The usual Sunday morning trip round one of the local Car Boot Sales revealed some interesting bits. Firstly – an old Hornby Sheep Wagon. I believe this is nothing like the prototype, but at a solitary pound, with no broken bits (I have a spare wheelset!) , it will do as a placeholder and something in the right livery to shunt around whilst I am building kits.

The books both caught my eye on the same stall (£2 the pair). The H.P White ‘Regional History of the Railways’ book has already thrown up some interesting snippets on a very quick first glance through earlier, and this edition was published in 1964. As well as plenty of text, there are a few interesting pictures, and a lovely pullout Map (in perfect condition, despite the somewhat tatty dust jacket) of the area.

Finally, and with a nod to the always thought-provoking Neil Rushby, I picked up ‘Sussex’ by John Burke (1974). This is immaculate, and will hopefully prove enlightening reading whether or not it throws up anything which can be incorporated into the layout. Neil mentioned on his Rushby’s Railways blog a few weeks ago that modellers sometimes struggle to get what is outside the railway boundary as correct as they do inside, and suggested the Country Life volumes from the 50?s as a useful resource. A quick squint on Amazon shows up some interesting potential books for a matter of pence (one on Alfriston and one on Alfriston and the Cuckmere Valley), which may well follow these two onto the shelves.

Moving to the layout, it has been a quiet weekend with the wonderful weather allowing plenty of time to get the garden looking good – although I have waved the jigsaw at some plywood. The first of the boards is now cut into three sections, awaiting the cutting of side panels – then we’ll see if the jigsaw idea works…

Admin note; I am now also blogging externally at http://cuckmerevalleyrailway.wordpress.com/ . Posts are likely to continue to be identical on here and Wordpress for some time, but as things progress I am likely to add additional images (and possibly off-topic thoughts) to the external blog. Anyone interested is more than welcome to follow, comment or ask questions on either.