Besides fundraising for QS, I like to have something else to do in the winter (besides dreaming about sailing).  Last winter I decided I wanted to get back to drawing and sketching. And then I came across an HO train set that Dorothy gave me 20 years ago as a joke. I think it was a joke.  So in a moment of inspiration I decided to combine them both and build a scenic train layout.

I decided to base the buildings on the area in which we live and designed farms, houses, sheds, a café and a replica (not finished yet) of our house. It takes hours to build a simple barn the way I do it because I make all the lumber, doors, fences, walls…whatever myself out of unusual materials such as twist ties, drywall mesh, toothpicks and stir sticks.  Making trees is interesting and I’ve just learned how to make evergreens. They require many steps that run over a couple of days. With the exceptions of the train, cars, trucks and cows, I made what you see in the pictures. I went to model train shows and searched the web to learn some techniques and just dreamed up the rest.  So after two winters, I’m not even half finished, which is a good thing. To come are a store, two houses, a 1886 lumber mill and finish a factory which is mostly done.

Fletch