Yesterday and this morning my wife Jo made 3 curtains to hang underneath the layout to hide the stuff underneath to make our bedroom more presentable.
Before.
Some wild animal figures arrived in the post this morning, so I have primered them along with some seated people.
Keith
Wallace and Gromit train leaving Hadarford. I wonder which one of the sheep in the field is Shaun? 😂
Keith
With my wife Jo intending to create a set of curtains, on Sunday, to hang underneath the layout to hide all the stuff underneath, this afternoon I have been doing some preparations by moving the 6-way mains distribution block to the back of the leg, adding a switch to the front of the baseboard for the belisha beacons and moving the hook to hang the handheld controller to the front of the leg.
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| Repositioned mains distribution block |
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| Switch to operate the belisha beacons |
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| Repositioned hook for the handheld controller |
Keith
0-4-0 Charles on freight duty passing through Hadarford 😊
Now the bulk of the layout is finished, with just some details to be added, as and when, it is time to actually get some trains running, this train ran around the layout for half an hour without any problems, so now I can enjoy running trains on it.
Keith
Newly arrived from the restorers and paint shed (eBay actually!) the Harold's Larder minivan looks resplendent parked outside the shop 😁
A scooterist gathering at the castle ruins attracts the attention of the motorcyclist. 🛵🏍️
Keith
2 tubs of mild and dark green bushes arrived 2 days ago, this morning I started planting some of them around the layout.
Keith
This morning I painted the wild animals that arrived Wednesday, then I glued them on the layout.
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| The set of wild animals painted this morning |
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| There is now a pair of stoats |
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| There is now a pair of badgers |
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| The 4 rabbits on the embankment |
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| The 2 squirrels |
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| The hare. |
Keith
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. 🚏
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| One bus stop sign glued to a lamp post |
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| The other glued to another lamp post on the other side of the road |
Keith
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 😊
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| Repaired joint before coating with stained varnish |
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| After a coat of stained varnish |
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| The complete frontage painted with gloss varnish |
Keith
Some more road signs arrived today, I have replaced the paper ones I cut out and added the missing one.
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| Offside 30mph speed limit sign added |
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| Made up level crossing sign replaced with a proper one |
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| Offside 30mph delimiter sign replacing the crudely cut out paper one |
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.
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| New couplings made and glued on, then checked for alignment |
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| Couplings and parts of bogies painted with primer |
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| Painted matt black |
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| Fits in much better with the other Statfold Barn wagons |
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| A closer view The van that had the broken chassis now serves as a storage shed at the maintenance yard |
Keith
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. 🙏
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| New section of spearpoint fencing replacing the stone wall |
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| All the original stone wall behind the Railway Inn replaced with spearpoint fencing |
Keith
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' 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
