Bits and Pieces

I've cleared up the area around Essington Village and started experimenting with the arrangement of the shops and houses I have. They are all Superquick models (yet to be built!).

Next job was the coach from the brakedown train. The windows have been 'frosted' by rubbing them inside with wet and dry paper. The interior moulding has been painted a bland brown colour and the roof has had a lick of paint - matt grey.

I took the opportunity to 'Virginise' Essington station by putting both the new HST set and the Class 47 and Virgin coaches in the platforms.

I've also replaced the white LEDs in the engine shed, goods shed and signal box with filament lamps - they give a much softer 'yellow' light that looks far more life like!

The Next Train to Arrive...

I've just purchased a pair of Virgin liveried HST power cars which match nicely with the virgin Mk3 coaches I already had. After a good clean (both of the bodywork and wheels, motor etc) it runs well.

The Virgin HST with all 5 Mk3 coaches.

The new train passing over Painton Viaduct

Waiting to leave Essington.

The loop length at Essington station is only long enough to take this rather more modest formation of power cars plus two coaches.

Road Signs

With the appearance of roads at Essington, so too comes the need for road signs. These are simply printed onto card and stuck onto metal wire. Some of the signs were downloaded from www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk. The 'Essington' sign was drawn up on the PC.

Humped Back Bridge and River Bed

Half an hour grabbed this evening to apply more Pollyfilla soaked material! I've started to form the river bed and I've shaped the ground surrounding the humped back bridge that takes the road over the river. As they say, "a photo tells a thousand words", so to save myself 3000 words...

Here a Bit and There a Bit

Grabbed a few minutes in between coats of paint on a DIY job to do a few little bits. I've levelled out the ground by the caravan park in readiness for the second layer of ground work. Caravans etc laid out to give an idea of what will go where.

A few sheep have appeared in the field!

And finally I've started construction of the humped back bridge over the river.

Caravan Park Reception Building

Another building was constructed for the caravan park last night. Like the caravans it was drawn on PowerPoint, printed on card and then cut out and glued together. The roof is a piece of wet and dry abrasive paper! I've also attached a picture of the prototype that it is loosely modelled on, from Treyarnon Bay in Cornwall - our regular summer haunt!

Long Time No Post

There's been no posts for some time now because I've not made any progress! Other 'important' things have needed to take priority over the last few week! But whilst there has been no progress on the model, my mind has still been ticking over on where to go next.

And so I've drawn up the first plan for Hannerton station. This is intended primarily as a storage area for the trains. I'm hoping that whereas Essington is a country station, Hannerton will be located in the centre of a large town or city. I'm thinking of it as a mini Birmingham New Street, with the station area below street level (the road will go up, rather than the rails going down). Bridges at either end of the station will cover the initial pointwork, which will hopefully make the station look like it sits on a double track mainline. My mind's eye has working colour light signals (interlocked with the points), rather than the semaphore signals at Essington.

There's 13 points on the plan, which is more than twice the number at Essington. I've got 7 already, but the track will probably be laid in stages as finance allows to buy the required bits and pieces.