Model Railways

I have been looking for an ideal opportunity to share these pictures of a little known garden railway built by my wife’s great-grandfather, Arthur Nieman Smith. I’ve also managed to ask some of the remaining descendents what they could remember of the railway.

The caption in Kenneth Smith’s 1922 photo album reads: “Daddy’s Railway looking north”

View of the main railway station (see main image as well). Towards the right of the picture is a pair of tools, a hammer and a pair pliers to remove nails from horse shoes or from wood. (Kenneth Smith, August 1922)
 

It existed at a time in the 1920s when steam engines and horse drawn vehicles were the order of the day. King George V was on the throne, Jan Smuts Avenue was still gravel and the Union flag still flew over the recently completed Union Buildings in Pretoria. Photographs were extremely rare and printed small. Care...

What do Rod Stewart, Elton John, Phil Collins, Jools Holland and Pete Waterman have in common? Before stating the obvious, just try and think of what shared interest other than music they could possibly have. Well it may be hard to believe but the fact remains they all share a love for model railways and have their own layouts.

Railway modelling or in American parlance model railroading, is a hobby that has had an enduring appeal for over 130 years and to define it one could say it is “the art of creating in miniature a replica of a full-size railway”. The term “Toy Train” to describe a model railway is demeaning as it does not do justice to the hobby, as the railway modeller is not only concerned with the engine and carriages (the train) but also with the other aspects of railway operation such as trackwork, signalling, stations, lineside structures and civil engineering works, all of course in miniature.

The first introduction to the hobby is usually when a child reaches the age of six and it is when he or she receives the “Big” present from “Father Christmas” – the “Train Set”, this being a boxed starter set containing all that is needed to run a train on an oval track, which after opening is laid out on the floor or on a table top. Dad is usually the more enthusiastic one and takes charge of the power controller, leaving the child wondering who the present was really meant...