More Painton Viaduct Photos

Castle class 5080 'Defiant' passes over the viaduct.

6960 Raveningham Hall pilots 5080 'Defiant'.

A short pick-up goods train passes over the viaduct hauled by pannier tank 7752.

And finally, a Photoshopped image of 'Defiant' passing through the Cornish countryside.

Progress Drawers On

Thoughts have turned to where to store the spare stock that we cannot fit on the railway it self

As can be seen, we now have more than ample storage space for the spare stock!

Painton Viaduct

Friday night saw the completion and installation of Painton Viaduct. The viaduct will eventually bridge the valley in which the village of Essington nestles. A river (the River Essie) and a road will pass under its centre arches.

6960 'Raveningham Hall' passes over the newly installed viaduct.

The view from the high street of Essington village as an express train passes over the viaduct bound for the seaside.

And why is it called Painton viaduct? Because its on top of where we keep all the paint!

Essington Goods Shed

Essington Good Yard now has its own Good Shed! Built from the classic 'Superquick' kit the shed now sits proudly in the goods sidings. The one road has been realigned to allow both roads to access the good platform outside the shed, as can be seen in the photo below.

Interior lighting still needs to be added.

The first goods to be handled were a couple if tigers! The the delivery lorry can be seen on the following photo!

Hymek Restored to Life

In the depths of the box of bits my Uncle kindly gave me was an old Hornby Hymek. It was labelled as 'no motor' but the motor could clearly be seen. Always one for a challenge I set about trying to restore it to life. And it turned out to be quite a straightforward job. The electrical pick up connections from both bogies had be cut and some attempt had been made to re-wire them at some point. After re-instating the wires correctly the motor ran. A quick clean up and lubricate and D7063 was pressed into service and has already completed several laps! It might not be the tidiest, most detailed model ever - but it's nice to add another loco to the fleet.

Cab Ride

By way of experiment, I've tried a 'cab ride'. There were a couple of obstacles along the way!

GWR Diesel Railcar

One of the recent acquisitions was a GWR Diesel Railcar. This is an old Lima model that flatly refused to move when I first tried it. After a thorough clean up (wheels, brushes and motor) and lubrication it is now running quite nicely. In the photo below you see it emerging from the tunnel.

Going Round in Circles

Easter weekend finally saw the completion of the circuit around the loft! The first stage (completed on Saturday) saw the track advance around the back of the chimney and onto the straight section shown below.

Some spare pieces of track have been laid out for storing spare coaches etc, but these are not connected to the main circuit.

On Tuesday the final section was laid, as shown in the photograph below.

This wasn't straightforward as the trackbed has to sit on stilts to allow for the creation of 'rolling hills' and the inclusion of the viaduct (under construction).

We've run several laps in both directions and all seems to run well.

With the work completed we had a big tidy up. All the tools and bits 'n bobs that were cluttering up the station area have been moved leaving a much tidier station area.

Essington Shed

This week has seen the completion of the 2 roads into the engine. The section breaks allow for the storage of up t0 6 locomotives. The shed is illuminated by a couple of white LEDs.

On the back road is new arrival 47805 'Pride of Toton', Pannier 7752 and Sir Robert Peel. On the front road is 'Hogwarts Castle', Robert Nelson No 4 and the Circus Diesel.