A busy Easter

The word 'busy' doesn't even begin to describe my Easter activities so far, but it has been a very enjoyable and interesting time.  The main activity has been the Cit-In 2011- the National Citroën car gathering- in our home town, Stanthorpe.  I provided a small display of Citroën model cars, which was enjoyed by everyone, and a small display of Standard Gauge Lionel trains.

This is a photo of part of the model display- 1:18 scale at the back, 1:43 at the front.


We had fantastic weather- absolutely perfect- which was particularly appreciated for the public display yesterday, outside at the Showgrounds.

This is the car that I drove to the display- a 1951 Traction Avant.  It was the second oldest Traction there, and superb to drive!!

If I was ever going to buy a Citroën of my own it would be one of these- a 2CV Deux Chevaux.  I think these are great fun, and their owners tend to be fun people too!

This is my train display, just a simple oval on a table-tennis table.  Lots of people liked it, and it brought out stories of their own model railways, but there was one older bloke in particular who was absolutely captivated by it!  To see the thrill that this gentleman got from seeing the trains was worth any amount of effort that went into putting it on.  


It was the first really good run that any of these trains had ever had.  There were one or two minor glitches, but I was really impressed with how well they ran, overall.  I could walk away and come back 15 minutes later and they were still happily encircling the table.  The 408E- the big green electric in the background- was absolutely superb to watch, and hear operating.


It was a great weekend of meeting and talking with lots of really nice, and interesting, people,  and makes me look forward even more to opening my permanent display of trains in the Trainbarn.  My sincere thanks to the various Citroën clubs and people who made me so welcome in their gathering.

Today's blog is brought to you by the letters T and E, and the number 20

The timber for the roof of the cottage arrived today, and very nice it is too!!  Good ol' aussie Stringybark hardwood.  The truck delivering it had a lot of trouble getting through our front gate due mostly to a tree just along the track, which limited how much he could straighten up through the gate.  This tree was earmarked to 'go' anyway, so today became the day it went.  I'm always reluctant to knock down trees, and it's also a lot of work!  Anyway, after chopping out whatever roots I could find, it was still rock-solid, with a huge taproot.  Which brings me to the title of this blog, the ever-faithful Fergie- our Ferguson TED 20 tractor.  A chain wrapped around the tree stump, and the other end to Fergie's drawbar, and the stump was out like a shot!!  Too easy!!  Not bad for a nearly 60 year old piece of machinery!!

Fergie has never been restored as such, although he had a repaint after catching fire when owned by his previous owner.  It constantly amazes me just how useful and reliable this tractor is, considering it's age, and the hard life it's had.

I bought a new power take-off cover for Fergie on eBay recently, and fitted it today. (It's the reddish thing)  This is both for safety, and to keep dirt out of the PTO bearing.  It also amazes me that it is still so easy to buy parts for Ferguson tractors.

This is our front gate area, looking out to our road.  It's only 10' wide at present, and needs to be widened to 20' before Whistlestop opens, so there'll be a few modifications here.  We're getting there, though, with thanks to Fergie!!

Hell Gate, or Sydarb.........

Lionel have made many different bridges for both their 0 gauge and Standard gauge systems over the years, but I think the most recognisable and charming of them all is their Hell Gate bridge, primarily intended for Standard Gauge layouts.  At 28 3/4 inches long it is a huge accessory!!  They were originally produced by Lionel from 1928-1934 in the original cream/green version, and from 1935- 1942 in white and red.  They have of course been reproduced in recent years and the one shown here is currently available, but extremely authentic none-the-less.  

Below: The Lionel version is a very good toy representation of New York's Hell Gate bridge,  built across the East River and completed in 1916.  Of course Aussies will immediately think of another bridge when seeing this photo, our  iconic 'coathanger'- the Sydney Harbour bridge.  Our bridge was based on New York's- they  are both steel through arch type bridges, but Sydney's is longer by 193metres (633'), and was  completed in 1932. Interestingly, on the Sydney bridge the top part of the steel arch doesn't connect at all with  the stone abutments as this is not necessary structurally, however the designer of New  York's bridge altered his design so that they did visually connect, to allay the fears of viewers  that it was not built properly! Before I started collecting Lionel or MTH trains, I can vividly remember visiting a factory in  Korea that was making these Hell Gate bridges for MTH.  This would be about 1993.  There  were lots of them awaiting packaging, and I was very impressed!! The plan for my Standard gauge layout requires two of these bridges, crossing a small 'estuary' at the rear of the layout.  I think they will be spectacular!  As they will actually be bridging something, I can just imagine the sound of the train as it moves onto the all-metal bridges!  Big, Loud, Fun!!

Walls are up!

I just received some more photos of the progress on the cottage, with all internal walls now up, and the front wall nearly finished.  Certainly fast progress now with these Hebel blocks!!  No nasty surprises this time!!  The kitchen looks small, but we knew it was going to be.

Above:  This is the front, obviously!  There will be a 1.8m (6') wide verandah along here. Bedroom on the left, lounge on the right.  Where to put the old car seats, or overstuffed lounge??

Above:  Looking into the bedroom.  Yes, our bed WILL fit, but I admit it's a bit tight.....

Above:  I wanted as much living space as possible, and I'm really happy with this area. A round kitchen table will be just inside here, and behind- the lounge area.

Above:  The view from the kitchen- something to enjoy whilst washing up!  That scrubby tree is definitely going, giving a nice view over Girraween.  There will be a wide verandah out here too.

That's some really exciting progress!  Jenni picked some very nice tiles for the bathroom floor, which will look really good, I'm sure.  We have some attractive vinyl picked out for the main area, and nice, thick carpet for the bedroom, especially for those cold Stanthorpe nights!!  

This is the first 'house' that we've ever built.  We've owned three different homes over the years, but two of them were established (one needed full renovation), and one was new but built on spec.  We've lived in rental homes for the last twenty years while we've travelled around with work- some of them very good, some of them, well, let's say challenging!!  Building our own home has been a dream of mine for many years, and I've collected various bits and pieces to decorate it during that time.  It is literally a dream come true that it's finally happening, and gives me renewed confidence and encouragement that the perhaps bigger dream of building the Trainbarn, and Whistlestop in general, will happen soon enough too. 

It certainly hasn't been an easy process so far, designing it from thousands of miles away, but now that it's coming together it is every bit as exciting as I had hoped!!