Most Europeans my age know the song 'I come from a land Down Under' by Men at Work. Australia has always held a special place in my heart. Why is a long story and completely irrelevant to model railways (and not being the least royalist it has absolutely nothing to do with Denmark's crown princess being of Australian origin). Late last year I had an e-mail from a fellow railway modeller in Australia asking if he could come visit Nystrup Gravel - "of course" was my answer - and my self confidence as a modeller jumped a point or two higher on the scale.
Having moved house not long ago and having had to spend time on a lot of the follow up work that entails, I hadn't had my modules set up for running in the new house. It turned out that my garden shed could easily accommodate Nystrup Gravel in its current form - without fiddle yard at least.
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| Nystrup Gravel's four modules set up in my garden shed. On the left is the factory building of Bankes Bakelit still in white foam board. |
The visit was as relaxing and informal as expected. Although informal there was an exchange of gifts as I was fortunate to receive a semi-built Hesketh & Snoodyk fuel pump on a skip chassis and an issue of 'Narrow Gauge Down Under'. In return I offered cold beer from a Danish micro brewery.
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| Here is a finished fuel bowser 'harvested' from the web site of Hesketh Scale Models. I plan to build mine just a little differently. I can't resist making small changes to a kit. |
Much too soon the time set aside for the visit had expired and we had to say good bye. Hopefully my Australian friend is now home again on the other side of the planet.
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