The usual reasons, some good, some not so good. The not so good include various domestic issues and crisis, some of which are still ongoing coupled with a November/December that saw me get one cold after another - with around a gap of a week between each - ending up in my sinuses getting infected and me generally being extremely run down. The good include various trips away, all of which ended up in a railway link although the prime purpose was not the railway visit.
October was the Essen (Germany) boardgames fair. I did take a day out to go to the Bochum Dalhausen Railway museum - which has a variety of locos (in a big roundhouse), coaches, wagons etc. This will be a seperate post but a couple of quick entries (photos are web links - if they vanish then I'll replace them with mine once I've finished editing them):
I saw an E94 - which is as impressive and intimidating as it looks and just reeks power. (This set me thinking about one for the railway but the model scales out at 730 mm long and although the loco is articlated it's still BIG. LGB model some of the baby crocs that the RHB has which are a bit smaller).
Another prime view was the 0-10-0 rack loco 97 502. The rack mechanism - the top set of valve gear was used to maintain speed on 3 km long incline as the loco was used on passenger services.
Lots of other goodies as well - draisines, Saxon coaches and mail vans, Grey BR80 locos....
November was back to The Dutch Steam tram museum at Hoorn except this time we (as Ann was with me) only did the steam train one way and then caught the boat. Good news was the the loco shed was fairly empty and we were hauled by a different loco from what I had in 2011. I have more video footage from riding on the carriage end behind the loco (and it was very cold this time) to edit and post. have to say that I am getting a very soft spot for this museum...
The other bonus was that a chance conversation in the engine shed led to one of the "other" storage sheds being unlocked for us and my chance to see my first "Tram" loco up close. (On my previous visit in 2011 - a year before this visit - this had been stripped down to its chassis in the workshops).
We got a walk through and sight of some other carriages and wagons as well:
3rd Class = wooden seats
2nd Class = leather/vinyl padded seats
1st Class = Velvet cushions...
December was Christmas but Boxing Day saw a visit out to the coast and baby seals and on the way back a detour to the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway where I did a quick run up/down the platform. Given that it is say 20 miles from Ann's sister's house, then something to go to in the summer when it is open.
The continuing weather (i.e. rain) has meant little progress in the garden because of the mud - a short cold spell in December had me hoping that the frozen ground would let me make some progress. So, we have tended to concentrate on infrastructure, both buying stuff and understanding/upgrading what we have. Mid December I ordered the second part (i.e. ball bearing wheels) of a rolling road only to find it went out of stock the day after I ordered it. Rolling road should enable better close up (sound as speed increases) videos of new acquisitons. Christmas present was a SPROG 3 programming module which should work with the Mac.
Chris
No comments:
Post a Comment