Hi all.

Another day of good progress getting Ropley ready for its debut at RMweb Live!

The second fiddle yard attachments have been made and fixed in place on the main board allowing the current full length of the layout to be assembled. I say current full length as the intention is to eventually include the full station area as well as the yard. Seeing the whole thing together like this makes all the effort seem worth it!

I have hit a small snag in that I have run out of rail, so an order to 2mm Scale Association Shop 1 will be sent off first thing tomorrow for more supplies. Also pending delivery are locking folding brackets for the legs at each end of the 2 fiddle yard boards. these will fold up neatly underneath each board giving a simple and compact unit that does't require assembly each time.

On Fiddle yard 1, the alignment method is being installed and this is nothing more complex than brass tube soldered to the rail end PCB sleepers with a length of brass wire used as a locating pin. I wasn't sure if this would be sufficient for electrical contact, but so far it seems to do the trick nicely which minimises the wiring required between boards. This is a bit messy at the moment, but once all lines are in place everything will get one final coat of matt black sprayed.

Also required is the end section to the backscene. This will be temporary with a view to the station board being made, and why the backscene on this board is only curved at one end. This also still needs a final coat of white paint and then some representation of sky adding.

So decent progress over the past couple of weeks and all being well the layout should be fully operational in time for the show.

Cheers all,

Tom.

Ropley is a N Gauge Model using 2mm Finescale Easitrac modelled after the real location on the Mid Hants Railway Watercress Line.