Our world in miniature, hobbies

Had to laugh at that one Foxcote!! Although I have gained a little knowledge about railways since visiting this forum, and find OUR railway, which is growing all the time, so realistic and enjoy watching its progress. I know what you mean about the Kunzel cakes though.

Hi & thank you again, MisterD-Di You really know your stuff on this. Bril! I was in Sutton a few weeks ago, at the college where I had a little involvement until 2009. I also called in on my friends at the railway model shop in Riland Rd. No laughing now, but I busked on a few Saturdays inside the big shopping arcade there thirty years or so ago, for an organ dealer. Shh', don't tell anyone! Thank you again.

Glad to have been of help, Philip. If you were a regular Sutton visitor, I wonder if you ever visited Don's Miniature New Street. It was open one weekend a year and it's about a mile from us. We went a few times, not least for the tea and home-made cakes! I know he raised thousands for charity with his railway. Don Jones is no longer with us, and I believe the railway has been removed. It was an incredible affair, especially the electrics which co-ordinated the whole layout.

Hi MisterD-Di Yes & yes, many times. It featured on Midlands today. Bril & bril. Thank you again so much.

Hi all After our lovely meet-up breakfast, I continued on to see my builder & whilst there, he with his skill of operating carpentry machinery, cut the draught web from my canal boats, so that they now sit at the correct height & angle in the dry water. His cut is so clean, that when I have a dry dock scene, I can attach the bases back onto the boats if required. These are the skills of a Coventry builder. He made it look so easy. There is just enough of the web left so that I can weather in the weed-line. Thank you to Hayden. ps. I have already made a start of putting windows in to the small boat, furthest from the camera, rather than the printed images which can be seen on the one next to it. The boats are ornaments & not to scale, but they give an impression which all adds to the scene.

Lovely Philip, A delight to look at. Just when we think it cannot look any better

Hi & thank you, Dreamtime. It all helps to keep my cogs going. It is a beautiful October sunny Sunday morning here. Have you had snow? There were news of some travel problems in your part of the world shown here. Best wishes to you.

Fab Philip, would love to be on one of the boats today. Think I would travel along the canal to Long Itchington. A stop at the Blue Lias pub at lunch time for a nice Sunday roast and a glass of wine. Beautiful day here in Coventry today would be perfect! Have a good day everyone .

Hi all I hope you like my new narrow-boat, given too me as a present. I have temporarily named it 'Railway Modeller' using a water slide transfer. I may change the name when I have completed the fine detail on the other boats. I do have a name in my mind but I need my new fine print software to do that.

Hi all I have loaded a couple of pics of our first railway which my son grew up with in his bedroom, during the seventies, into my gallery. The loco in the pic here is an Airfix kit from those days, which along with its slightly noisy worm motor still runs really well. I have many steam locos from that era including many good running kit models. Michael took all of the blue stuff when he moved into his own home. I run the odd bit of older stuff just now and again. This loco as a model has actually lasted longer than the original, which was rebuilt along with ten others at Swindon in 1947 with larger cylinders & a bigger grate area, emerging as new locos, but this one was scrapped from St. Blazey in Cornwall in 1963.

Hi all I have just come across this item from the BBC in Cornwall about the Late Rev. Peter Denny. It was a visit to his home when he was vicar at Newlyn East (near Newquay) to see his model railway that set me off. It was the expression on my then little boy's face (he was five then) which lit up when he saw this railway. It lit my face up too. He had an O gauge garden railway that was bril', but it was his EM scale (nearly oo) model that we fell in love with. I did not meet any of his children, but his dear wife Sylvia was a fabulous host. We later enjoyed a weeks holiday with them. So, this was indeed the inspiration for my model railway hobby. Peter Denny railway In no way can I compete with his skill of scratch building or his full interlocked system. Notice the bits of meccano in the computer & the home-made clock which can be set to various speeds of time. I wonder if that is where Dr. Who got his idea from? Please enjoy the thirty year old video which was at least to then broadcast standards. ps. Its only context for Coventry is that it inspired me for my over thirty years of railway model, family enjoyment. That is no small prize.

Hi all You are right, Midland Red. This is the first timber extention to our railway since I joined our history forum. I do not intend to deluge our site with anymore pictures as work proceeds, as I will record some of the progress pics on my gallery. I am showing this pic right at the start of the Longford Park extention as it is the most fundamental aspect of open frame construction which marks it out, in contrast to a flat base board. Nothing has been fine cut at this point, it is just offered up so that we can see the general scope. The 2X1" nearest the camera is doing two jobs. It forms the lowest part of the new extention, but also takes the weight of the existing railway that at present has been temporarily supported from the floor by legs. The track height will be almost the same as the road that the No99 CCT bus is standing on. Another piece of 2X1" will come from the room corner and will be screwed on top of both of the pieces in the picture. That will produce a cantilever effect support for the existing railway, as well as fixing the whole of the base frame. The only timbers that are fixed at this point in time, are the two, 2X1" battens screwed to the wall which, what you are seeing is resting on. Constructing in this fashion means that we can maintain the railway on the level, even more important, as this part of the railway is basically two sidings, which must always be level, but also we can set the none railway scenery at what ever level the ground happens to be. Hope you like & that this is not too much gobbledegook! Like a lot of hobbies, a model railway is never ever finished. We have signals & points to automate & so on. The day it is finished I might lose interest. I hope not!

Hi Philip, Don't lose interest before the 'room extension'. You wouldn't mind would you Pam ? It is great to see there is more to come Philip. There is a lot more to just being a 'train set' isn't there ? Great work.

Hi all , Our Longford Park goods wharf is taking shape in front of our version of Longford Square. I have started work on the fifteen arch retaining wall which will fit on to the the hardboard strips seen at the front. At the foot of the arches will be a straight section of the Coventry canal. I had wanted a river feature, but lack of space & the wrong height have put a stop to that. I am also working on the goods yard buildings, so until then, a guards van has to act as the temporary office. No joke, that used to happen at Longford oil depot, when the old station building being used as the offices, was in such a poor state of repair.

It is brilliant Philip, love it all.