HOLD THE BUS

Hello, 

Next weekend I'll look for some of my old toy boats if you want some extra content for a toy boat post. I would think they used to be part of British DNA being an Island Nation. 

As regards busses I'm not sure how many there are, I'll have to count them. Back in the 90's when I started working with computers for graphic design there was no longer the use of hand skills, painting, drawing, glueing etc. 

So to compensate I started building small model cars etc for a future railway layout not realising how far in the future that would be. There were a number of companies in the UK that made 1/76 scale metal kits the advantage being that they were small and could be stored in a Manhattan apartment. 

When the Internet expanded and eBay was discovered I found there were lots of old toys available that could be repainted so started buying the old Dinkey bus which happened to match a limited number of buses bought by London Transport as a wartime supplement to their war damaged fleet. These buses were still in use in the early 50's on a route near me in north London, which is where my layout is set. 

Dinky never made these buses as London ones, usually they were in Liverpool colours, Green and Cream.

A few companies in the UK made decals for 1/76 scale buses so I ended up with an authentic looking fleet. 

In the attached photo are 13 of the repainted buses. There were a number of different colour schemes over the years including Greenline and Country buses that were various greens, and until the mid fifties there was a lot of cream with the red. 

As my branch line connected to lines that went to the London Docks the 1' x 7' extension allows me to display boats I have built. 

I have a clockwork Martian Tripod to photograph on my layout, instead of a Royal Salute my artillery can have a real target! 

Regards, 

Terranova47

NYC