Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Well yes Toto....exactly,
The two little boys are 5 and 7 years old. I was 7 years old when I received my first Triang train set. It was played with on the floor. Ran flat out through impossible radius curves and would not derail because of huge flanges on the wheels.
That train set stimulated my interest in model trains and because it was made for children, it survived my childhood. The track has long since gone in an early attempt at a layout, but the loco and a couple of wagons still sit in my shed on display to remind me of the generosity of my parents.
So this is the logic behind my suggestion for our current manufacturers. Create a train set for children that can take some rough handling, but can look the part and could easily be run on their Dad`s layout as well.
You might say that the Thomas the Tank Engine series meets the criteria, but I reckon little kids still associate these model trains with the cartoon series on TV and regard them as not real. Whereas if you give a kid a basic representation of the Flying Scotsman for example, to that child, that model is just like the real thing and now we`re getting fair dinkum.....let`s build a model railway empire......hooked for life.
Imagine the child with a model of whatever is running now on your local railway system. " Hey Dad that`s just like my one !! "....They wouldn`t be able to get home quick enough to start playing trains..........much like us old fuddy duddys do now....

Gormo

 

Thanks Toto, Paul and Gary,
That was unexpected..????.....but good....
Paul I guess I could have added smoke effects in, I`ve done it before , but didn`t think of it.....I have an example somewhere if I can find it.??
Ah yes here it is......it was buried in my archive.



Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Well we survived Christmas. My waistline has expanded three inches, but nonetheless it was an enjoyable experience getting there.
Now we have to contend with the next few days of high temperatures which will gradually rise to forty plus in my neck of the woods. The aircon will cranking full steam ahead as my wife cannot tolerate the heat. It`s not so bad for me because I am on blood thinners and consequently feel the cold more than the heat......well there you are...???
Anyway.......I received some shinies for Christmas, some of which included some more Bachmaan figures for GCJ station. I already had a few that I had not yet stuck down, so I went a little bananas in the last couple of days ( probably due to heat and alcohol ? ) and stuck them all down.
So I will add some pics below showing the throng of people waiting for trains at GCJ. Funny thing is though.???....the trains stop at the station but nobody gets on...????























Gormo

 

Stuck down with Superglue.
I make a small pool ( a couple of drops ) of Superglue on some scrap board and then stand the figure in the pool to wet his / her feet. I then transfer the figure to the layout.
Gormo

 

Yeah I know Gary,
I`m getting a lot of complaints now from disgruntled plastic people......they`ll just have to be patient.......
Gormo

 

Thanks Richard
All the Best
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I`ve taken a bit of a leap today with a background that I`ve had for some time now. Couldn`t make up my mind whether to use it or not..........so today I said " Stuff it, I`ll put it on "......so I did.

This an old pic taken when this factory scene was first put in place. The area on the left......the door jam......was not treated to a factory or background as was it`s counterpart on the right hand side



I was not 100% sure of how I was going to proceed over that side, so decided to wait. In the meantime I had downloaded a pic of an old factory from the net, I had cut it out and tried it to see how it looked , which to my mind was pretty good. So today it got stuck on.
Now folks, this is simply a picture cut and trimmed and folded and stuck onto the door jam.

The rough old door jam doesn`t do me any favors in close up pics, but when you apply the three foot rule, it looks OK.

You can see it makes it `s way around the architrave and in doing so assumes a 3D quality.

And from this angle it makes more sense than a vast expanse of blue.

So there we are folks.......more adventures in backgrounds still to come.

Gormo

 

Thanks Toto,
I think it was always meant to go there, just had to muster up the effort to put it there.
Sometimes you just have to throw the plan out the window and go with the gut instinct.
Gormo