Hibernation - No

Bears and other animals hibernate in winter but why should we? Winter for me is probably the time when more should be done than the extremes of summer. Having said that progress down the shed has been remarkably  slow. With over two thousand projects in the shed to do before finishing, sometime you can come out and wonder what you have achieved on the day.
I had a great distraction in July when I was invited down to the Southern Highlands with two friends Marcus and Laurie. The trip was to have a look at the magnificent HO layout of Gary Glazebrook who has modelled around the Newcastle/Port Waratah area and other collieries and branches south of Broadmeadow. I was very impressed in the past when I was attending the Modelling the Railways of NSW conventions down at Loftus. Gary gave an excellent lecture on his proposed layout. I don't think he had settled on the final plan at the time and showed a few options and one was eventually chosen for his final layout plan. Most of the fine completed layouts I have seen all seem to be based on the northern line. Must be some attraction about the north?
The layout was situated on the upper floor and for first timers seeing it, you were blown away by its size and excellent construction. The day was a gathering of DCC users and naturally this layout was run utilising NCE wireless throttles. There was no way corded throttles would work on this large layout. There were trains everywhere on the layout, many in place on hidden staging return loops under the layout. Then there was the terminus of Newcastle and behind that was the impressive steel works and tracks of Port Waratah. A fantastic layout that I hope one day will grace the pages of the Australian Model Railway magazine. I didn't take enough photos but a few of the impressive steel works and adjacent track will give an idea of the layout. Thanks for the invite Gary.

And back in the real world of narrow gauge although I have made many visits to the shed, there is not a lot to show for them at the moment. I have actually made a start on the Thomson River bridge but it is painfully slow. I'll keep details of the build for future posts as  there is not much to show yet.
One thing I often do though is when I see a photo opportunity I whip the phone out and take some snaps, so I have made a selection of recent shots and present them here. Once a year during winter the afternoon sun is low in the northern sky and shines right into the shed. The summer sun goes right overhead and doesn't give the same photo opportunities. Enjoy.