As a long time Sam's Trains viewer, I can safely say that I was not expecting this to ever happen.

Here we have Thomas.

This is also Thomas?

This…This is…also Thomas?

Damn the Rev got busy lol

Bachmann Branchline Mk2 DBSO acquired

HAHAHAHA WHY ARE YOU SO SMALL!

(( Hiya! Just wanted to say to whoever sent that last anonymous ask— the one to Fenton about Fethry —you didn't specify who is talking to the fluffy lad... and I can't really tell from context clues. dfjkgndfjkg  Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I'd really appreciate it if you could clarify please. :3 Thank you and thank you for the ask as well! )) 

I'm probably going to build a micro garden reailway in the near future, but first let me explain to the non-railfans who follow me what a garden railway even is because I need to infodump about something.

What is a Garden Railway?

Put it simply, a garden railway is a blend of two otherwise seperate hobbies, railway modelling and gardenning.

Typically, railway modelling is about the persuit of historical and technical realism on a small scale with regards to anything involving steel-wheeled vehicles running on steel rails. That said there are those who simply run trains straight from the packaging on track placed straight on the floor and that's fine.

With a garden railway, the focus shifts away from an almost sterile realism towards a more impressionist's view of a railway running through a landscape, whith emphasis on the landscape being alive.

more than anything I think it's about embracing the joy of enjoying one's hobbies in the great outdoors

So how am I, a queer, unemployable person on benefits going to build a garden railway, especially when all the examples I've used are so grand and spacious?

let me tell you about a little something called scale and gauge

out of the diagram above, Gauge 1 (1:32 scale/45mm track) is the most popular size for garden railways, both historically and current. O scale (1:43 scale/32mm track) is probably the second most popular, being the smallest practical scale for live steam, that's real working steam engines on a sminiature scale.

OO scale (1:76 scale/16.5mm track) the most popular scale all around in the UK, has a fringe use in garden settings, but can create some spectacular scenes if sweeping views of main line cuttings and embankments are your thing.

I'm going with OO scale, but I'm not modelling standard gauge, instead I'm using a narrow gauge standard called OO9. that is to say 1:76 scale trains running on 9mm track, for a scale track gauge of about 2 foot 3 inches (686mm).

a 6 foot by 2 foot raised planter will be all I need for a sizable circuit of track with a branchline and two stations, there's also space to play with hight by having the branchline finish at a lower level than the main running line. the first image is the planter I have lined up, the second image is the rough track plan I've made so far, using the theoretical maximum inside dimensions of the planter as the space I've got to work with.

I already have one starter pack of OO9 track, which contains a full loop and a bunch of straight sections plus a couple of points, which is a decent portion of the costs taken care of. The planter itself is £100, which is also affordable for me.

The unknown for me at this time is what plants to use. It'll probably be figured out as I go but I'm drawn towards alpines because small trains should run through small plants, however I also want flowering plants to encourage pollonators in the city I live in.

I'm also drawn to the idea of a small pond situated by the end of the branchline with the main circuit running directly over the water via a trestle bridge. I'm tempted to look at aquatic plants to help take care of the water but I need to do more research on this front.

all going well I should be able to start work on this after september, and unlike other projects I intend to see this through to the end.

Showed this on twitter and they liked it. This is Hunslet No. 1684, who is actually preserved.

...

Is this not smol Thomas, standard gauge edition?

There is actually a oo kit for her

Saturday Movie Night: Railscale 1

Here's an idea I've been sitting on for ages, which I hope will become a semi-regular feature on this here blog. It's a pretty basic idea - every week (if I remember), I share a video on here which I think you guys would be interested in seeing. Naturally, that means a lot of the videos will be to do with Thomas, or real-life railways (real and model), or anything else I decide is worth sharing.

I don't know if anyone here has heard of Phil Parker, but yes, I am basically ripping off the Saturday Film Club feature he does on his blog.

You may well remember me talking about Railscale a couple of years back. Well, since then, someone's gone and uploaded all three issues to YouTube (see that earlier post for why there were no more). So I thought, what better way to kick off this semi-regular feature?

See above to watch the programme, and see below for more details about the contents.

THE BROMFORD & HIGH PEAK RAILWAY (7mm/O)

This huge, spectacular O gauge layout was deliberately shrouded in mystery by its creator, Ferrari importer Ronnie Hoare. For security and insurance reasons, he rarely allowed visitors to the layout - the Railscale team were thus privileged to be allowed to film it for this feature. The layout itself featured over a scale mile of track, and included models from some of the country's leading model makers.

INSIDE A SAWMILL (7mm/O)

We next look around Les Tindal's scale model of an American sawmill of the interwar period. The sequence shows how Les adds details and develops scenery, and finishes with a look at huge he achieves the authentic weathering of timbers and metals.

PECORAMA (Various)

Pecorama is a permanent model railway exhibition in sunny south Devon, own and operated by the PECO company. They believe that any house or flat can accommodate a model railway, and the layouts on display have been made with this philosophy in mind.

WINCHESTER CHESIL (4mm/P4)

The Scalefour Society was one of the leading pioneers in the great push towards greater realism for model railways. This exact scale model of the GWR's Winchester station was made by society members from the Southampton area, and they take up the story of how the model came into being.

BOYTON CROSSING - PART 1 (4mm/OO)

The first in a series of segments demonstrating the construction of a model building - based on the crossing keeper's cottage at Boyton, on the Salisbury-Warminster line. Railscale's resident model maker, Mike Jolly, talks us through the process of researching and measuring the prototype, before building up the basic structure with card and embossed sheets.

LIVE STEAM ON THE ISLE OF MULL (Live Steam/10.25")

 In 1984, a miniature railway opened on the Scottish island of Mull, linking Torosay Castle to the ferry pier at Craignure. The line has since developed into a tourist attraction in its own right. Nick Dodson of Railfilms shows us around, and talks with founder Graham Ellis.

PROJECT N - PART 1 (2mm/N)

Mike Jolly returns to commence the construction of an N gauge layout. After deciding on the plan, he chooses and cuts the timber, and makes a start on assembling the baseboard.

COACH CONVERSION (2mm/N)

Railscale 1 concludes with this short segment, demonstrating how to convert a Graham Farish BR Mk2 coach, to represent types not available in the ready-to-run market.

So, the other day, I ran a new locomotive that just kept on derailing (Dapol Terrier in OO gauge), and was worried it was a fault with the locomotive. It wasn't. On closer inspection, this is the current state of my layout:

And for context (if any is needed judging from the image above), it is not in good condition. It is clean, but a track rubber isn't going to fix it. The feeder rail has been fixed so many times that the controller is now permanently soldered to it. Several of the curves have visible dents, one with a dip big enough to derail some locomotives. Both points have warped upwards... somehow. The fishplates have zero connecting power. It's absolutely knackered and needs replacing. I'm also on a tight budget, and the amount that needs replacing is... yikes.

So yeah. TL;DR is remember to maintain your track everyone. Now if you'll excuse me, I now have to work out how to get a set of points to lie flat.

Catreig Au Snippet #2

I recently sat back down to work on this after getting side tracked by Super Secret Project™️ and then getting side tracked from THAT by the vampire au

BUT! We're back! and my goal is to finish this (it's like 80-85%? done?) and then dive back into vampau and Super Secret Project™️! (vampau is going to be oo i wanna say at least 50k and heavy angst, Super Secret Project ™️ i think might clock in around 30k? not sure yet. but light angst! everything has happy endings tho!)

ANYWAY here's a link to the first snippet if you missed it: Ohgosh a link wow click it

and the new snippet is below! it takes place shortly after the first :3

“This is our office. It’s small but I like it.” Reigen stood by the side of the desk. Okay. This was…much taller than he thought it would be. But cats jumped up on things all the time. Desks and counters and what not. Knocking stuff over. Surely he could clear this? His tail swished back and forth. He sat back on his hind legs, front paws pulled up, trying to get a bit taller to gauge the distance. While he focused on the edge of the desk, his ear pivoted toward a faint clicking sound. And then another. He heard Serizawa’s foot shift and then another click. Wait, not a click. A camera shutter! He whipped around to see Serizawa smiling down at his phone. Hey! “Mreow!” Trying to conceal his smile and failing, Serizawa pressed his phone to his stomach, covering it with both hands, “Hmm? I didn’t do anything.” He needed to get uncatted and fast. Turning his attention back to the desk, Reigen took half a step back. Okay. This was. Just don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. And don’t think about how Serizawa was watching. He pushed up and aborted halfway. Nope. Okay. He circled back into position. Okay. Reigen crouched down, tail swishing, (he wished he knew how to control the damn thing) and jumped up. He almost made it, his front paws slapping the top of the desk, nails scratching over it, as he fell back down. Serizawa snorted behind him. Fucking hell. Fine. He’d been a cat for less than an hour, he was still adjusting. He stalked around, slipping beneath the desk and standing up to lean on the seat of the chair. He wasn’t strong enough to push the chair back? Seriously? It was on wheels. Fuck! “Mreow!” “Do you need help, Kitty-san?” Serizawa came over, rolling the chair out. This was much lower, he should be able to do this. Before he could second-guess himself, Reigen jumped up onto the seat of the chair. Which of course turned away from the desk in the process. He circled around. He was higher now but further away. He wasn’t sure he could clear the gap. He raised a paw, sort of testing his balance, getting a feel for the distance before setting it back down and pacing. He did that a couple more times before the chair slowly rolled forward. He looked behind him and saw Serizawa’s hand on the back. He huffed at needing the help but it was probably better than jumping, falling, and hearing Serizawa laugh at him again.

he's a mess but he's doing his best yall 😔

Imagine being a poor runner so you get dismantled to be repaired only for your owner to get bedridden halfway through and you get left in a old drawer for like 35 years only to be found but then destined to stay half finished?

Couldn’t be me.

Oo what is business as usual and sex, drugs, rock and roll 👀👀👀👀

I'm so glad you asked!

Here is an excerpt of Business As Usual for your viewing pleasure (unfortunately I haven't actually written anything for SD&RnR but I'll explain a little bit of what I'm thinking)

Excerpt start

“What are you reading?” came a sudden, soft voice. Loki turned to meet Hogun’s passive face. He was riding beside him. If he had been there the whole time Loki hadn’t noticed.

“Shapeshifting and Illusions,” he replied cooly, banishing the book to his pocket dimension. Hogun’s sudden interest was not unwelcome, just odd- his choosing to talk even odder. “Have you read it?” Loki asked dumbly. He would bet good money that no one in this group had ever glanced at let alone picked up a spell book, especially one that was meant to be locked away in Odin’s library, never to be seen or read.

“No,” Hogun said simply. He looked forward, wrinkling his nose at the conversation happening around them. Loki took note of the odd way he seemed both fond and exasperated. “But tell me about it. I doubt it’s worse than this,” he nudged his chin to where Thor and Volstagg continued to entertain Fandral with questions and comments while Sif listened disinterestedly.

Loki tried to quell a stab of disappointment. Of course, there was only personal gain to be thought of instead of genuine interest. But he indulged him nonetheless. “As the title so deftly put,” he deadpanned, “it’s a spell book on shapeshifting and illusions.”

“I gauged that,” Hogun said dryly. “Tell me more.”

What more was there to tell that he would be receptive to? “Well,” he thought, “contrary to popular belief, illusionary magic is intermediate at best, but often child’s play. I caught on to it quite quickly in my hundreds. However,” Loki paused, drawing in a tired breath, “shapeshifting is an advanced art, one that presents potential… complications if done incorrectly.”

Hogun hummed quietly. There was a beat of silence before he asked, “What would you deem advanced?” His head tilted a fraction as though he were actually intrigued.

“To put it in terms you would understand, it’s the equivalent of shooting a running target in the head from one hundred metres away on horseback.”

Hogun whistled lowly. “Have you ever tried?”

“Tried what?”

“Shapeshifting.”

Despite himself, Loki laughed. Hogun flinched but his expression remained impassive. “Yes,” he confessed, holding back a sudden tidal wave of emotion and the urge to end the conversation at its zenith.

“Why?” 

Why? Loki wanted to scream. He let the question marinate in the awkward silence it caused. He drew in a breath, held it, and exhaled at length. “Because desperate people do desperate things.”

Excerpt end

I might change some things about this wip. In my defense I wrote it months ago. But I hope it's got you hyped!

Here's a bonus because I couldn't resist! I can't keep it to myself🙈

Bonus!

“Curious,” he said, holding the bottle up to the light.

Loki rolled his eyes affectionately. “What is?”

“Red is my colour.”

“And?”

“Then by association, this potion must make you devilishly handsome like me. You could use some. I’ll buy it for you.”

“You’re an ass.”

“I would be offended if that wasn’t a lie.”

Bonus end!

Now, SD&RnR doesn't reeeaaallly have a plot rn. I just thought it would be neat to explore Apollo's past of "living life to the fullest" in a protective bubble of perfection and indifference. The title is meant to allude to impulsive grabs for satisfaction and surface level pleasure that doesn't really treat the deeper parts of one's longing and desire (such as that of wanting to be accepted and understood by your family for instance).

So yeah, that's the idea behind it. I haven't written a word but it's coming! Bet your autumn harvest it'll be here!

Thank you this ask and for letting me talk about my babies☺️💛 you rock!

Accurascale FNA-Ds have arrived. Gonna have to get myself another 68 now.

OO Gauge MR 700 Class. Picked it up built, painted and running. No coupler though.

pwease tell me more about jihan

oo thank u for asking! some more about jihan beloved <3

as mentioned he’s around 800 years old give or take. it’s a bit relative because he stopped keeping track of his age when he was about 150 and honestly, that was only because he was around people who cared about counting. if i imagine that this story takes place around the mid-2010s, then that would mean he was born he was born around 1200 or so 👀 if asked he’d classify his “mental age” as being around 40 or so because that’s around when he feels his personality was set in stone lol.

his ethnicity is also a bit of a mystery, but he’s not fully white. he suspects that he might have some african/middle eastern mixed in somewhere in his blood and he’s probably from the mediterranean, but getting turned kind of fucked up a lot of the features he had as a human or any semblance of his memory about being human soooooo… a bit unhelpful lmao. on this vein he does speak about 20 assorted languages conversationally. his strongest ones are 1. english 2. arabic 3. french 4. mandarin/cantonese—it’s kind of a blend really a lot of chinese people have had a hard time placing his accent or the words he use but it’s enough to get by LMAO.

he’s surprisingly pretty good with technology, hue is the “old dad that doesn’t understand tech” between them lmao.

because vampires in this universe have severe prosopagnosia the most recent memory of his face jihan doesn’t remember. some younger vampires he’s interacted with throughout his life will tend to have a pretty good grasp of their own features but jihan can’t be assed to remember. he kinda goes off of what people tell him and usually if he really looks like shit people will throw things at him so that’s his gauge 💀 however, he does miss being able to see what other people look like. not knowing FOR SURE what esther and ozzy or hue looks like kind of bothers him but he’s gotten really good at not dwelling on this. ozzy has gotten pretty good with art though and she’s promised him that one day she’ll draw him a family portrait so he can know what they all look like (art for him is a bit easier to process; he just says it looks only a bit fuzzy compared to everything else). it made him emotional haha.

jihan is extremely close with hue’s family. hue’s the only boy and has 3 older sisters, and he was the pillar for the four of them collectively when their mother suddenly passed away (well, it was suddenly but not entirely surprising. werewolves esp in this universe tend to “soul bond” with their mates and if one of them dies there’s a very high chance their mate will die from a broken heart. that’s what happened to their mother; around the first year hue and jihan began to date his father died suddenly in a car accident. their mom held out for a few years but eventually returned to their ancestral cave and passed away when she couldn’t take it.) bc jihan has lost many important people in his life before he was kind of able to guide them through grieving which strengthened he and hue’s bond but also his place in their pack tm.

speaking of other people jihan has loved, jihan would say he’s had 3 major loves before he and hue got together and started a family (making hue kind of chief among them; he never had any desire to settle down before hue). his first love was a human woman and he has a tattoo of a begonia on his thigh for her. his second love was a dryad and on his opposite thigh he has the type of tree they were; a birch. and the third was a witch and he has a potion bottle on the back of his neck for them.

jihan in general loves tattoos and has quite a bit. he has a tattoo for hue; a wolf shape over his heart, and he has yet to get tattoos for the girls yet but it’s only because he’s not sure what he should get for them. he’s thinking maybe a wand for esther and a paint brush for ozzy maybe in an X shape lol.

so that’s a bunch of rambles off the top of my head BUT if you wanted to know anything specific about jihan pls feel free to ask :’)