Have done a bit more work on the figures today - drilled their feet or bottoms (ouch!), and super glued a piece of wire to aid handling and eventual fixing to the layout. A good wash and then an undercoat of Halfords best grey en-mass on a polystyrene plant tray - very handy.

Managed a trip to Maplins for switches for control panels and ended up with some coloured wire to tidy up undersides of the boards a bit. I think this is necessary as things could well get a bit out of hand when I start putting the route LED's in and point motor wiring. Am going for non latching DPDT switches but Maplin only have the very small ones - any leads on a reasonably priced chunkier version would be much appreciated.

One thing that my recent baseboard testing threw up was actually how few loco's I have at the moment that actually work! The whole reason for this project is to give me a good kicking to actually finish something. Consequently my thoughts have been turning to getting a couple more loco's finished. I know that I have not really touched on the stock that is going to be needed yet but like most things I have been working away for sometime on this and have it all planed - well, I have a huge pile of kits that need building!

Where I am thinking of making a start is my Chivers Hunslet 4-6-0. I have got one actually finished but need to replace the gearbox as although it rune beautifully backwards it locks up solid going forwards. So rather that fixing this one (which is boring!), I am going to make a start on the second one. Now, never one to make things simple for myself I have decided to make this one sprung - something I have only limited experience of. This should be fairly straight forward as the horn block guides are etched in and I also have a back up plan. The ever helpful Simon Chivers has said that he can supply another etch if I should mess this one up!