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

2' (60cm) gauge in the garden

Introduction

This is a bit odd. I am starting this website before I even have any land to build a railway on, nor track nor stock to run.

I have been fascinated by narrow gauge railways almost for as long as I can remember. I remember going to the museum at Brockham, Surrey, UK with my father when I was a lad, and later exploring the 2' gauge railways of North Wales. I cannot really explain why I find them more interesting than standard gauge railways, but for years I have endeavoured to reproduce them in a number of different scales. Other interests came and went, but in the background there was always narrow gauge.

I used to have a 5" gauge railway around my garden in England which was not really stable enough for young children - as they fidgetted the trains had a habit of derailing (click HERE for more info). It was a good start though and I learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed building it. When my wife and I moved to New Zealand in 2005 I sold the 5" gauge equipment and said that if I was to build anything here it would be 7¼" or larger.

The thought of building a line here in New Zealand recently got a new lease of life and I started looking at my options. Once you go above 5" gauge prices go up quickly; and a new Maxitrak 7¼" gauge loco can set you back a lot of money. I don't know what made me look, but it turns out that much larger stock is actually cheaper, perhaps because it is less practical. When I found I could buy a "real" 2' gauge loco for less than the price of a 7¼" gauge loco I was intrigued.

On a holiday back to the UK in July 2007 I managed to explore several 2' gauge railways and I fell in love with the Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway. I thought if I could do a fraction as well as they have done I would be more than happy. Whilst searching the Internet for information, I found that there are quite a few narrow-gauge enthusiasts (in Germany in particular) who have railways around quite modest sized homes, so 2' gauge does not necessarily imply you need tens of acres of land to build a line (check out the links page).

The only real problem is that there is very little history of 2' gauge in New Zealand. As New Zealand standard gauge is 3' 6", there's not such a large difference between that and 2' and many industrial lines in New Zealand were just built to 3' 6" gauge, only 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.

So began my quest for more information and not least how much it was going to cost me. This is the story of my adventures in 2' gauge.

Cambridge, New Zealand, August 2007

Historical footnote: In the narrow gauge world there are many railways that are nominally 2', but they can range from 1' 11¹/₂" to 2' (about 590mm to 610mm). OK, let's be honest, all the other countries in Europe are quite happy with 600mm, it's just Great Britain who couldn't (still can't) make up their minds. This partly comes about because the trench railways built during the first world war by the French and Germans (Feldbahn) were all built to 600mm gauge. The equipment built by the British and US was also 600mm gauge so that it could run over captured German track without modification. 600mm works out to 1' 11⁵/₈" which partly explains the confused assortment of 2' gauges in use in Great Britain, at least on lines built after 1914, as war-surplus stock was made available for industrial use.

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!