Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: model

I happened to have already scanned this image a few years ago and thought I'd use it today, to wish everyone who celebrates Christmas a very happy day. Me, many, many years ago (lol!), wearing homemade, flannel pyjamas and clutching one of my Teddy bears. Merry Christmas, everyone! Here, our temperature on Christmas morning is -19C (windchill -29C). Extreme cold warnings are in effect for Alberta. The forecast for "a few flurries" has changed, so sunshine should be here to stay all day. There is too much snow on the ground already, so we don't need any more.

This photo shows a small model of a Mamod Steam Tractor, on display inside the museum building at Pioneer Acres, NE of Calgary. Wish I could remember if this is the same kind of model that my father gave to me/my son many, many years ago. My father spent many years beautifully photographing all the old steam tractors, steam rollers, and steam trains of railways in the UK and some of Europe. I have such good childhood memories of my parents, brother and myself cycling into the English countryside on the weekends. My father would wait for the steam trains to come along, while my mother would show me the wildflowers. Sweet memories. My daughter and I had a such a great day on 5 September 2017. She had a free day, so we decided to drive north-east of the city and visit the Pioneer Acres Museum. The day started off with seeing three perched Swainson's Hawks, which were a bonus. We had passed the colourful old truck and tractor displayed on tall posts, to indicate Pioneer Acres, on various occasions and this time, we actually went to the museum. What an amazing collection of old farming equipment, some standing outdoors and many others in large sheds. Have to say that I am always attracted to old, rusty things, and there was no shortage of these, either. "Pioneer Acres is operated by a team of volunteer members who, in many cases, have extended their golden years of retirement, performing the duties necessary to meet the club's objectives. These include work to collect, restore, maintain and demonstrate the artifacts which were used by the pioneers of early Alberta. The end result is that present and future generations have the opportunity to glimpse into our pioneering past through the artifacts on display and demonstrated. Younger members of the club also learn the care, maintenance and operation of these living artifacts." From link below. www.pioneeracres.ab.ca/member.aspx While we were walking round the grounds, visiting each massive shed in turn, my daughter spotted a Plains Garter Snake, and waved me over to see it. She also saw several birds running round behind one of the sheds, and when I went to check, I found there were four Gray Partridge running off in the distance. A distant Jackrabbit completed our wildlife sightings, first noticed when it was standing tall and upright on its back legs in 'freeze mode'. My mind wandered to Alice in Wonderland : ) Though we did not do a tour of the inside of the "Long" House, we found it an impressive building, complete with a few Sunflowers, Hollyhock and other flowers in the garden, and a tall, metal windmill. "The "Long" House was built in 1914 by John Thomas on a farm just northwest of Irricana, Alberta. It has been lived in by three generations of the Long Family since 1914. The house was donated to Pioneer Acres, moved to our location, and restored to 1929 status." From the Pioneer Acres website. There is also an old schoolhouse on the Museum site. "The Crown School, built in 1905, was located west of Three Hills on Highway 583. It closed in 1953 and was bought by the district of Allingham for use as a community league. In 1996, the building was relocated to Pioneer Aces of Alberta Museum." From the Alberta Teachers' Association website. After spending a long time walking round the grounds, we decided to drive through Irricana itself in order to get back to the highway. I had seen photos on the Internet of three murals there - sunflowers, crayons, and a view of the old grain elevators that had once stood nearby - and I wanted to go and see them. All near each other, as this town only has a few streets. I had never been to Irricana before and I was impressed with what a delightful place it is, full of brightly coloured murals, and well kept. One of the outer roads had many flower beds along the edge, watered with well water, looking most attractive. I had asked my daughter if she was interested in calling in at the Silver Springs Botanical Gardens in NW Calgary, if there was time after our drive east. I had planned the drive ahead of time, partly because I had also seen a photo somewhere on the Internet of a rather nice old barn that I really wanted to see. We were not disappointed, though it was a shame to see that the cupola had fallen from the roof since that photo was taken. I had never driven through the town of Airdrie before, but did the "drive" on Google Earth the night before and it looked straightforward enough. Returning to the city via Cochrane, my daughter told me how to get to Silver Springs. I had never driven there before, but I had been there with a friend last year, I think on 1 October, and thoroughly enjoyed these meticulously kept gardens. We were just too hot and tired to see every inch of the garden, but finished off with photographing sunflowers and enjoying the American Goldfinches that were feeding on them, before we continued on our way. A great day, despite the heat and smoke from the B.C. and Alberta wildfires (distant low visibility, too). Thanks so much, Rachel - hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. We drove 256 km (used about half a tank of gas, or less). I was absolutely tired out from the heat and driving unfamiliar roads.

THIS year's annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count for the town of Nanton was so different from last year's Count, with more snow mainly seen only from the higher roads, making the roads so much easier to drive, and temperatures that were much milder (-7C). As usual, I didn't get many birds photos, but I was very happy to get a shot or two of Sharp-tailed Grouse. I absolutely love the scenery on this Count, so I was able to get a few shots to show some typical landscapes. This old vehicle, a Rambler, was seen when we called in at what might have been some kind of camp ground or park. It was just sitting there, begging to be photographed. "Rambler was an automobile brand name used by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company between 1900 and 1914, then by its successor, Nash Motors from 1950 to 1954, and finally by Nash's successor, American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1969. It was often nicknamed the "Kenosha Cadillac" after its place of manufacture." From Wikipedia. I'm not sure if this is a 1963 model. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambler_%28automobile%29 The LAST Nanton Count was originally supposed to have taken place on 28 December 2013, but the weather forecast warned of a Flash Freeze, and so it was postponed till 5 January 2014. The weather was bright and sunny for us that day. However, photos taken on that day did not show how brutally cold it was! On the hour-long drive south of Calgary, we hit -34C (-29.2F)!!!!! It did eventually warm up a few degrees and thankfully, there was no or very little wind, which makes all the difference. The only walking we had to do was when we called in at various farms and homesteads. One backroad in particular had too much snow on it, so we had to leave that one out. Also, there was just too much snow in many of the farmyards, so we weren't able to check out all the trees and bushes as thoroughly as we would like to have done. After the Count, we returned to the meeting place at the home of Leah and Bill, where they had prepared a delicious supper that they so generously provide each year for us (as well as a breakfast snack). You couldn't wish for a nicer family (includes their son, Mike, who puts in a lot of effort organizing this annual Count each year). I'm posting Andrew Hart's E-bird Summary of our small (just four of us in one car) group's day (leader Tony Timmons). Won't be of interest to most of you, but it helps me remember what we see from year to year! Andrew Hart BirdLog Checklist Summary for: Dec 14, 2014 Number of Checklists: 7 Number of Species: 14 Checklists included in this summary: (1): Williams Coulee Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:20 AM (2): CA-AB-Cayley - 50.3485x-114.0250 - Dec 21, 2014, 8:57 AM Date: Dec 21, 2014, 8:55 AM (3): Nanton general area Date: Dec 21, 2014, 9:45 AM (4): CA-AB-Nanton - 50.3330x-113.8737 - Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:18 AM (5): Nanton general area Date: Dec 21, 2014, 11:52 AM (6): Williams Coulee Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:20 PM (7): Nanton general area Date: Dec 21, 2014, 2:30 PM 36 Sharp-tailed Grouse -- (2),(3) 6 Golden Eagle -- (1),(3),(5),(6) 3 Rough-legged Hawk -- (2),(3),(6) 102 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) -- (3),(4) 1 Hairy Woodpecker -- (1) 1 Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) -- (4) 1 Merlin -- (4) 1 Prairie Falcon -- (1) 27 Black-billed Magpie -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7) 42 Common Raven -- (1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(7) 11 Black-capped Chickadee -- (3),(4) 4 European Starling -- (4) 21 Common Redpoll -- (4) 38 House Sparrow -- (2),(4),(7) Andrew Hart" I will also add leader Tony Timmons' account - simpler to read : ) A few of the numbers are slightly different in each summary, though I'm not quite sure why. We were so lucky to see so many Golden Eagles this Count. "Nanton Count-Area D Species 14 Rough-legged Hawk 3 Golden Eagle 5 Merlin 1 Sharp-tailed Grouse 46 Rock Pigeon 106 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Northern Shrike 1 Black-billed Magpie 36 Common Raven 44 Black-capped Chickadee 11 Common Redpoll 21 European Starling 4 House Sparrow 38 Prairie Falcon 1 Seen in Williams Coulee, included in Area B Tony Timmons"

And you thought that photographing birds was difficult! You should try catching this guy as it runs on top of a shelter and is about to jump off and disappear into the distance! Lol, couldn't resist taking a quick shot of this Dinosaur at Dinosaur Provincial Park, between the Concession area and the Park tour buses area.

Taken on 4 January 2013, when four of us travelled a long way east of Calgary to take part in the Horseshoe Canyon/Drumheller Christmas Bird Count. This is part of the Badlands area of Alberta, land of the dinosaurs. Our territory was N of the Red Deer River, on the NE part of the count circle, and included the Tyrrell Museum. At noon, we stopped at the Museum to eat our lunch and I was able to catch this huge dinosaur. We had driven past a short while before, when the icicles were quite a bit longer, but I couldn't take any photos because my lens had a thin layer of ice on it. If you ever get the chance to visit this Museum, you will find it to be superb. www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=&tbm=...

This photo will stick out like from my photostream like a sore thumb, ha! Definitely odd man out! This is a large, heavy, working model of the Stephenson's Rocket, 3 1/2" gauge, made by Hornby, and is absolutely beautiful. The engine and the tender measure 18" in length! It also comes with a very fancy carriage, which I guess I should also photograph. It has taken me so long to get it out of its box and photograph it (using Impressive Art effect), but I need to get it to my oldest daughter in the next little while. My Father, an exceptional photographer, was also a lover of steam trains, travelling all over England and Europe photographing them many years ago. When he died, he left a large collection of model trains (a curse for my Mother, lol, and also for my friends, Linda and Tony, who so generously went through everything when my Brother died!), including this real beauty. He also had a much smaller version, which I will keep for myself, but my oldest daughter inherited her Grandpa's love for steam engines and she was so eager to have this. So, my good friends in England sent these out to me when my Brother died, along with all the other personal things. "Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in 1829 at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in Newcastle Upon Tyne. It was built for, and won, the Rainhill Trials held by the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829 to choose the best design to power the railway. Though the Rocket was not the first steam locomotive, it was the first to bring together several innovations to produce the most advanced locomotive of its day. It is the most famous example of an evolving design of locomotives by Stephenson that became the template for most steam engines in the following 150 years. In 1862 Rocket was donated to the Patent Office Museum in London (now the Science Museum) by the Thompsons of Milton Hall, near Brampton. The locomotive still exists, in the Science Museum (London), in much modified form compared to its state at the Rainhill Trials." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenson's_Rocket For anyone who is interested, this is a link to a YouTube video of one of these models in action. This was a test run for the Hornby live steam Stephenson's Rocket at the KMYCA track in Antwerp. youtu.be/pQhOUbB7378 Ha, just HAD to share this YouTube video (thanks, Dave!). It never pays to tease a frog! youtu.be/QzXM58qR1Es

This small model train was one of several that were sent over from England to me, after my Brother died last Christmas. My Father was a keen collector of model trains and also did a huge amount of photography of the various steam trains of the UK and a few parts of Europe. Will be giving each of my kids one of these models to keep, as a reminder of their Grandpa. "The Dean Single, 3031 Class, or Achilles Class was a type of steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1899. They were designed by William Dean for passenger work. The first 30 members of the class were built as 2-2-2s as the 3001 Class. The first eight members of the class (numbers 3021-3028, built April–August 1891) were built as convertible broad gauge 2-2-2 locomotives, being converted to standard gauge in mid-1892, at the end of broad gauge running on the Great Western Railway. A further 22 were built in late 1891 and early 1892, this time as standard gauge engines. Due to their long boilers these engines were unstable, particularly at speed. It was decided that future members of the class would be constructed to a 4-2-2 wheel arrangement to reduce the weight on the front wheels. 3001-3030 were also quickly rebuilt as 4-2-2s. In 1900, George Jackson Churchward replaced the boiler on number 3027 Worcester with a parallel Standard 2 boiler. Twelve further engines were similarly converted in 1905 and 1906. Despite the locomotives' speed, the 4-2-2 design was soon found to be outdated and unsuitable for more modern operation. Although Churchward proposed converting them to more modern 4-4-0s, they were scrapped between 1908 and 1915." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_3031_Class