The Clacton couple sacrificed a new kitchen to build the Essex garden railway, boasting a tunnel, five engines and running across their drivewayMel King Content Editor and SWNSFayeMayern (Faye Mayern)
09:30, 18 May 2026
Dave and Angela, with their miniature railway. // A train-mad couple sacrificed a new kitchen to build a miniature railway with 400m of track running through their garden. Dave Walker and his wife Angela finally finished building the railway, boasting a tunnel and five engines, last summer after seven years’ of building work.The couple, from Clacton in Essex., had flattened their quarter-of-an-acre garden to make way for a marquee following their wedding reception in August 2017.
A railway-enthusiast couple postponed renovating their kitchen to construct a miniature railway featuring 400 metres of track winding through their garden. Dave Walker, 54, and his wife Angela, 55, completed the ambitious railway project, which includes a tunnel and five locomotives, last summer following seven years of construction work.
The Clacton-based couple had levelled their quarter-acre garden to accommodate a marquee for their wedding reception in August 2017. While initially considering installing track for a modest garden railway, Dave and Angela ultimately opted to go much larger.
Shelving their plans to modernise their 1980s kitchen, the Walkers commenced work on the 1,312ft-long miniature railway. The five-figure endeavour boasts five engines operating across four lines, stretching the full length of their garden and crossing their driveway.
Dave, who works in the wedding and events entertainment sector, said: “Our house is either now unsellable or worth triple. Most people think we’re mental. They must think: ‘Are they living the dream or are they mad?’.
“Our kitchen is from 1988 and you don’t go to your deathbed thinking, ‘God, I loved my kitchen’. You go thinking about how you built that railway in your garden and how fantastic it was, all those summers with a fruit cider in hand, driving a train around.”
Father-of-two Dave was given his first train set by his grandfather aged five and has been passionate about railways ever since. Two rooms in the couple’s detached property house an elaborate model railway, while their garden showcases memorabilia accumulated over many years.
The pair tied the knot on August bank holiday in 2017, celebrating with a reception in their garden after clearing space for a marquee. Dave, who also works as a DJ, said: “We started to have an idea of a garden railway where you can run miniature steam locomotives which come along and brings you a bottle of beer.
“But I said to Angela I wanted the next thing up, one that carried real, full sized people. At the beginning of 2018, I said it was basically a toss up between that new kitchen she wanted and a miniature railway.Angela said we’ve already got a kitchen so I said I’ll go and get my spade.”
Construction commenced in June 2018, with the inaugural 50-metre oval-shaped line completed by September. The five-inch gauge railway now boasts four lines and five locomotives, all powered by 24-volt car batteries, courtesy of Ride On Railways in Romford.
Hand-built by the couple, the garden features a timber workshop, a metal shop designed to resemble a signal shop and an engine shed. Dave, an enthusiastic gardener alongside Angela, explained: “We wanted a garden first, then have the railway running through.
“Our track is made of rail and the sleepers, with the rail mostly second-hand. Our sleepers are roofing batten soaked in preservative and the track sits on top of red granite chippings. If we had to move from here, the track could be lifted and someone would be left with some very expensive garden path.”
The railway also boasts a tunnel, three stations within the back garden — one affectionately named ‘Walker’s Wedding’ — with the track even weaving through a fence panel out to the front of the property. The couple have plans to construct a river beneath the track, bringing them a step closer to fulfilling their long-held ambition of having a bridge.
The garden is also home to a full-sized steam engine chimney, cast in 1928, alongside quirky decorations including frogs, gnomes and dinosaurs. Angela, a former primary school worker, remarked: “No miniature railway will ever be finished. There’s still be to tweak.
“Our friends and neighbours think we’re mad. But when you walk in the from the side entrance and the garden reveals itself, that is a magical moment.
“We didn’t want a railway with a few plants here and there, we wanted to garden to be stunning in its own right. But I still haven’t got my new kitchen. I’ve jazzed ours up with stickers over boring beige tiles.
“There was an advert for Wickes on the TV showing a really old 1980s kitchen with the doors hanging off – that still is my kitchen. The doors aren’t quite hanging off.”
Dave revealed they hope to welcome fellow railway enthusiasts by opening the garden on a ticketed basis to raise funds for charity, adding: “I lost track of how much money we’ve spent years ago but it would be at the top end of five figures.
“It’s so much fun. We’ve had delivery drivers in to drive trains around the garden, including some who brought us a double bed. An hour later they were still here – just in the garden on the trains. The locomotives require oiling and cleaning but it’s not any different to maintaining a petrol lawnmower.”
When asked what advice he would offer to anyone looking to construct their own miniature railway, Dave remarked: “Without any doubt at all, have a very understanding partner.”
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