photography

Early morning in Ranuska

It's a national holiday today in Utrainia, and it just so happens I'm taking the break in Ranuska. I woke early today and went for a walk along the sea wall. There was a gentle sea breeze blowing and the cool winter air was quite refreshing, though not cold; it's never that cold in tropical Ranuska! Luckily I'd brought my camera with me, because as I strolled along, this lovely wee railcar rattled in to the funicular platform.

Yes, Ranuska is back in my sights again. I've made a couple of miniature saw horses which are perfect for sitting a module on while I work on it. They follow my usual design, just with stumpy legs and a sorter top. Turns out they also make great chairs!

Night time in Raparapa

Now that Raparapa has some lights, it's time to show them off!

A foreign visitor

Utrainia's relationship with Japanese railway technology is well known, but recently a new face has been sighted in Utrainia:

What is this splash of orange with the super-hero mask you ask?

It sure doesn't look very Japanese. Nope, this is the TGV: Train à Grande Vitesse. French technology (from 1981!) is now rolling the rails in Utrainia. (The platform at Raparapa might need some yellow safety striping installed.)

Introducting: Utrainia Broadcast

Tonight I would like to introduce you to Utrainia Broadcast, bringing you the finest news from around Utrainia.

Their first feature is this short video of a coal train along the coast, and the express sleeper service speeding through the canyon.

The supremely observant will notice that the diesels appear to have GE motors, yet EMD bodies. What can I say...

I guess the question on everyone's lips is: when will we see a Shinkansen???

Closing the loop

Big day here in Utrainia, and the result of many days work. First of all though, a little bit of background...

While building the bridge module I could feel that I was very close to making a complete loop of modules, all I needed was this and one more corner module. At that point I realised I had another corner module, my previous base for the bridge module. So I had the required number of corners, however neither had track, and it would take me a while to complete the bridge scene. I felt frustrated that I was so close, yet so far.

Then it struck me that I could cheat a little... if I tacked down some track on each module, they could act as stand-ins until I got around to completing them. Hmm...

So that night I quickly made up a pair of spacer modules. The first one I just put down some track over the existing foam, on the second one (the new bridge module) I made some joists out of 3mm MDF and a tack base from some foam board. End result was two corner modules...

JR along the coast

Now that trains are running on Utrainia, I've been enjoying running some of my trains. So far I've been running the "blue train", which is a collection of Japanese rolling stock I've acquired over many years. I've always fancied the Japanese blue trains, I think because as a child my Granddad had a similar set and it's left an impression. While in Japan I made an effort to ride one of the blue sleeper trains, but my timing was off and I ended up in a dreadful series 14 unreserved cattle-class carriage during a summer student migration weekend; a rather sub-par service.

Luckily in Utrainia there are no series 14 carriages on the sleeper trains, and so all passengers are treated to a most luxurious overnight ride instead.

Usually the sleeper train departs late in the evening, travelling through the night before arriving early in the morning at its destination. During the summer months, passengers are often treated to a spectacular sunrise as the train skirts along the S...