Back to back to Lego

I rediscovered Lego a couple of years ago, buying a Star Wars advent calendar and also getting some Lego City sets. I've been away from the Lego scene for awhile, however after reading criticisms online of Lego nowadays that it is rather restrictive and keeps people locked into pre-defined plans and designs (not that i agree with this point of view, you can still customise and subvert the plans - though my nephew hates it when i "customise" his lego cars) i decided to buy a set of mixed bricks and make some spaceships!

Tremendous fun too, my new set has 650 bricks so i could build an armada. 

First Dinky

The first Dinky toy i ever had, unfortunately as i was rather rough with it as a child its a bit less than premium now. Though to be honest there is nothing sadder than an old toy thats still in pristine condition. I always wonder if there is a sad story around it, was it bought for a beloved child who died before they could receive it? Or maybe they just didn't like it...

Original toy?

Dinky toys can be very valuable these days though i suspect my beat-up Police Mini would not be worth a great deal. Sentimentally it is worth a lot though, i've had it pretty much all of my life. My Nan bought it for me when i was a baby so was one of my original toys. I must have hammered it when i was a toddler because i can only ever remember the car in this condition! I found it in a drawer recently and decided it would be better to have it on display.

Return to rail?

One of my major hobbies when i was a child was my model railway. I had one from about the age of 5 or 6 when i was bought a trainset for the first time (Hornby Royal Mail set with a BR blue class 37 locomotive). Until my late teens i continued with the hobby with layouts first in my parent's garage and later in my bedroom. You can see a photo of the early garage layout here.

I stuck with OO gauge most of the time though did experiment with N gauge at one stage. I lost interest in my late teens and needed the space for other things anyway. My rolling stock, buildings and track were packed away in boxes... and remain there to this day! When i got my own house i did start thinking of restarting the hobby though never quite got around to it. Well now i am thinking about it again!

While my later layouts focussed on contemporary British Rail i am now thinking of going back in time and travelling the popular track of an interwar GWR branch line. I might even do a small layout based on the line down to Stratford. I got an excellent book on this line a few weeks ago and its given me a bit of inspiration to consider recreating Wilmcote station circa 1934 for example.

In the meantime the Perry Barr turntable is still in existance, hidden away behind a fence. This is one of the last remnants of a live steam layout that once ran on the sports field next to where i worked. I've never actually seen the trains running on there but they did up until the mid-2000s i think. The track indeed was only lifted in around 2006 or 2007. I don't have any photos of the track in existence but these photos from 2008 clearly show the trackbed (this photo i took in 2004 for a Quicktime VR does show the track - just about). You can compare the turntable with the photo below (one of the two turntables was destroyed of the layout was destroyed).

Advent calendar Star Wars Lego style

Its been years since i last had an advent calendar, in fact i can't remember the last one i had. No doubt i was at primary school and probably opened all of the days early so i could scoff all the cheap chocolates! Well i have more will power these days and won't cheat with my Star Wars Lego advent calendar. Every day there is a new toy to build and here is the first. It looks a bit like a Rebel Alliance blockade runner to me but then again i do have a good imagination. I will be photographing each days new toy up until Christmas Day, and uploading them to this Flickr group.