RIP Murphy cat!

RIP Murphy Cat

The WMD fleet of cats is now reduced as Murphy has now unfortunately had to leave us. Always a difficult decision to make, but it was clear he had suddenly become very unwell so it was time to visit the vet who was very compassionate and gentle in dealing with Murphy.

He was 15, which is a good age for a cat, especially as he had been diagnosed with a growth on his heart in 2019 and at that time given just months to live. Move on over six years from that diagnosis and he outlived both his sister, Holly, and brother Spike.

Of the three he was the most laid back! Nothing really phased him even the growth on his heart. Maybe that was the secret to his long life?

The three of them were close which was nice to see.

When Spike suffered a stroke he had to come on holiday with me and Mrs. Woody in our caravan which meant that Holly and Murphy came as well! The three of them are eyeing up the pigeons outside!

Even in the caravan he was laid back choosing to go under a quilt to sleep!

However, he was a bit of a night owl and would play with a Ping-Pong ball at 3am in the caravan which was a bit of a shock as it rattled around the hard surfaces and acted more like a pin-ball machine!

As with all our cats, he will be sadly missed but never forgotten! RIP Murphy!

A load of old fossils!

 A load of old fossils! Well that is one way to describe the Rocks By Rail Museum volunteers but it actually relates to a unique collection of fossils from the Barrington Cement Quarry that the Museum has been lucky enough to obtain.

John Drayton MBE who worked at the quarry for 45 years starting as a joiner and ending up as General Manager had collected the fossils as he walked around the site. Having used them as part of his talks to groups to raise money for charities he has now decided they need a new home at the Museum and given the connection between the Barrington Quarry and the Museum that makes perfect sense. Thanks John! That is him on the left talking to the Curator, David.

The handing over was done this past Sunday as the Museum had an open day and as part of that there were variou items on display including this diorama that had been presented John by David some years ago.

Also, a wonderful set of information boards about the history of the Barrington Quarry.

Which included this fantastic picture of the Museum's loco Mr. D, named after John Drayton, being loaded onto a low loader at the Barrington Quarry ready to be transported to the Museum.

Talking of Mr. D, he was in operation with three of the wagons from the Barrington Quarry and John and several of his former colleagues reacquainted themselves by having a drive.

Continuing with the Barrington theme, things are moving on with the steam loco named Barrington who was replaced by Mr. D! Owner Paul, is giving a cosmetic restoration to it and having taken the non-original coal bunker off it and replacing it with new metal to the original configuration, is now in the midst of painting it. 

That yellow smoke box door will stay yellow as that was its original colour!

Meanwhile, visitors were also enjoying brake van rides.

The volunteers were enjoying some refreshments and a catch up!

For me, it was mainly a day of shunting but working with some great colleagues, it is always a pleasure to do even if they call me an old fossil!

Just about ready for paint!

 Well, the Stolly is just about ready for paint. Just a couple of parts to attach and then its time for some primer before a top coating. 

I 'm impressed by this kit - I just need to get the painting right though! That is also what Mrs. Woody says to me!

Some extra detail would be nice!

 I have to admit to enjoying the build of the Airfix Stolly. I have said it before but will say it again, it does remind me of the early Tamiya kits, simple but detailed. Unfortunately there are always the odd parts where that extra detail would have been nice. On this kit, these are the mouldings for the headlight protectors. In real life a frame with slats that should deflect any large rocks or such like that could damage the headlight. In model form, Airfix have moulded the part as a solid so that the headlight that will be behind it will be invisible. Not exactly a good moulding.

However, with some dexterous cutting and some plastic strip something a bit better can be created. First job is to cut the innards out of the frame.

Then add some plastic strip. Now I have just got to wait for the glue to dry to trim the strips to length but that should at least look a bit more realistic then the original part once mounted on the vehicle.

Crashed and bashed!

Crashed and bashed today and I am not talking about some new weathering technique on the Airfix Stolly build! It is me who is crashed and bashed having come off my bike on a corner in the rain. I just know that the front wheel slid out and before I knew it I was on the ground looking at the lady in the car following me who must have had more of a shock than me! Amazingly no bones broken, no ripped clothing and minimal damage to the bike. I seem to have taken the main damage with gravel rash and a very sore left hip and shoulder which will heal whereas any damage to the bike won't heal! Anyway, after a minute or two I was back on the bike and continued home to present my bloodied self to Mrs. Woody who said not to make a mess!

Right, crash or not, work on the Stolly continues with the interior of the cab masked in readiness for painting.

It was then attached to the cab base before the joints were flooded with glue.

I will need to fill the joints but there is nothing too serious unlike my body joints at the moment!

Weathering the cab!

The Airfix Stolly is coming on with the cab now weathered using my usual dilute mix of earth brown paint along with some Tamiya weathering pastilles. 

I like the way this has come together. 

Once matt varnished I will mask from the inside the window and hatch aperture's and fit the cab to its base. With that done I should then be able to deal with any joint issues before painting the external parts of the vehicle.

And in this photo I was 90!

You don't hear the phrase 'And in this photo I was 90.' very often. In fact I don't think I have ever heard it before. However, at the Rocks By Rail Museum we are lucky enough to have Ray as a volunteer. I have posted about him before - see that by clicking here -  and Ray is now 94 but still acts as though he is just 60! I walked in to the cafe at the Museum today to find Ray going through a photo album of his with some of the other volunteers. 

Some of the photos in there were over 100 years old but Ray could recall all the names and the detail behind them including this one of the pub that his family ran and in the 1950s they collected pennies to stick on the pub mirror before donating them to the local children.

Then there were photos of some of the ironstone quarry plant that he operated.

Then he turned a page and said 'And in this photo I was 90' in a very blasé manner as though there was nothing to it. I said, 'Ray I just hope I live long enough to be able to utter the words ' And in this photo I was 90!' and I do! And with that I went off to do battle with the grass!

And it was a bit of a battle given the rain over the last week!

AS I seem to be the expert on vegetational butchery we need a n expert on actually nuturing vegetation which is where Geoff comes in with his planting skills seeing some delightful colour along the platform area.

Meanwhile, in the Restoration shed, things are moving on with the re-tubing of loco 1931 but just not in ways that are visable as the work is de-rusting the lower part of the boiler. I had a long chat with John who has worked with steam locomotives and traction engines for much of his life and learnt a great deal about the stresses and strains a boiler goes throuh as it is heated to create steam. I can certainly understand why the steel plate is so thick and why inspections are important.

Over the over side of the tracks work was going on with the brakes for Graham the Sentinel. It seems like thick steel is required for that as well as John and Hazel struggle carrying this brake linkage part.

Having done whatever it was to it, John is now building himself up to refitting the part!

With all these locos out of the Exhibition Centre to allow Graham to come out...

...the middle road of the building was empty...

...there was suddenly the opportunity to admire some of the locos full side on which gives a different view.

Finally we should hopefully be ready for Sunday's running day with The Rutlander train taking guests on brake van rides along the line.

It would be nice to take this photo at the age of 90 but will Mrs. Woody and her list of chores for me thwart that ambition!

Stolly cab interior

The Stolly cab interior looks a lot more interesting now the various parts are fitted and painted. It just needs some dirtying up to replicate the state these cabs got into in real life!

Micro Sol for a micro job!

 Having previously primed the cab interior of the Stolly it was time to top coat it with Tamiya XF11 which is J N Green or also known as Bronze Green which is the shade of paint used by the British Army in the 1960s. The airbrush soon had the paint applied.

Whilst that was drying I thought it was time to add the dashboard decal to the dashboard part! Airfix have supplied a nice set of decals but previous experience of other makes and dashboard decals has not been good for me. So with some trepidation I cut out the decal and dipped it in water.

After a couple of minutes I slid it in place. Now the dashboard part has the various dials and switches moulded in place so the decal needs some Micro Soll applied to soften it so that it moulds to the shape of the dashboard part.

You can see by the ruler that this is a small part! At this point the Micro Sol still has to do its job. However, once it had it all looked much better. I'm impressed by the decal and its general fit on a part so small as well as the powers of Micro Sol.