Progress has been slow, but steady.

You will be pleased to hear I did complete the 2nd Ratio bracket signal and fitted the 2 servos in a similar fashion to the first one. Using the rocker arm behind the lattice and platform is a huge improvement, but I had to remember that the operating wire for the bracket operated in the opposite direction from the main arm, when it came to fitting the servo levers.

I also fitted servos to the remaining 3 stop signals. One is the bay starter, one the up home protecting the double junction for the branch and one is the down goods starter, ringed of course in true GWR fashion.

The baseboard has been sitting on the loft floor for far too long, so I was pleased to get the soldering iron out and fix the droppers to the track and take them back to a terminal block. All have been checked with a meter and a loco running on the track.

40mm holes were then drilled in the baseboard in the required positions for the signals and then they were temporarily fitted through. I then drew round the rectangular base, removed the signal and cut away the top layer of insulation/fibreboard to leave a rectangular indentation or rebate. The signal base then fits snugly and almost flush, with the servo and cable reaching down through the circular hole.

Servos have also been positioned below the points with operating wires extending up though the hole in the tie bar. The over-centre springs are removed to allow the points to switch relatively slowly. As ever, I used No Nails red permanent sticky pads to fix the servos. I found I had drilled the holes below the tie bars slightly too small and not perfectly aligned in a couple of cases. I now know how time consuming it is to file out a hole with a delicate point glued above it! Larger holes next time me thinks.

Having soldered up 3 more MERG Servo4 kits and tested them, I screwed them onto the boards legs and wired them back to a terminal strip. My thinking was to keep them accessible for maintenance and reprogramming if needed. I programmed the servos via a laptop and not only saved the data files but kept written records of the settings.

Just when I thought I was ready to get the board back into position over the storage loops, I realised when I connected the signals servo wires and fitted the signals in place (all from above the board due to the loops being below) the necessary slack in the wires to allow connection before fitting would hang down on the track. Timeout needed! The solution (like most of mine) is rather Heath Robinson. I have added shallow cardboard trays to the underside of the board below the signal holes. The servo wires come in through one side. I can then connect the wires the stuff the slack in the hole knowing the trays will keep them off the tracks below, and finally fit the signal base in the rebate.

Having completed the board, I gave the loops a clean and final test before covering them over. The board was then manoeuvred back into position to form the left half of Newton Purcell (which will resemble a slightly amended, but handed version of Denny's Grandborough Junction - why reinvent the wheel?). The right side board just needs the Servo4 common returns wiring in and 2 Heath Robinson cardboard trays to be made and glued on and then I will have a station.

One final issue was that one of the Servo4s fouled the mainline on the lower level, so I have had to screw it under the station board. Not what I planned as it is now inaccessible, so I hope it will be well behaved.

Unfortunately, we are planning to move house imminently. So I don't know if I will get the incline made to link the station to the existing continuous run and reversing loops. Is it going to be worth the effort? On one hand it will be good practice and a proving ground for incline v loco capability. On the other, if I start the scenery on Newton Purcell, those boards are transportable and will be used on the next version. Of course, one of the criteria of the house is a railway room!! It's taken me 30 years to get to doing this so I'm not going to let that stop me now.

Rich.