Granddad gnome

AS can be seen these are all made from plywood covered with plasticard ect. but for my own railway outside I will substitute the ply for perspex hoping this to be more weather proof. But as I have never done anything like this before it is likely to be a large learning curve. Comments always welcome. (Its the only way to learn, as well as the cheapest).

My representation of the old Baltimore and Ohio passenger station that used to be at Evan’s City. Pa. This station was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not as the only passenger rail station built completely over water. The station was built upon steel girders stretching over the Breakneck Creek, because the tracks ran too close to the waterway to do anything else. Model built by Peter D Spencer February 2013. Models donated to the East Midland Area Group of the G Scale society for their modular layout.

Just thought you might like to see how my little empire is developing. ConcreteConcreteMore ConcreteEven More ConcreteMore Concrete to doAlmost doneEnd of the line

Finally got water fall finished in new mountain. Looks OK I think. Took advantage of roof repairs and got my son to take a few overal photos.

I started with scraps of wood and a small amount of imagination

None of the woodwork is attached to the fencing panels. These may need to be lifted if we have any trouble on the tracks under the mountains. Posts secured to concrete then timber across to support the main woodwork.

A move round the track a bit to where we start the construction of our first mountain. ]

Comet -brilliant company. Sent me a new camera in place of the one I dropped, and its even a better one than the other, this was thay say because they don't make the other one ant more. So, weathers good I think a few hours in the garden is called for . SEE YOU ALL LATER.

Visit to Comet yesterday was a huge success as they have taken my broken camera with no questions asked and sent it away for evaluation and possible replacement. The service was great and the system so easy, I cant fault them at all. Promised a written reply within 5 working days, how good is that. Let you know the outcome.

Just been outside to photograph last evenings work and guess what, I DROPPED THE CAMERA. It does not seem that it wants to work anymore, (Good job i have the accidental insurance cover) Well it looks like a trip into town to see about repairs. No work today. "O" well the weather man said (if he can be relied upon) that we should get a good weekend, we shall see. But here is an old photo of what we are facing.

Just a couple of photos of today's work.

Mates turned up so the next layer was mixed and applied. We then balanced rockery stone on edge to see what it would look like and a bit of track. We are well pleased what do you think.

From the comments I have received it seem that a few of you are under the impression that my blog is showing an on going job. Well to put the record straight,I must tell you that only the entries from "present working position" are to do with the restart of work, all the other entries from the start are just telling the story and showing what had been done before I was taken ill over 18 months ago and had to have open heart surgery. I am please to say that I have 2 very good mates who come round 3 times each week at the moment to help get the railway back up and running as I have not been able to run trains for nearly 2 years now. That's the beauty of this hobby, and being in a club, you make and collect so many really good friends that a small call for help brings round a working party, and as you have said provided the kettle and cake tin are always to hand the work moves on a pace. I raise my glass to them all ( even though it only contains orange squash at present.)

Thought I should just do a bit first thing, as the weather man said IT WILL RAIN. Will start top coat tomorrow.

A good sloppy mix of building sand and cement at 3 to 1. is used to dip the Hessian in. surplus squeezed of and then it is laid as required over the chicken wire.

My method for covering the bits that I don't like is to cover them up with concrete. To do this I make sure my track bed is supported at the right levels ext and then cover this with old bits of chicken wire. This is then covered with sacking cut into strips. I bought a roll of Brick layers Hessian, the sort they use to cover brick work in the winter. When these strips are soaked in a very runny mix of soft sand and cement they are laid over the wire and moulded to a shape that suites and left to dry for a couple of days. This is then followed at a later stage with a mix of grit sand and cement applied by trowel, witch hopefully looks more realistic. This can be painted at a latter stage or just left to collect natures own colours. As here

This is the point I have reach so far that completes my first full circuit

Well lets look where this leads. between 2 tunnels And then out the other side Bridge back into the train room. This lifts so as to pass round the other side.

Let’s turn left, well perhaps not at present. It seems we have nowhere to go as yet. . This area is hopefully going to end up as a freight yard and river dispatch area, leading on through to a sawmill and wood yard. (Built to help hide the filter unit for the pond, more on this later) This is my grandson marking the underside of the boards so I can attached wood strips to make sure it wont slip. The branch as nearly finished.

Found the photo of the bulk storage tanks, and how I made them. They are made from plaster board, the windows are floor tile spacers.

An over all view first and a little closer.

On crossing the path we tunnel under the waterfall that we build when we first moved into the bungalow. This was built as a garden feature as well as a way to help keep the water clean. Our journey takes us all the way around the fish pond climbing steadaly as we go.We travel back to the place we crossed the track earlier where we come to a junction. this is where life gets awkward as decisions now have to be made.

On a little more.

Here we are making a start on disguising the layout a bit.