Our world in miniature, hobbies

Hello

Can I have a 99 with 2 flakes please?

Oh yes! The tree nearest was uprooted & replanted yesterday morning. What strong gardeners we have hey.

Hello, The lifts to nowhere are now in place. They are laser cut card, but very effective, the windows in the doors are glazed & the shadows cast by the door frames really stand out. The lifts in our model imagination go down to a basement which connects to both the adjacent platform & the one time canal wharf. I've another lift door not assembled, but may add that later to the overgrown archway under the walking ramp. In them olden days, lifts were often in pairs, where they worked as compensation weights. That was outlawed a long time ago, but it was why you had to wait for the doors to close on the paired lift.

Hello, Even the sign-board is up now. All complete but for the booking hall. That might not arrive until next week. Historically, the bombed station may have had a loading platform where the sign-board is now, but all goods goes down the jetty. Also Hounds Hill has its own small goods yard & parcels depot. Road access is by going passed the gas works, the siding to it disappears under the Ferodo bridge. I've used bright green, both as the sign display & the lift surrounds because the fascia boards on the booking hall are finished in green boarders. That's about it with a few bits of plastic, some sticks & glue. Oh, yes, water colour paints. Depending on how the booking hall sits when it arrives, I might have to do external lift shaft tops. The roof of the booking hall may need slight weathering. That kind of thing tends to grow in me if it doesn't look right. Whilst I've done few bits of tutty-flutty, on our railway, that's the first fairly involved job without Pam being my critic. She liked the railway having a bit of colour, also not looking like an unkempt engine depot. During our marriage, her eyes used to light up when she saw a loco that was fresh from overhaul, but also pretty stations. One Saturday morning, I recall me asking where did she fancy going for a coffee. She said Great Malvern station. So that's where we went. It was nearly lunch time when we got there, but she did enjoy that.

Hello, Away from the tragedies of real railways, I've had a change of mind regards Hounds Hill. My booking hall hasn't arrived yet, but probably has helped. I often see the passion of our members about buildings being knocked around & in effect destroyed. Well I hope that I've stopped myself from doing that. I can almost hear Neil or Mike saying what sacrilege to a one time archway. So here is the result. An old toothbrush plastic cup is now the canopy over the lift entrances.

One of the joys of life is to find the perfect thing for a job. If the thing is cheap/free, even better.

Hello & thank you Helen, You will be pleased to know that when you next visit Coventry, Longford Park station now has its own platform starter signal. Previously relied on a green flag from the ground frame box, which controls the point into the loco coaling siding. It's a tall signal, so that the signal box lady at Grove can see it.

Hello, I've moved in to the Dorma, full board. Porridge Monday Wednesday & Friday. Easy reach of the fish & chippy. Roof lightly weathered, I might tone the stone down as it grows on me.

Hello Another arrival last week in our railway room was my new very comfy chair. Defiantly an added attraction in a much more visitor friendly railway room. The one time dining chair in the picture is the overseer chair. The view from the overseer chair, with the old visitor chair awaiting collection. Four, one-time dining chairs are now operators chairs, one just out of site. I had visitors yesterday & one this afternoon, a regular, but the size of the railway for it to be an operational spectacle needs minimum of two operators. Notice Pam's dinner trolley pressed into being the media hub. Possibly the most tidy & comfortable the room has been since 2018. When I'm relaxing in my new chair, so comfy I've dropped off to sleep in it, the view that I get is. For me, quite a nice view. I've now what I need to carry on with the gas works, also I've acquired a redundant broken snooker cue, so don't be surprised to see a couple of factory chimneys to grow in the distance. So just tuti-fluty jobs for a bit now. I will have to work out my geography if I'm going to have Courtaulds Chimney in the distance. I might have to put that in the hallway. Ha,ha! I do love the fictionalized representation of where I live. The second retaining arch wall, I'm thinking of making a gothic style disused door, where I can imagine secret passageways interconnected, just as have been discovered in Coventry. My imagination going into overdrive as a bit frightened, I'm making my way to find out where these passages go, then hearing voices, I'm stopped in my tracks, freezing every muscle in my body, when I realise that there is at least two female voices. Folk from our forum, so who do you think they might be????

Hello, The colour of our walls in the railway room was carefully chosen at the railway building, because when natural sun shines into the room, particularly if there is blue sky, the reflected colour ranges from dark grey to blue. This picture demonstrates this. This is the little known disused & dilapidated entrance to the Brooker estate. See how my mind wanders around. Please don't look. That's a location where I'm considering using an embossed woodland back scene The next pic shows the location of the Brooker estate entrance, the operational gap for the mirror view of the fiddle yard. The gas works is to the left. The sun had just started to peep out from the clouds & is just nudging the bland colour of the wall. When next decorated, we will have ceiling spot lights.

Hello The story line continues. The Brooker private estate disused & abandoned entrance. Lord & lady Brooker, one time owner of the Hallbrook estate stretching over 5000 acres of prime farmland, where the coming of the railway, took some of their land. The next picture is a failure. I've attempted to use a Super-Quick low relief card kit, by converting it to no-relief, so to be part of the back scene. I don't like it. I might try tomorrow to raise the sky-line, to see if I can salvage anything. I would have been better with it as a flat picture. The kit was originally intended for where the new lifts are now. It was old stock & sold at half price so I've not lost a lot. Certainly not lost sleep. I need Bob Ross to come & do my back scene. It was a low relief corner kit, which is why no one would buy it, I guess. We win some & lose some.

It's quicker by tube.

When did you become a Jedi?

Haven't got much room for a Christmas tree, so I thought that I would just have the lights.