Happy 150th Birthday to Colonel Holman Fred Stephens. (31 October 1868) For those who do not know the life of Col. Stephens (SHAME ON YOU !), here is a brief summary from Wikipedia . There is also a society dedicated to the Colonel, check it out.
My fictional O scale model railway is of course inspired by the many light railways that the Colonel either built, or saved from total abandonment, and operated on a shoe string budget to keep them going. For more info on his railways and some great photographs, I highly recommend the book "The Colonel Stephens' Railways - View From The Past" by John Scott Morgan.
A brief note about the figure in the photos. It's a really nice casting from Andrew Stadden, very nicely detailed and fun to paint. It's my first attempt at painting a proper 7mm figure. They have other famous railway personalities too.
For his Birthday, the Colonel decided to inspect his latest project, the construction of the Boxer Bay Railway. So far so good, he's contented with the progress.
May his life story continue to inspire many model railways into the future !
Here he is inspecting the loco shed at Windrush Junction. (click on photos to enlarge)
It's been a busy October leaving little time for the railway, however I try to work on it every day, even if it's as little as 10 minutes. You'd be surprised how much one can accomplish in a week of just 10 minute mini work sessions.
I've been working on another scene that I hope will be a nice vantage point. An unpaved gravel road crossing and, directly across the signal box for Windrush Junction. It's one of those nice inexpensive laser cut kits from Lcut, which I find to be very good value for money. Photo below shows progress so far. Track ballasting is also progressing foot by foot, very therapeutic and calming after a tough day :) Cheers
