2004 - The Year of the Train That's the best summary for this last year!
Starting back in January with the winter gathering of the Solent-Area Group of the G-Scale Society (as in Lin's Garden Bahn/Railway), and swiftly followed by Lin helping run the group's layout at the ModelWorld exhibition in Brighton in mid February.


Klappen 2004 - The Right Kind of Snow
The cover picture was taken in Kläppen during our regular skiing trip to Sweden.
The weather was exceptionally good, with sunshine and snow in good measure. Lin finally ventured off the nursery slopes (some might say about time too!).

We ended the week with a snowscooter safari, beginning at dusk in the snow and travelling through the forest around the resort.
Cameraman Phil had to roll off of his scooter when he and Mikael struck a patch of very soft snow, and Lin drove hers off the road where it had to be rescued from a snowbank!
The route climbed steeply to Toppstuga, where a superb hot supper awaited us by an open fire! and was followed by a high speed downhill run alongside the ski runs, in the dark.



Maintenance Train in Spring (After removing the bluebells from the trackbed )

Spring saw continued preparation for the garden railway season, anticipating running our own open day this year, there was much collecting and construction of buildings and other accessories: water pumps, platforms, castle, harbour etc.

The railway's population was growing, so that we could run a `profitable' railway, with both the purchase of figures, and the output from Lin's (painted) people factory!



Woody Bay Station in readiness for its Public Reopening

Louise came over from Norway to visit Phil's parents in Devon, with Phil acting as tour guide & chauffeur.
Although early in the year, a good time and weather was had by all! Diverting to Eastleigh, on the way back to Heathrow, allowed Lunch with Lin.



Cheddar Models Open Day

Meanwhile Lin visited an open day at Cheddar Models, which saw dozens of G-scale live steam trains, miniature steam traction engines, and a whole host of steam and other boats on the lake. The weather was scorching hot, making a fantastic day out.
Next day, the annual G-scale exhibition, provided Lin with more little people.

Open Days


Exbury Gardens

Exhibitions at Reading, Merstham, Chatham, as well as many Garden Visits (Kent, Surrey and Hampshire) including the Isle of Wight and Exbury Gardens followed.


Open Day Visitor


Our own open day in June, was a success, and all stock and equipment, thankfully, behaved perfectly!
(MTS Digital dcc control and visiting dc locos).


Open Days allow longer trains using shared stock!




Lynton and Barnstaple: 17/07/2004On a larger scale (Full size, 1ft 11" narrow gauge)

17th July 2004 saw the FIRST train to run on part of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway, at Woody Bay on Exmoor, since 1935.
Phil's mum (who had been on the last train in 1935) and other Spiegelhalters riding on the 2nd train of the day.
'Perchance it is not dead, but sleepeth?' - now 'The Kraken Wakes'??

The summer also saw the completion of the Railway's Buildings, and Lin has now started on the interiors.


2004 Reflection! This reflection will disappear next year, once the extension is built



Town Views (more are elsewhere on this website)




View from 'the other side of the tracks' on the Satellite Extension Railway




Lin's new car arrived (Focus C-Max). Amanda returned from Spain, and we bought a new `small' tent for `overnight stops', after the Odyssey suffered fatigue failure on an exposed Norwegian hillside last year.......


August: Undersea and Overland
We drove via the Channel Tunnel, with an overnight hotel stay in the Nederlands, and short Ferry from Puttgarten (Germany) to camp, first in Denmark, and then Ivösjon in southern Sweden.
The weather was very hot, and we spent much of the time reading and swimming as well as riding trains (preserved and current).
We called in at model shops in Helsinborg and Göteborg, as well as briefly visiting Gunilla in Mölndal, where we saw progress on their house extension (Ulf was away at the Olympics) , before taking the fast ferry to near Ribes in Denmark for a dose of Viking Sites / living museums (with farm, birds of prey, active crafts, and some very young, playful, kittens in the barn.

In heavy rain, we headed south to Hamburg in Germany.

Zillertal Train

Here, as well as some very interesting model railway shops, we found a fantastic permanent model railway layout (HO scale) called Miniatur Wunderland.
This we wandered around for most of an afternoon, and have plans to return when their new area `Scandinavia'- is opened shortly.
Continuing homewards from Hamburg we found and travelled on the Wuppertal monorail, which is over 100 years old, and still in constant use (trains every 3-5 minutes), and a German Narrow Gauge line where we saw (and rode in) many prototypes of LGB rolling stock.



Visiting Diesel

In September Lin's commuting to Southampton came to an end, with her work at B and Q complete.
She is now Reading based again, this time with the Prudential in the town centre (along with the occasional trip to Stirling!).
Plans are approved for an extension to the house, and we hope building work will commence early in the new year.


Autumn saw more Railway shows, and open days, including trips by train to Exhibitions in Exeter (much live steam) and Birmingham (much everything).
We also assisted Jack with his indoor Ruritania layout at a local show which made for a very enjoyable day (and has set Lin thinking about her own `portable' layout!).

With the prospect of being rebuilt to make full use of the new extension in 2005, work on Phil's railway has concentrated on the stock:
completing `dcc' loco conversion (from the 1970's Zero-1 system), re-wheeling (to finer standards) and changing to Kadee Couplings on most of the stock, for more realistic operation.

Rough sketches made on holiday were translated into 2D/3D computer modelling of the enlarged layout to be.
Following the lead of the garden railway, Sound has been added to 4 locos; most notably in two large Scandinavian Ore haulers, reminding us of earlier Scandinavian Rail Trips to the far north.
We have also joined the Scandinavian Railway Society.



Father Christmas waits between trains at Woody Bay -for the first time since 1935



The Lynton & Barnstaple (we're passive members) progressed with the rebuilt Coach No.7 to Woody Bay in December:
Phil took his Mum & Dad there to see it.

And Finally: With the approach of Christmas, the garden railway is `wintered down', and Phil is busy working with Thomson Grass Valley, as the anticipation of building chaos descends upon us!


best wishes

Phil & Linzi Spiegelhalter

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Created in HTMLEdit Studio by Phil & Lin Spiegelhalter on December 22nd 2004