I did do the TranzAlpine from Arthur's Pass to Chch. What a trip!
Great Nasty Weeds Railway
6
The GNWR is called that becuase I am the worst gardener in history so the weeds encroach and are fought back against.
The GNWR had a portable layout to run at my Model Engineering Club's Festival Exhbition.
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This shows some of the train stacked to go home and after organising the 10x3mm steel track I put my set-track on boards with legs to match the height. I cannot see from these old 'film' photos what kind of connectors I used and could be proper push fit connectors soldered onto the end of wires ... else I just twisted the bare ends of wire together .. it is low violtage DC at this point so fairly safe.
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General View with siding at this end and 'portable garden' connifer in its box at loop added to use set-track and hopefully make it more interesting than just a straight out and back.
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The 10x3mm steel set in wooden sleepers with timber under ply to avoid warping. Balast was sieved from 'Quarry Dust' from the quarry a couple of km down the road from home. I used diluted PVA with a few drops dish washing liquid as I had previously done for smaller gauge layouts.
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A shot of the original GNWR in my garden at home. LGB loco hauling scratchbuilt open car with scratch built people
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Shows wooden sleepers and up front the welded tags to hold rail down onto support beams. The centre was ground out with my disc grinder after welding ... one uses what one has
![]()
The GNWR had a portable layout to run at my Model Engineering Club's Festival Exhbition.
This shows some of the train stacked to go home and after organising the 10x3mm steel track I put my set-track on boards with legs to match the height. I cannot see from these old 'film' photos what kind of connectors I used and could be proper push fit connectors soldered onto the end of wires ... else I just twisted the bare ends of wire together .. it is low violtage DC at this point so fairly safe.
General View with siding at this end and 'portable garden' connifer in its box at loop added to use set-track and hopefully make it more interesting than just a straight out and back.
The 10x3mm steel set in wooden sleepers with timber under ply to avoid warping. Balast was sieved from 'Quarry Dust' from the quarry a couple of km down the road from home. I used diluted PVA with a few drops dish washing liquid as I had previously done for smaller gauge layouts.
A shot of the original GNWR in my garden at home. LGB loco hauling scratchbuilt open car with scratch built people
Shows wooden sleepers and up front the welded tags to hold rail down onto support beams. The centre was ground out with my disc grinder after welding ... one uses what one has
21 - 24 of 24 Posts
2
Good to see some more kiwis on here, and engaging in what looks to be an interesting project. The garden back home's over-run with gorse and it's a constant struggle to get rid of the stuff, however just for fun I thought I'd take a stretch of track outside to pose a couple of Wild-West style shots! Gauge is 00, hope you like them 
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One with a gorse plant in the foreground. The buggers are everywhere!
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Regards,
Valenta
One with a gorse plant in the foreground. The buggers are everywhere!
Regards,
Valenta
That IS real rugged country
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There is a nice G Gauge layout at the north end of Para or maybe Paekak but hard to see as behind a high wooden fence ...I forget the guys name but I took photos of the layout and others in the Wellington area for GARDEN Rail magazine some years back. If you go to the Garden Whislte magazine I mentioned earlier you will find contact details for the Wgtn Garden Rail Group. I believe most are into G in NZ though OO is not unknown but usually on baseboards. I started a On16.5 layout with some Atlas brass track I had but it never got finished and was broken up and stock sold.
There is a nice G Gauge layout at the north end of Para or maybe Paekak but hard to see as behind a high wooden fence ...I forget the guys name but I took photos of the layout and others in the Wellington area for GARDEN Rail magazine some years back. If you go to the Garden Whislte magazine I mentioned earlier you will find contact details for the Wgtn Garden Rail Group. I believe most are into G in NZ though OO is not unknown but usually on baseboards. I started a On16.5 layout with some Atlas brass track I had but it never got finished and was broken up and stock sold.
21 - 24 of 24 Posts
