Fal Vale – 00 Southern Railway in the Antipodes

[Oldddudders]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Dare I suggest N****y?????

No thanks. You really aren't my type.

[St Enodoc]

44 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

No thanks. You really aren't my type.

Good.

[KymN]

Another Rule # 1 addition: another Buggleskelly fleet wagon from the Will Hay Appreciation Society. 

 

A couple of signals have arrived as well: This is the platform home starter for the Buggleskelly yard.  An SR Home and Distant have also arrived for the main line.  These are all by Dapol.

 

[KymN]

Hi folks,

You may have noticed, or perhaps you haven't, that these pages have been very quiet lately.  This is a reflection of a serious lack of action on Fal Vale/ Buggleskelly.  I have been suffering from a series of technological issues and failures, not only with the layout.  These, some bureaucratic impositions and several underlying conditions have impacted my motivation.   Fortunately, I have the support of friends and professional help that should allow me to get back to it.  Despite the wonderful help from St Enodoc to find the source of my electrical problems (I am very grateful mate), I just added more issues in my wiring of another section.  My cleaning lady (who decided that I am so hopeless that she started to move to more of a housekeeper) is now a friend, and has this habit of asking 'have you fixed the wiring yet?'  OK, this has become more of a 'Dear Abbie' column.  Sorry.

 

However, I am gradually getting back to it, even if it is only through some retail therapy. A few old orders have started to appear.  The order for the 00 Works Adams Jubilee was on the way, but despite the wonderful help from 00 works (Rebecca Bruce) has only got as far as the Robertsbridge Post Office, where it was posted.  Likewise some 009 rolling stock and sundry items from Kernow got to being scanned at Royal Mail Langley and after a full month has only just got on a flight.  Again, Greg from Kernow has been very helpful, as usual.

 

I managed to lose my focus on the LSWR with one rush of blood purchase.  This eventually arrived from Locomotion.   It is the model of the North Eastern Railway ES1 electric locomotive.  Just two were built to move freight through a tunnel down to the Newcastle wharves.  They had third rail pickups and small pantograph to pick up power in the yards.  Steam power would fill the tunnel with smoke and set the straw packing used in open wagons alight, so trains would emerge on fire. Newcastle was an important city in my professional development in connection with the metro.

 

 

Here are a few miscellaneous pics, without explanation, just to show I am still here:

 

 

They may be repeats!

Please do not expect much in the blog just yet.  Once something happens with the railway I shall resume, 

Cheers,

Kym.

 

 

[KymN]

Fal Vale has been in remission for a very long time.  I have become a 'collector of toy trains rather than a railway modeller of late.  I am now facing a barrage of pre-orders emerging from the shadows - these go back in one case nearly a decade 🤪.  We have in this parish a competition as to he who has the most toys when he dies wins.

I do have some nice ones - a small fleet of narrow gauge items that actually have a track to run on.  I still need to build a station or yard to justify the junction.

   

 

 

I also have a modest fleet of Buggleskelly-themed wagons.

 

The plan is that after Easter I will make the time to do some modelling.   Not before time I hear you cry. Been diverted into the garden, but I still need to oil the woodwork.

Edited June 8, 2023 by KymN
Pic explanation

[KymN]

Hello fellow, railway modellers.

 

I have been rather out of it when it comes to modelling lately.  It seems that I had more time when I was working than I have now in retirement.  I'm not sure how that works, but I now don't have a wife, and live in a different state of Australia, one that didn't have a history as a place for the disposal of British convicts. 

 

My other obsession has for a long time been blues, folk and similar roots music. One of the best exponents of that genre (in the U.S. at least) was the late John Prine (Also Honorable Poet Laureaute of the State of Illinois), who introduced one of his performances saying "I got a divorce for Christmas".  I bought myself an electric train, because I never had one.  I nailed it to the dining room table... because I could".

 

That is me these days.  I have become a collector of toy electric trains, rather than a railway modeller. My interest in the London and South Western Railway (and the South Australian Railways) hasn't changed, but I need to do some more work other than spending too much pension money. I have supplemented this with references to the other old movie inspired by Arnold Ridley's Ghost Train, hence the references to Bugglekelly.  This is Will Hayes' Oh, Mr Porter. With any luck and time/energy I shall post some of my 'collection' (rolling stock roster) and even further development of Fal Vale, should that happen when I awake from my somnolent state.

Edited June 8, 2023 by KymN
Clarification