Withdrawal Symptons??

Over the past few months, I haven't been able to invest much time in work on Philip's Creek. A combination of renovations to a holiday home and, more recently, another trip to the UK has seen a focus on non modelling activities.

However, whilst visiting Scotland, I was able to ride the Jacobite, a heritage train operated by the West Coast Railways from Fort William to Mallaig. According to their website, this is a round trip of 84 miles and it does traverse some spectacular scenery but the primary attraction on the route for most patrons is that viaduct at Glenfinnan, made famous by the Harry Potter movies.  Hauled by a 'black five', the train traversed part of the public rail network, incidentally, without diesel assistance that now seems standard for similar operations in NSW.

However, that journey is not the subject of this post but rather a strange occurrence during the stop at Mallaig. The timing of the return trip permitted a few hours in the town, sufficient time to get something to eat and explore some of the local attractions. We chose to visit the Heritage Centre which included a range of artifacts that reflect the various aspects of Mallaig's history.






One of the displays was a small layout modelling Mallaig station in earlier times.  As a model, it was a 'work in progress'. The Jacobite's black five had hauled seven carriages into the station and so there had obviously been some modeller licence concerning the length of the platform. The sidings leading to the fishing jetties were also excluded presumably to fit it into the space available . However, it appeared to be operational with a control panel and Gaugemaster controller. There was a Peco track cleaner left on the layout and two short lengths of track that looked as if they were joiners for another module. Other areas looked incomplete and it did seem to have suffered from being on public display. At least some damage to the turntable was noted and I suspect there may have been more. In all, the layout screamed for attention.

At this point in time, I felt a really strong urge to sit down and spend some time working on this layout. Although there were several signs warning visitors against touching the layout, reinforced by the close proximity of the museum supervisor's desk, I almost had to slap my right hand as it started to reach for the track cleaner. That, combined with  the potential wrath of my better half if I had done a few hours modelling work rather than finding her somewhere for lunch, convinced me just to take some photos instead.

I'm probably reading too much into this, particularly as the sensation only lasted a few minutes. However, it has made me wonder if there is something additive about this hobby. Certainly, people do get very seriously involved in the model railways, but an addiction?? Still, it did feel for me as if the lack of recent hobby activity triggered something like withdrawal symptoms after a few weeks away from the hobby.

Notwithstanding my perceived withdrawal symptoms, the concept of the model was great and there was a lot of potential. I do hope that some extra attention can be given to it so that the creator can fulfill his/her ambition to create an impressive model of Mallaig station in times gone by.