One of the last obvious detailing jobs to do on the Spring module has been the addition of telegraph poles, but I must admit it's one I've been putting off for quite some time. I wasn't sure how to get the telegraph line "off scene" at either end of the module, especially at the tunnel end where I couldn't decide whether to run the poles over the hill or assume the line would have been sent through the tunnel.

Eventually I found a good picture of the end of a row of telegraph poles just before one of the tunnel portals at the Bath end of the S&D. Here was something I could copy, so (although it's not visible in this shot) I added a striped box for a telephone and a diagonal stay at the last pole before the tunnel. There are a couple more gubbins in the photo which I could add if I felt like it, although the base of the terminating pole isn't all that visible from most angles.

I trimmed one pair of arms from each pole then painted them sleeper grime, before setting them in the scenery at scale 100' intervals. I then strung four lengths of EZ Line along the line of poles. More lengths would have looked better but four was already quite fiddly work and I'll need to give it a bit more thought before adding telegraph poles to the two other modules, which I think will both be a little harder than this one due to the track being set deeper into the scene. Due to clearance on the exit from the tunnel, I had to set the poles on the foreground side of the track but I can't see this causing any problems since I can still get in there for maintenance if needs be.

Anyway, I'm pleased with the effect of the lines against the backscene but suspect I'll need to adopt a slightly different approach for the other modules. I'm thinking of stringing the poles on a temporary piece of polystyrene then transplating them one by one onto the layout. More fun awaits...