The St Andrews Island Line.
1/12th/ SE scale. Set on a fictitious island in the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall.
Welcome!
Autumn Colour on the Line
Welcome to my website about my garden railway. The line is built to 7/8ths (SE) and 1/12th scale - rubber scaling at its best! It uses 45mm gauge (G scale) track and was started in the late summer of 2006. The original intention was to run G scale US style trains, but I then encountered SE and 1/12th scale...I was hooked. As a requirement of building the line it had to be relatively inconspicuous in the garden and not over complicated. The running line at the moment consists of a skewed oval with just one siding leading off it. The landscape made it neccesary to have one end of the line raised about 18 inches off the ground.
St Andrews Island
I have always loved the small group of islands approx 35 miles off the tip of Cornwall called the Isles of Scilly. As part of my other hobby as a birdwatcher I visited the islands for each year for 15 years in October hoping to see those rare waifs and strays from the USA and Siberia. I fell in love with the place and when it came to make up my fake location and history it seemed natural to set it here.
St Andrews Island is the fake 6th inhabited island in the real archipeligo (St Marys, St Agnes, St Martins, Bryher and Tresco are the REAL ones). I have imagined that it, like Tresco, does not belong to the Duchy of Cornwall but is owned by a private landlord, "The Commander". The island economy is based around flower farming, and more recently the valuable tourist trade. The imaginary line runs around the island and serves the Quay, flower farms, the shop, the Hotel and the Commanders residence as well as the other important sites, hauling everything from bulbs to the farms and rubbish to the incinerator to the tourists heading for the Hotel etc...
Spring Flowers on the Line in 2008.
St Andrews Island is the fake 6th inhabited island in the real archipeligo (St Marys, St Agnes, St Martins, Bryher and Tresco are the REAL ones). I have imagined that it, like Tresco, does not belong to the Duchy of Cornwall but is owned by a private landlord, "The Commander". The island economy is based around flower farming, and more recently the valuable tourist trade. The imaginary line runs around the island and serves the Quay, flower farms, the shop, the Hotel and the Commanders residence as well as the other important sites, hauling everything from bulbs to the farms and rubbish to the incinerator to the tourists heading for the Hotel etc...
Spring Flowers on the Line in 2008.
