I & G Steam about us
I & G Steam is a wholly owned trading arm of Kinetic Vacuum Design Limited. Kinetic Vacuum Design was set up in 1992 to provide engineering design services to the plasma physics industry. It became necessary in 2001 to make changes to the operation and focus of the business and the I & G Steam arm was expanded from providing goods and design services to the craft and hobby market into the garden railway sector effectively turning a hobby into the main thrust of the business programme. The garden railway sector having become the fastest growing sector of the model railway hobby. Initially, I & G steam became retailers of the LGB range from Germany, following up with a further array of products mostly imported from the USA.
Alongside all of this a programme of home grown services and products has been developed and added to the portfolio. A range of processes has been brought together from a variety of other markets so that a wide range of services to the garden railway enthusiast can be provided. Examples of this include hot press dye sublimation, provision of material and finished product for water slide transfers based on inkjet technology.
We have our own traditional engineering workshops for development, manufacture and assembly/test of our in-house designed locomotives and rolling stock. To obtain specific parts in the scales that we require has also necessitated the introduction of simple spin and static casting of white metal, vacuum degassing of resins and RTV rubbers along with a small resin pressure casting system. In the planning stages is a photo-etching process line for small highly detailed delicate components, scheduled for implementation late in 2008. In keeping with this ethos of comprehensive support for the garden rail enthusiast I & G supply specialist steam oils and lubricants (in suitable quantities for the hobbyist) along with a range of very competitively priced modelling tools.
We travel throughout the year to shows and exhibitions across the UK both indoors and outdoors (see our diary page and are happy to discuss our product lines and the hobby of garden railways with you. All at I & G Steam hope that you will have an enjoyable visit to our website, browsing what we have to offer.
It is always our advice to prospective garden railway enthusiasts to make contact and subsequently join up with one of the recognised garden railway societies. It is easy to break the ice as the two major groupings here in the UK operate on an area basis, each having an area organiser. The wealth of ideas that can be put together by meeting others of a like mind has inestimable value, but always remember it is your railway and there is no right or wrong way to build a garden railway. Please take a look through the links provided below and you will see just how wide the basis of this hobby really is.
www.g-scale-society.co.uk
www.16mm.org.uk
www.atlanticpublishers.com/gr/
Each of the society sites maintains an active forum for the membership to air their views and ideas and a very good forum for the 7/8ths minded modeller is via Yahoo Groups/7/8 scale trains. This is a truly international grouping with a great depth of technical knowledge freely available plus some discussions on a variety of prototypes.
A truly memorable "garden railway" is the 10 1/4" gauge Stapleford Miniature Railway where you can ride behind a variety of large live steam locomotives for a full 2 miles of scenic line. Visit www.fsmr.org.uk for a flavour.
We have full merchant services to process most credit and debit cards both at exhibitions and from our base in Rhyl for our mail order service. In the current climate we do not recommend that card details be sent via the internet, it is much safer to give us a call to complete the transaction or send a cheque via the postal service.