Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

G`day Folks,
I can see from the replies coming in that you are an inventive lot.
Good on you I say......might as well have some fun with these nuisances.
I had a guy going a few years ago now....we were repeatedly getting these calls at dinner time. You would just sit down to eat and the phone would go and it would be some wombat from Woop Woop trying to flog you something or scam you in some way.
I had had enough annoying calls.
This particular night when the phone rang, I said to the guy on the other end " How did you get this number.....this call is being traced...don`t hang up this is a crime scene....we already have your number and if you hang up police will be knocking on your door in two minutes."
Amazingly he stayed on the line. ??
I said " How did you know Mr. Gorman.....he was a well known drug dealer....are you one of his customers.?"..." No, no not me"...he said. This guy was packing it on the other end of the phone. He said " Is he dead??"......I said "Would it suit you if he was dead???".....to which he emphatically replied " No, No, No......I`ll get my supervisor"....I replied immediately..."Don`t you move son....you`re in a lot of trouble".
He said." I don`t know Mr. Gorman ".....he sounded really worried...I said " Well how did you get his number then.....it`s a silent number".
By this stage I`m guessing he either needed to make an urgent trip to the bathroom or he fainted, because the phone just went dead......he hung up I guess???
I was laughing for ages.......Gormo 1......Bad Guys 0.....that felt so good!!!
Gormo

 

Folks,

Well it`s been a long time since the poor old railway had some more work done on it. But now I`ve finally got around to doing something.

The first thing to be finished is the platform surface. Everything else will move on from that, so in the last couple of days I have put some time in to get things moving once again.

These little suckers below have been waiting for a train for ages although they seem happy enough with their own company.???



Most of the platform has been covered with pastel, although touch ups and individual paver colour changes could be on the cards, but that is just detail......most of the hard slog is nearly there. You can see below I`m past where the Main station building will sit......there`s just a bit at the end to receive pastel.





Some of the paving lines shown below.......still lots to to be scored.





Now these little workers below........The Dapol Boys......courtesy of SWMBO.....will be used.....or at least some of them will be used as workers repairing / replacing part of the platform surface at the far end of the platform which has yet to receive it`s coating of pastel. Paul planted the repair crew idea in my head ages ago......thanks Paul...



I also found a pair of Bachmann Thompson bogies the other day, at Woodpecker Model Railways, to suit a GWR van that Gary had donated to GCJ. The van had been a kit build originally and came with white metal bogies. The original bogies were slightly damaged and twisted and were so soft that repair was pointless. The Thompsons are a perfect match size wise, although probably not prototypical, but they work very well indeed. I swapped the original couplings on the Thompsons over to a pair of small Bachmanns and there is still a buffer to repair at the other end, however the van is running sweetly so I`ll just enjoy that for the moment.



A couple of washers required to sort out the fitting of the bogies.



The original white metal jobs for comparison



Still more can be done / removed around the coupling area to tidy it up a bit but it`s all cosmetic from here on.

So there you are folks......onwards and upwards.

http://www.click Gormo

 

Thanks Guys,

Gary.....surgery and amputation is not out of the question and will be considered if and when the need arises. No anasteathic either.....ooh...eeh...aah....aah.
The coach is running sweet as a nut.....thanks for the donation.....the old bogies are useless but I`ve saved the wheel sets.......you never know when they may come in handy.?

Ed.....sometimes I question my decision to tackle the paving on the platforms and then I look at them and I can see the end in sight so it doesn`t matter anymore.....I`m nearly there.!!

Paul....... a good suggestion will always be a good suggestion and I value constructive / creative input.......so that`s why the workers ripping up my platform tops are going in......thanks again.

Toto......thanks for your support as always....bestest buddy pal old mate.....I`ll take some close ups of the little people when they`re done......just for you!

Ron.....inspirational is quite a compliment.....thank you......but it`s all down to perseverance and a bit of a slog. Sometimes if want something different you just have to make it yourself.

Speaking of the workers.....does anybody know if they would have used some form of safety barrier during the 1950`s / 60`s when doing repair work on a platform surface. And if so what do you think the barrier would look like?????.....Has anyone seen such a thing????

Cheers
Gormo http://www.click

 

Thanks Guys,

That all sounds feasible and the site is really good too.

Thanks

Cheers

Gormo

 

Thanks Guys,

Sounds like using your ideas in some sort of compilation will look about right.

After all safety standards in those days were quite different to what we have today so a bit of flexibility here and a dash of creativity there should do the trick.

http://www.clickGormo