Model railway in a garage

[John Ashworth]

From the Guardian, 18 August 2010. See the whole article for other interesting uses of a garage: Why I turned my garage into a brewery

The model railway, Southampton

"I was always going to put a railway in there," says Dermot Stephens, a 46-year-old tax manager, "but I would never have admitted that up front." What was clear, however, when he and his wife Helen moved into their new home seven years ago, was that its narrow, cold and leaky garage was going to have to be converted into something.

"It was a wooden one," Stephens says, "which had big double doors and an asbestos roof, so God knows how old it was. It even had an inspection pit dug into the ground so you could get underneath cars. But to us it was just a draughty 10ft by 30ft space with a hole in the middle."

Stephens had always been keen on DIY, however, so as soon as the couple moved in, he got to work. "The official plan," he remembers, "was that I would make a utility room, and then create storage down the other end." This he duly did, lining and waterproofing the garage, fitting a new roof (with help), erecting a dividing wall to create a space 10ft square, which he then rewired and plumbed in its entirety, with a sink, washing machine and tumble dryer. "I was making it up as I went along, really – it was a bit of an adventure, and that was part of the appeal. The electrics I looked up on the internet. It's just trial and error – without killing yourself. But it took months and months and months, because I didn't know what I was doing."

Fortunately, Helen approved. "She probably didn't expect me to do such a good job with it, if I'm being modest." So, banking the approval, he pressed on with the other (much larger) room, where – lo and behold! – a model railway soon appeared. "She probably knew in the back of her mind that I would do that anyway," he admits. "It's slightly sad, but there you go."

In fact, as railway modellers go, Stephens is far from the most obsessive. On average, he reckons he only works on his for an hour or two every fortnight. "I just don't get the time really," he sighs. "I'm not a real model railway nerd, where everything is so particular and it's got to be exactly 'the truth'. I make it up as I go along because I quite enjoy making things, rather than [copying] the ins and outs of a specific railway."

Even so, Stephens's larger handiwork commands respect. Such is the transformation, in fact, that these days no one thinks of it as a garage any more. "It usually known as 'my shed'," Stephens says. "And the other end, I call my wife's 'shed'." He pauses. "She's not so happy about that."