Following a couple of days break attending the Wells Finescale show (helping(?) Robin Whittle and the team with Bristol Barrow Road), Today I got round to function testing the control panel - as much as I can without it being connected to the layout, at least. Everything appears to work as intended but I was puzzled why the LED's indicating the route set by lever No. 4 weren't illuminated whereas the similar LED's for lever No. 8 worked fine.

Then it dawned that until connected to the Tortoise point motors there was no circuit (No. 8 has a ballast resistor associated with the facing point lock). I then realised that I could simulate connection to the Tortoise by temporarily connecting a ballast resistor between the point motor feed and one side of the 16 v AC supply. As I made the cannection there was quite a spark and I noticed that the 12 v DC power LED had gone out. I then noticed that several other LED's no longer worked. Oops, lesson learned. Don't make temporary connections to live circuits or when the panel is powered up. Fortunately, I had plent of spare LED's and it didn't take too long to replace the damaged ones.

All working OK again, now!

In between finishing the panel wiring, I have been working towards finishing a couple more ex-LMS Period III open brake coaches made for me to finish off, by Coachman. These are to diagrams 1916 (6 bay) and 2008 (5 1/2 bay) and appeared at ends of an enthusiast special that visited the branch, hauled by an ex-L&Y Class 27 0-6-0.

The work to complete includes making & fitting the interior, fitting the roof and connecting the water tank filler pipes, spung buffers and making & fitting the P4 bogies.

The D1916 is now done, as shown below:

The interior for the D2008 is currently being painted.