The Sandstone & Termite is a 45 mm gauge garden railway situated in my backyard in Loftus, Sydney, Australia. It is electrically operated with power through the rails, but most of my locos are now battery powered. The area occupied by the layout is approx 20 x 25 metres (60x75'). Since a major expansion in early 2003, there are now about 200 metres of track. (All pictures can be clicked to expand them.) I started work in 1994 and recently (2003) doubled the size (length of track).
The Sandstone & Termite (in its earlier, smaller form) was featured in:
Garden Railways Magazine (US), October 1999; and Australian Model Railway Magazine, December 1999
The layout (shown left- click to expand) consists of two separate 'runs' - I have used Bachmann locos and rebuilt the bodies. All wagons are scratchbuilt from either balsa or styrene sheet. I turn my own wheels from Nylon on a wood lathe. I make no attempt to model fine details. If it looks like a carriage at first glance then that is good enough for most of the people who see it. I'm more of a copier of the general ideas of a vehicle, not an exact modeller. I'm in the hobby for the fun of driving trains around the back yard, standing back and listening to the sounds and talking to the neighbours as they come to look.
I use radio control of track voltage and of the battery locos. The R/C are either converted from cheap R/C model cars available from chain stores, or from kits of car burglar alarm remote controls.
View of the sandstone ledge which gives the line its name and one of the big bridges.The loco is the smaller of two Garratts - this one is made from two Bachmann Spectrum A new body on a Bachmann Big Hauler chassis gives an Australianised 4-6-0. Seen here on the stone viaduct made from Hebel lightweight concrete blocks If you've got this far, I suggest you continue to the "Description' or 'Site Navigation' pages - use the Navigation bar at the Top of Page, to continue. There are over 25 pages and 150 pictures for you to browse!
The picture at left gives a good overview of half the layout. Sandstone station yard is at left under the bridge, and the lattice in the distance supports Melaleuca station.
Use it with the plan shown below to get a feel for the layout of the line. (This pic is taken from the top left corner of the plan, looking to the bottom right.)
By building my own track and trains, I have been able to get into this hobby at minimum cost. One of the great things about this scale is that you can get most of your materials at the local hardware store instead of specialist model shops, and you can use your normal power tools.
-a reversing loop at one end (Termite), then single track out to a 2nd reversing loop at Lilyvale, with one passing loop (Melaleuca) half way along. Total run out and back is 200m.
-a circle around the boundaries of the yard with two stations - Sandstone and Ti-tree.Total length 100m.
However, by using a set of crossovers and flyover at Maple Jn, a single track line 200m long, with 3 crossing stations can be operated from Termite to Lilyvale.
What I really wanted from G scale was good sound and smoke. I've achieved the first but the realistic smoke is still a goal.
2-4-2s. Sandstone station platform is below. (building removed).
