We're on holidays at the moment, on our way to visit our daughter, who lives in Budapest Hungary, for Christmas. We flew into Paris firstly, spent a couple of days there, and we're now catching trains across Europe to Budapest. The chance to spend a few days in Mulhouse, eastern France, was one not to be missed, as this attractive city also contains two of France's best museums- the Cité du Train and the Cité de L'Auto- both of which are absolutely outstanding museums.
The Cité du Train is France's National Railway Museum and contains some absolutely amazing items. Overall I'd say it represents the vast history of France's railways very well. The museum is really in two parts- the original part and a newer part built for the Millenium. The newer part is where you enter, and significantly at this time of year it is heated, the original part is not! As a museum 'junkie' I definitely liked the newer part better, although the original part contains vastly more items. Effectively it is a very large metal shed, with no windows, and the interior is completely satin black but with very effective spotlights highlighting the exhibits.
The first train that you see is the superb 'Micheline' railcar (Autorail) which I am very fond of. The only other place in the world that you can see one of these is in Madagascar! For me it symbolises French engineering generally- a willingness to try out different, hopefully better, ways of doing things, albeit not always successful ! In this case, as the name alludes to, the wheels are actually pneumatic rubber tyres, while of course still having steel flanges, an idea that ultimately didn't catch on.
In this section there were all sorts of sound effects, including 'conversations' by 'passengers' which I'm sure were quite amusing, though my French wasn't good enough to understand them. There were mannequins, which I usually detest in museums, but these were caricatures and were very effective.
There were many details that were highlighted, and which as a collector, really fascinated me.
Moving into the original section was something of a shock as it was seriously cold! Mind you, it was snowing outside too! There were windows in the roof as well, which made photography a real challenge, if not impossible. Despite this, though, there were some truly amazing locomotives on display, including all my favorite Hornby O, AcHo and Jep HO prototypes!
It was a 'fantastique' day out, I can definitely recommend this museum, though perhaps not in winter! France can be very proud indeed of it's railway and engineering history, and it's railway museum.
Some good progress recently on the Trainbarn, and at our property 'Whistlestop' generally, though nothing particularly photogenic!
The Trainbarn
The interior of the main display area of the Trainbarn is now two-thirds complete. I decided to tackle the chair-rail (belt-rail) and skirting boards around the area that has been painted, and was really amazed at how much difference this made to the look of the area. The chair-rail was easier than expected to install on my own, made easier by the nice, level floor and the fantastic Makita compound-mitre saw that was a gift a year or so ago.
This is the area just to the left of the archway, where initially the Classic British O gauge layout will be. The layout here will be 25' 10" x 11' 6", which is a really great size! I have used Australian Dulux paint exclusively, the wainscot is Hog Bristle, the plaster walls Hog Bristle Half, and the ceiling Antique White USA, and I couldn't be more happy with the end result. This is about one third of the display area and just behind where I'm standing, taking the photo, the second third is now also finished, however the final 'third' of the area is still unpainted plasterboard, but certainly I am feeling that the end is in sight!!
Slowly the entry area of the 'barn is evolving too. Something that I enjoy enormously is getting things out of boxes that have been in storage for many years, and this Bachmann G scale loco is a typical case!
This is the Bachmann 2-8-0 Consolidation in 1:20.3 scale, which accurately represents a 3 foot gauge prototype on G scale track (45mm/ 1 ¾"). I bought it online many years ago in a 'close-out' special but it had never been out of it's box before now. I'd like to run it some day, but until then it looks great on the entry area wall!
Also in the entry area is my temporary display table, currently with various N gauge items set-up on it. We had some international visitors come to our place, minus a translator, so I wanted them to see something other than N gauge, as I didn't want them to think that the whole Trainbarn was only going to display these tiny trains! As the two operating Japanese locos were electric, I decided to get out other electric catenary-equipped locos of different sizes. So, out came the Lionel (MTH) 408E in Standard Gauge, the Lionel O gauge GG1, and my Auscision HO Victorian Railways L class.
Not a very convincing display, I'd have to say, but hopefully it conveyed the effect that I wanted.
With the immense amount of wall area that I have available in the main display area, much of which will ultimately have train display cabinets on it, I also need to hang some appropriate, as-large-as-possible, pictures etc, to avoid the very bare look that it currently has. Of course there are many posters and prints available, but I want everything to be as relevant as possible and one source that I've 'discovered' is jigsaw puzzles. I have found that I really enjoy doing them, particularly when my wife- who sees things very differently to me- helps out.
Not a good photo, but this 1000 piece jigsaw of a 1926 Lionel catalog cover is exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for, though it was extremely difficult to do, as every piece was a different, odd shape. Unfortunately we both did this while away from home and to transport it back it needed to be partially disassembled, but with all the odd shapes it didn't come apart well, so might effectively need re-doing. Anyway, we'll get it whole again, glue it together and get it framed, and it should make a great display.
Whistlestop generally
About half my time recently has been spent outside, mowing and generally tidying up the property, which I enjoy immensely. There are still a few areas that are infested with African Love Grass, which have never been cleared or mown, so I'm trying to gradually chip away at that. Every little bit that's completed really makes a difference, and also seems to lead into what needs to be done next. Once mown the Love Grass actually makes a reasonable, if somewhat lumpy, lawn, and looks quite presentable. Mowing it down also allows the other native grasses to get a look in.
It's been great to have the time to get some of these jobs done, some of which I've been 'planning' for many years. It is really great and encouraging to see good progress!
I had another birthday last weekend and to celebrate we decided to combine a visit to my in-laws, who live in northern Queensland, with a trip to an open-air museum that I have long wanted to visit- the Historic Village Herberton. We visited this museum in the early 198os not long after it had opened, but the much developed Village of today is significantly improved, though it still honors it's early foundations. I love open-air museums and have been to quite a few both here in Australia and in the UK. Each one has it's own character and Herberton is no exception, and we absolutely loved our visit there. It is very easy indeed to spend the whole day there, which I did. I made lots of photos, but here are a few which give some idea of what the museum is like, and what I particularly liked!
A feature of the Village generally is that there are a huge number of 'as found' cars, trucks, tractors and other machinery, which would not normally be on display in most museums. They have been given a protective coating to prevent further deterioration and most are identified regarding their make and year. I'm not sure if there is any intention of restoring any of these one day, but I'd have to say that they do make a very effective and interesting display just the way they are!
They certainly have an enormous quantity of exhibits, probably more than I've ever seen elsewhere, but they are all clean, well displayed and well lit.
My grandfather ran a Chemist shop in Melbourne in the early part of the last century, and I've always been fascinated by displays of all the pills and potions sold in earlier days. The Chemist's shop in the village was really well set up and like everywhere else contained LOTS of interesting items!
One of the owners of the Village has a passion for early John Deere tractors- can't blame him for that!!- and there's a very nice display in the newer part of the village.
This newer section, on the other side of the Wild River, is bordered by the former Queensland Railways line that used to run through Herberton to Ravenshoe. This line has long been disused, but is now being restored by the Atherton Herberton Historic Railway and rides on restored section cars are operated between the museum and Herberton station. It worked out better for us to join the ride at Herberton, which we did on Sunday. The track runs through some pretty spectacular terrain, and the plan is to restore it in stages right through to Atherton. Anyway, we had a great trip and a good chat with the volunteers operating it.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend, and a very memorable birthday! I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the Village and a ride on the 'Tinlander'!!
Having grown up in Victoria in the 60s I have a huge nostalgia for the Victorian Railways of that era- blue and gold diesels and red goods wagons. As I was finishing-off painting the handrails on the Barn yesterday, in Dulux Manor Red, I had the realization that this particular red is very close indeed to the red that I remember the VR wagons being painted. Perhaps not exact, but very close. Anyway, that prompted me to unpack a few of my HO VR items, mostly from Auscision and Austrains, and photograph them on my newly painted handrails in a great, sunny position.
I really like these trains and very much hope to build a simple layout to run them on one day. Another dream that I know I would really enjoy doing if I ever had the time would be to restore one of these Z guard's vans, as I know there are quite a few rotting away in country Victoria, such as this one! (photo taken by Steamfreak )
One thing I really don't like doing is putting trains away again in their boxes, hopefully one day that won't be necessary!
Great progress lately with the 'Barn, and beautiful Queensland Winter weather to enjoy generally. I divided the barn up into three sections for the painting and the first is now effectively finished. I still need to paint the wallboard that goes up to chair-rail height, but that can wait till later.
I'm really pleased with how it looks, of course! Really, the painting hasn't been as hard as expected, it just takes time, particularly the ceiling.
Here's another view of the area that has been painted, but it's a bit hard to get a sense of the scale of it. I plan to build 'temporary' layouts within this area, perhaps changed every year or so, and the space available is 25' 11" x 11', which is really good! The first layout here will be recently produced British O gauge three-rail, which will be very fun indeed!
I had several friends who are involved in the old car hobby visit the other day, which was very enjoyable. While there's not much to see here at the moment, we all had a great time sitting around the pot-belly stove, whose warmth was very welcome, chatting about this and that, but particularly how enjoyable and satisfying it is having hobbies. I couldn't agree more!!
A couple more signs have also made it onto the beam in the entry area. Still plenty of space for more though!
All in all everything is going very well indeed!
One of our daughters lives in Melbourne, and last weekend we had the opportunity of spending the long weekend in that very interesting area. As you can no doubt tell by the slow pace of progress of my train plans at Whistlestop, and the general scarcity of blog posts, things are moving ahead, but slowly. But spending time somewhere else always guarantees lots of stimulation and encouragement, and our weekend in the deep south was no exception!
I was very fortunate indeed to have a personal guided tour of the Melbourne Tram Museum by a friend who is probably the leading historian of Melbourne's excellent Tram system and all things 'Melbourne' in general. I thoroughly recommend the Museum to anyone interested, it is very well presented and very interesting indeed! This visit was then followed by a journey around Melbourne on several current tram lines, and I was really fascinated by some of the features that were pointed out, such as the remnants of Melbourne's early Cable Tram System.
Up until relatively recently, prior to the extensive use of concrete, the areas around the actual tram rails was filled in by what looked like bricks, but in actual fact was wooden blocks, usually Red Gum. I can remember as a child that we got a load of these as they became redundant for use in our fireplace, the problem of course that we now realize is that the wooden blocks were often soaked in tar, which when burned is carcenogenic, but such things were not known then.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, part of the old Hawthorn Depot which houses the Tram Museum still uses these 'Tramway Blocks' as it's flooring, which I found very interesting!
After a beaut evening meal in Fitzroy I was off to what is now Southern Cross Station to watch a steam special depart. I have many great memories of this station from my childhood, when it was simply known as Spencer Street Station, and was the terminus for all the Country and Interstate trains, which it still is. The loco for this Steamrail special was supposed to be one of the magnificent R class locos, but ended up being a K class, still very impressive, of course. So a very interesting evening ended with the loco chuffing it's way into the darkness on the way to Bendigo and Swan Hill, a super end to a really excellent day!
The next day we headed to Phillip Island, specifically to see the Penguins come back to their nests at dusk, which I found really interesting, on a really superb Winter evening. It was really great to be outdoors on this beautiful and wild coast.
The opportunity to visit the area just east of Phillip Island was taken and I really enjoyed the area generally. A surprise was the State Coal Mine at Wonthaggi, which is now an interesting museum, where we had a beaut lunch. To burn off the calories we then walked along part of the Bass Coast Rail Trail between Kilcunda trestle bridge and the site of Anderson Station. This line had primarily been built to transport the coal from the Wonthaggi mine to Melbourne, mainly to fuel the steam locos, but served the needs of the agricultural community too.
Of course we went the 'wrong' way along this line, with a fairly steep climb up towards Anderson, but it was really good fun on a really nice day. I really enjoy walking along rail trails!
So, all in all a really great weekend, and now I'm back into the painting of my Trainbarn at home, greatly refreshed and encouraged.
The fantastic weather has continued in our region and the blue skies seem to make living here even more enjoyable. Our neighbour, who has a grass airstrip on his property, has been flying his superb biplane ultralight a lot and as his final approach goes basically straight over our cottage we enjoy seeing him pass quite low over us. He is obviously having a lot of fun! Unfortunately no pictures, as I am notoriously bad at taking photos of aircraft in flight!
Today I joined a good friend in a fun car run around our district in his Citroën Light 15. It is a magnificent car and we drove somewhere in the region of 100ks effortlessly over quiet back roads. Old car owners are seemingly always looking for 'parts' and old wrecks in sheds etc, and today, lo and behold, we found an amazing stash of old cars, mostly American and a few British, but unfortunately no French.
I was particularly impressed with this 'ute'. I still harbor a dream to own one of these early 40s Chevs, but perhaps to upgrade the mechanical bits to make it more useable. Typically one of these would have a wooden or metal tray back, but this 42 model is a genuine 'ute', or coupe utility as they were formally named, which I'm sure is quite rare. Ford Australia invented the 'ute' in 1934, whereby the open rear portion sides were a continuation of the cab, rather than an added 'box'. Other Australian manufacturers followed suit, and obviously the idea caught on over in the US too, but it was we Aussies who invented the concept. This one was definitely not for sale, however!
There was also a graveyard of other 'projects', the likes of which are becoming harder to find. I'm sure eventually all this will become available, perhaps by auction, though it seems unlikely that some of the cars will be saved as they were pretty far gone.
Anyway, it was great fun looking around! In my earlier years I was, or at least I thought I was, very keen on car restoration, but I soon discovered that I neither had the time or the skills to do it properly. In those days I would have jumped at the chance to rescue and rebuild any of these cars, but not now. I certainly admire people who can take on these 'heroic' restorations and return them to life though! For the time being I'll be sticking to collecting model cars as a side to the trains. I have gathered together all my French model cars of 1:43 scale from assorted storage boxes and have displayed them in the entry area of my Trainbarn. It was really fun getting them all together in one place, but it was even more fun finding them!
Good weather, good times and good friends!
Autumn is a magnificent time of year in our area, and today was superb! There are a lot of events happening this weekend and also next weekend, being Easter. A new museum is opening just south of us and although my expectations were pretty low as to what it would be like I decided to go for a drive and have a look. If all else failed the drive along the New England Highway would be enjoyable, and it was!
The first stop was Wallangarra Station, where rather surprisingly I found our local steam train ready to depart.
Wallangarra is interesting in that it is a break-of gauge station, and the border of the states of New South Wales and Queensland actually runs through the platform. In days past the Queensland 3' 6" gauge trains would pull into one side of the platform and the New South Wales 4' 8 1/2" gauge trains would pull in on the other side. The Queensland line is still open and well maintained, though these days only used by heritage trains, but the New South Wales line is very much closed, though still in place. There is a very active Railway Museum group in Tenterfield, but obviously it would be an enormous and expensive task to re-open the line north to the border, but it would be a wonderful trip if they did!
A major hurdle to re-opening the line is this superb old bridge. Sadly, it looks like it's going to fall down very soon, but line re-opening or not it should be preserved, though that's pretty unlikely too.
There was quite a gathering of cars at the new Museum, though mostly a lot newer than I'm interested in. You rarely see true Vintage or Veteran cars out here in the country these days, though I'm assuming they still get together in the bigger cities. Anyway there were a couple of really nicely restored classics amongst the gathering, and here is a beautiful Ford Zephyr from about 1955.
Having just returned home now after a really fun barbecue with friends at our local National Park, I'd have to say that it was a pretty good day all round!!
I can't believe that it's already March and that this is my first post for 2017.
Steady progress is being made on the interior of the Trainbarn, with the entry area almost finished. I have been getting some of my enamel signs out of their long-term storage and am enjoying installing them on the support beam in the entry area. Where possible I am trying to place them in some sort of geographical order, though the Southern sign is clearly totally out of place, but standing in for a Southern Pacific one.
I have also started painting the main display area, with about one-third of the area undercoated, including the ceiling. While it is certainly a big job I am very pleased with how it's going and hopefully it won't be the arduous task that some have predicted.
With some reasonable rain and temperatures I have also enjoyed getting outside and knocking the rest of the property back into shape. I have let things go a bit over the last couple of years, with every available moment spent working on the 'barn, but now that completion is drawing near I'm enjoying getting back into some mowing, clearing etc. outside.
I'm hoping to start forming-up some of our tracks soon, too, which will be a real advancement! In any case I'm certainly looking forward to what this year holds, and perhaps we'll be able to celebrate the proper completion of the Trainbarn, ready for some layout-building action!
