One of the buildings on the layout which I'm surprised doesn't get more comments - or at least hasn't so far - is the Nissen hut perched above the 'coal hole'.
It's a rather incongruous structure to be found amid the decaying remains of an intricate Victorian freight transfer system, you might have thought, but no one at the exhibitions we've taken Minffordd to so far appears to have questioned its presence in the scene.
You might have thought it was a 'preservation era' addition - because, let's be honest, the FR has a pretty poor record for augmenting it's estate with inappropriate structures..... - but, in fact, it is an Old Company relic.
It was placed at the rear of the Goods Shed around about 1940 to act as undercover storage for the sawmill which was being operated by the tenants of the Goods Shed - the railway by this stage trying to earn every penny it could by any means.
When the tenants moved out, and the railway moved back in, it was put to use by the Infrastructure Department and lasted until the mid-2010's when it was demolished to make way for the most excellent Waggon Tracks shed.
This archive picture from the 1960s shows the scene during the period we have modelled.
It was a late decision include the hut on our layout.
I'd initially left it out believing it might crowd the scene and give away how much we had compressed the yard.
But as so often I happened across something which made me think 'I wonder...' and that something was discovering the Ratio plastic Nissen Hut kit.
Making the kit up was very straightforward, although I have adapted it a little to represent the dwarf walls the real one sat on.
What was more challenging was replicating the paint - or was it even some sort of bitumen? - that the real one seemed to be covered in during the period.
I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, and it seems to sit in the scene quite naturally.
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