A diary of Tramway Demiel

Spooky.

Don't forget (only) for Toussaint you will have to fill it full with miniature flowers for a few days.

Now how do you make miniature chrysanthemums?

Mikey

Mikey

This site might give you some inspiration:

http://www.homesinminiature.co.uk/epages/62029456.sf/en_GB/?ViewAction=DetailSearchProducts&ObjectID=292562&PagerSize=5&Search=SF-AllStrings&SearchString=flowers

Seems to be a useful site for 1:24 scale accessories generally!

That's an excellent site Clive. And in my view reasonable prices. Resin figures for £2.50.
I'm going to buy the 'Tudor' house (which looks very Norman) for my daughter...of course it's about the right size to go with the trains....

I thought of these for you Mikey but it looks like you've been buyng already as they're out of stock.

For Mikey

If only they'd had them in peach Carl. It's much more my colour!

Michelle

A few shots of this evenings running. taken at 8.10pm;







Mikey

Its been a busy morning at Demiel with three trains running. Picture taken just before we were 'attacked' by a massive storm with hailstones (in August?);



mikey

It is quite amazing what you have achieved with this in so short a time. It isn't only a garden railway more a complete miniature village and community.

Thanks Martin. With only working mainly weekend evenings i have to have something to fill my day, whilst my wife is painting,cutting the wood,mowing nearly 6,000 sq.mts of grass, and feeding the donkey and chickens!

mikey

Saddletank wrote:

It is quite amazing what you have achieved with this in so short a time. It isn't only a garden railway more a complete miniature village and community.

Yes its really a model village with a railway.

A Miniature Bekonscot

Mikey, Mikey, Mikey it's looking soooooooooo good.

Monsieur Benet, the local entrepreneur and owner of the papermill, has very kindly donated a corner of his estate to the commune to be used as a 'champ de foire ' (fairground). It will be used for fetes and shows etc. The travellers are arriving and erecting their rides as we speak;





Many more attractions are planned and he has also agreed to provide a halt on his private siding for the villagers, even though the tramway already passes within a few yards of the site. (I am slowly cracking up arent I ?

Mikey

mikeyh wrote:

Many more attractions are planned and he has also agreed to provide a halt on his private siding for the villagers, even though the tramway already passes within a few yards of the site. (I am slowly cracking up arent I ?

Mikey

Why should he walk when he can go by tramway…… I can’t see any cracks………

What's the base Mike?

Some kind of "dalle" ?

Its the base of my old computor monitor with a 3v motor glued underneath (in real life any riders would be violently sick because of the speed at which it turns!). The top is a flowerpot tray with a plastic 'cone'on it.
the swingboats are made from the arms of a garden parasol.
great fun to make because suprisingly little has changed (apart from the technology) over the years.

mikey

Another very interesting diorama Mikey. How about a tram line going under the champ de foire?:



I did of course do my usual trawling of a well-known site for cartes postales anciens, to see what sort of 'rides' might have been around back then. It seems though from the many pictures available, that most of the time these places (which every town/village seemed to have back then) were livestock/produce markets. Thinking about it, that kind of makes sense - given that they would have very likely have been 'travelling fairs' (very much like they still are to this day in the UK), it would be a bit of an extravagance setting aside a parcel of land solely for that. Unless your town/village has a wealthy benefactor of course!

I found this wonderful old postcard by searching for 'tour de manège' (= fairground ride):



If you search just for the word 'manège', then you get even more - some really great ones in amongst them!

Nice find Clive. i did my search (same site) under 'Fetes Foraine' (funfair). I didnt know that the first commercial ride was as early as 1724!
As I said , the technology may have changed, but the rides and the artwork on them has changed little over the years. Every commune in France has its fete with a few (or many) rides. Then the agricultural shows have them so i thought it would be another thing to look at on the railway (particularly when its all motorised!)

mikey

Must be worth at least 40c (the seats on the roundabout or am I way off ?)

Spot on Patrick! no change there! I had to add some weight somehow.

Mikey

Now all you need is a bearded woman and a jungle boy to complete your carnival.

Watch this space Bill. The freak show is underway. As a matter of fact all my homemade figures look like freaks!!

Mikey

Its been a bit quiet in Demiel for a couple of weeks but the fairground has just a couple more stalls to arrive and some people!





Mikey

Probably not the best place to post this but it will let people know whats happening!
I find myself at a crossroads with this hobby. Tramway Demiel is virtually complete and does everything I want it to do. I have no interest in just acquiring extra stock for the sake of it. I have no interest in live steam , the buzz I get from watching it go round and round does not justify the cost by any means. I have no interest in what somebody else has bought, although i do enjoy seeing peoples lines progressing and growing. I will carry on reading posts that are of interest but for the time being will not be posting any more re Demiel. My PC is old and was filling up with pictures plus i can only post so many different views of trains on the tracks!! Take care everybody

Mike

Sorry to hear that you are stepping back from your prolific posting Mike.

It has been an interesting and inspiring thread to follow, we all have a different slant on our hobby and the construction, development is possibly one of the most interesting parts. Perhaps you should have passed yourself better; you always did do things at twice the speed of light.

Now me I have years to go yet……

Keep in touch and your comments will always be welcome on my railway even if the railways are totally different in concept and execution.