Rod’s Amazing 7 1/4″ Ground Level Model Garden Railway in Thailand

I was positively stunned and delighted to receive the emails from Rod as copied below together with details and movies of the ground level 7 1/4″ scale passenger-carrying garden railway he has built at Rangsit to the north of Bangkok in Thailand.

I can add little to the information in Rod’s emails so to give you a full flavour of this remarkable project and to get the information onto the website as quickly as possible, I have uploaded the emails as sent and received as you can see below.

Movies of Rod’s Ground Level Railway in Rangsit, Bangkok, Thailand

 

Emails To/From Rod/Alan – Last Few Days

Re: Ground Level Model Garden Railway in Thailand

From: Rod Saunders
Date: Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 12:12 PM
To: Alan at ModelEngineeringInThailand.com

Hi Alan

I’ve been meaning to put something on the site you created, to let other enthusiasts here know they are not struggling alone! Here’s a video of my railway (so far – it’s bloody hard work single handed!!) with electric loco on. I’ve made a steam 0-4-0 too ‘Baby Sivok’, which may or may not run again, following ravages of last year’s rainy season. I’ll try to send you a video of that too.

Best regards, Rod.

Re: Ground Level Model Garden Railway in Thailand

From: Alan at ModelEngineeringInThailand.com
Date: Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 6:17 PM
To: Rod Saunders

Good Evening Rod and many thanks for the movies.

My goodness I’m stunned!

A ground floor (7 1/4″ gauge?) track of massive proportions and a real passenger puller with rolling stock. Got to be the only garden railway like it in Thailand.

And so delightful to see those kids enjoying it. It looks like a really happy and joyful place. Where is it?

You mentioned a steamer Rod. Surely not a live steamer?

I’ll certainly be putting these movies on the website ASAP (with your permission of course) and I just know everyone will be as delighted as I am.

Hope to hear a bit more from you on this remarkable railway.

Enjoy Model Making Every Day

Alan Brown

http://www.littlesamsontractionengine.com
http://www.modelengineeringinthailand.com

Sent from my Samsung device
[Quoted text hidden]

Re: Ground Level Model Garden Railway in Thailand

From: Rod Saunders
Date: Thu, Feb 22, 2018 at 8:08 PM
To: Alan at ModelEngineeringInThailand.com

Hi Alan

Yes, it’s 7 1/4″ gauge. The electric loco is ‘made up’. I just wanted something my boys could actually sit inside. The steam loco is quarter scale and since the prototype was hardly spacious, at this scale it has to be operated from a riding carriage behind. I’m afraid the only videos I have of it are on icloud, so a bit hard to attach to email – all a bit slow for this impatient, non-techie!! The railway is a circuit of about 100 metres, with a turnaround loop planned as next extension. We are in Rangsit/ Thanyaburi.

While I was building the steam loco (yes ‘live steam’) I was haunted by the fact that I’d have to build a track for it, too. Hopefully, if someone else out there in the wilds of Siam is (thinking of) building a 7 1/4″ loco, this obstacle has been removed for them and they may draw some encouragement.

As far as I know, this is the only railway of this gauge in Asia – outside Japan. Numerous websearches have proved fruitless. It’s a bit ramshackle and ‘on the cheap’ but it does allow for ‘playing trains’!  I’ll try to let you have some more pictures soon. I’ve yet to organise all the photos if the build into sensible files.

How is the Samson coming along? Would love to see it. It has been a challenge doing model engineering here (not least because I’d never done any elsewhere!!!) but don’t let it put you off. Every obstacle overcome along the way just adds to the joy when you finally steam up.

Warm regards

Rod