As another month starts to wind down I can say that I'm quite pleased with the progress here at Whistlestop. Usually February is a 'mowing month' with the grass growing as you watch it, but it's been abnormally dry here and very hot, so not a lot of growth. Which is just as well as we had a ferocious storm late on Christmas day here last year which brought down vast numbers of trees and branches, making it necessary to tidy up before mowing any area. I made a start, but it'll take months- and a bigger chainsaw- to catch up.
The focus therefore has been on getting the Barn finished, well, at least the main display area.
The only painting still required is on some of the wallboard, the chair-rail and skirting, otherwise it's done!! What a mammoth job it's been, but I'm super happy with the end result. I have the carpet booked to go in here soon too, which will make an enormous difference. And once that's in the layout building can begin! I've waited a lot of years to get to this point, and so I couldn't be happier!
This is the area that the Standard Gauge layout will go, and it'll be the first of several layouts that I'll build. It will also no doubt be the most spectacular! Standard Gauge is a very rare size in Australia, I'm sure it's quite unusual in it's home country- the US- now too.
There are still endless jobs to do, some big, some small, but we're certainly getting closer to completion. I'm sure though that as most railway layouts are never really completed, so it will be also with the building housing them!
I'm very glad indeed to be getting nearer to completion though!
As the work on the Barn is getting ever closer to being finished I'm giving more than a little thought to the design and construction of the layout tables. The track designs are pretty much confirmed, but there are always details to be decided upon. Many people these days, of course, are using computer software to design railway layouts, and I'm sure there are some very clever programs available for people who like that sort of thing. Being very much 'old school' myself though, there's nothing better than getting out a fresh sheet of paper and ruler and pencil (and eraser) and drawing what I have been mentally picturing.
Sometimes though there's no substitute for getting out track and accessories and putting them together to see how they fit, and this is what I decided to do on this cold and rainy afternoon. There were two things that I wanted to check, firstly if the magnificent #128 Station Terrace would fit easily between two parallel tracks, and the answer was yes! And secondly the corners of the table. The corners will be cut off at 45 degrees as they tend to be just wasted space, but also to allow easier access around the table. The question was how much to cut off, and this has now been decided.
Of course it was great fun getting out all these fantastic bits and pieces! The thing I really hate though is putting them all away again. One day, soon, that won't be necessary!
