Those who know me will realise that I am very fond of traditions. For example, I like to make pancakes for breakfast on Saturday mornings. I could make them any day of the week, but only having them on Saturday causes me to look forward all week to the weekend, and makes Saturday special! Another example is that Saturday is Train Day, stemming from days long past when I used to help my Uncle work on his model railway on most Saturday afternoons. Sometimes of course these things are not possible, particularly if I'm away with work, but sometimes they happen spectacularly, as happened today!
Suffice to say the pancakes were satisfying, and rather than just continue working in the 'yard' around our cottage at Whistlestop as I've been doing all week, I did some more preparation for the eventual construction of the Trainbarn. If I was able to do as much every day as I did today it'd be done very quickly!! And it was a superb day again, perfect really. Oh yes, there was a cloud, which just happened to go in front of the sun precisely when the Southern Downs Steam Train went past our place!! I tried a photo from our rocky vantage point just below the cottage, although I came very close to missing the loco!!
I haven't been on this train yet, although I am a member of the association. Everything about the trip seems to be run extremely well, particularly the standard of the coaches, which are an absolute credit to the people who have spent many, many hours restoring them. The loco ( C17 No. 971) is not over-restored and sounded terrific as it approached us this morning, working quite hard as it climbed the grade towards Wyberba and the border at Wallangarra.
A very enjoyable traditional Saturday!!
The weather today wasn't quite as good as it has been lately, as there was a cloud in the sky. Ok, I'm being facetious, it was another superb day despite the one small cloud. This is the weather that I really love here- cool clear days and cold nights. Absolutely perfect for working outside.
I've been tidying up the area around our cottage for the last few days, mainly so that it looks nice but also for bushfire safety. I couldn't work there today as Jenni had washing on the line and I tend to make lots of dust in this dry environment, so I decided to brushcut a track through to the railway line from the cottage. We actually live only about 100 metres from the Stanthorpe- Wallangarra QR line (3' 6" gauge), although it's down a small rocky escarpment from where the cottage is. Certainly not an easy job making the track, as there were lots of collapsed rabbit burrows which look like a scaled down World War One battlefield, and of course the ubiquitous African Love Grass tufts, which are really hard to knock down. There's a Southern Downs Steam Railway train on Saturday, so now when I hear the whistle as the train passes the level crossing at Lyra, I can run down my new track to a great vantage point above the line and watch it pass. It's quite a steep climb past our place, so the loco will be working fairly hard, which sounds and looks great!
