The Liverpool Rose

Another beauty arrived at the Rust & Steel train depot today; also from the UK. 

I call her "the Liverpool Rose", after the inscription on her side, just below the cabin window, showing the name of her manufacturer: Meccano Ltd of Liverpool.

Am very much looking forward to taking many pictures of her, but for now I just wanted to introduce her to you with these ones.

Behold the latest addition to my collection of O gauge toy trains: a pre-war, Hornby Great Western Railway (GWR) steam loc, aged to perfection!

 

This lady is very photogenic to say the least, and will for sure feature in a photoshoot or two!! Looking forward to welcome her home, as she makes her way to me from the UK.

A big thanks goes to Paul, the seller, for his kind permission to use these pictures here.

A Song From the Attic

Today I want to share with you a song well suited for Jane. It's called "Lost Reflection" by Crimson Glory. I've always loved it since it was released, and could never have imagined that it would 'fit' this purpose three decades later...

You can listen to the song on YouTube by clicking on the image below.

Note: To be enjoyed strickly with headphones on... Like the track: support the artist by buying it from a trusted source.

© José Pereira Torrejón. All rights reserved. No part of the content of this blog may be distributed, published or reproduced without prior authorization from the author.

Arrival

Playing with Jane: arrival at the train station.

That night, Jane arrived at the train station on the wheels of a night train. 

The chemical scent of spring was in the air, of plants communicating with one another in a language inaudible to human hearing, just like the dead do. 

A gentle breeze rocked the branches of young trees, and made them sway like the hips of a woman, dancing.

Distant stars shone with their pale, yet twinkling April light, much like eyes in love, and the only sound to be heard was the distinctive song of the whip-poor-will.

Welcome home, Jane, welcome home..!

Opening here soon: a shadow box with a deeper message. A shadow box that grew as it was being created, and became something of a warning to us all...

This is the tale of a piece of artwork that even got its name 'on the go', changing several times, twisting and turning until it was....

Opening here soon!!

A New Life for an Old Tanker

Now online: the restoration of an old, discarded toy train wagon, and its rise with a new identity!

Access the project by clicking on the below image, and learn how it was done!

Creativity

Last Thursday, I visited the magnificent, interactive, "Star Wars Identities: The Exhibition", which is currently 'touring' through Europe. As a life-time Star Wars fan, I felt like I was in heaven, watching all the original items on display!

Original artwork by George Lucas showing the top view of the Millennium Falcon, as seen on the Star Wars Identities exhibition. Copyright: Lucasfilm Ltd.

One of the items shown was a drawing of the Millennium Falcon, the iconic freighter used by Han Solo and Chewbacca. I learned that George Lucas got the idea for the shape of the space ship from an hamburger! 

 

When I read this, I somehow immediately identified with this way of thinking, or rather, how the creative mind works. Like Lucas, I also see different things in everyday objects, much to the amazement and delight of people around me. And I think that the same goes for most of us, the 'creative people'. George Lucas saw a spaceship in an hamburger, where most other people just see an hamburger, and eat it! Perhaps parents should allow their kids to 'play with their food' after all. After all, it did make George Lucas rich and famous!

 

I got a big smile on my face and took the above picture as a momentum.  And I felt blessed with 'The Force' within me...

Jane is online..

A moment of inspiration drew me to do a photo shoot of my doll Jane. And I must say I enjoyed it so much, that I decided to do a follow up on this. 

The little doll fascinates me, and, in my opinion, was born for her role of Jane of the Attic. So enjoy these few very first pictures of her, by clicking on the image below, and stay tuned for more!

LYB logo applied

News update: the LYB logo is in place, and the tank has received some further attention, adding more layers of paint, varnish, and weathering, even to the logo itself. It's basically ready to be installed now!

Further progress on the oil tanker rail car: painting the tank

This time the tank itself got my attention.

I applied 'warm gray' color paint on top of the primer using a spray can. I sprayed in an irregular fashion, to give it that extra 'weathered' or 'dirty' look.

 

What you don't see here, is that, when I started to 'weather' the tank further, I got a bit carried away at it! The wagon looked great, but way too rusty! 

And even though I totally loved the result, the idea for this project is to represent an operational unit, hence there is only so much one can do as far as weathering goes. Otherwise the poor wagon would never pass the 'safety test' :)

So... I resprayed it a bit, smoothing out the rust, and giving it a rough, yet more 'decent' look! The extra layer of paint also gave it more structure, and now it looks like a heavy-duty wagon which has been around for a while, and has been painted many times over!

And yes, it still has some rust here and there, because otherwise it would not match with the chassis. I must say the result so far is pretty cool!

To be continued...

Progress on the 'O' gauge tanker project

I'm currently working hard to get an old, derelict, 1950's Shell oil tanker rail car back on its feet, and transforming it into a LyondellBasell (LYB) tanker. The 'O' gauge car was manufactured by Bub in Germany, and looked in a sorry state.

The wheels and axles have been installed, completing the truck assembly which now sits on rusty, Märklin rails.

 

As you can see, I've left the chassis intact in its original condition, meaning that I haven't taken away any of the rust and the aging it showed. I feel that if I had restored it to 'mint' condition, its charm and charisma would have been lost, making it way less attractive. Likewise, the spare parts used are not new, but from the same vintage as the rail car or even older. After all, 'Rust' is in the name of this blog for a reason!

The missing coupling is now also in place. It's not the original coupling type that should go with a Bub rail car, but I thought this one would make it more interesting than the original, which was rather basic (i.e. boring).

 

Same thing goes for the buffers. Actually, this rail car never had them, but I wanted them in place because they make it look more detailed and interesting to look at. I'm now considering whether I should leave them like this, or 'weather' them a bit to match the chassis.

So, basically, the chassis is now complete, awaiting the installation of the tank, which is currently being worked on.

The tank itself has received two coatings of primer and is awaiting further processing. Note the dent on one of its flanks, which is a 'battle scar' sustained in the course of his long, working life. I decided to keep it for the same reason I left the chassis intact: it's all a matter of preserving as much as possible the 'magic' that comes with age.

As you can see from the above picture, the inside of the tank shows traces of rust too, which I will also leave 'as is'.

Finally, the cap of the tank was removed before the latter got the primer treatment. I want to keep the cap 'as is' too, because it looks perfect already, so why change it! 

Spare Parts

Yessss!! The spare parts for my current little O gauge project have arrived!

My next 'Capriccio'...

A moment of inspiration,  or little 'capriccio' ... 

Coming soon to this blog!