OhOh

That's a boxfile just waiting to happen! Tay Wharf: was T'n Lyle Wharf nearby?

!

!

?

Even sans Smash tin, great pics The rockface outside the tunnel was the first thing that jumped out at me, very convincing indeed. The trees …. maybe there'd been a storm recently? How did you get on with the uncouplers? We tried, but most times they just derailed the wagons rather than uncouple them.

M

What a brilliant little layout, full of atmosphere and interest. I've got a wagon kit waiting to be built, but it's currently languishing in the "probably too difficult" drawer. What I have done though is take a sheet of glass from a cheap clip-frame that I can use to make sure everything is kept straight and level when/if I do get around to building it. For your backscene, I wonder if a grey misty-murky wash with just silhouettes of buildings in varying dark shades would do the job?

Really enjoyed my first visit last year and am looking forward to next weekend. Such a great venue too.

Loving the partly run-down look of that building.

?

Looks like you'll get plenty of enjoyment shunting with this new plan. Do you intend to assign each track to a specific use or industry?

T

I've just made a very simple single track 10cm long one by cutting a T shape from thickish (probably 3mm) card. The upright of the T sits in a channel of the same width and is pulled/pushed to move the track which is fixed to the top of the T. It's all self-limiting by dint of being contained in a 'well' using the same card from which it was cut. Probably easier to understand if you see the pic on my thread here.

Interesting question, which on account of not having been there I'm afraid I can't help you with. But I have just discovered here that, quite to my surprise, cardboard boxes were first used in 1817, so I wouldn't rule them out for a 30's/40's scene.

M

I was looking forward to another Spot-the-Tin session Looks like you'd created a good "railway in the landscape" feel. Good idea with the Hydrangea heads, I saw a video a while back of a layout with living succulent plants as ground-cover which seemed to work quite well. Your ding-dinging sounds a lot more sophisticated than our often-heard "Have you turned it on? Give it a poke"

I only travelled on on them a handful of times to/from Prahran, although don't recall if the the doors played-up or not. They were certainly much more characterful than the current stock, although not quite as comfortable Hope the Caulfield show goes well, I was impressed when I visited it a few years back.

What a brilliantly clever layout! Captures the outer edge just right. Am I right in thinking that the red Tait sets were nick-named Red Rattlers? I caught the tail-end of them when living in Melbourne 82-84.

The tin looks very well preserved! If only my eyes WERE that good! I only saw it after having zoomed-in Some familiar looking bits and bobs there, some of them Airfix (lamps, platform barrows, crates) if I'm not mistaken. Sadly all of my childhood railway items, with just a couple of exceptions, were long ago shunted up the line to nowhere. Thanks to your thread and pics, I set-off on a bit of a sentimental journey on ebay, where I purchased a Jouef/Playcraft Class 29 Diesel, the 2nd loco I ever had which was an addition to a Jouef/Playcraft Goods Train set with an 0-4-0 tank that I received at Xmas '64. Looking forward to seeing more of your layout. Did it have a name?

Not Cadbury's Smash then? I've just spotted the tin in the 1st pic

That was a lot of scribing! Can you recall what medium you were using? I remember doing something similar, although much smaller, using what I think was fire cement spread onto plasticard.

Maybe it was the 1970's equivalent of sending small boys up chimneys … often was the time I had to crawl across the rafters of the loft to poke a stalled loco in the chicken-wire and plaster tunnel that we'd built not only in the most out-of-the-way place, but also way over-engineered so that it would probably have survived a nuclear attack A newly drawn plan along with your pics would be great.

Although Dad and I never got as far as you seem to have done, and I've no photos to show, we did manage to create about the same amount of clutter From the thread title I was expecting to see a micro/boxfile type layout, but looks like you made good use of the space in the caravan. Have you ever been tempted to try and recreate the layout?

Liking the look with the lower fences and patriotic planting Intrigued to see how you might get on with the fountain and gallery if you do decide to go with that. As eastwestdivide has mentioned, height may become an issue, but if it's assumed to be the outer end of a lower wing of the main gallery, then it wouldn't have to be too tall.