A few years back while researching for a plausible background history for my new outdoor railway enterprise. I came across a very intriguing website, “Railways of the Far South” by Martin Coombs. It featured among other things, photos and histories of narrow gauge railways on the remote islands of the South Atlantic. These images struck a cord in me, for I had been looking for a colonial railway operation allowing me the opportunity to mix British, and American equipment. Then with hours spent on Martin’s website, and building a small library of similarly associated subjects I created a faux history that in turn, shaped the construction and character of my two 7/8” scale railways in the garden.

The Back Story: Just after the Second World War, some now forgotten upheaval in the House of Lords brought Lord Graham Sutherland, to decide to leave his political burdens behind and everything else for that matter. He moved, lock stock and barrel to the “end of the world, a remote island in the South Atlantic. His aim was to establish a large sheep station, known as an Estancia, as far away as he could get from London. Sutherland’s destination; Isla de Fortuna, (Fortuna Island), a British territory, offering the perfect situation for raising sheep off the coast of Argentina, in the distant company of the Falklands and South Georgia. This is how it all began.

It should be mentioned that Sutherland, a renowned photographer, also had a fascination for small narrow gauge trains, and even had a minimum gauge railway serving his English estate. So with his move to Fortuna Island he brought his love for railways along. He established the Estancia Fortuna and a 2 foot gauge railway was build to serve the endeavor. The Estancia’s base of operations, were built near the southern end of the island, at Port Sutherland, of course. The line served the small port, the estate house, a rock quarry, a wood and brick yard, sheep paddocks and the pastures in the highlands.

Not long after the Estancia had been in operation, a rare mineral deposit of “Delirium” was discovered in the highlands. Lord Sutherland was delighted with the discovery and planned to use an abandoned “extra narrow gauge” (18” inch gauge) railway on the northern end of the island. The tiny railway had been left in ruin after it had served as a supply line to a wireless station and lighthouse built during the First World War. With the new mineral supply waiting to be moved to the sea, the “eighteen” was extended from Nunca Tierra into the Highlands to Oveja Negra, (Black Sheep) the highest point on the line. With all this activity, and a new opportunity to operate “wee trains,” Lord Sutherland soon found it appropriate to build a summer home, “Ravenswood,” (27 rooms, mind you) in the Highlands. He felt it would be simpler to oversee the mining operations, although most of his attention really went into minding the railway. With the mining operation blossoming, Sutherland launched his new Cia. Minas Cielo Azul, (Blue Sky Mines Co.) At first, two battery trammers, known affectionately by the crews as the “Tesla twins” worked the rails between tidewater and the highlands bringing the precious mineral to port. As time past, Sutherland found himself caught up in the preservation of some very intriguing 18” gauge steam locomotives to “help out on the eighteen.” In short order, a diverse roster of prized 18” gauge steam locomotives were seen moving tiny wagons among the rugged cairns of the highlands. To share his preservation efforts with the rest of the world, Sutherland produced the now famous “Postcards from the Island” a photographic study of a remote island’s railways. A museum of sorts was born, largely for Sutherland’s amusement and photo efforts, but other die hard railway enthusiasts braved the long journey to visit this diminutive railway operation on the distant Fortuna Island.

In reality: This is the basis for my two 7/8” scale railways built in the far reaches of Northern California, USA. The two narrow gauge railways are separated only by inches both vertically and horizontally. Yet, each operation has its own purpose and story, which allows me a lot of variety in operation and rolling stock. The two foot gauge equipment is more “down and dirty,” or utilitarian, and has a larger loading gauge. There are two 2 foot gauge locomotives on the roster, one steam locomotive profile, “Ginny” and one IC, “Fantasma” which provide motive power for the sheep hauling railway. Both locomotives are powered by a battery on board, thus making operation easy, for the entire two foot gauge railway is built just a little (6-12 inches) above ground level.

The eighteen inch gauge equipment is obviously smaller, 4 wheeled rolling stock for the most part. Most of the mining operations are largely handled by my two “Lixbuilt” battery trammers, “Electra and Volta.” Sutherland’s “little helpers,” the 18” gauge live steam locomotives, make up the rest of the roster, and are my pride and joy. The eighteen inch gauge (32mm) operation is constructed about at about 30 to 36 inches above ground level, thus making live steam operations more convenient and easier on the operator’s aging back.

The 2 foot gauge railway, (45 mm gauge) has a continous run of about 100 feet, running underneath the "18" at two locations. Thus allowing me a nice compact area to maintain to a high standard. The 2 foot line also has a switching/ staging area just off the continuous circuit. The “18” (32 mm gauge) is also a continuous loop operation of approximately 125 feet of hand laid track. The circuit includes, at this moment, a passing loop and siding at Oveja Negra (Black Sheep) and a short pair of sidings at Caldera Oscura. And there’s talk of a passing loop at “Ravenswood”. The P-way crew is assessing this as we speak.

My approach in a nut shell: As mentioned elsewhere on the site, I’m more of an artist than a technician,” if it looks right, it’s right. This approach has come about, partly due to the large scale I work in, and partly my artistic bent. I see my approach as “Impressionistic,” not every last detail is there, but it gets the feeling across. For instance, both of the island's railways will have a few line side structures, to “imply” that there is something just out of sight. That way, most of the big features of my railways are left to the imagination. In other words, I simply “infer” the existence of a small settlement, or Sutherland’s “Ravenswood”, the simple 27 room summer house. They are just over the knoll,” or “right behind that tall hedgerow.” A tiny halt, a sheep loading ramp or freight platform is all that is really necessary to allow imagination to create the “extended image.” On my railways, rivets need not be counted, close counts, just as in horseshoes. The equipment I build are not recreations of any specific prototypes. At best, they are conglomerations of this, that and the other from books and photos I’ve studied and admired over the years. Yet with that said, all my equipment have the look of something that could have been somewhere, sometime. I borrow a lot of practices and ideas from US, British and Colonial narrow gauge railways throughout the world and I strive to keep a “family look” to my rolling stock.

Story continues....stay tuned.