Monday's photo

nevard_120909_polbrock_DSC_8930, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

The fiction is that the above photo was taken half a century or so years ago as Midland 3F 0-6-0 No 32316 let off a good display for the photographer as it ran forward over the crossing before reversing its load into the siding at Polbrook Gurney Colliery Halt. This ex-GWR line was connected to the SDJR at Midford during WW2, so from time to time engines from the Bath to Bournemouth line could be seen in action. This photo has that late summer / earlier autumnal look,  the soft hazy sunlight breaks through as the mist rises to reveal a warm coloured and mature landscape of soft greens, yellows and browns.

September is very much my favourite time of year if the weather is good, I enjoy the colours and light, and the days can still rival August for heat even though the evenings start to draw in a little earlier. If you get up early and go for a walk, dew makes ones boots temporarily shine and the air has that wonderful fresh scent. The cool morning soon warms up, but not too much to make that walk in the country hard work. The hoards of holiday makers have gone home, so the countryside is a little calmer, less hectic thus can be enjoyed more comfortably.

I like to depict this month in my modelling, preferring the softer colours to the brighter greens of the middle of the summer. On a connected note, it's interesting how we nearly always tend to model miniature landscapes with trees in full leaf, and only the other day came to the conclusion that summer far easier than building a winter landscape. For starters a winter leafless tree would be very time consuming with all the delicate twigs and branches that are normally covered with leaves. To model that you'd need to use super fine multicore cable split and formed, with hundreds of carefully manipulated strands just for one small tree. I digress, but such would certainly make an interesting project - another one to do before I die I guess, or at least add to the never ending list of future projects!

• Modelling Trees by Gordon Gravett could provide the answer.