Will's Hornby Chocolate

Hi Woodsy

My latest purchase. A Hornby O gauge Cadburys van. I thought…what’s this got to do with moonbase and space? Then I remembered that someone took some Cadburys chocolate on the shuttle up to the International Space Station!

Will O

The Convair XFY Pogo in Brian's World

 Hello Paul,

My Convair XFY Pogo in 1/72 scale perversely landed on the roof of East Winchley Station when the RAF decided to test ths aircraft for British use.

In Brian's World it was decided that the P1127 Jump Jet would be more useful.

Brian B

USA

The Drachenfels on the Rhine

 Well, in 30 degree heat, we've slowly explored just a few parts of Königswinter.

The great Rhine separating it from the city of Bonn provides an idyllic setting for boats, barges and ferries.

But it wasn't the Rhine that drew us in. It was the Drachenfels mountain railway, a cogwheel set-up begun well over a century ago. The green carriages really are quite beautiful.

Once at the top we did what has to be done. Sat on the summit cafe terrace and drank Kaffee and ate pommes!

From there we discovered

Drachenfels, the mystical ruined tower beloved of Wagner, Byron, Turner

Schloß Drachenberg

Distant Bonn city, its tall Telephone Building and the UN Centre

St.Petersburg where Adenauer entertained Presidents and the Queen

And another of the many highlights was a Goodyear zeppelin passing over the mountain cafe terraces.

I waited for the Skyship 1 shot, where it's stuck on the tower! 

All in all a fabulous day in an historic setting. 

With one last glimpse of the Drachenfels and the castle from the town

We're Back in our hotel now cooling off!

Will's Weekenders

Hi Woodsy,

My other weekend buys.

 Will O

*

 A Tressy doll …. late 60’s

and 4 hornby o gauge No. 2 LNER coaches …. Mid 30’s 

And being pulled by a 20 volt Hornby Yorkshire "on the layout".

For it's a Jolly Good Faller

 I recently picked up these two plastic biuldings in a scrap store.

They were dearer than I'd like - £15 the two - but really quite lovely.

There's a smaller Alpenblick mountain restaurant and a large block of flats with shops at the bottom. The tiny detailing ist wunderbar! 

Both are plastic and have wiring, which I assume is for lighting. 

I tried to illuminate them myself with fairy lights but to no great success.

Do you think these are Faller biuldings for train lay outs?

How to Train your Pizza!

This is an amazing toy train pizza maker a la Heath Robinson! Thanks to Paul V for the link. 

What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I85afIyu0IU

Painted Love: Terranova's Cars

Hello Woodsy,

Further to Rob's cars of the world, Northern Heights has a few painted samples.

White, blue and green examples crossing a bridge. Maker names can be seen on the boots.

Terranova47

USA

Ed's Christmas Train

Woodsy,

I almost didn't do a train layout for Christmas this year, but the granddaughter insisted. 

I have a 4'x6' platform that I use for these things and sometimes it's raised up on sawhorses with a small 4' tree sitting on top and sometimes - like this year - it's on the floor with the 7' tree sitting on top. 

As the granddaughter insisted that the presents go underneath the tree, that limited the space available for any little village. But no biggie - I have plenty of options for villages. 

This year the large houses were pulled out. I don't have many but when grouped together they form a nice little village square. In addition, I assembled Schreiber bastelbogen paper kit that has been sitting here since we came back from Good Ol' Deutschland back in '91.

Here's a link to my Y'allTube video: 

Our 2025 Christmas Layout featuring RMT's 'North Pole and Snowflake Express" - Pt 2 Out of The Dark

Merry Christmas From Vegas North Pole

Ed

Rob's WIAD Lagerhalle

Woodsy,

Here is another nostalgia trip for me, the WIAD B1060 Lagerhalle (Warehouse), a German HO scale model building kit I first built in 1970 - 55 years ago!

A quite basic kit, first issued circa 1965, and designed primarily for adding “color” to a train layout, I built the first one in the original plastic colors it was molded in, as shown on the box, but decided to gussy up my 2nd attempt as best I could. The fun part was getting all those bulkhead pieces to align properly around the concrete foundation. I don’t think I even bothered to do this this first time around!

No train layout to show them off, but I still love these German railroad structure kits. I even decided to put the WIAD* logo on the front, as this was my favorite brand of plastic RR models back in the day.

Rob C

USA

* WIAD stands for Willy Adler, the founder of the company!