Hello again everyone, I hope Christmas was full of good cheer for you all!   Things were very quiet here, likewise in Sproston, where I have only a couple of minor changes to report....
Last month's free gift in the' Railway Modeller' (market trader's stall) has been assembled and painted, - but instead of the wares supplied in the kit, several potted flowering plants and shrubs have been placed on the stall, which has been positioned near the searchlight mounting - this must be a new enterprise that the owner of the Farm shop is beginning.

The two advertisement hoardings near the creamery have been resited yet again - this time to a position between the searchlight revetment and what was the Battery accommodation (Nissen hut)facing the road. They have also had substantial diagonal bracing struts added to the rear.

I finally have a storage solution in the loft - it's nothing pretty, but functional furniture, and should be sufficient to hold most of my rolling stock safely, thanks to the new neighbours next door (it was going down the tip anyway...).

I am considering trying to modify the BK style tension lock system as used on Sproston mainly in an attempt to improve the reliability, trials will begin soon. - I will try fitting MEDIUM sized loops on each end of ALL locos if possible. (instead of the small ones supplied, but still WITHOUT any hooks).This will hopefully help with coupling up issues on curves.
In addition I am going to attempt retro fitting the stock with the ORIGINALLY FITTED Bachmann non - magnetic hooks in the small loops but with new staples fitted the original BK way ( glued parallel with the rails- instead of the present method used of fitting them at right angles on the end of brass replacement hooks.) I have found these are prone to fouling on the pointwork if they do not return to the lowered position after activation....I would like to standardize on only Bachmann Hooks, for all rolling stock but we shall see...!!
Well that's yer lot!! Comments always welcomed..
Regards
SIGTECH (Steve).