A Old Projects, New Impetus

Before the house move, additional grandchildren and my mother's health concerns, I had a number of projects on the go that have all been disrupted.

I know the baseboards and various goodies are stowed away somewhere, but who knows where?

However, things are beginning to resurface, and some of the pre-orders I placed a long time ago have now been delivered.

On the return to Apa Valley/TAoC front, the Hattons 4whl coaches arrived. 

I have a couple of issues with them. The brake gear was damaged on some, and as you can see, the couplings were even upside down in one case. It's not really an issue for me since I'll be using Kadees. I'm not sure what I will do about the numbering since some will see service on the next Apa and others on the East Coast Light railway inglenook. 

Talking of which, this exquisite jewel arrived this morning

I think I'm drifting towards the idea of an off-scene sector plate replacing the three-way point, which means I can fit it on a much smaller baseboard for a quick and dirty layout.


And I didn't share at the time, but one of my favourite industrial locos arrived awhile ago. I seem to be building a collection of small industries, but I still don't know what my plans are for them.

Still not Stafford

 Last week was hard work. I was prepping for my next conference, getting messed about by one client, and chasing an invoice with another that they hadn't processed because they gave me the wrong information in the Work Order. A freelancer's lot is not a happy one.

On top of which, two of the grandchildren ended up on oxygen in hospital, and we had the other two to stay. Unfortunately, the youngest is teething, so sleep was a luxury.

Having endured the joys of taking a five-year-old to make a choice of birthday present in a toy superstore (4,000 steps trying to keep up with him) and retail park McD's, the weekend brought those words I dread: Soft Play.

As it happens, though, one of our best local soft play attractions is also the location of the Amerton Railway. Needless to say, my attempts to sneak off to have a look around were thwarted, but I did manage to quickly grab some photos,

It seems to be a friendly line, and a friend of a friend is trying to arrange a private visit for a few of us, so I will be back.

And if you have to go to a soft play area then Amerton Farm isn't a bad one.  The cafe does quite acceptable chips.