Lesson one: if you use steel instead of nickel silver rail, don't worry, you'll always be able to tell where the tracks are underneath wet concrete:

Lesson two: If you don't smooth the top off whilst still wet, sand off the filler very, very carefully when in proximity of point blades... Or they go ping... On the last trial, I'd encountered shrinkage which necessitated a re-plaster so this time I didn't smooth the top off when wet. Nothing 10 minutes with some grade 120 paper didn't fix, making sure I had a vacuum close to hand! The filler was filed down so that the rails stood just proud, to make my life easier when cleaning...

Lesson three: if you are going to introduce any substance near to the rails that might impede electrical conductivity, be fastidious with cleaning the rails afterwards. I used a thin file (50 thou I think) run along the inside of the rails to clear out any remaining filler, followed by a soft brush and a vacuum to remove any small particles which might find their way between rail and wheel. I also took the opportunity to clean locomotive wheelsets whilst I was at it. At this point I discovered that my 37 is designed to only pick up from 4/6 axles... and as the pointwork was still not totally flat (Lesson four: don't use coiled rail for building pointwork - I know you've all told me this already ) this was causing juddering and stopping at low speeds. Another 10 minutes with a finer grade sandpaper to level out the top of the rails and 20 minutes with a soldering iron and two soldered pieces of scrap brass, and the 37 was picking up from all axles, noticeably improving performance.

After surveying the initial results, the concrete gang moved in once more to enlarge the initial area and now 3/4 tracks on the western board are 'set'. The departure siding I will ballast and then weather with a healthy dusting of spilt china clay. This is the state of play so far:

Now it's time for some scenic work and a backscene of some sort - plenty of inspiration on this front from the Nottingham show. And what a good show it was! Also good to meet the likes of Bryn, Richard, Laurie, Gareth and Andy and I know there were a few more I didn't get the chance to say hello to. Very envious of Laurie's pointwork for Yeovil - now that's something to aspire to - no pouring concrete over that lot!

Graham