Mr Brunel and his ilk!!!!

We've had quite an exciting time at the pastures,,,, the opening ceremony of the olympics didn't go unnoticed,,, perhaps not unexpectedly the GWR and all the disciples of Swinedon got some popular actor to dress up as IKB and hold court of the proceedings,,, they just can't help themselves can they!!!! Mind you the next bit with all them smokey chimneys and forging driving wheels 12 feet above the audience was much more aligned to what we see as entertainment here at the pastures,,, very impressive,,, and just think we used to be good at that sort of thing 7 days a week,,, not at some once in a lifetime sporting occasion!!!! Mind you I bet the H&S stormtroopers had a field day with that little lot. Anyway whilst rambling on things western I had the pleasure of helping Mr Josh Courtney on his GWR Potterbourne layout at the Southwold show yesterday,, you wouldn't have recognised me,, but I did find operating his layout with a paper bag on my head somewhat claustrauphobic and not conducive to smooth shunting,,, a thoroughly enjoyable day,,, and nothing to do with watching intently on what was going on in The Gresley Beats fiddle yard which was about 3 feet away. Then it suddenly occured to me that if someone could trap the aroma of a good vindaloo based cow pat in an aerosol can they could make a fortune selling it to GWR exhibition layouts,,, to add to the overall bucolic haze they could spray it all around just to add to the rustic pleasures of life they all seem to be addicted to,,, Mr Gaugemaster,,, if your reading I want 10% of the annual profits!!! And before the GWR society legal department start drowning me in writs pointing out that bucolic actually refers to sheep not cows then all I can say is GET A LIFE!!! Hopefully see you at the Chelmsford bash,,, don't forget Oct 20th!!! No paper bags required for that one!!

Chelmsford Exhibition Oct 20th 2012

Here we go again,,, it's time to giggle our way through another exhibition,,,, this time it's Chelmsford. A nice place with a lovely cathedral and it used to be famous for radio waves and a company called Marconi,,, who were at the cutting edge of all manner of radio development and then caught the uncompetetive disease and promptly followed the trend set by other well known British names,,, Matchless, Arial, Atkinson, British Leyland,,,yo ho,,why is it in the past we were good at all sorts of things!!! Better leave BL out of that profound statement,,, does anybody remember the all singing all dancing All AGGRO with the square steering wheel,,, what a hoot,,, no wonder they went broke. Anyway if anyone would like to join in the merryment just send a sae with a suitable financial inducement to yours truly and I'm sure we will be able to find you a couple of feet of spare floor space to stand in behind the pastures. You'll be surprised to know this is the first wireless driven blog,,, now you know why I was wittering on about Marconi,, so we should be able to blog much more frequently from the kitchen, lounge, bath [probably not a good idea] shed,, garage just look at the photo's,,, the possibility's are endless. T'other photo was taken whilst I was swanning about in my virtual

imaginery Mk16 photo recce Mosquito,, a different view of the pastures,,, thinking of you father!!!!

Out of chaos comes order!!

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach yer about the benefits of Plastikard. Just take a look at the first digipic,,,, a very busy day in't shed!!! Having viewed the blog for the first time in a couple of months it became evident that it was some time since I had actually featured any actual modelling,,,not to mention I was in danger of falling behind my blogging targets for the year. So a couple of pictures to allay any fears that I had taken up basket weaving or philately,,, thats Phil's main trouble,,, he has a definite problem with punctuality. I woke up with a sudden urge one spring morning and experience told me I knew how to get rid of it,,, so off up the shed for a fiddle and rumage through my variety of scrap boxes. I occasioned upon some old PD Marsh horse drawn wagon wheels and various off cuts of plastikard. I then bumped into a picture in the GCR Album by the venerable George Dow of a GCR horse drawn 8 ton wagon. It then dawned on me that you see very few horse drawn wagons on layouts and that was it I had to have one. Its been amazing fun,,, especially the tarpaulin cover,,,, ho ho,, getting that to stick where you wanted it,,, and not sticking where you didn't want it was almost as good as 3 dimensional chess,,, but I am relatively happy with the results,,, so far,,, I would have preferred vertical as against horizontal creasing but at least I now know how to achieve it. Oh Dinners ready so I'll have to pull the chain on this one,,, and the D9 is rapidly cathching up with my Lord Faringdon in the quick start but slow finishing stakes. Hope you like the photo's. SAD

What happened there!!!

Apologies for the poor layout of the last one,,, I have no idea why it was all scrunched up into one breathless paragraph. Probably Jacques and the boys again. Anyway to compensate I offer another delightful shot of,,, yes another industrial scene,, but this one is actually quite interesting,,,that grimy Victorian school building in the background was actually once called Salmon Pastures School. So you see the pastures do exist,, they aren't just a figment of my overactive imagination,,, enjoy.

Edelweiss my posterior.

It's 04.56am,,, the birds are tweeting,,, the cat is cleaning itself for a bit of pre breakfast fun in the back garden and I'm sitting here head down on the blogging machine. I used to be able to sleep for England,,, I was good at it,,, now I find it not only difficult but a complete waste of time,,, there's far too much to do as an alternative,, like blogging. I do hope you all like this weeks picture,,, why would anyone want to model the pennines,, mendips,, or cows full of fields when you can turn your talents to something like this. Our EMPIRE was built in places like this,,, the fact that we decided to sell them all off to the Indians and Chinese and that supermarketeering was much better than manufacturing and heavy industry is for me one of life's mystery's but as I'm not a political animal so be it. All you need is a couple of photo's [preferably black and white,, see earlier blog] a couple of sheets of Plastikard and a bit of spare time and before you know it,,, Robert's your relative you have something that will be a worthwhile back drop to your industrial scene. I feel much better now I've got that off my chest,,, that's whats wrong with the youth of today,,, there's far too much flocking going on,,, everybody's at it,,, we'll all be building mountains and singing Edelweiss if we aren't careful. I personally think Jacques Santair and all his mates in Strasbourg are partly to blame,, the rest is just heresay. It's time for a cup of tea and to check up on that cat,,, she loves delving in the bushes in springtime!!!

Salmon Pastures the MOVIE

Now that we find we can blog with consumate ease it has been decided to offer a very nearly world premier of,,,,

[fanfare of trumptets] "Coming soon at a laptop near you AND in full screen Humbrocolour Cinematic form SALMON PASTURES THE MOVIE,,, well some You Tube shots taken of the pastures at a couple of recent exhibition

Firstly sincere thanks to the 2 guy's below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlzEbeoQJYw
By vjoneslong ... for this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0an4RnIZstQ
Wallace, Gromit and "sinkplunger" for his wonderful rendition.

If only we had known at the time we were to become famous we would have put on some form of special show,,,which usually means I fiddle about with all my favourite loco's!!!

So if you do have a video camera and would like to take shots which just might end up on YouTube then please let us know,,, we will roll out our very special 4mm to 1' scale carpet and give you every assistance. [[It would certainly help curtail yours truly from barging past the paying guests offering a somewhat turse apology!!!Once again Mr Jones sorry!!]]

Could even happen at Chelmsford this October 20th,,, just in case you forget!!

PS,,, Now the computer is back from it's 10,000 message service and oil change I have actually been on YouTube and I have to say there are some weird folk about!!! mind you they probably think the same about us!!!

Let's get back to the pastures,,, float backstream

Much to everyones suprise I really am getting the hang of this,,, and it's only taken 6 years.

But I really am to blogging what Herod was to babysitting,,, but it's better than going goggle eyed at the box.

Anyway,,, don't blink or you might miss the Pastures update!!!

Spotting a small window of opportunity in the recent Norfolk Monsoons I donned my bricklayers swimming trunks and shot out there to lay the required 28 bricks,,, and this time the consistancy of the dried mortar didn't resemble a stale Oxo cube,,, that's right folks the mortar has actually glued the bricks together,,, is this how Christopher Wren got started I mused.

So when this current batch of rain vanishes we are in serious danger of getting the base for the pastures new home laid and moving towards taking up residence in our soon to be permanent abode.

The management is sore impressed,,, we even had a brief conversation on the subject over breakfast just the other day.

On a much more interesting area of activity, just Tuesday evening this week I found absolutely nothing to interest me [yet again] on the lunatic lantern and so decided to go and potter about in the garage,,, I do find just looking at my efforts very therapeutic,,,the therapy lasts about 3o seconds and then starts remorphing itself into a list of things I could improve on,,,anyway I digress.

It's the first time I had thought about the pastures since before Xmas and without really thinking about it I decided to clean the track and a few loco wheels and before you could say Walshearts Conjugated Valve Gear I was lets be honest "Playing Trains".

It was wonderful,,, the loco's were a bit stiff and creaky,,they hadn't moved a wheel in anger since Aylsham exhibition last October but I was having fun,,, and after a bit of cleaning it was running well.

Before I knew it there was a knock on the garage door and it was an official announcement that the management was retiring!!! I had been in there since 7.15pm,,, 4 hours of sheer enjoyment.

I enjoyed myself so much I went in there again last night,,, and same again.

I've spent the best part of 15 years building the pastures and it is only now that I am getting some pay back.

Won't apologise for the coloured photo,,, it'a another Sheffield Boozer in the middle of the steelworks,,, the pint was to die for and a model may well appear at some point in the future.[Of the boozer not the creamy nectared refreshment]