Slow progress

As I have said in previous posts, a lack of posts on this blog does not mean a lack of progress on my project!  Overall I have to say that everything is happening more slowly than I had envisaged, but as something of an optimist I suppose that was always going to be the case!

I had the wonderful opportunity of a brief visit to the UK early this month, just one week, but what a great week!!  The catalyst was a Train Collector's Society  get-together in Leicester, which I haven't been to previously.  This is a smallish show which I really enjoyed, and for me it was just the right size.  I've been to shows such as Sandown before, which, though very enjoyable, I found rather overwhelming!

I did buy a few things- some great mint-in-box Lone Star (my first 'train-set'), but overall just enjoyed seeing what was displayed and chatting with fellow enthusiasts.

I really enjoyed this layout, and chatting with the older gentleman who was running it!

This was a really interesting display by David Ramsay.  Very much the type of display that I hope to have in the Trainbarn, although I hasten to add that I don't have any of these superb old trains yet!

In a post several years ago I explained why I had chosen to collect and display old American toy trains in preference to British ones- the prime reason being that at the time there weren't many recently produced British O gauge trains available for the constant grind of day to day running.  Oh how that situation has changed!!  There is now an amazing variety of superb locomotives and rolling stock produced by companies such as Ace Trains, Darstaed, WJVintage and Seven Mill, and suffice to say there is a growing collection of British coarse-scale O gauge trains for Whistlestop, and there is a small British display planned for the Trainbarn.

One particularly enjoyable aspect of my British trip was talking with some of the people involved in this recent O gauge production. A particularly enjoyable visit was had with Paul from WJVintage where I picked up some superb bridges, and a good chat with Colin who is one of the distributors for Darstaed, who had an extremely tempting selection for sale at the Leicester show.

Naturally there were lots of other train-related activities during the week, which may feature in future blogs!  

On other aspects of progress, a good meeting was had with our builders regarding the Trainbarn and a couple of small modifications to the plans were recommended, so they're being modified by the engineer.  This will greatly improve the flexibility of the display space.

Also, now that most of the mammoth clearing projects are complete, I am finding time to do smaller projects here and there, the aim being to convert what was very scrappy bushland into an attractive bushland garden environment.  So, little bit, by little bit, progress is being made on this aspect of Whistlestop, which is very satisfying.  We've had some good stormy rain lately, and the place is looking very green and alive again, after some very dry times.

Slow progress for sure, but enjoyable and satisfying none-the-less!!