Farewell, My Lovely

Over the last six weeks the house has often felt very full. Probably because it has been. It is lovely to see the children and grandchildren, but with Mum here as well it can all get a bit overwhelming for me. Add on to that catching the NIMBUS variant of COVID, my ongoing asthma and hayfever and then breaking a couple of ribs and it is perhaps understandable I am at a standstill.

I've got half a dozen simple projects to finish off. All quite simple, and looking quite good at the moment. Once they are out of the way I can move on to the next phase of my plans and , hopefully, finish off Dark Hall.

In three weeks, all I've managed to do is replace a tree on a Kato Circus module.

I need to replace the foliage at some point, since it started off as 4mm scale shrub.

I can't remember if I mentioned that my 7 1/4" gauge track has found a new lease of life as a portable line for use by the Foxfield Miniature Railway, but Teddy has now gone there as well, whilst awaiting collection to go to his new home in The Netherlands.

He would have been appearing at their miniature gala day, but the evening before his speed controller died halfway round the track. Fortunately they are no stranger to Scamps so he should be back up and running soon. Without train brakes he won't be of much use, but it is better than rusting away in our garage. 

The Itch

Many years ago, as a young manager, I was put in charge of an office full of misfits. Think Slow Horses, but without the espionage. One of them was Ron, an ex-Chief Petty Officer and the living embodiment of an old-school CPO, who was seeing out the end of his working life.

I kept in touch after he retired, something he struggled to cope with.

It was Ron who introduced me to the area around Kings Cross, or at least a different aspect of it from the one I knew in my CIB days, investigating  miscreant police officers.

Ron introduced me to the little cafes in the area, especially the Italian ones. There I learned to love liver, bacon and onions and discovered the secret of how to cook it.

He also took me into Victor's.

For those too young to remember, Victor's was THE place for US modelling in the UK.

In that little shop I bought the Walther's catalogue that still sits on my shelf, my first MDC kits, and books on lines like the Kennebec Central and various short lines. It was where I first opened the pages of Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette.

At the time, I was short on cash and living in a house share in Hendon. All I managed to build was one small diorama.I had vague ideas of a model based on the fictional Lake Woebegon

Time rolls on. Ron died after a very short retirement, Victor's closed, and the last time I was in what was once the Italian, the bill ran well into three figures.

Life got interesting over the next decade, but all my modelling was in OO9, and then came the really busy years. I might not have got much modelling done, but I did get to travel for work.

So, from time to time, I've come face to face with American railways, and those of Canada and Cuba.

The excursion vessel in Chicago creeps into this because I've been planning to model something like that for years, but a lot of American lake steamboats have very subtle lines. Cap Streeter is much simpler.

Where am I going with this? I'm not sure!

On the exhibition circuit, I've been coming across some quite nice North American N gauge layouts. I'm also in some modelling and prototype groups on FB which have been providing occasional inspiration. I've always been tempted by a micro using a car float as a sector plate.

A few items of stock are slowly finding their way onto a shelf. I find it hard to plan without something concrete in front of me. It might come to nothing. who knows?

Amerton

 Amerton has been on my list of places to visit for a very long time, back when we lived in Warwickshire and made regular visits to my mother in Market Drayton. But somehow I could never persuade Issy to drop me off there whilst she carried on with the family visit. Funny that.

Since moving here, we have visited the site a few times, but always just to visit the adjacent soft play area and children's farm with the grandchildren.

This week, with half-term coming to an end, everything came together, albeit on a day wiht the diesel timetable in operation.

The trip, you get two rides for your money, is a large distorted loop with one intermediate station. The scenery is pleasant farmland, enhanced by an eye-spy sheet that was enjoyed by the eldest grandchild and my mother.

The station has lots of character, and all the volunteers were very friendly. The little museum, with its automated model of the line, a brio trainset to play with and free colouring sheets also went down well with visiting families.