Valeting The Railway

Helen and Bill arrived late this morning in order to stay for lunch. Further overnight rain had flooded the Bransgore Road which involved a major diversion for them.

We engaged in much reminiscing and hilarity either side of Jackie’s usual excellent cold meats and salad lunch which sufficed for today’s nourishment. I drank more of the Fleurie and Helen and Jackie drank Wairu Cove Sauvignon Blanc 2019.

After lunch the two sisters set about valeting their Dad’s miniature railway.

First they applied a Dyson vacuum cleaner to the cabinet

and the rails.

They then propped up the cabinet

while they unwrapped and brushed down each tiny engine and carriage

before Helen replaced the models into their wooden case

in order to photograph them for e-mailing to an interested party.

Here are Jackie’s photographs of the completed work, with a large cafetiΓ¨re for scale. Later, Jackie rewrapped each individual item and reinstated the sliding glass panel.

87 comments

  1. You are on the ball today Derrick! Siddy has just had first breakfast and I’m still on first coffee πŸ™‚ Your Pa-in-law’s collection must be quite aged. I believe I have never seen such a well kept display. Good on the sisters for such excellent curating!

      1. First breakfast while I have coffee, second breakfast after our morning walk……. followed by elevenses (which mostly happens about midday now), twoses, first dinner and second dinner. And still he often tries to con me into supper after our evening walk……

  2. So impressive that Jackie and her sister so lovingly and carefully care for the train set.
    I have my sons cars on repurposed duck board and I care for them. Who knows, maybe my grandson may appreciate it. ?

  3. This makes me think of my son’s beautiful set of electric trains. Sadly, modern houses don’t have the space to set up the rails so they have been (l)anguishing in storage for the past thirty years!

  4. Such fine care–“valeting the railway.” That railway set in its case is quite impressive, and the French press coffee looks good, too. πŸ™‚ I imagine the sisters had a great visit.

  5. Looks like ye all had a lot of fun, how nice such a collection. And I like the display shelves, looks like a great template I could use to make shelves for my rock samples πŸ™‚

  6. What a delightful collection, and beautifully displayed. There’s something about miniatures that appeals to so many; I wonder what it is? They’re cute, of course, and it’s amazing to see such perfect renderings of tiny details — but there’s something more. Such a nice day, and such a good result.

  7. That’s a wonderful collection, Derrick. If you know the exact name of the item, try searching for it on Ebay. That will give you some idea of the value of what you have, and you might find it surprising. I’ve just looked up my own “Mallard” which is Β£40 or so in green, but Β£500 in pale blue.

  8. We had a lovely day attending to Dad’s trains and his hand made cabinet. Sparked off lots of reminiscences and laughs. Thanks for storing it under your spare bed and thanks for a lovely (3 course) lunch! We didn’t need any more to eat either before we went to be.
    In answer to a couple of questions: I think it is N guage. They have lost a great deal of their value to collectors as they no longer have boxes and they have had the initials painted on. We are hoping they will be good as an interior design piece as they look good on the wall.

  9. Cool! I love those little true to life representations of trains! We used to have a Fleishmann train track set up underneath our stairs when I grew up. Thanks for the flashback!

  10. My husband’s train set was given away to someone by his mother when Richard was away at university. My father gave my brother’s set to the boys next door when my brother was in police cadet college. Two aggrieved men.
    Jackie and her sisters worked hard getting their father’s set looking bright and shiny for photographs.

  11. “Reminiscing and hilarity” sounds like a great time. The train collection reminds me I have my dad’s Christmas Village in the attic. Wish I had room to set it up. I hope our collections find a good home.

Leave a Reply