The Swansea, Somerset & Warren Elevated Railway. Est. 2017
The railroad in its setting elevated some 46 scale feet (29 inches) about the ground. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
A diagram of the G-Scale fantasy layout that encompasses 7 ½ scale miles of trackage (185 feet) over 3 branch lines.
Left: Dave Kiley in his backyard with the SS&W in the background. Right: A train pulling by Swansea Station and in the distance the engine yard. At the right of the picture one can see a corner of the River Finn Mt. Branch Line.
Left: A short ore and supply train about to enter the hibiscus shed (which protects the rails and cars from falling hibiscus blossoms that tend to stick to both) on its way to the dwarf mines. D10 is a modified LGB 2090 Diesel. Right: The morning farm train rolls into the yard pulled by an open cab 0-4-0 passing a military special. Armored gas diesel #310 leads the special including a flatcar hauling military vehicles followed by a land cruiser bosting 3 toon tank turrets and numerous machine guns. There is also a flat car carrying 5 batteries of field artillery finally a Sherman forms the rear guard.
Left: A train pulled by an old timer (Americanized LGB 2774 tank engine & powered sound tender 69772) passes Swansea station and a kit bashed cars for a tongue-in-cheek military train. Right: A distant view of the The Swansea, Somerset & Warren Elevated Railway with the separate ground level Donegal County Branch line.
Left: D10 and cars of European vintage leaves the Dwarfs’ incline railway transfer station. Right: Dave in the seating area inside the railroad tracks.
Left: Dave in his Station (work shed) surrounded by power tools and stored locomotives. Right: A view of one of the two swing bridge entrances to the seating are with the station in the background. Note that when open, the bridge and tracks rest on a fence post that matches those that support the railroad's tracks.
Swansea Station with another view of the farm special and the tail end of that military train.
Motive Power and Rolling Stock on the Swansea, Somerset & Warren Elevated Railway RR.
A kit bashed Toby #3 (LGB Steam Tram 22500) painted by one of Dave’s young grandsons pulls two S. S. & W. passenger cars.
Left: Another view of the train above. Right: #3 Patrol Car (HLW Mack) belonging to the Royal Irish Constabulary escorts a dinosaur to the Orc’s Castle.
Left: D10 leaves the dwarf station. Right: In the background one sees the SS&W snowplopw, which is actually used when it snows, something made possible by the elevated tracks, because the plow pushes the snow off the tracks and over the side the elevated structure. In the earlier ground-level version of the layout the plow was not strong enough to clear the tracks when the plowed snow met that on the ground surrounding the layout. In the foreground sits the very heavily armed locomotive of Dave's kitbashed army train.
Left: The Irish Free State armored locomotive (HLW Mack) combined with a WWI tank model mounts 3 one pounders, a 3 pounder aft and a 5-inch naval gun. Right: A trolley that looks suspiciously like a San Francisco cablecar on the River Finn Mountain branch line.
Garden Railroads No. II & III
River Finn Mountain branch line, which has a 3.5% incline on one of its tracks, has a passing siding at its passenger station and plenty of running water. In the background one sees Swansea station on the main railroad.
Left: The station master tries to calm the crowd of enraged passengers who have just discovered that the train for which they have been waiting has been cancelled. Right: A view of the River Finn Mountain branch line with seating area at its right.
Dave’s third garden railroad, the Donegal County Branchline whose track plan consists of a simple oval loop and which will use dead rail power. On display is a kit bashed team tram (LGB 2774).
