Station gets electric

Following on from earlier todays post, I've hooked up some electricity to the station to see how it goes for brightness. This shot has the internal and external lights on, and don't the locals love it!
I was a little concerned that the LED was a little large for this application, however when it's on it seems ok. None of the layout lights are on, so I imagine that when they are, it will be less obvious.
The 9 volt battery is not to scale! Just getting in first with that one, anyway that'll do,

Geoff.

Evans Gap Station progress

Now that the weather is warmer all the yard jobs have been getting in the way of the modelling pursuits. However the 'endless' spring list seems to be a little shorter now so I can get back to the modelling bench.

The station building at Black Mountain has a great light on the end of it, as I've mentioned in previous posts. So it is the first job on the to do list. I've used some .080" brass tube for the light support post and a couple of pieces of wire (.040") some brass strip, a tichy train group light fixture, and some magnet wire. The photos tell the story so far.

The Tichy Train Group light is a great moulding and just the size I was after, I hollowed it out a little bit as it's moulded solid with a bulb protruding to paint. Then drilled out the centre .080" to allow it to thread onto the brass tube. The bend was done around my pin vice giving about a 2 foot diameter to it.
Here you can see the universal jig (blue tac ;-)) that I use to solder on the two mounting wires to the back of the tube. You can see the brass strip on the RHS already drilled out, and under the wires are two lines that are the distance apart that the holes in the strip are.
Another technical jig in use for this one as well. I just had to make sure the balsa was thicker than the distance on the model between the wall and the outside of the roofing.
Here's all the brass bits together, a trial fit before painting. The last job is to trim the mounting wires so that they don't foul the 'inner' wall on the inside of this outer shell. It's all had a bit of undercoat , including the magnet wire so that it looks the part disappearing into the woodwork on the building. I have a mini LED to attach once this is all dry, then it will be mounted.

Naming boards on the station building are the next job. Ages ago Mike gave me an article he'd written about how to print a black background with white lettering using 'word'. I've used it several times, even for making up wagon codes when there wasn't a decal suitable. The jist of it is that you do a background shading of whatever level you like. Obviously for a black background you make it 100%, then make the lettering white in colour, simple really and it works a treat!

Font, size, etc are all that you need to play around with, even bold comes in handy, especially if you get down to a font size of 4. (you can highlight the font size and type over it to get lower than the default settings) If your doing a wagon I found printing the 'decals' in several colours or levels of shading enabled you to match the colour to what ever colour of grey your wagons are coloured in. If you have some matt spray, or artist fixative it's worth giving the paper a hit before cutting and gluing to the boards so that the black doesn't smudge.

That'll do for now, I'll bore you with some photos when it's all together,

Ooroo, Geoff.

How much space is enough?

Alright apologies upfront, I don't normally ask for advice, after all this is meant to be about modelling, not offering advice. But here I am asking something fairly simple, but complex.

A bit of background first. For those of you who've been bored to the point of REM sleep with my stories of moving, houses, building, selling etc. you know how long this has gone on. Well the decision has been made, with the cost of real estate agent fees and now stamp duty, we are going to extend. So now specifics of room size.

The magic question is... How much space do you need in a train room and why?

Yep sorry, but really I do need your help, thanks.

Splitters at RMCQ Show 2011

It has been a great weekend over at Bald Hills. Darren, Brendan and I headed over for the RMCQ Show. We had a ball, great location, food, and the company was great. Here'a a little bit of for you to watch,

have a great week, Oorroo, Geoff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0sxHUyw3fY

Evans Gap Station

The small stature of this line meant that the station building should reflect the same. In an earlier post I was going to in stall awning posts to make the construction easier. The posts were never cemented in, it was just too busy. Evans Gap station now has a simplified awning, much better.

I used 'cambells' HO corrigated iron for the first time on this model, and I just love it. It's really fine both in corrigations and thin in material thickness as well. The model seen in these photos has had some slight weathering on the walls to tone down the colour and 'fade' it a bit. I tend to favour the games workshop paints for this as they dry brush without going clumpy or powdery, an issue I've had a few times with the tamiya acrylics.

The roof itself has not been weathered yet, still plan to using some paints, washes and chalks I think.

The awning and roof I built separately to aid in painting and also so that it would be easier to build. If there are too many parts attached you can be sure that I'll break something off before it's finished.

The spot on the layout where the station is going has had some work done as well, gravel platform, and a few weeds. The water tank has not been 'delivered' to the locals yet, so they wait patiently for its arrival. As for station naming boards, well I just don't think I've got enough time to get them up before the RMCQ Show this weekend. If you happen to get there, come on over and have a chat, Oorroo!

Geoff.

Station building and some detail bits

Here's a couple of shots of Black Mountain Station to show you the verandah, and station light that I plan to model.

In this shot you can see the platform in place and the cutout plan of the station building showing how it will all fit in.

Another week has disappeared, where did all the modelling time go? I've only had limited time outside, but some progress has been made. The station building has had a spray of undercoat, and the decision about how to construct the awning has been resolved.

I had a look at some photos of timber station buildings that I had on hand, and one that stood out for me is the station building of Black Mountain. The awning has posts to support it, and more importantly not a curvy bit in sight! As this location is right where the branch stems from then it would be easy to imagine that similar building styles would be at both locations. In the photo there is a great light on the external of the building end, definitely have to put one in I'm just not sure where to get the shade from.

I bought some paint for the station, and it is a spray can of tamiya paint. I try not to use these only as I don't feel like I have enough control over just how the paint is delivered. The colour is just a little dark to follow in the stone colour that was commonly used in NSW. I will be weathering it so that should make a difference as well.

The stumps and the slope behind the station platform have been put in, as can be seen in the next couple of photos.

I've filled in behind the station building with scultamould and coloured it as well.
You can see the building in place, however not so obvious in this shot is the slope behind it. I wouldn't bother doing the detail behind and under the building, however because of the layout design you are able to see behind the station from the end of the layout. When it's all together I'll post another shot.

Oorroo! Geoff.

Ballast and Static and Video

Hey All, I've just come from the shed after doing some ballasting and wanted to share this with you. The brush I didn't mention in the clip, it's just a cheapy from bunnings. I really don't know if it makes any difference what type of brush you use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9YSUycjvHo

OK my camera work is crap and the commentary not much better, have a look and let me know what you think!

Oorroo! Geoff.

Station building progress.

The station at Evans Gap has been on the drawing board for a while now. The building is an A1 Station which is one of the most basic NSWGR designs. As the whole area is of the pioneer standard, and quite a minor line as branchlines go the A1 is perfect for the town ship of Evans Gap.

I cut out the walls whilst at the May show with Craig, but they've been put aside since then with scenic work holding most of my attention. It wasn't till one of the last Toosdy Niters when Brendan handed over some very small surface mount LED's and some just as small resisters that the idea of lighting the station became a real possibility. Then it became necessary to have a building to add the lighting to, hence the current building project.

I used clapboard siding for the interior at .060" spacing and 1mm thick. The inside because it is so visible required some lining also, so out with the novelty siding in the .060" spacing, but I installed it upside down so it would appear like the inside of the exterior boards.

The number of buildings I've constructed totals two, this one being the second. To that end if I'm stating the obvious, sorry, but its the beginner in me showing through yet again. I wanted to be able to easily paint and detail the interior so I built the building in three parts.

Here you can see the two parts of the Station, along with the LED and its magnet wire attached.

1. The first being the stumps mounted on the layout so that the ground could be formed around the stumps. I hear you, yep, how will it be seen? I just know Mr Mackie will look to see what I did underneath. What does that mean exactly? Well the goal in modelling is not trying to maximise realism but to decrease the amount of rubbishing you cop when they notice what you've missed doing something! ;-)

2. The second is the floor and two inside side walls, and what ever interior detail I want to add.

3. The third is the exterior four walls, and ceiling and roof and verandah. There is also the back wall that has the second layer of styrene attached for inside of the exterior cladding.

The pieces fit together, hiding the wiring against the inside of the wall, and still allowing me to paint and detail each part separately.
Now together with out power...
And with, of course the blinds are closed for this shot also. I don't mind the colour of the led, they are warm white ones.

I've taken a few photos of where I'm at and they tell the story fairly well. Next is the fitting of the verandah and brackets. I'm not sure just how to tackle those however as they were quite ornate, read that as curvy, as in NOT able to be cut with a straight edge.

So there you go,next it's paint then onto the layout!

Oorroo! Geoff.

Tinkering on the work bench

Since T'ba I've had a few distractions, good ones though, like Queenie's birthday at Jondaryan for their working horse expo, what a great weekend, and H's birthday. Then there's been a cold slowly making its way through everyone at home. The list goes on, but there has been progress.

Finally my first 49 has a sound decoder in it. Maybe it's my complete lack of wiring prowess, but it looked like a bowl of overcooked spaghetti! So then I thought about it a bit more, and decided to use a couple of pieces of circuit board to solder the resistors to, and to hold the three blue wires, as there is no way I can solder three wires to one spot on a decoder! So out with all the just installed stuff, and in with my new idea of wiring. I put one board under the lights at one end as there's a handy gap and the other fits on top of the decoder at the other end. Seems to work ok a photo here should help.

NB Bugger just did a bit of a search about on Gerry's part of the NMRA site, and he uses ferro board? Is that right? Yep looks a whole lot easier than cutting slots in the PC board, so next time I'll try that for sure!

I've had JMRI on the home computer for ages, then the computer died, so out with the Mac to save the day, but no, won't start as it doesn't identify a port, Bugger! The whole idea was to be able to easily change the setup of the decoder without all the complex numbers when doing it with the procab. So there you go, frustrating really.

Today I braved all things binary coded, and had a go at rejigging the 'trainroom computer'. Well it appears that the HP computer people had accounted for us 'non' computer mob, and I've been able to rehash the system, and have been able to reload JMRI. Luckily for me I'd saved everything to an external drive so nothing has been lost.

Now with JMRI loaded I had a bit of a play with the settings. All seems to be ok. I did try to link the brakes to an automatic drop in motor RPM to idle but it doesn't seem to work. The sound comes on but there's no drop in RPM, it just goes on its merry way with the brakes squeeling! I posted on the JMRI and Soundtraxx yahoo groups that I'm a member of, so one of the experts can tell this beginner where he's gone wrong. OK A bit more checking, at the NMRA site that Gerry has some links to and problem solved. The sound and movement operate separately and therefore need to be set up separately, easy when you know how!

There is a link to some notes that Gerry has put together, on the NMRA site and I've used them as a starting point for programming the decoder. I've adjusted the time it takes to stop the loco when the motor is set to idle, and I imagine this would change depending on the loco and how you want it to operate.

The workbench is now inside for winter, yep even up here the evenings are a little brisk for the timber lattice to hold out, no matter how I try the merlot really doesn't seem to help either! On the bench is an AR HG guard s van. This one is white metal, and I've been wanting to put this one together for ages. However at T'ba I picked up a nice white metal 'wheel works' 1934 ford panel truck that I thought I could put together for a bit of white metal soldering practice. This one will be first then the HG. It's a nice little kit and is a bit fiddly, we shall see how I go. Well that'll do for today, time for a bit of soldering, after all who is glue for?

Oorroo! Geoff.

TMTEX 2011-All over for another year

This year at Toowoomba was the first outing of SSC. In fact the first time I've ever taken a layout to a show. In the last few days before last Friday I must admit to being a little nervous, but also really looking forward to another great show to be a part of.

Friday morning Daz turned up for the first loading of SSC into the trailer, a little bit of time had been put aside for this in case of any dramas. We were both pleasantly surprised at how easily and quickly we were all loaded up. The trip up was a good one, with a brief stop for some lunch, and a little check of the radiator, all seemed ok, after a top up and a cool down.

The location in the hall was between two other layouts, with a fair amount of space around us for the 'modelling' table and associated stuff. All seemed to go together ok, and apart from spending a little bit of time on one join to make it right, everything worked well. Some running of locos after a clean of the track did begin.

You can see the basic setup in the photo above, doesn't look too shabby. Oh the fridge is for the food and milk for breakfast, of course.

There had to be at least one photo of the three of us so here it is!
We spent some time Friday meeting up with other bloggers and all the crew that come along to the T'ba show, a great night. Really, we met some really great blokes. It was amazing the number really after going to T'ba for as long as I have (Me about 8 years now, Daz has attended all 20, unreal!), each time we make some new contacts with new people each year, great stuff.
Saturday dawned and it was a bit of a slow start, cold weather of course being the reason for that! I wanted it to be a good day one, running wise, especially for the two blokes helping me out. I didn't want it to be a day of trouble shooting which would become a real drag by the end of the day. Apart from some small easily fixed track issues, it all seemed to work ok. By morning tea I think I was beginning to relax, finally.

Ian P came over and offered a spray of crc for the track, yep crc 2-26, for conducting electricity, ohboy! what a massive difference! A small spray onto a track cork block, and a second one to wipe the track after passing the first over the track work. Bloody brilliant! Slow running, what a breeze, I can't thank Ian enough for his help. Great to meet his family also, and the trio is about to be made four, all the best with that T and Ian.

I really enjoyed the interaction with the public, plenty of questions. That was exactly what I wanted, we were all kept busy and the day flew by. To all our fellow modellers who came for a look and a chat, thank you, it is really enjoyable to speak and swap ideas with all of you, a humbling time I can tell you.

Saturday night was dinner in the hall and the trivia contest, once all twenty questions were answered the wait for the winners began. Well when 3rd place was announced we thought we were out of the running. Then 1st place was ... yep us, we couldn't quite believe it. Great fun, and quite a laid back night, most enjoyable.

Sunday we had some opportunity to get around the hall, with the three of us there two could stay and one could circulate. I've a list of some things to fix, but overall Sunday ran like Saturday.

I could ramble on for ages, but I must say a big thank you to Darren, and Brendan for making this such a great weekend. To the T'ba club, again a great show, some great new ideas from a presenters perspective this year, and they were simple and effective. So thanks to all for a really enjoyable first outing of SSC.

Till next year, Oorroo! Geoff.

It's Here!

All the best plans, the time consuming small jobs, the reworked efforts, have come down to today, the day before we head off to Toowoomba. The plan was to have some landscaping done, yep check. Then there was to have at least one of the yards laid, yep check. Also had to build a second set of legs, just a little bit more stable, and a touch lower, ( I kept getting a nosebleed!) Then the endless list of other stuff! Like weathering wagons, building other kits, buildings, tank stands, cars, point rodding, and on it goes. There is certainly plenty more to go.

The weekend should be a good one, it's the 20th show at Toowoomba, a great effort by the DDMRC club. Darren, Brendan and myself will be there, I even got myself organised and had some vests done, and I've got an order for an extra already! So to the two blokes that I'm sharing with this weekend, hope I'm not too frustrating, and that it all works ok, feel free to leave me to it if it goes pear shaped! As you can see I'm full of confidence, after all this is my first time!

Well I'll leave it there, Ooroo!

Geoff.

View over the creek

Here's a couple of photos to show what I've been up to. I tried not to get any background in the shots, but it does therefore make it a little close. Any way a step closer to what I wanted, trees to go, after T'ba for sure. Not long to go, just over two weeks, who says there's no stress in railway modelling? H has been great with extra time out in the train room. The guys came over on Tuesday, and they seemed to like the layout height, which I wanted their feedback on.

A couple of track issues to fix, and some more rail to go down.
That's about it gotta get back to it, Geoff.

A day of chatting and modelling

The May Show comes around faster every year, and this year was no exception. As has been the case the last few years I've been able to work on the RMCQ Structure Building Table.

Craig picked me up and drove quite safety till the local council workers (pelicans!) decided to close the lane we were in using witches hats...YEP! NO other signage! You've gotta love road closures for May Day Marches. Craig took it calmly, merging effortlessly into the right hand lane, without a hint of panic, gestures, verbal assaults, or in fact any response. Maybe he did the same as me, and was wallowing in a self imposed cloud of stink!

So then we arrived and were guided to our parking spot and within minutes we were in the pavilion and off to make the first coffee. We still had plenty of time till opening so off we went, coffee and wallets, what a winning combination. I headed straight to Horizon Hobbies and picked up a couple of things, including some riley paint in 'purple brown' ready to paint a horse box I have squirrelled away somewhere. Then around to Austral and Ray was quick to tell me that the decoder I've had on order for a 'short while' had come in. Over to Railco and I picked up some NZ scatter in Aussie 'gum' colours, not bad at all.

Then back to the stand in time for the general public. Craig had his collection of scratch built models out ready to go, so then I put out my four. Four, I know, pathetic really, but I'm nothing if not consistently slow. I finished off the loading bank I've been working on, and began work on the station building for SSC. All was going well, especially when Craig handed over the styrene that I didn't have, thanks Craig!

Ian came over for a chat later on, this guy is inspiring, he'd brought over a ground frame set up with point rodding chairs and various compensators. All brass etches and very fine, and they look fantastic! He also brought over a master for a louvre van that they're working on. The detail in the wagon is outstanding, can't wait for them to be available. He was telling me about a new catchphrase that he picked up from Peter B. I think, it was 'glue is for girls'. Ian is heading to Toowoomba with the Coffs Harbour layout, however they are staying in a van at the Big 4 park. So in the spirit of the moment and after some thought, especially since he's not staying in the Shed, here goes...Vans are for VR modellers!

Sorry it was all I could think of, no offence to VR modellers meant!

The day wound up so quickly, too much chatter i suppose, and hardly a second to look around at the layouts, bugger!

See you in Toowoomba!

Geoff.

SSC has a bit of green!

The sight of some green foliage greeted the townsfolk of Evans' Gap as they ventured out today. The barren earth finally has some undergrowth on it. I've tentatively thrown around some green stuff, hope it sticks!
The area that SSC is set in is quite green and lush, and as much as this appeals there is a little voice niggling at me to make it a little dryer. So for now the brushes are green, however over at the main yard the country opens up a bit so is more inclined to dry out. That should be an interesting change, hope it works out OK.
As I said at the start this is the undergrowth, and there will eventually be a large number of trees over this part of the layout. I tried to match the colours of foliage to background paint, in the hope that they'd create some depth, the jury is still out on this, bit early to tell I think. This at least gives a better impression than the white.

Well off I must go, out with Craig at the Brisbane show on Monday, should be a hoot!

Oorroo! Geoff.

Boorolong loading Banks part2

This first photo shows the timber loading bank. It has a lower section in the centre for the loading of horses. This shot does not have the extra detail as I mentioned in the previous post., I'm still a bit undecided on this one. I've put it in front of the spot where the passenger loading bank will stand. The area that the goods siding is located is in the corner and can be viewed from two sides. It does however have the other side of the garage in the shot, a little distracting (as seen in the next photo).So for the purposes of the photo it's here just this once.
This one shows the loading bank in position, without the cement section, it's still on the modelling table, and to be honest I think that this one might be enough. The cement one might end up opposite this beside the goods shed.
And just to show you what is intended for this spot, the passenger loading facilities, before the station building. That'll do for now, two posts in one day! I need a rest...or maybe a beer!

Ooroo! Geoff.

Booroolong Loading Banks

Those of you who've been reading along on this blog for a while would know that Black Mountain in northern NSW, is one of my favourite railway spots, If only judged by the number of photos I've taken in that location. The station originally opened as Boorolong, hence the reference to it, and its use as a starting point for the Splitters Swamp Creek branchline. It is on the mainline on the way up to Wallangarra, but has many of the things that I like in a branch line. If you were to drive there today it would strike you that the railway is the town, as there is little else located close by. The feel of the location is that the line has been built before the town, as was the case in many locations throughout NSW.
The facilities were enough to get the job done and that was about it. The location of the line is on the side of a hill, and so the station and goods areas of the site have them curving around the slope of that hill to keep the line level with little in the way of earthworks required, it does remind me of Merriwa but on a much smaller scale, and isn't the end of the line either (so how similar are they???!). The loading banks have two different construction methods, wood and cement. You can see in this photo the mix of the two types. There was also a small timber loading bank for cattle opposite this one.
At SSC I want to create some operational interest so I've built a similar 'bank' that combines the two materials and various heights. Limited space in my goods area has meant that they are short, but do mean that some careful, planned shunting will be required. Like Boorolong, SSC is built into the topography of the location, so it is tight in spots.
The hardest part of the construction is deciding how much detail to put in. I like adding the detail, but where do you stop? In the above photo the metal tie down can be seen, should it be added? I don't think it would be obvious if left off, or would it be noticed more by being there? I've stained the timber. individually, then put it together. OK might be time for a photo.

For now I'll post this, as I've already put in the photos, and I'm still rubbish at adding them after the text! Another post for part 2, will be soon!

Geoff.

First rain at Splitters Swamp Creek

Today saw the first rain fall on SSC with the creek experiencing the first flows of this season. The levels that I built into the creek bed seem to be ok for this first pour. It won't be all that deep, but another flow of water will go in when the first lot has cured.
The last of the sleepers were laid today, all the copper clad ones as well. All ready for the rail to go down. I will breathe a sigh of relief when all the track is down and 100% operational.
The landscape foam has had it's last bit of contouring today also, all ready for the sculpta-mold to go over it. All in all a pleasant day, had the paintbrushes out for a while also and completed the back scene on this side, after resetting the height of the foam background.
I Don't know that you'll notice a difference in this last shot, except that the timber is down, and ready for some rail!

Time for Tea, then off to a Buy & Sell with the rest of the Boys, bargains to be found I'm sure!

Oorroo! Geoff.

It's the end of Winter!

I've had a little bit of time in the shed today due to some heavy rain keeping me out of the garden, don't you just hate the weather! I'd finished the ground formation the other day, so I thought I'd get some of the scenic base paint on the way. First order of the day were the rocks that I'd put in. I've not done this before so a bit of experimenting as I went was the order of the day. I put a dark grey on first and then built up the lighter colours on from there. I finished with a wash of 'black ink' (it's a paint made by games workshop called black ink) thinned down in some isocol so that it would find it's way into the cracks and such.

The backscene has had a bit of an update also with a few more sticks and leaves added. I think that part is done for this module now, only have to finish the other two now.
I've put down some colour for under the scenic scatter and tree bits. It is rather brown, but it should tone down once the 'bits' are scattered about on the top, soil seems to always be darker than what's on it in my humble opinion.

You can see the creek bed now on the front RHS of the module. That poses some challenge for me now, just when to pour the water, and what colour to tint the 'bed' below it? The spot on the right where the glue bottle is marks the spot for the school house. I'll do the scenery up to the building when it's placed on the layout. So for now it's plywood I'm afraid!
OK, there is one rock to be painted, the sculptamold around it hadn't quite cured so I left it till it's all dry. I like how it looks when you're closer to the rail. I plan to put plenty of foliage on the rhs of the creek so that the trains run behind something.

That'll do for today I think, Oorroo!

Geoff.

A pleasant afternoon at Nimmitabel

On Saturday I took Mike along to Darren's for a look at the start of his layout. Start? Really this is such an understatement for what Daz has already achieved. When we arrived Craig, Shelton, and Brendan had already turned up, and soon after Peter arrived also.

The layout room is well organised and tidy, something I can't quite get a handle on yet. I really enjoyed shunting on the layout, the track height is spot on! Shelton (left) and Mike can be seen here enjoying the shunting at Wattle Flat.
The track design is really pleasing to operate on, with plenty of opportunities for shunting of wagons, and making up trains to leave the yard. Darren has taken his time in the planning and laying of track, and it shows. The running quality of the layout meant no derails, or hickups of any type really. You can see in this shot the yard of Wattle flat on the left, and of course the 'fellas'.

Darren had sound fitted to the loco's we were shunting with, and it added so much to the 'fun' of the day. The loco's ran very well, no hesitation over points at all. I did favour the 32, can't help it sorry, have I told you I think I was born in the wrong century?

This next shot sees Darren showing Shelton the planned siding building for in the corner of the yard, the fruit siding at Canowindra is the actual building. A great idea for a bit of operational variety. You all should note the new hand controller that Daz is holding, quite exceptional!
I took a number of shots, but really it's a case of needing to see with your own eyes to appreciate what Darren has achieved already. He certainly is the quiet achiever of our group, and more than willing to share his ideas and techniques for those wanting a bit more info.

The beer was cold the snags hot and the company outstanding! A great afternoon, that must be repeated some time soon! Thanks Daz.

Landscaping in March-2

Is it me or is this the most enjoyable part of our hobby? I mean the lack of drawings to follow, no scale sizes to match, just a photo or idea to put into practice. I'm enjoying a break from the measured modelling and this random tree making, grass planting, backscene painting stuff is pretty good. Throwing around a bit of paint is really therapeutic I think (shame it doesn't help my spelling).

Time is marching on and I did receive an e-mail confirming SSC's appearance at TMTEX this year. I had planned right at the beginning stages for SSC to be a small layout so that there would be less work for a greater impact, as far as the scenery goes. There was also the idea that a smaller layout would have a shorter break between train 'sightings'. For now it means that a few hours/days work show a very real change to the layouts appearance. So far things seem to be working out, I'll have more to say on this as time goes on for sure!

I've posted one of the original plans for SSC and as you can see there have been a couple of changes. The plan still stands as the longer term goal for the layout. For now I've had to change one major item, that being the trestle bridge. Down the track, not sure when, a trestle bridge will appear, but not this year! A couple of other things, but still pretty much on track.

That'll do for now, gotta get some more done, Oorroo! Geoff.