossover at Minffordd has stood up well, needing only minor repairs to a crossing V and a check rail. The opportunity was also taken to add an extra siding at Minfordd – something else that had been in mind for quite some time. It has added operational scope and being out of reach of little hands on the adjacent public pavement, has also allowed a couple of non-functional items of rolling stock to sit there giving a permanent ‘train’ presence.
Here is Upnor Castle, on its first morning in operation.
I have decided to keep future planting rather smaller and a little more ornamental, hopefully without having too damaging effect on the railway ‘landscape’. Experiments are under way with ornamental grasses to provide some height without running away like the rosemary did. More plans are afoot for the spring.
I am in the process of building a rather more weatherproof gravel path the length of the line hopefully to extend the season. I am not keen on running trains standing in heavy Essex mud. I had always put this off, feeling that it would look too twee – but I think that using a dark grey gravel will make it recede into the terrain.
The station building at Queen’s Forest Road is at least 15 years old, though it had one make-over in that time. I brought it inside with the intention of cleaning it down and replacing the roof – but the decay is worse than expected and I think a replacement is going to be in order, as happened at Minffordd a couple of years ago. I think I can cope with remaking these things on a once-a-decade basis.
One end of the overall roof at Castle Bryan has completely collapsed, as a result of being perpetually deluged by rain from an overflowing gutter 30 feet up. Annoying because the other part is still in good condition. Any repairs or replacement will need to wait until the gutter is attended to.
It is late January. Yet again it is grey and raining heavily. Weather for being indoors. But hopefully we will get a better summer this year, and there will be more progress to report in due course.
Trains and Trad 
