lanqin1990
23 posts
Jan 08, 2013
11:20 PM
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Most of us start out with a 'Train-set' of one form or another. Indeed I can still vividly recall the joy of my first 00 layout on a single 8x4 base board hinged from my bedroom wall that my father kindly set up and mostly built for me. Many hours were spent working on this layout and a huge amount of practical modelling experience was gained. As the years passed the 'Train-set' became casque dr dre less and less satisfying. Sure the detail increased, and more loco's were purchased but it lacked, that undefinable 'something' that set Train-sets apart from Model railways. Personally I was dissatisfied with the look of 00 (4mm to the foot running on 16.5mm track some 2.33mm or over six scale inches to narrow), so I was left with the question what do I do next? I still wanted to continue with this wonderful hobby, what could I do? (Now the following may or may not have really happened, so please bear with me...) A family picnic in a field, nearby a stream gently burbles its way into a wood. The light is that unusual light that you never seem to have enough of these days, lovely warm light that imparts a warm creamy glow to everything. Bumble bee's buzz gently about annoying the scientist by literally flying in the face of the laws of physics. Well fed, the family settle down for a bit of an after lunch snooze, but not the little boy, he is much more interested in exploring. With his parents permission he sets off to explore the stream and follows it down to the woods. The woods are old, well established and mature, their thick canopies blocking most of the light making the wood cool and inviting. The boy walks deeper into the wood, following a path next to the stream. The path winds a fair way into the wood, and then disappears into a small tunnel mouth. Climbing up the embankment which the tunnel is cut into the boy comes across a fence blocking further exploration. Why is this here? He thinks. The wire is in good condition, the fence posts are all upright. It can't be a adidas predator lz trx ag field boundary here in the woods what is it doing? Looking across to the other side the boy can see another fence, just a few feet away, possibly only the width of a minor road. Looking at the scrubby grassy ground the boy realizes there are train tracks there, like nothing he has ever seen before; they look so close together, how can anything run on that without falling off!? The track is almost buried in the grass so only the shiny tops of the rail, but, yes, he can make out a few sleepers lurking down in the herbage. Looking first one way then the other nothing seems to be happening, the air is still and the sun shines down into this slice cut out of the woods. A little while later the unmistakable sound of a steam whistle can be heard, but from which direction? The boy stands up and peers both ways hoping for a glimpse of the train promised by the whistle. Nothing happens, the bee's buzz and the sun shines. Then, can that be anything else? A definite 'chuff' of a steam loco. The boy strains his ears hoping for another clue, will anything ever appear? Again another 'chuff'-it sounds closer, the boy leans on the fence cheap timberland boots desperate for a sight of that magical beast; a steam train. Another two follow, defiantly closer, then the whistle! His heart beats faster at the approach, still with nothing in sight he strains for a hint, some clue. Where is the train? Then he hears the thing he dreads most. His name being called, his parents want him back, time to go. What to do? What to do? The train... his parents... not a choice he wants to make. He hears his name again, louder, more urgent.
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