Quick update this time as I had intended to spend the month working on Sturminster Halt but an invite to the N Gauge Forum Meet up at Riddlesdown near Croydon, Surrey prompted me to get some of the jobs done that I had been putting off for a while. The N gauge meet up should be good and some good layouts attending including Banbury and Horseblock lane, Both modern Image :-) and of course Kanjiyama from my friend Claude who has just built himself a new website which i'm very tempted to follow his lead on as I helped Mrs G set up her site on this very software. http://kanjiyama.moonfruit.com/#

Riddlesdown Meet up:- http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=17224.0

Horseblock Lane:- http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=14461.msg143874#msg143874

Banbury:- http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;area=pictures;u=990;view=52

My Picture of Banbury below with the MPV's in attendance.

This was my desk this morning, making cones, Piles of stacked bags on pallets and drop bags for gravel and sand etc. These are for Burdens yard and the spares will probably be abandoned by the side of the tracks as per the prototype. The cones are made from the ends of Cocktail sticks, been using the sticks for pipes and then realised that alhough large the tips would make good cones. The gravel sacks are made from modellers clay , baked in the oven and the stacks from Foamboard stacked on cardboard pallets. Been trying to wrap these in plastic but thats not going very well and may have to be abandoned. Cling Film is to clear and thin to look like its supposed to and the thicker plastics are difficult to manage and fit. Still I will persevere this week.

The yard in Burdens is now filling up and I'm quite pleased with the result. The pipes are all different colours which provides an interesting look compared to the rest of the layout. With the cars now in the background this is filling up nicely.

I spent some time working on the Aggregate recyling building. I've added the yellow posts, guttering and the conveyors across the to the loading bin. Very pleased with the way this has worked out and looks. The board gap looks horrid in this picture and will remedy that this week. May have to do some more detailing work in this area but will wait now until I complete the front building in the future.

The other big job which seems to have taken longer than it should have done is the addition of the remaining 3rd rail to the rest of the mainline tracks. I'd completed 1/4 before Xmas but finishing has proved harder than I remember. Not sure if its the glue, process or ballast. Still I'm getting there now and it should all be finished for next week . The 3rd rail is Peco Code 60, thanks to Brian at Morris Models (http://www.morris-models.co.uk/ ) for reminding me what I bought for the pilot area. I used the Woodland Scenic line pens for painting the sides which is very effective but not that visible when looking from above.