Thanks! I enjoyed the day a lot, and met some really interesting people again. I realised too late that I should have lied about the laser cutting. The happy idea of a little jeweller's bow drill for each hole with hand made rivets would have impressed far more people. In fact, despite the 19th century look, they are designed entirely on CAD, and no paper comes between the computer and the laser cutting. Credit for the basic designs all goes to my very patient friend and long-retired colleague, Frank Grantham, who is far better at CAD than I will ever be. He'd rather be building model planes, but sacrifices himself for this as a special favour. Despite the CAD, the bridges are hardly ever identical - there's nearly always a little quirk to be found in them. The specials can be a challenge, and customers sometimes want the impossible, as in:
Customer: "I want a bridge in three spans, nine feet long and two inches wide!"
Me: "No. That's crazy. I won't do it".
Customer: "The first cheque is in the mail".
Me: "Always happy to be of assistance, Ma'am. The factory will run day and night until your order is completed." (We did it).
A good point about 7/8, Ferd. I'm getting some interest from that area, and I usually refer to the bridges as 'multi-scale' structures to remind people that they are small structures, and not scale models restricted to a particular scale.
We do our best, and it can be fun doing it. As in most narrow gauge matters, the crazier the customer, the more fun it is.
