Not long now!

Not long now until the Rocks by Rail Museum opens for the 2022 season. In fact a week today, Tuesday 12th April, the gates will open to the public at 10am. You can click on the images below to open an image you can enlarge to see more clearly if you need to.

Lots of events and where else can you drive a railway locomotive for £5?. Bargain especially in this day of rising prices. Even on non-operating days there are many things to see and do and for a family of two adults and up to three children £15 on non-operating days and £25 on operating days is all it costs to access the museum. OK! Sales pitch over.

It will be great to see visitors again after what has been a hard Winter of ballast washing and track leveling and packing for me and others. We are almost at the end of the line so it was nice not to have to walk to the work site and instead get a lift in Betty the Sentinel locomotive.

My taxi awaits! 

Its a long way to the end!

Nearly there!

That was the easy part so now the work starts!

Cost of living pressures - Bargain basement time!

With a lot of talk at the moment about the cost of living rising there is no doubt that model railways can be expensive. Some of the recent released model locomotives can easily be in the region of £150 to £250. For that you do get a very well detailed model that is almost, what is termed as museum quality. Unless you are a highly skilled modeller it is unlikely that you will get anything better. However that is a lot of money in most peoples terms. Add to that a train for it to haul and even if you only have room for three coaches it is likely to add another £100 to £120. A six coach train can easily add up to £250 to £300. 

Here at WMD we need to be cautious in purchases with the watchful budgetary eye of Mrs. Woody keeping monetary matters in hand. So I do keep a look out for bargains. One example is that I have slowly been building up a collection of British Rail Blue era coaches as I have a few diesels from that era of the 1970s into the early 80s. I do have room for six coach trains on my layout so I was pleased that over the past few months I have managed to put together a rake of 6 Mk2 coaches for just over £40! Three were bought via eBay for about £25 including postage and three at last weekends Bingham Model Railway Club exhibition for £6 each from the club sales stand. What I have will never be classed as a Museum Quality Model. They do, under close scrutiny, show their age, wear and lack of detail finesse. But that is the thing. Under close scrutiny. On most layouts, including mine, they will be wizzing by at speed (hopefully!) so the chance to closely examine whether the electric generator has the proper belt modelled in the correct place or that the toilet window is located slightly to one side of where it should be is somewhat superfluous. There is an old saying - If it looks OK from 6 feet which is the normal viewing distance for layouts, then it is OK! 

They do require a bit of a clean and fettling and perhaps one or two wheels require replacing but overall just over £40 works for me - and hopefully Mrs. W! 

It is very nice to have the latest detailed models and I do have some myself, but don't write off old models. Most will give years more service and still look good from that 6 foot distance! Keep an eye open for those bargains and railway modelling can be a reasonably cheap hobby.

Not bad for just £6 and below the rake of 6 coaches put together for just over £40.

What makes a great layout?

Following my visit to the Bingham Model Railway Club Exhibition on Saturday my mind was centered on one layout in particular. That is Cold Front, a WW1 themed 009 gauge layout. There were several factors in my mind that made it a great layout in my view and others as it won best layout at the show. Firstly was the choice of subject. In the period 2014 to 2018 there were a few WW1 themed layouts built and exhibited but they were and are a rarity. So, the subject is unusual but following the interest in WW1 as a result of the commemoration of the 100 year anniversary people are aware and interested in the subject regardless of being railway modellers or not or even being Mrs. Woody! Secondly, the presentation was first class. The layout was built on a curved baseboard and enclosed so your eye was drawn into the layout. The enclosure was well presented and it was almost like looking at a stage. Thirdly the composition of the layout was well thought out. The landscape of the layout rose towards the back making it easy to see the details and the details were well modelled. Fourthly, the trains operated well without the need for 'The Hand of God' pushing stalled engines. They were also interesting with rolling stock that would have been used in the period. Fifthly, the actual modelling was first class. Everything was modelled to a consistent high quality. Lastly, there was the surprise atmosphere created by the lighting mimicked day and night with the lighting fading to night time and then back to day through the use of clever electronics and LED lighting units. 

Well that is what in my view makes a great layout. Unfortunately with my skills and abilities I will never build that type of layout - but it doesn't stop me trying and enjoying the process!

I will end with some pictures of this great layout.

 

Bingham Model Railway Club Exhibition.

Something of a rarity in the last few years but nice to see that model railway exhibitions are beginning to come back. The issue of Covid is still here but being triple jabbed and still wearing a mask and sanitising on a regular basis you get to the stage where you feel comfortable in places which is something we all probably would not have been two years ago.

So with Mrs. Woody in tow to keep an eye on the spending we headed off to the exhibition this afternoon. The show is one of the smaller ones but in a spacious place so there is plenty of space to get about without falling over people and there were plenty of layouts, demonstrations and trade stands to keep you entertained and your wallet under strain! The layouts were a good spread of gauges from n to 0, eras and UK continental and American themed layouts were all present so a good variety with something to please and interest everyone - even Mrs. Woody was impressed! Her particular favorite was this 009 narrow gauge WW1 themed layout Cold Front. I must admit it was mine too!

More details tomorrow.

Doing it again!

Today, being April Fools' Day, was a day to repeat some modelling that I had already done as I had foolishly got things wrong previously. On the model Scania 143H, despite successfully rescuing the main cab without the need to respray it following the decal issue, I had to respray the side spoilers and make some new brackets for them which also got painted. Whilst the spray can was out, the mirrors also got a final coat of paint. It could all have been worse! In addition I had to put the windscreen and door windows back in as they had come out. Again matters could have been worse but it is a bit frustrating having to do it all again - almost making me feel foolish - April Foolish maybe? No matter, lessons learnt, do it differently next time and the next model will be better are all thoughts that go through my mind at a time like this. It is always best to look positively when something goes wrong as I keep telling Mrs. Woody following me failing on one of her jobs on her ever expanding list of jobs for me to do! 

Anyone order snow?

I was supposed to have a day at the Rocks by Rail Museum today but waking up this morning it was obvious that even if I went there was not a lot I could do outside apart from get wet and cold as this photo from WMD HQ illustrates.

I used the opportunity to catch up with some home jobs and I even managed to get out on my bike this afternoon for a few miles before being caught in a snow storm and headed for home. This months mileage is 539 bringing the years total up to 1315 miles. I did loose two days this month when it rained but apart from that I have ben out every day this year so I ma pleased.

Model wise I have managed to work on the cab of the Scania 143H and I was lucky enough to get the decals off which I wanted to and save the ones I wised to keep as well as get the cab front panel securely glued in place and hopefully without the need to respray the cab. Result! I will need to respray the side deflectors and reattach them but that is a small job compared to respraying the cab. As I said in a previous post, sometimes you just have to put a project that is going wrong away for some time and come back to it with a fresh mind. I still need to reattach the roof panel but with the wonders of BluTac I will able to mock the cab up on the chassis to see how it all looked without the original decals.

I think it works!

 

Progress!

Yes! Progress! The reason for this positivity is that the T80 MiniArt tank is just about finished! The tracks are on, it has been treated to a wash to highlight nuts, hatches, hinges and similar as well as having had a bit of weathering powder added. I just need to add the clear lens to the light and I think I will call it a day. Not my favorite or best build and one that I started just over a year ago on the 20th March 2021 (click here to see my post on the start of this kit) so its not been the quickest either. However it will go on the shelf as a further reminder of my modelling ineptitude of which I have a lot!

WMD out and about 2.

 Leaving Sherwood Forest yesterday I spied a road sign. Nothing unusual in that but this one had an important message that I had not seen before. It was directing me towards the Sherwood Forest Railway. A railway in Sherwood Forest. This I had to see! Course was set and despite Mrs. W rolling her eyes at the prospect of another railway, we soon were heading down a track to be greeted by a little gem of a 15 inch miniature railway.

We arrived at about 4pm and just in time to catch the departing train. A very reasonable £3 return ticket for each of us allowed access to the train and we took our seats in one of the small carriages standing at the platform of Loxley Station - Loxley being the supposed surname of Robin Hood..

Both at the station and along the length of the line there are various things to catch your eye and bring a smail to your face such as these gnomes on the platform.

The line runs for about half a mile climbing out of Loxley and going through some nice countryside.

There is work on going to extend the line by another half mile with much of the track laid so hopefully opening soon. The terminus at the moment is at Weldale Station where a passing loop allows the locomotive to run around its train for the journey back.

Our steam engine for the day was an 0-4-0 locomotive called Smokey Joe. I gathered that much of the rolling stock has varied history with the carriages having been built in England, exported to I believe Tanzania, then returned to England and coming to Sherwood via Cleethorpes!

A great time even if only for the hour we had there but worth returning and having a proper look around. The railway has a website which you can access by clicking here.

WMD out and about!

Mrs. Woody is off work for the next few days and with some good weather today we headed off to a place we have not seen for years - Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. 

Famous for both Robin Hood and the Major Oak which is the oak tree that Robin was supposed to have hidden in a cavity to escape The Sherriff of Nottingham and his men. It may or may not be true but let's be optimistic about matters and obviously there are many people who enjoy both the visitor center and the remaining forest surrounding the Major Oak. The oak will never win any best looking tree prizes but never the less looks impressive being between 800 and 1000 years old. It certainly did not look any different in the intervening years from when I last saw it but unfortunately the passing years have had their affect on me!

Although Sherwood Forest is a shadow of its former size you can still find your self alone and in some wonderful scenery. A great day out and well worth a visit.

As a final note and in my usual way I always look out for signs that I find amusing. This one in the forest made me smile. Do cyclists and horse riders need to slow down to pick up pedestrians and picnics? Sorry - just my sense of humour!

Leaving the Forest I made a rather unusual discovery that made the day even better but more on that tomorrow.

Jet lag!

Not that I have been anywhere to get jet lag but with the clocks going forward on hour my body is a little out of sync! I actually beat the cats getting up this morning so they were a bit staggered at getting an early breakfast as their cat clocks were still operating on GMT not Summer Time! No doubt we will all get into the swing of it in a few days and it is nice to have the lighter evenings.

With that extra evening daylight comes the various gardening tasks so time for model making gets squeezed a little more. However I did grab an hour this evening to do a few bits to the T80 tank. The rubber tyres on the main wheels have been painted. People often look at you a bit oddly when you say tanks have rubber wheels but they do and have done for years. Towards the end of the Second World War when Germany had major logistical supply problems they could not get rubber so some of their later tanks did have all metal wheels. However the ride is rough and the wear of two unlubricated metal surfaces of wheel and track brought about premature wear and failure issues. The tracks for the kit have also been airbrushed a rusty dry brown colour and the surfaces where there was wear with the various wheels and drive sprockets have been dry brushed with aluminum paint to show bear shiny metal. Al that remains is to get the wheels and tracks on the hull of the tank and give it all some weathering which will hide (hopefully) any failings in the build of the kit that I have done!