Bushes

 2 tubs of mild and dark green bushes arrived 2 days ago, this morning I started planting some of them around the layout.

Keith

WIld Animals Painted

 This morning I painted the wild animals that arrived Wednesday, then I glued them on the layout.

The set of wild animals painted this morning

There is now a pair of stoats

There is now a pair of badgers

The 4 rabbits on the embankment

The 2 squirrels

The hare.

Keith

New Wild Animals and Bus Stop Signs

 This morning after our weekly food shop, I primered this set of 10 wild animals ready for painting. 🦡🐇🐇🐿️🐿️

This afternoon I created these bus stop signs, printed them, then glued them to lamp posts. 🚏

One bus stop sign glued to a lamp post

The other glued to another lamp post on the other side of the road

Keith

Baseboard Repairs

 Accidents do happen, so some repair work this afternoon. At the weekend I was doing some work underneath the layout and I leant against the corner leg and due to the lever action I split apart the corner 🤬. I have added 2 long bolts at the front, squeezed some glue in the gap, replaced the single short countersunk screw with a longer one, added 3 longer countersunk screws then revarnished with stained varnish over the joint. It should be a lot stronger now  Then once the stained varnish had dried I gave the whole frontage a coat of gloss varnish 😊

Repaired joint before coating with stained varnish

After a coat of stained varnish

The complete frontage painted with gloss varnish

Keith

Road Signs and Wagon Repairs

 Some more road signs arrived today, I have replaced the paper ones I cut out and added the missing one.

Offside 30mph speed limit sign added

Made up level crossing sign replaced with a proper one

Offside 30mph delimiter sign replacing the crudely cut out paper one

I replaced the broken couplings on this Bass van

 Then I made a pair of new couplings for the Macaw B, glued them in place and painted them, they now align far better with other wagons.

New couplings made and glued on, then checked for alignment

Couplings and parts of bogies painted with primer

Painted matt black

Fits in much better with the other Statfold Barn wagons

A closer view

The van that had the broken chassis now serves as a storage shed at the maintenance yard

Keith

A Short Statfold Barn Train

 A short Statfold Barn train waiting in the siding

Keith

Dismal Failure

 Tried running a loco and carriage this afternoon, dismal failure! 🤬 The carriage caught the remaining section of stone wall behind the Railway Inn 🤬🤬 so I have had to remove it and replace it with spearpoint fencing. However the gate to the signal box has also had to be removed as it is too wide for the gap between the fencing and the signal box, not sure what to do about it, will have to think about it. 🤔

Let's hope this is the last problem. 🙏

New section of spearpoint fencing replacing the stone wall

All the original stone wall behind the Railway Inn replaced with spearpoint fencing

Keith

Not a Good Afternoon!

 Not a good afternoon today ☹️ , I went to run a passenger train round the layout to discover that the long bogied coaches were catching on the back of the Lloyds bank! 🤬  Jo helped me to take out the centre baseboard so I could get to it. I then cut away the offending section of wall, to then discover the same coach caught on the other end of the bank, which I couldn't get to, so I had to remove it from the baseboard, I wish I had done this from the start as I wouldn't have had to remove and refit the centre baseboard, which had its problems reconnecting the jumper wires between the baseboards 🤬🤬🤬. Still all done and fixed, I will have the leave testing carriages and wagons until tomorrow, too pooped now.

Keith

0-4-2 'Talyllyn' and Test Trains

 0-4-2 'Talyllyn' emerging from Hadarford Castle mound tunnel with a passenger service, whilst 0-4-4-0 'Earll Meirionydd' and 4-6-0 'Alfred James' take on coal and water at the busy maintenance yard. 😊

Loco testing day today. I found that the stone wall alongside the Railway Inn was catching on some of the steam locos. I had known there was a problem there a few days ago, but left it to give me time to think about it. I have replaced it with spearpoint fencing. Out of 28 steam locos and 14 diesels, only 2 steam locos and 2 diesels failed,  I will have to look at them another time, but I am not too worried as they are not important locos in the scheme of things. 🚂 🛲 

I just have to check that all the carriages and wagons run round OK, but that is enough for today. 😁

Keith

Trainspotters, Pets and New Road Signs

 Trainspotters, pets and the new road signs that arrived today

4 train spotters, 2 sitting and 2 standing

Another 2 train spotters

Another dog added to the original 2

Another dog added here

A cat on the shed roof

This cat now has a kitten

This cat also has a kitten

This seated passenger now has a dog

The boy on the steps also now has a dog

A great dane relieving itself on the castle ruins!

This passenger now has a dog, from the reaction of the lady passenger either the  dog or its owner has farted!

30mph speed limit and level crossing signs

Level crossing sign on the other side of the crossing

Speed limit delimiter signs after the level crossing

Delimiter signs at the castle mound slope

30mph signs at the castle mound slope

Give way sign at the castle mound car park exit

0-4-0 'Linda' crossing the level crossing with a passenger train. Having dug out my Canon camera, eventually got the settings correct for long exposure small aperture (it has been so long since I have used this camera I have forgotten how to set it up!) and to get the remote trigger to work, the plug needed cleaning, but all sorted 📷. Now the fun begins. 😁

Keith