On Track Again

And we're back.  For now, at least.  My phone line (and hence my broadband) came back on this afternoon.  So the crisis is over - until the next time BT's equipment fails and I have to go through the tortuous process of trying to get them to fix it.  Even this restoration hasn't been without issues, but I'm tired of talking about BT's inefficiency and ineptitude, so they can wait for another day.  As I wasn't expecting to back online today, I don't actually have any kind of post prepared.  Instead, I'll just give a quick update on some of the model railway stuff I've been doing while off line.  You might recall that I was stripping and repainting that sorry looking pile of old Hornby coach sides I bought off of eBay in order to use them to rebuild some surplus composite coaches into brake coaches.  Well, here are the results so far:

They've only been loosely reassembled, uniting the repainted new sides with the roofs and chassis of the surplus composites.  They are now awaiting numbers and other transfers (which I can order, now that I'm back online) and some retouching of the paintwork on the roofs and chassis.  They've turned out much better than I expected - the main problem turning out to be the removal of the flush glazing sported by three pairs of the sides, which had been cemented in place by a previous owner.  Eventually, however, I was able to prise them loose with a minimum of damage.  In addition to the four brake coaches, I've also repainted a battered Lima restaurant car I picked up for three quid at the local Toy and Train Collector's Fair.  Here's the before and after:

As with the brake coaches, it is still awaiting transfers (of which I have a set, barring the red stripe which Southern Region catering stock started sporting just under the roof line in the sixties - it later became standard for all regions).  This one came out surprisingly well, considering the rather forlorn state of the original.

There you have it - back online and back painting model railway stock.  It's a wild life that I lead!