this railway currently has no name - because it doesn't exist yet

2' (60cm) gauge in the garden

Origins and concept

To my way of thinking, a garden railway (ragardless of gauge) serves a number of purposes:

It must be fun - this goes without saying
It should serve a "practical" purpose; Sir Arthur Heywood got this right. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Percival_Heywood and http://www.perrygrove.co.uk/heywood-collection.html)
It should enhance rather than detract from its surroundings. The Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway (http://www.bwlr.co.uk) is probably the finest example of this I know.

Personally, I have always been fond of narrow gauge railways (essentially 2') as this is what I was brought up with; 2' gauge industrial railways are (or at least were) common in Great Britain. I'd like the opportunity to preserve some of this heritage and have some "good old fun" doing it. Unfortunately, 2' gauge is not common in New Zealand. As the standard gauge here is 3' 6", there's not such a large difference between that and 2' and many industrial lines in New Zealand were just 3' 6" only built a bit "lighter". There's plenty of 2' and 600mm gauge stock in Europe (relatively speaking), but getting it to New Zealand is likely to be cost-prohibitive. For this reason I follow-up every opportunity or lead to track-down 2' gauge equipment here in New Zealand.

News

I have decided to put on hold any plans for a 2' gauge line here in New Zealand. It is not easy to source equipment from overseas and any line built to a gauge of 540mm or more requires an inspection every year by Transit New Zealand - just the same as the standard (3'6") lines.

I am not sure what I am going to do at the moment, but I am erring towards going 15" gauge and building practically everything myself.

Narrow-minded and proud of it!