Painting flint and other progress

Last time I blogged about the pizza I was trying to work out the best way to make it rotate and was ready to try painting the flint wall. I've not thought any more about rotating and I've been putting off the painting. A few weeks ago I had a go at painting and wasn't at all happy with the results. After a third attempt I'm still not happy but since the wall is going to have plants growing up it I may leave it. I've also put some more polystyrene in between the card framework. The theory is that they'll be something under shell of the landscape which should make planting trees easier. I've covered the who lot is masking tape and also slapped some dirty black paint over the track. The bridge now has some retaining walls on the inside of the curve. I'll add some wooden planks to hold up the steeper bits of embankment either side. I've also put the first layer of glue on the pond - but I touched it before it was dry and there is a finger print. I'll know for the next layer.

Narrow Gauge Intermodal wagons

Andy in Germany has built a 1:55 40' container and is planning on building a narrow gauge intermodal wagon for it to run on. A comment from TomC suggests using this RhB wagon as a basis for a model. Andy is planning on making a wagon with a 40' deck with the bogies under the deck to keep the length down. Whilst I think that a narrow gauge version of the FLA Lowliners would be ideal that is not something I am going to attempt in OO9. My plan has been to a wagon with similar dimensions to the RhB wagons but similar styling to the EWS FAA so I'm pleased to see that something like this does exist.

The only trouble I have is trying to find time to design and build an intermodal wagon when I'm struggling to find time to finish the pizza or anything on my workbench!

Eastleigh Lakeside Railway

We went to Eastleigh Lakeside Country Park on Saturday and took a trip on the train to celebrate my daughter's first birthday. Here she is pointing at a fine little Garratt. The railway runs from one side of the park to the other and has a return loop at both ends. This picture was taken at Monks Brook Halt (though you can't get to the brook from here). There is a small playground here and we also walked round one of the lakes. The round trip is about a mile long - we took the return trip on behind a Royal Scot which they seemed to be having some problems with. In fact they replaced it with a diesel for the last train of the day when we got back to the main station. It was an enjoyable afternoon out on the railway and it was good to have an excuse to ride on it.