For almost as long as I can remember I have been a narrow gauge railway enthusiast. One of my earliest memories is visiting the railway at Whipsnade Zoo in the UK. I'm sure the animals were fascinating, but it was the 2' 6" gauge railway that fascinated me. Here we dragons, fire-breathing, steam belching steel dragons. My family has a holiday cottage near Machynlleth in mid Wales, so many of my childhood summers were spent in the Welsh hills, which are littered with slate quarries and the narrow gauge lines that served them.
When I wasn't in Wales riding on the Talyllyn or Ffestiniog, I was reading about railways and occasionally modeling them in 009. I even managed to save my pennies and purchase a Mamod steam locomotive: this was 16mm:foot scale live steam locomotive. I laid a short section of O gauge track in my parents' garden and occasionally ran live steam narrow gauge. Then, as is often the tale, life intervened and for a long time I concentrated on other matters.
When I moved to California in the mid 1990's I wanted to build a little part of Wales, since I was so far from the real thing. I also wanted something that was large scale and live steam. The natural choice is 16mm scale or 1:19. This gives large scale models running on 32mm (O gauge) track. This represents 2ft. gauge prototypes like the Ffestiniog or Penrhyn railways. The appeal of live steam is great: locomotives are fired like the real thing, and sound and smell like the real thing tool. Best of all you drive them like the real thing. I've been fortunate enough to drive a real steam loco and there is nothing like it in the world. A model steamer isn't quite as fun, but its a good compromise if you have limited space and budget,
So the CR&DJR models Welsh narrow gauge steam railways. I try to use realistic materials and scenery to create the atmosphere of a run-down working line meandering through the Welsh hills on a wet summer day, sometime in the mid-1920's.
Home - Trackplan - Construction - Stock - Movies - Gallery - Links