I've been away for a couple of weeks. My wife's father passed away at the ripe old age of 97 so we had a hurried trip to Vietnam for his funeral. The first 4 days or so were taken up with funeral and family matters so we only had a few days to relax and a couple of days in Saigon before we returned to Australia.
Even though we were only there for two weeks we got to to travel on several trains and of course I took lots of photos as I always do.
Of course the trip seriously curtailed my modelling plans for May, including a couple of more posts on this blogg, so apologies to you, my dear reader, for only one post in May. Hopefully I can get back to more frequent posts.
Above: First photo shows D13E 705 ready to depart platform 3 at Saigon Station at about 10.30 at night. The second photo shows the same train arriving at our destination, "Thap Cham" some seven and a half hours later.
This is the train engine for our passenger train taking us north from Saigon to Thap Cham. It's a D13E class, an Indian built ALCO. About half way between a 48 class and a 45 class and metre gauge. Known as YDM4 in India. Because we were in a hurry we went straight from Saigon Airport to Saigon Station and basically took whatever train we could get. It meant an overnight journey sitting up as there were no sleepers available, arriving at our destination at about 5.30 in the morning.
Above: The train that took us back to Saigon hauled by modern Vietnam built D19E class # 956
I have been doing a little bit of work since I've been back.
First I finally got the logos onto my pretend NSW passenger train the "Western Explorer". (see below). Currently the train has 4 coaches and a baggage van but I might add one or two more coaches. They're actually US coaches but they do look a little bit like "Indian Pacific" or Ghan type coaches. I also have a Peter Boorman Southern Aurora kit to put together so maybe that will be added to the set at some stage.
Also to be added to the train is a scratchbuilt "BKF" car carrier. I've started the model but it's slow work as the original vehicle is quite complex so I have to think of ways to make the model as I go along. My original plan was just to repaint a Kato Japanese car carrier but you just can't get them any more, so I bit the bullet and decided to build my own using an old US 50 foot boxcar chassis. I know that these particular vehicles were not used as MotoRail carriers but it's the right length and maybe one was used once. There's always an exception to the rule!
I've also (at last) started the wiring on the Barra Town layout. Very slow because it's so cold in the garage these days!
I bought some more Noch grapevines and they are to be added to my farm on my Ga Hong Ha Vietnam layout. I also have in my head a plan to build a small extension to the layout so that I can add a full Buddhist Pagoda. I have the 5 steps building but I need a couple more. While I was in Vietnam I bought several brass Buddhist figures that can be used outside the pagoda as well. They need to be painted white in the Vietnamese style.
Well, as Peter Cundell used to say, that's your lot for this week, so until next time, enjoy your modelling.
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