He's back. He hopes.

Looks like I have finally been able to break into my own blog.  No posts since August last year, eh? To be honest, I have tried several times to remember passwords and sign-in procedures, but there has been a fair bit going on over the last year so blogging has been a lesser priority.  But a recent email from one of my loyal followers (thanks Bob) has prompted one more go and here I am!

Of course, this is a blog about railways and increasingly, model railways, so I will get onto that stuff in a minute.  The other 99% of life threw me a few curve balls last year.  One of these got pretty serious around Christmas when my father (aka the Senior Train Hunter) became increasingly unwell and immobile.  Sadly, he left us for the great roundhouse in the sky in late April.  Fortunately, I got to spend a lot of time with him as he subsided. One of his many instructions was to 'get that bloody blog going again', so it looks like I won't get haunted for failing on that count. he also gave me plenty of other instructions. None were about digging up the family gold. Most were about how Saints were robbed and how Budd cars should have been used on western NSW branch lines from 1972, instead going to Denning buses. Useful stufff to think about.

I now know that dying and death is a messy and complicated business, which sucks a lot of time out of you.  During those sorts of times (which we all go through) it is important to have a refuge, just to get the brain back into calmer waters.  And I found that refuge up in the shed, and still do.  So, yes, it has been a bugger of a year and I really haven't done much to advance building the layout, but I have run plenty of trains around and around.  And around a few more times. 

In running those trains I have pretty much convinced myself there are only a few tweaks to be made to the trackwork, then it will be full-on electrics and then scenery time.  So, please excuse the lack of track ballast or more substantial items of scenery in the following photos. I am still trying to get the vibe right.

Pretty much the last model Dad got to see, arrived in early April. It is the Stephen Johnson Models ETP that will tail our/my DEB set when it arrives later this year.  In the meantime, it gets to run behind a Eureka 620 set, which means (from memory) it must be a Tuesday on the layout. Here is a snap taken as the train disgorges hundreds of passengers at Coalbaggie Creek (Eumungerie).

One day it will look something closer to this day - which was 12 April 1966.

I have also been running the big new power. Here 4915 heads an empty wheatie west through Dubbo station, while 4501 takes up the loop. Since this photo was taken I have started the ballasting of this area, which improves things 300%. The biggest change will come when I use proper corrugated tin on the verandah roof, instead of the temporary paper product.

The 45 is an AR Kits body with an Atlas RSD4/5 mechanism under the hood - a real baby of the 1990s. It needs a touch up and some weathering, being 30 years old but it can still drag the odd wagon or 50 with ease.  Atlas mechs are terrific for their age.

Finally, thanks to everyone who have updated their blogs more regularly than me. They are a joy to read.   

Anyway, let's see how I go at a follow-up blog before year's end. 

Don