Hi again,- updating progress rapidly, to bring the story to where we are now, as I decided to start this blog at what some would say is a late stage in the development of Sproston. ( Truth is - I was not sure the layout would actually come to fruition). After much tinkering with the non-railway buildings and road layout, the final plan was produced, I was trying to achieve a sense of openness (very difficult in a space 6'6"x5'0"!) with the placement of the structures.The layout is meant to represent the outskirts of the market town,- an area where railway companies so often seemed to place their stations...

The original plan was much too crowded - it had too many buildings, so a bit of 'pruning' was carried out, and I hope the result is a more natural flowing design.

The next structures to appear on the layout were the Parish Church - Metcalfe kit, with much internal strengthening and a flagpole on the roof.( was originally to have been "St. Margarets, named after my long suffering wife - but of necessity altered to "All Saints" as I had the nameboard available at the time!!.)

This was quickly followed by "The Kings Arms" Coaching Inn (again Metcalfe) as every layout needs a pub!!

The hidden sidings (4) were simply left as Peco track fixed onto the cork underlay, each has a loco isolating section 9" from the stops, these are worked by push to make buttons, and are also very useful in preventing a train being driven into the bufferstops by the controller round at the station side of the layout- who cannot see this part of it. ( unfortunately it doesn't work with a Hornby class 121 'bubblecar', how do I know -trust me....!!)

The amount of rolling stock for the layout has now grown - to the extent that a seperate 4' length of track, with buffers at each end has been positioned ontop of the hidden sidings area to clear one of the roads for temporay storage...

The entry to these sidings is via a short cutting running into a tunnel with the road crossing above the entrance, not very prototypicaI I suppose, but it seemed the best way forward (excuse the play on words) at the time.

Next a start was made on the scenery, I used foam blocks cut to shape ( very messy business! ) for the hillside, the roadway is a very thin plank of ply- the rest of the road network is made off thick card painted with Humbrol tarmac enamel.

once satisfied with the contours of the landscape 'modroc' plaster bandage was applied, and it was at this point that disaster struck! the original tunnel mouth a Metcalfe card kit - water and card do not go well together, and I was too enthusiastic on my application of the former in the modroc!!!

After much cursing and swearing, - and a sudden trip to my local model shop, a replacement (Peco) appeared and has faired much better. On reflection it was probably a good thing as the original tunnel mouth was a very lofty grand affair, its replacement is more subtle and importantly, it enabled me to drop the road level by 1", making the road gradient less steep.