"Give me back my garden or finish the railway"the Woman of the House cried, frustrated at the lack of progress in that department over previous years.
"Build us a station and prune the plants" was the quick retort.

Never one to resist a challenge (and secretly quite enthusiastic) she immediately called a board meeting where, after various ideas later, it was decided that the station would be, as near as possible, a scaled down version of their own house Rookery Cottage.

Delegation being her middle name she sent her son up the ladder to get dimensions, and utilise his mathematical and draughtsman skills to draw up plans in 1/19th scale.
Her husband was despatched to the garage/shed to make hundreds of tiny concrete bricks. (He just happened to have a selection of moulds purchased many moons ago when he used to build castles etc for their, then very young, sons to play with. Nothing has changed, just the sons got older!). Very shortly they had sufficient stocks for building to commence.

Being winter and COLD and the woman being a hot weather plant, construction took place indoors on a portable base. She used waterproof tile cement to fix the bricks together and the external walls quickly went up, leaving holes for the doorways and windows in all the right places and to scale.

Progress slowed somewhat when the 'planners'decided interior rooms were needed to match the ones in the big house. Although structurally the same, the rooms would be used for waiting room, ticket and parcel offices, toilets etc and furnished accordingly. Nothing but the best for this garden rail and its passengers and staff.

Several months later, after some breaks in construction to pursue other interests, the shell of the station was looking good with walls up to the roof. Wooden glazed windows and doors, made by the husband, were installed and painted, and the interior walls were fixed in place on the ground floor. The interior of the building was then painted white, the floors were painted to resemble tiles, and fireplaces , furniture, fittings and people were inserted into the waiting room, ticket and luggage office and the station started to come to 'life'.

Before the ceiling and first floor interior walls were fitted into position the son wired up the rooms and put in lights. Is there no end to his talents! These were to be powered by a battery
concealed in a lean to box positioned on the wall of the building. In the real house this is where the propane gas bottles live that power the central heating etc. The first floor was then carpeted to match the stairs and furnished as offices and a rest room for the Station Master.

Outside the building a small conservatory type porch was erected and this was to be the way into the station from the carpark. A slate roof, brick chimney stack with chimney pots and bargeboard on the gable ends completed the building structure and all that remained to be done was the exterior painting. Several coats of red tile paint with muted browns blended in soon gave the walls an authentic brick like appearance that closely resembled its role model.

Finally came the day when, with foundation already prepared, Rookery Cottage Station was cemented in situ on the rockery. Finishing touches, which included platforms, platform canopy, seats, vending machines, flower tubs, people and luggage, were added and once the Rookery Cottage station signs were fitted on the cream picket fencing the Station was open for business. Within weeks it was joined by a brick built Engine Shed and Goods Yard built on site by the son.

The railway itself nestles among landscaped rockeries and travels around half the perimeter of the garden before taking off at a tangent into the middle of the lawn. Being raised the landscape is easier to maintain, pretty to look at and the railway is quite accessible. Rocks were procured from many sources, some from local garden centres and quite a lot from a relative who had dismantled his rockery and was grateful to be relieved of his 'rubbish'.
Every nook and cranny in the rocks has been filled with alpine plants which supply colour for most of the year.

As well as garden landscaping, tunnels and cuttings have also been incorporated into the scheme using more rocks to give a different aspect to the scenery the railway runs through.
The railway travels alongside a garden pond with waterfall, water lilies and koi fish and past a pondside cafe called The Old School Tearooms. The rockeries skirt a patio seating area, a grand place to watch the trains go by, and edge the sides of the concrete block peninsula which takes off into the lawn. As well as alpine plants these areas are also dotted with dwarf conifer trees to give height and interest to the whole layout.

The latest project in progress is to transform the concrete block area into a slate quarry, an exercise only in its infancy but hopefully to be completed this year, weather, time and money permitting. Also in the planning stage is a station halt at the quarry end of the layout and perhaps one or two more buildings to blend into the scenery around the track. All in all care has been taken to mesh the garden and the layout so that neither is too full on and that they both compliment and enhance the other.

As to changes in the distant future, who knows? One thing is certain the Woman of the House is going to have her work cut out to hold fast to the rest of the garden to ensure it remains 'trackfree!