Resetting some loose slabs using an innovative method - silicon!

Not a great deal of time for model making at the moment as WMD Towers under goes some maintenance work. I demolished the brickwork under the bay window a week or so ago and then discovered that the drain taking the roof downpipe water was blocked which explained the mossy lawn that has developed over the years as the water was not getting away and soaking into the ground. Time to call in help in the form of Phil the builder who originally was just going to replace some radiators. Radiators replaced, he turned his attention to the drain. Removing the first clay pipe revealed a mass of tree root from the adjacent conifer. Despite using a pressure washer with a drain clearing attachment the root would not shift. Two hours later and using a cork screw attachment on the end of drain rods we pulled about 5 foot of tree root mass out! No wonder the drain was blocked. 

Phil has dug out the roots around the drain, replaced the pipework and bedded it in concrete which should hopefully keep the tree roots from getting back in. He also strengthen the foundation for the wall with more concrete which should stop it moving again.

Whilst Phil was in the mood for dealing with concrete matters, he also reset some loose slabs using an innovative method - silicon! He has done this before successfully so I will wait to see how mine perform!

I did mention a money back guarantee but for some reason Phil put on his ear defenders! Must get a pair for when Mrs. Woody enquires on progress with her list of jobs for me!

I see an opening!

I see an opening in this case is related to My Last Great Project Layout where work is progressing on getting scenery finished or at least to a point that looks like it may be complete! The latest part is to build a bridge/tunnel mouth on the station/storage yard approaches. It will hopefully all work out but at this stage it is slow going as measurements are taken and trial fittings made which all take time. At the moment one side of the bridge over the railway is mocked up in card and it looks good. If I am still happy in a day or so the rest of the bridge/tunnel mouth will be constructed.

All in all it was a great day, in a great place with great people!

It was not the busiest of days visitor wise at the Rocks By Rail Museum with a Quarry Day running yesterday as there were several other events going on in the area and the weather forecast had predicted rain. However, there was no rain so those that came enjoyed the sunshine and the Museum itself as well as all the activities that were taking place. All in all it was a great day, in a great place with great people!

The usual brake van rides were available and proved popular.

Doing my usual shunting activities I was more than ably supported by Graham and John who was driving Mr. D our shunting loco.

Mr. D, was looking good which is mainly down to John who has spent hours on getting this loco not only looking good but running well.

John's latest improvement has been to paint the operating panel to contrast with the rest of the repainted cab.

Meanwhile, Rob was demonstrating the drag line which always looks impressive.

And Martyn was demonstrating the face shovel.

We were all kept busy shunting and exchanging the wagons until the time came to park up wagons and loco and head for home!

I said it before but I will say it again - All in all it was a great day, in a great place with great people!

Everything worked with no short or dead circuits!

And now back to my Last Great Project layout with the profile boards having been painted and reattached to the rear of the layout and wires connected up I was pleasantly surprised, in fact amazed, to find that everything worked with no short or dead circuits! It must be down to the amount of practice I have had on the previous three boards.

I have left the profile boards off the inside faces of the baseboard to make access a bit easier as I start to form the landscape for the far corner. A small start has been made with the base of the scenic module now cut to shape from mounting card.

This could take some time to finish!

Anyone got an eraser?

Mrs. Woody had found details for an event from the Lincolnshire Makers Market which was being held at Little pontin Hall in, well, Lincolnshire! I never knew this Hall existed so it was worth a trip out just to see that as well as to find out what the Makers Market was like.

Whilst not the most grandeurs of halls, Little Pontin Hall never the less had some wonderful features and architecture and no doubt a fair amount of history. 

The gardens were lovely too.

The Makers Market itself was spread around the stables and out buildings. There were probably 50 or so stalls all with interesting stuff including the box of cookies we came home with!

Always on the look out for a little humour I did spot this wood engraving which I thought was good!

We did get talking to the organsiers who highlighted that there were other events in the 'Lincolnshire Makers Markets' series which Mrs. W is busy penciling into her diary. Anyone got an eraser?

I seem to be spending a great deal of time building layouts and not operating them!

At the moment I seem to be spending a great deal of time building layouts and not playing operating them! So I took an evening off and dusted off my HO gauge USA Switching Layout and spent a couple of hours just shunting wagons or as our American colleagues call them, freight cars, around.

 A break from the usual activities can do a lot of good as I inform Mrs. Woody when she enquires about progress with her jobs list for me!

It is beginning to look a lot like Autumn!

It is beginning to look a lot like Autumn! That is what I thought as I looked back on a section of the Nature Trail path at the Rocks BY Rail Museum having cut all the grass along it. 

The actual grass cutting was a battle as I had not been down this part of the site foe several weeks.

However, keen vegetational butchery with Mikey Mower saw the area cleared of long growth! 

The Museum site was partly made up ground and with its natural clay base all this leads to differential sinkage in hot weather as witnessed by the track being a bit undulating. Safe to travel at slow speeds I am assured!

Meanwhile, back in the level of the restoration shed, Hazel and new volunteer Dave spent most of the day getting a cast ring out from the boiler top. Having been in there so long and as a cast metal part, it eventually came out in four bits!

In many bits is the Southern brake van which is currently undergoing a rebuild.

Finally, I found these on the footplate of loco Barrington.

I believe they are genuine old oil cans which hopefully are actually older than me! A niceinside  job to clean these up as Autumn turns to Winter which given the current situation may not be too long!

A small step forward.

 A small step forward as I get the profile boards for My Last Great Project Layout painted in the customary WMD Slate Grey. I took them off the baseboard to make painting easier and once dry they can be reattached which will be another small step forward! Mrs. Woody though, is still waiting for steps forward with her list of jobs for me to do!

Brickwork butchery!

Whilst waiting for the glue to dry on my ballasting job from yesterdays post, I needed something else to do so I commenced demolishing a wall! Not on Mrs. Woody's list but never the less a job that needs to be done. WMD Towers has a bow window. A bow window is different from a bay window in that whilst the bay window is constructed from the ground up the bow window is just a window frame that looks like a bay window but without the brickwork underneath, Back in 2004, to hide the ugly wooden supports and the less then perfect brickwork I constructed a false bay window brickwork as well as a porch (which is still fine as it had deep foundations!). It did the job until in 2016 with the draught, the clay that the foundation stands on dried out more than usual and the false wall started to lean forward. I had not tied the wall into the existing brickwork deliberately because I always suspected there may be an issue and I did not want the false wall pulling on the main structure. Now that was either good planning or just an excuse for not digging deep enough foundations. However when I say the WMD Towers foundations go down 5 feet you ay understand why I did not follow with the false wall! What started as a slight lean has progressed over the years so it is time to demolish and rebuild! You can see the gap in between the window sills and the brickwork showing just how much the wall was leaning.

A carful use of hammer and cold chisel has seen brickwork butchery progress!

Despite calling it brickwork butchery, I have only broken two bricks for which the WMD Stores have spares so most will be reused once I sort out the foundation!

Time to relax?

Whilst the wiring the that I described in some previous posts is finished on the baseboard the original ballasting that I did some time ago was never finished (not unusual for me) and to be blunt, some parts were not as I would want them to be. That was partly down to the fact that the baseboard was in place on the layout and I could not reach very well. With the baseboard away from the layout I had the perfect opportunity to put right what is wrong and finish the project. Now ballasting is not the most exciting job to do but it can be relaxing so I have had a few hours of soothing work to relax me! And you do see some progress although I will need to wait for the dilute PVA glue that I spread over the top to dry before doing anything else! That should give me some more time to relax or do some jobs on Mrs. Woody's list!