The ancient art of Kintsugi

 

Always aware that Melbridge Dock might have to be carried out to the car when rain was falling, I brought home a plastic bag to enclose the layout from work. It arrived wrapped around a filing cabinet, delivered to the Ministry of Agriculture in the mid 1990s. 

Since then, the bag has travelled many thousands of miles, and performed its role admirably. Along the way, it's picked up a few battle scars. 

Repairs have been effected using gaffer tape. Not pretty, but effective. In Kintsugi, the Japanese art of making and celebrating repairs, they use gold, but my budget doesn't run to that. 

In 2026, the bag is really looking a bit sad. Some of the tape has peeled off, but I can't bring myself to do the sensible thing and throw it away. The internet would surely furnish me with a replacement, but I think it might be unlucky to replace it. 

So, more tape it is. I wonder if orange would be better than silver? 

I like big bolts and I cannot lie

 

Melbridge Dock is held together by bolts. 

Eight are used to fix packing boards on to the end of the baseboards, to turn the modelling into a box for transport. 

When the model is set up, four of these hold the boards together, in addition to the loose pin hinges. The other four hold the information boards to the front. 

These bolts are big, chunky things. I know that something about 4BA would do the job, strength isn't an issue. The threads on these are around 1cm wide. Far more metal than is really required. But, my overengineering has a big advantage at the end of the day. Coarse threads are much easier for tired hands to thread. 

So, today's lesson - go for the big bolts. You won't regret it. 

Llangollen Haul

 

I can't go to a show and not spend a few quid. It would be rude. 

So, the first purchase is a follow-up to a kit I built around 30 years ago. That kit was a Bachmann Big Haulers coach, and I now have the guards version to complete a two-coach train. As I recall, these kits fall together, and are really comprehensive, including the lighting wiring. 

My plan is to build it as a short tourist train to run behind my Bachmann Shay I know I ought to have a load of log cars, but you need a long train for that to look sensible, and I don't have anywhere to store it. 

These kits are basically a  CKD version of the RTR stock. For a while, years ago, they were everywhere, and then vanished. It seems another batch has appeared, possibly NOS, as Footplate are the third outlet to have them. I'll admit, I was tempted to grab another coach. Maybe next time. 

The other buy was one I intended to make at the NGRS, but was thwarted due to Plateway selling out of them. 

This is right up my street - a 16mm scale working pump trolley. The figures come from Motley Miniatures and are supplied ready-jointed so they can work the handles. 

I'm pondering if this is a magazine or blog project. The latter looks promising, as the pile of review items is large, and anyway, I paid for this myself!

Watch this space.  

Llangollen Garden Railway Show 2026

Sometimes, I get around. A couple of days in Yorkshire were followed by a trip to Llangollen for the garden railway show. It's an excellent event, which I've attended every year. 

This time, I had a bit of a mission. First, the G scale society had asked me to judge their modelling competition. Second, the Indian Railways layout will be at the NEC in November, and so photos and video would be very useful. 

Spaghetti Junction in the rain is never fun, but things had dried up by the time I made it to the venue. OK, the hilltops were hidden in the cloud, but we were indoors. 

As ever, there was a good mix of trade and layouts. 

A quick chat with the owner of the Indian Railways layout has hopefully secured me a feature for the appropriate issue. I spent a lot of time taking photos, and video of the event. The trouble with video of live steam layouts is that a single loco will tend to circulate for 20 minutes or so. I ended up standing in the middle of the hall, racing between layouts to obtain a variety of shots. 

The rest of the time, I chatted. To the trade, looking for feedback on the Stoneleigh show, and gossip. The operators and visitors on the lookout for future articles. There were some cracking models, that I hope to bring to Garden Rail readers in the future. 

Judging the competition didn't take long - there were only five entries, but each was very interesting, and accompanied by an information sheet, which I found both useful and interesting. 

The cake situation wasn't great. A couple of white chocolate cookies on the official coffee horsebox, but fortunately, Bob came to the rescue with some delicious fruit cake baked by Mrs Bob, who I was able to complement. 

All in all, a very enjoyable show. The good news is, I checked with the organiser and it will be on again next year. So, keep an eye out for the date. 

There's more photos from the event on Flickr.  

Saturday Film Club: The Dry Fit

Another video from me. This time, providing some sage advice for anyone building a kit.