Howdy folks,
It's been a long time (well over a month ) since my last missive about the goings on in Sproston, - my only excuses are 1. it's been cold in the loft, and 2. I have had a bad cold.
The major project which had been ongoing for at least a month, and had been held up by a lack of available parts ( Bachmann 14mm dia coach wheels ) was the improvement of the Dapol Stove R. This has now been completed successfully, by carefully following the steps outlined in Ray's ("Silver Sidelines") RMWEB blog entry entitled "The Dapol Stove R - a show stopper or half baked?"
I now have a Stove R that is running on the correct size wheelsets, closer coupled than before and with a rigid conventional underframe that behaves itself on points without the "anyway it feels like going" chassis arrangement that was originally fitted by the manufacturer.

UPDATE 30/10/20 :  Stove R wheels, (both sides) and roof gutters repainted using Humbrol matt black enamel 33. Frosted window (one side only) added using Humbrol matt light grey 147. as per Coachman's article  on rmweb detailing  his attempt to improve the model, see "Stoking up a Stove R". from 29th Jan 2011.

I have also been busy increasing the population of Sproston - the main street no longer resembles a ghost town!!

At last the signalman has a decent garden he can be proud of, and the occupants of numbers 1-3 Cider cottages (who are now all Railway staff ) also have their horticultural skills on show, which brightens up the view from the platforms.

Even so, not to be outdone the station staff have resorted to a colourful display of plants in large pots, arranged beneath the station running-in board.

The owner of the hardware shop in Church Street obviously has less time to spare, but still keeps his small garden neat and tidy .Everyone tries to grow a few veg wherever possible- it's a sign of the times.

The Pway gang are busy sorting out a pile of sleepers next to the signalbox - it keeps them out of trouble I suppose.

There appears to be a disagreement in the goods yard, concerning the 6 ton mobile Coles crane, and a couple of very large crates - I suspect someone is being told exactly where to put them...!

Another Bachmann BR (ex SR) PMV has turned up- (I don't know where that came from Guv - honest...!) this time in BR Maroon, we seem to have quite a strong ex SR influence in the npccs stock..
The local coal merchant,Trevor Compton surveys his domain.

A consignment of machinery parts for the creamery has recently arrived, it looks like the BRS driver is re entering his lorry cab again for the paperwork.

So there you have it- more news later...
Regards,
SIGTECH (Steve).