Much courtesy at the Rocks By rail Museum!

Another day at the Rocks By rail Museum see the previously empty new flower containers filled with soil and ready for planting out courtesy of Sue.

The ladies toilets are getting a freshening up courtesy of Pam and Pete.

Barrington steam loco had a green buffer beam when I arrived.

However, by the end of the day courtesy of Alex, it was in red undercoat awaiting its final top coat next week.

For my morning magic and vegetational butchery I turned this...

...into this courtesy of Sammy Strimmer!

I even found that we have a buffer stop at the end of the siding having removed the undergrowth!

The afternoon saw Morris Mower out on duty cutting the front lawns! Not so sure about lawn but it does look a lot better when cut and gives the Museum that 'someone cares' look!

All of this information courtesy of WMD!

Now I could go out and buy some proper wood filler !

One of the long outstanding jobs on the My Last Great Project Layout has been to construct an operating panel. The wiring and point motors are all installed but I need to build the panel in order too control it all. At the moment there is a bit of a spaghetti of temporary wiring to allow trains to run which is not good. However, whilst cleaning up the WMD garage I found some suitable plywood to construct the carcase of the panel. In fact it was some plywood from the baseboard of the first and aborted Last Great Project Layout! Cut to suitable sizes the parts were screwed together to form a rectangular carcase.

As it was pre-used wood there are various nail and screw holes in it that need filling. Now I could go out and buy some proper wood filler or I could just stay in and use the plastic filler that happened to be conveniently located on the workbench.

So the plastic filler won!. I just need to let it dry and find time to sand it all down and paint it next.

The question is just how long will it remain tidy?

Starting todays post like yesterdays, if you have been reading this blog for some time you may remember my various postings regarding the price of fuel and wondered if this services had the highest prices in the UK. Well passing by on a bike ride I did stop to take this picture.

The price of diesel is just 2 pence a litre off the June 2022 price (see here for that post). I have a horrible feeling that the current World situation may see that 2022 price beaten. I will be keeping an eye open for further price changes!

Meanwhile, back at WMD HQ, I took a break from seed planting to tidy my workbench. It had got to the stage where I was spending too much time looking through the debris on it to find things that should be put away in known places. Although I always state that the best artists work in a mess, sometimes the mess is just too much! So a couple of hours saw items put back in their places and the workbench showing some significant clear areas to carry out further work hopefully more productively!

Again, if you have read this blog for some time you will know this is not the first tidy of the bench and it won't be the last. The question is just how long will it remain tidy?

I already have some success but there are still more seeds to plant!

If you have read this blog over the years you may recall that I have featured the growing trend of knitted decorations for the top of post boxes. Now, although Easter has been and gone I did come across this on my bike ride where the knitted Easter scene was attached to the village gateway feature.

I do love these - it shows there is a humorous World out there and people with wonderful skills and imagination just like model makers!

Talking of model makers, Woody's model making activities have slowed as there are pressing Jobs on the Mrs. Woody 'To do list' including getting some seeds planted for this years bedding plants.

I already have some success but there are still more seeds to plant! Well that's sorted out what I will be doing over the next few days!

It will be a nice addition in some far flung corner or hidden spot on the layout!

Having given the 3D printed plate layers hut some additional detail and primed it, the time had come to paint it.

The bricks on the chimney breast got the three pencil treatment, the windows and door were painted the same blue as the signal box woodwork and the walls were painted in a light brown. It all needs a good doe of weathering but it will be a nice addition in some far flung corner or hidden spot on the layout once finished!

Now it is not very often that Woody gets invited to a party or indeed any event - ask Mrs. Woody!

Now it is not very often that Woody gets invited to a party or indeed any event - ask Mrs. Woody! My usual situation is that if I do get invited anywhere I only ever go twice and the second time is to apologise! However, Mrs. W and me were invited to a Birthday Party and not just a run of the mill party. It was a 95th birthday party! You don't see many of those in a lifetime! In this case it was Rocks By Rail hero volunteer Ray's 95th and what a great party it was! And where did he decide to hold it? Well at the Rocks By Rail Museum - his favourite place!

With a family of children, grand children, great grand children and a few great great grand children there were probably more people at the Museum then we see in a normal open day!

It was nice that it was a sunny day and people could overspill outside the cafe enjoying the food and cake that was in abundance!

And how many birthday parties do you go to where you get to have a ride in the cab of a locomotive? Well if you are at the Museum that can happen and it did! 

Nice one Ray and a real privilege to be at your party! I don't even have to go back and apologise - Mrs. W made sure of that ai8ded by loyal blog reader Mrs. B who was also there!

Galzing time!

 Just a small model making job - glazing the windows of the 3D printed signal box. For this I used my trusted glazing product Glue n Glaze. For small panes it is a great produce. It looks a mess when applied and there is an art to getting it to spread across the aperture of the window pane but once mastered it is a fairly quick process.

Just about dry now and changed from a white mess to clear!

Another job done on this structure so hopefully before too long I can get it back on the layout1

This time though, productivity on the destruction front would be double!

 There has ben a bit of tidying going on at the rocks By rail Museum!

The Restoration Shed was particularly tidy with all the stuff that has found its way onto the rolling stock removed although I am not sure where it has ended up!

 Even the platform planters are being spruced up with new wooden planting boxes replacing the tired plastic ones.

White paint is being applied to various things too!

Even this buffer head got the treatment presumably so that guests see it and don't bump into it!

Continuing with this theme of tidying, it was time to do some more vegetational butchery! This time though, productivity on the destruction front would be double as loyal blog reader Mrs. B was at the Museum looking for something to do. Well, that looking was soon sorted as a quick tutorial on the controls of Morris Mower saw Mrs. B head off into the jungle of vegetation with Morris leaving me to do some much needed strimming with Sammy Strimmer!

So this....

Became this...

It may not look much but there were brambles, ivy and grass engorging the track side and wheels of the rolling stock so it at least looks neater.

More work with Sammy saw this....

become this...

I know that vegetation has not been dealt with for at least five years! Looks neater now though!

You always find odd things when wandering around the site such as this old birds nest made on the chassis of one of the wagons.

I also got a chance to take a look at some of the rolling stock I never normally get to see cloose up such as this bogie flat.

It may not have moved in a few years but it will be needed to move rail and sleepers once the passing loop is started at the end of the line.

Something that probably has no likely future service is this coach which unfortunately was vandalised some years ago.

Something I would like to see come back into service is this rather unique rake of side tipping wagons.

As a rake of 6 wagons they would look stunning restored and running behind one of the locos. The chassis are fine on the wagons but the bodies would need a lot of work to bring them back to life.

Whilst I imagined the fully restored wagons running Mrs. B had run out of petrol for mowing but had done a great job in keeping the place looking tidy. At this rate we may run out of jobs to do!

The platelayers hut comes on!

As you can see and following on from yesterdays post I have added some window frames from plastic strip to the 34D printed platelayers hut. I have also put some filler around the top of the chimney breast to simulate the cement flaunching that is there in rea life.

With that done it was out with the rattle can of grey primer to give it a base coat.

Once dry I can start the colouring!

Corrugated iron plastic sheet.

Having added some brick detail to the chimney breast of the 3D printed platelayers hut it was time to add some texture to the walls. A sheet of embossed corrugated iron plastic sheet provided this. Some careful measurements and cutting produced the necessary parts.

I even added some plastic strip for the door. Just need to do something about that window and then it will be paint time!

Looks a bit more interesting then what it started out as!