These days I like to see my past life safely in the form of photographs or looking at this blog!

Out on a bike ride I came across this.

There are moments in life where your life passes in front of your eyes and this must have been one of them for who ever went through the canal bridge parapet.

As you can see its a sheer drop of about 15 feet which must have seemed a lot more for the occupants who, from what I understand, survived without serious injury. These days I like to see my past life safely in the form of photographs or looking at this blog!

Back at WMD HQ it was time to determine how to mount the control panel carcase that I have been putting together over the last few days to the layout. I could have just screwed it in place but I need it to be removable, especially during the wiring process so I have put two screws into the layout baseboard and drilled suitable holes in the carcase so that it can be slid on and off.

 I just need to tidy the holes up and paint the raw edges of wood.

It does actually fit as intended which is an achievement for me!

Looking from a distance it fits in well with the structure of the layout. I just need to think about the top and wiring now!

Out with the grey paint!

 After yesterday's caravan cleaning capers I am fairly worn out so just a small model related job of painting the carcase of the control panel for my Last Great Project layout.  So it was out with the grey paint which matches the profile boards already on the layout so I may rename the Slate Grey to WMD Grey! 

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Even Mrs Woody got involved so you can tell how important this job was!

The little mentioned WMD caravan was subject to much frustration today. Not used for three years for various reasons such as elderly cats, it has quietly become a bit of a breading ground for dirt and various forms of vegetation.. Mrs. W has muted that now we only have four young cats we could start using the caravan again so in order to do that today saw the cleaning equipment come out and the van was tackled. However the van did not want to play as the door lock jammed preventing us getting in. It was either a £200 locksmith call out or I could have a go myself. I now pride myself in having saved £200 and got in without damaging anything!

With access gained cleaning the outside could commence and boy was it a big job - even Mrs Woody got involved so you can tell how important this job was! 4 hours of work saw this rather shabby looking object....

become this thing of, if you are into caravans, beauty!

It just needs a service and it should be ready to go just like me!

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