On the level!

 Amazing thing concrete. It is a strong material and when you lay it you would think that being in a semi fluid state it would find its own level before setting. Well that is what I thought. Wrong! The floor slab in the conservatory rebuild slopes from one side to the other by 16mm. Apparently that is quite good as the floorer who came to WMD HQ today dealt with a floor yesterday that was 65mm out from one end to the other.

So how do you to ensure you have a level floor - use self levelling screed! Well that was what the floor layer did and once mixed it was poured onto the concrete to do its stuff. The blue rectangles are the level he needed to pour to so once covered the floor was on the level.

Now whilst watching self level screed being poured and finding its own level may be of interest to me I was not staying for the hours it takes to dry. So other jobs were done and then a look in at the Man Cave and after yesterdays running of trains there was a similar activity today. I must admit I do enjoy watching that Garratt running - certainly more entertaining then watching the screed dry although I am not sure Mrs. Woody would agree!

The Bayer Garratt, was I believe the only mainline articulated locomotive to run mainline in the UK. The model I have depicts it during its time with British Railways when it was converted to a revolving coal tender which made life a lot easier for the Fireman. 33 were built between 1927 and 1930 and withdrawn by the mid 1950's with none surviving. 

It was a surprising but welcomed decision back in about 2014 by the Danish company Heljan to produce a model of this locomotive. The first batch had various technical problems but my one comes from the second batch from about 2018. It is DCC chipped although I would love to add sound to it but you can't have everything and I am fortunate just to have the loco. It does run nicely and I think it could literally haul a train 4 or 5 times the length of the 12 mineral wagons and one guards van that I have behind it at the moment. Thinking about that I believe that with 60 wagons behind it and the length of that, the loco would almost be pushing the guards van as it wet round by modest layout!

The mineral wagons are from the Hornby Railroad range and you could pick up a pack of three wagons for about £10 not so many years ago. Today it is more like £30. However with the detailed products released many wagons are now £20 to £30 each so finding three even for £30 is still a bargain. Some may question the level of detail of the Railroad range but looking at a rake of these wagons from several feet away you are not really going to notice if the underframe detail is fully accurate. With some weathering these wagons can look and run as good as ones costing two or three times more. I can understand for a small shunting type of layout where each item of stock is clearly on display, static for much of the time, the cost of the more detailed wagon can be justified. However, everyone has different views but being on the level with you I think I am right but don't tell Mrs. Woody as I can never be right by her reckoning!