Big Boy With A Salary

A special little corner

iwom — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:50:46 +0000

Himself has been planning something quite special for this little corner

and in a burst of creativity over the weekend (dang me for forgetting to take a ‘before’ shot of this little black Model T type car)

he got to it. You might not notice this little element on your first look at the layout, or even your second, but I think that’s where Himself was going.

Top views (bottom right of each picture):

This might be my favourite bit of the layout to date! Of course I am always saying that, but THIS time I MEAN it.

One man and his…umm..cat

iwom — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:41:09 +0000

The next area has been chosen!

Because of the tight space the signalman and his little friend were glued in before placement of the box.

I guess one can’t have enough coal cars. We used the usual technique on these.

I see 1:148 people*…

iwom — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:57:36 +0000

There’s been a population explosion in the layout these past few days:

as well as serious forestation taking place, but that’s a post for next year.

* Or 1:160 — we’re a mix of USA and UK here!

When last we left our hero

iwom — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:07:10 +0000

he was installing a cobbled area in the upper goods yard:

From there went on to some foliage

and the first of the people

(who you will have to look VERY closely to see!).

Somebody was a very good boy this year to get so many nice new things for the layout!

From Holstein to Angus

iwom — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:10:44 +0000

Just because I wanted to!

As Himself is heard to say when we pass a herd: ‘get in my belly’! In this case, it’s get in my N-gauge layout!

And so it begins….

iwom — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:56:58 +0000

The layout has transformed from coffee table to serious after work and weekend project once again. It only takes an afternoon of puttering to get back in the groove.

I’m told we need some pictures that show the overall layout. Himself took these earlier today:

Parts still look like bare canvas but a rough plan is in place for the town and stations on the lower level.

The upper level has little areas that could be considered complete but — as I understand it — a train layout is never ‘done’. Like a garden there will always be something that one can do to improve it.

This evening during the football (that’s American football) this wee bit is having a cobblestone section installed:

Birthday Boy

iwom — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:27:30 +0000

Wasn’t someone busy over his birthday weekend?

The upper level goods yard is really close to being done. I’m to add more trees, shrubs, etc. but my real garden has been taking up most of my time. Next rainy day….

Old Boy With A Salary

iwom — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:47:03 +0000

and with precious little time to play these days. My over-worked, time-poor husband is in the living room playing with his birthday presents. He tore them open this morning like a boy of four, not a guy ten times that ‘but not until about 8PM tonight’.

These Graham Farish and Oxford Diecast bits are from Hatton’s Model Railways, an online shop down in Liverpool. He found it while surfing one evening and a wish list appeared a few days later. I called Alex earlier this month and I had the goods to hand four days later. This will not be the last order from these guys I shouldn’t think.

Our hero couldn’t wait to get undressed….

iwom — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:43:27 +0000

Himself didn’t even take off his tie when he got home before checking out the last bits of work I managed earlier in the day for the insert soon to be set permanently in the upper goods yard.

After some of my excellent homemade chilli, we got a little more frou-frou-ing in (i.e. greenery)

and put some finishing touches on that other crane unit

so are all the closer to polishing off the uppermost level of the layout.

Himself is off on yet another business trip and I have been left a little list of things that require my ‘delicate touch’ while he’s away….

Well, SURE

iwom — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:54:24 +0000

if you want to HIDE your train. Can’t see why anybody would want to do that. Not after all your/our hard work.

I’ve been looking for plans (okay, free plans) for one of those ladder-esque sloping bookcases into which I can include a desk. Somehow or other I stumbled into this site — don’t quote me but it may have been through dollarstorecrafts.com. I looked around in between doing some painting work for Himself before leaving for rehearsal this afternoon. Found what I was looking for re: the bookcase/desk – now some negotiating needs to take place: my painting work for some big boy cutting of large pieces of wood. If I can get this built that’s my guest room finally finished!

For the next three or four hours he’s working unsupervised on the layout. Eeek. LAMA needs me more than Himself does — and that is saying something.