The Winter Project

Although there's plenty of indoor maintenance and repair work to do for the garden railway, work has now started in earnest on the Winter Project, "Priddy Mineries". This is set on the branch line running from Masbury Junction to serve the farming and mining community of Priddy, on the Mendip Hills. Mineries Halt is not much more than a mile from the terminus at Priddy Green, at the junction with the spur to the old St Cuthbert's Lead Mine, the site of which is now a limestone quarry. As well as serving the mineries, the halt is on the old coaching route from Wells to Bristol and near to two pubs, one of which, the Mineries Inn, is just across the road from the crossing-keeper's cottage.

All of this is is of course a product of an over-active imagination, but it does give a sort of a reason and purpose to the track-covered board in the spare bedroom and the strange smells of solvent and hot resin pervading the house.

The track-layer's clutter.

Almost ready for the scenery ....

This is my family's first venture into hand-made track since my father's in the early 1950s, and the results look remarkably similar. The sleeper appearance, length and spacing, and the rail profile, are all about the same.  The main difference is that my chairs are not made of solder.