They are talking pictures of my Willi!

 

It was the offer of cake that did it. 

Andy Christie was opening his garden up as part of the national Open Gardens scheme, and it has a 45mm gauge railway. A last minute decision to turn up, I messaged him the day before and was not only welcomed, but promised suitable refreshments. 

Willi was test fired in the morning and behaved himself on a rolling road, so I hoped to turn up and not shame myself with my lack of steam know-how. 

The line currently consists of a horse-shoe out-and back with impressive viaduct and a couple of bridges. It will eventually become a complete circuit, with an impressive length run for a back garden in Bournville. Loops in the station, and one end of the line can hold four bogie coaches. 

With Andy's friend Richard supplying an DHR B class along with Andy's couple of chuffers, we had more than enough locos to keep things moving. I was the poor relation compared to the other machines, but Willi performed very well and fascinated people with it's whirling cylinder and flywheel. 

The line loops around some very tall plants and you can't see your train without hopping over a bridge, but this didn't matter as he runs so smoothly, I could just let him get on with it. You get used to catching glimpses of your loco as it goes on it's little adventure. The well-laid track helps, since I wasn't worried about derailments. Mind you, radio control would have allowed me to shelter from the showers which seemed to accompany my runs!

Visitors, and there were around 200 of them during the day. They helped me locate the loco as I could follow the gaze of thier mobile phones filming progress. Everyone really enjoyed themselves - and I feel sorry for the other garden owners, as "the one with the railway" will surely be the talk of the event. 

A terrific day out, I stayed far longer then planned, and wished I'd taken a bit of Garden Rail memorabilia to hand out. I don't think there were many converts, but we did find some railway enthusiasts, and plenty more who knew railway enthusiasts!

Thanks very much to Andy and family for inviting me along. As soon as we have a date for next year, I'll put it in the calendar.