Model Railway

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Hmmm - I think you find it has been exceeded somewhere in Dorset. The chap doing my baseboards often says "I can't do it for x days - I'm working on McKinley".

I think that McKinley must cost more than my flat!

https://mckinleyrailway.com/index.php/en/

However, my project does very well on the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle scale

This afternoon I had another bright idea. I have been increasingly bothered about how to do the windows and doors in the Tree trunk. I can recognise twee but have no artistic ability to produce it. Then this afternoon after bellringing, I noticed that the ancient yew tree in the churchyard had shed some bark in the recent storms. And in the bark were small holes of the right dimensions. I rather like the idea of cladding my plywood tree with bark from a tree that is well over 1000 years old.

So the photo (thanks Pete) will show a few bits on the kitchen floor, prior to a quick rinse in some washing up water. The inside colours are lovely, but of course they bend the wrong way for my purposes.

Tonight I get to collect the Controller

Viv

[Moonraker]

Tonight I get to collect the Controller

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Nigel - you're so dapper

[pete9012S]

Here's this week's pics
Thanks
Viv

No problem Viv - All five emails came through successfully.

Pics even better the right way up!!
Sorry Viv!

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I may clad the upper part of the tree with shed bark from the ancient yew tree, so I've now been thinking about the root system.

I'm thinking about the roots of this beech tree, which some children have already decorated with fairy doors.

My phone doesn't want to send photos at the moment - so you may recognise it from this video

Video link
https://youtu.be/E6ks4iBpSdk

Viv

[pete9012S]

[pete9012S]

Could this root system be modelled for the base of the tree?

Viv

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

It’s not been a great couple of weeks
The most serious is that the chap who is sorting out the track in my suitcase was knocked off his motorbike and has seriously hurt his leg.
I sort of know him, because a few years ago he came out a few times with my conservation group, and I know that he is a serious and safe motor-cyclist. And a lovely guy.
Nothing is happening until he is back at work.
However, I hope you have got the picture of the suitcase with the first bit of woodwork, but nothing more can be cut until the track is laid.

[Katharine]

Oh dear, that's not good, both from your railway point of view, and of course the chap who has hurt his leg.

[Lucky Star]

Hopefully your friend is back on his feet soon and suffers no lasting ill effects. A pity it leads to a pause in the activity but you can maybe use the time to formulate some more plans.

[pete9012S]

Yes, sorry to hear about your friend's accident Viv.

[pete9012S]

Just in from Viv:

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

Thanks Pete,

The Tree cost me £1.50 from a charity shop. It will be removable, but will be supported/fixed so it doesn't wobble!

It is on the upper section, which is the length of the case and 5 inches wide.

The section with the hole in it will be on the opposite side (where the camera now is) and will support the mezzanine level with the track. The hole is to take a strip of LED lights

The lower level is a wooden base, slightly raised so wires can go under it.

The plastic boxes on the right hold the track pieces - just there for storage.

Behind, going into the distance is a baseboard for (presumably) a big-boy. Some of these layouts are huge!

[pete9012S]

Viv
Three fine fairies with 10p coin

[Viv of Ginger Pop]

I had a lovely evening out with sister and nephews last weekend – we went to Glastonbury Carnival. Here is a link to edited highlights – you may recognise the last float from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee pageant back in the summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj0PVJEOkaE

Nephew-the-elder drove (that’s the 6-year-old I took to Old Thatch!) in the car he’d worked for and paid for all himself.

First stop was to see the starlings out on the marshes – and we arrived just in time to see the last murmuration of the day come into land.

We parked, walked into town, ordered a takeaway for an hour hence, which gave me time to hunt down fairies in the wacky shops of Glastonbury. Nephews decided that humouring their old aunty was probably their best option…

The shops in central Glastonbury are probably the closest you are ever likely to find to a real life Goblin Market or Diagon Alley. Each wafts its own peculiar pong as you enter and there is a cornucopia of imagery from pre-Christian religions to put your faith in. For the most part, actual spells are replaced by stones, which come in a bewildering array of colours, shapes and sizes, and between them they must surely resolve every affliction known to humanity.

Yet even here, I couldn’t find any pleasant looking elves, pixies or other masculine fairy folk, as depicted in Blyton. The nearest were were some slightly too big gothic looking creatures with oversize heads, that I couldn’t imagine any nice fairy wanting to dance with.

But there was some success on the fairy front (thanks for the pic, Pete). Small scale, pretty and £2.95 they are the best I’ve seen so far, so I got three. There were other bits and bobs I could be tempted by, but I’ll wait until the model is underway before getting stuff I’m not immediately sure what to do with.

We then found ourselves a good vantage point and ate our curry.

“It feels as if this place ought to have a cathedral” said nephew-the elder.

“I can tell you some stories about that” I said, and since there was a long boring wait until the carnival procession would get to us, he was prepared to listen. King Arthur – Joseph of Arimathea – the Glastonbury Thorn – St Dunstan – poor Richard Whiting… there can’t be many places on the planet that has so many tales to tell as Glastonbury!

It only started to rain as we walked back to the car. Result!