I am still alive, in spite of all.
Entry posted by petertg
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I have just realIised that six months have passed since my last post and a lot of things (not all pleasant) have passed in the meantime. To be brief, In May I was rushed into hospital with a lung edema (lings full of blood) and was discharged a week later with a new addition, namely a stent. Then I had a couple of short visits (a few hours each time) for a nose hemorrhage and a heart block). On the pleasant side, there was a trip to the UK to visit relatives and old friends (in spite of my age and theirs, some are still alive), including a trip on the NYMR of TV fame.
I decided to get my Faller station (with moving figures) operative and started sticking magnets to the drive belt, but made a horrible mess of it and had to order a new belt, which took almost three months to reach my hands for reasons too long to explain. Once I had fitted the magnets (devilishly small: 2x2x1 mm) I found that the motor was faulty, so I had to order a new one, which I now have. but it won't drive the belt. I don't know whether I haven't got the tension right or whether there is too much friction. I have left that problem for the time being.
I decided to add an additional platform to the Faller station because my layout has two variants, namely, double loop which goes alternately under than over the bridge, or two individual loops, one going always under the bridge and calling at one of the stations and the other going always over the bridge and not calling at any station. Since I have DMUs and the autocoach, two units can be running at the same time and both need stations where to pick up and drop off passengers. I'll come back to that another time.
Like another member mentioned just recently, I have decided to populate the layout since there were empty trains, empty stations, empty streets and empty buses (when I put them on the layout). So, I bought some benches which needed painting) and some seated figures and placed some in a small park, in the bus shelter and in the DMUs as passengers. They are, however very plain, apart from the hair and face, the rest of the figure is all one colour (you can't expect much at 6GBP for 25). I also acquired a box of 30 Noch Travellers figures, extremely well detailed, but obviously much more expensive (five to six times). not all are specifically railway oriented and can be used for street scenes. Since I have 30 benches to share out among four platforms and, perhaps, in the streets, I am contemplating buying a box of Noch seated figures and may even buy a box of legless figures for use as passengers if I can find a way of opening coaches and buses without doing irreparable damage.
Finally, I have added a wall to the other station platform (homemade and decorated with Metcalfe card kits) and show some photos below. The wall is made of two sheets of 2mm thick balsawood faced with printed brick paper and capped with Metcalfe paving flags.
First half of new wall
New wall completed
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