GWR-fan Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) About five years ago in preparedness for a house move and a new dedicated train room, I sourced Hornby Dent Station accessories for a large layout incorporating the Dent area and local viaduct. I built the viaduct in two pieces measuring a total of around 1.8 metres in length. The viaduct was built with a curve as I preferred the aesthetics of a curved rather than long straight structure. Due to a long delay in moving due my wife deciding to continue working rather than retiring, I placed the two sections of viaduct on top of some industrial shelving in my garage. The garage is used purely for storage, is airtight and vermin proof and sturdily constructed of brick with a steel roll up door. I rarely access the garage. Two months ago I entered the garage to find one section of the viaduct had fallen to the ground a distance of about 2 metres. There was no reason to have fallen, it had remained untouched for around five years. Fortunately, I was able to seamlessly repair it and placed it back on the shelf after the glue had permanently cured. This morning I entered the garage to find the second half of the viaduct on the floor split in the centre of the central arch plus dislodging a pier. It had sat on the shelf for five years untouched. I will be able to repair the structure but am perplexed as there is no possibility of a draught or an animal to enter the garage and yet something has disturbed both sections of the viaduct two months apart causing them both to dislodge from the shelf and fall to the ground. Should I consult an exorcist and have a demon expelled from the premises? The second section also brought down with it a four arch bridge that is to represent from memory Coal Road that runs past the station itself. It suffered some damage which fortunately was easily fixed. I cannot see how either viaduct section has dislodged from the shelving as the shelving is 2 foot wide and high enough not to be bumped should I walk through the garage. The shelving units are sturdily built industrial units. The east coast of Australia is geologically stable with the last earthquake within 150 klms of me over thirty years ago. No tremors were experienced that may explain the viaduct sections falling. I am perplexed as to a reason for this to happen. Edited March 21, 2020 by GWR-fan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Clearly, you have one of these. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert17649 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 poltergeists throw stuff about, my railway is in a shed and I often find things on the floor,sometimes things I didn't know I had. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 Strange that my demon has waited for five years before retaliating. I know things have gone missing or maybe misplaced and then turn up in another part of the storage. Sometimes I have searched for days for a particular item only to find it exactly where I left it. These demons are extremely cunning. Sometimes I put something down and then moments later cannot locate it. Maybe a box full of gremlins that I have not found yet, though I really do not want to. I hope that the lost soul is a hermit as I really could not put up with a whole family of them wrecking my things. It would be nice if the lost soul had an interest in model railways and then he might be more careful how he handles my things, or at least put things back where he found them. Am I asking too much? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted March 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2020 Tell you what, once the corona panic is over if you want to fly my wife and myself out to Australia for a few weeks so she can sort it for you by exorcising the place then feel free! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Collier Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 My garage is fairly air tight but during the recent gales it was amazing how the wind had forced its way under the door and blown things about, The gap cannot be more than 5mm. Another suspect is mice having found one in my garage. Absolutely no idea how or where it got in but I spotted it on a shelf.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clearwater Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Perhaps these chaps have moved in? 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Trofimow Posted March 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2020 There's no mystery.... It'll be one of those ginormous antipodean spiders.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Or a snake. They can squeeze themselves down unfeasibly thin to get through gaps, and reading other threads would have me believe that Aus is alive with the blighters. Or, the process of gentle decay caused viaduct components to warp, deform, become unstable and topple. Change of humidity might have been the deciding factor. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert17649 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Bats can do that as well 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 Thankyou gentlemen. Each section of viaduct was approximately 0.9 metres in length and both were stored upside down so the structure was sturdily resting on the shelf and not standing precariously on their piers. The items are built from the Wills plastic kits heavily modified and after five years one would think that any shrinkage due solvent evaporation would have well and truly have occurred. There is no distortion in either piece so no internal stresses. I am still not convinced of a simple cause like wind or rodent (or snake or enormous spider). We have more than our share of such creatures and flocks of bats do fly over every night to their feeding grounds, however, the potential for wind or an animal to enter the garage is minuscule. I am happy enough to provide a habitat for the demon but I wish that he was more careful and respectful of my things. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nickey Line Posted March 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2020 9 hours ago, Gareth Collier said: My garage is fairly air tight but during the recent gales it was amazing how the wind had forced its way under the door and blown things about, The gap cannot be more than 5mm. Another suspect is mice having found one in my garage. Absolutely no idea how or where it got in but I spotted it on a shelf.... 5mm is ample for a mouse. They can get through a hole the diameter of a standard pencil. A continuous gap is no obstacle. A rat can get through a hole the size of your thumb. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 Just now, Nickey Line said: 5mm is ample for a mouse. They can get through a hole the diameter of a standard pencil. A continuous gap is no obstacle. A rat can get through a hole the size of your thumb. Mice and rats do tend to leave deposits behind as a clue to them having visited! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nickey Line Posted March 21, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) 1 minute ago, Mark Saunders said: Mice and rats do tend to leave deposits behind as a clue to them having visited! True, true, a bit of a giveaway! But the poster did say he'd seen the mouse... Edited March 21, 2020 by Nickey Line 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 Just a correction, I have never seen a mouse, rodent, (bat, snake, ginormous spider) or droppings in the garage. I believe another stated he had seen a mouse. I have checked all wall linings for signs that entry may be possible by vermin. Both doors have weatherproof seals and the window has never been opened. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Have you read ‘The Speckled Band’? Or, any other ‘locked room’ murder stories? They might give clues, or simply take your mind off it. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mikkel Posted March 22, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 22, 2020 Maybe you are playing trains in your sleep? I say that only half in jest. Many years ago my wife and I lived in a small 5th floor apartment. One morning I woke up to find my screwdrivers and a hammer lying on the floor in our small hallway. I was deeply puzzled because I definetely had not put them there. When my wife woke up she said she hadn't either. To this day, the best explanation I can see is that one of us must have been sleep-walking, although we have no track record of doing that before or since. Alternatively, a former owner of the apartment still had keys and was playing a prank. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Nickey Line Posted March 22, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 22, 2020 4 hours ago, GWR-fan said: Just a correction, I have never seen a mouse, rodent, (bat, snake, ginormous spider) or droppings in the garage. I believe another stated he had seen a mouse. Just so. My reply was to the poster that I quoted, i.e. Gareth Collier. Apologies if it caused any confusion! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 I am convinced that there is a gang field pixies or similar that are hiding things so far its one colour slide missing for 20+years, a diagram missing for 15+ and a Yorkshire Engine manual ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simontaylor484 Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 My dad is a church of England priest was going to offer his services till I saw you were in Oz 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 On 21/03/2020 at 13:31, Clearwater said: Perhaps these chaps have moved in? O Lord ! - child-hood memories "Thanks for moving The General, Mum" etc …………... Forest of Boland next …………. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clearwater Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 34 minutes ago, Southernman46 said: O Lord ! - child-hood memories "Thanks for moving The General, Mum" etc …………... Forest of Boland next …………. I did also think of posting a Borrower’s Cover. Particularly I think it’s the third volume where they go to live in a Bekonscot style model village. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tomparryharry Posted March 24, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 24, 2020 If you have an 'up & over' type door, they generate a huge amount of turbulent air when the door is closed. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 G'day Folks Do you have a Washing machine or tumble drier near the wall of the Garage, over time a bit of vibration may have moved them. manna 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWR-fan Posted April 3, 2020 Author Share Posted April 3, 2020 Thankyou gents for your comments. My garage door is a "roll-a-door" effectively just winding up on itself. The garage is on the opposite side of the house to the laundry and being a brick home vibrations are not really an issue. The viaduct sections have been returned to the storage shelf and have remained insitu now for a week or two. Perhaps the demon has gotten over his temper tantrum and will calm down for a while as I await his next surprise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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