Not much has developed on the 3D printed Arley front over the last couple of weeks, but with a few nights away from home looming, CAD design does make for a tidy way to create modelling output in a hotel, so watch this space!

I have had chance to have a good look around the real thing however. On Sunday Arley was basking in spots of sunshine and a slice of lovely branchline-ish ness...

Modelling challenges include the picnic area, which I know very well.. the site is busy and requires a number of less glamourous additions like big bins etc.. which are well hidden, and will want to be equally well hidden on the model:

Cake! (& excellent sandwiches) Whenever I see this building I feel hungry...

I also took a couple of pictures of the rarely photographed 'river' side of the station building, though from a respectful distance as this is the more private side of the residential part of the station building. I wonder if there is an etiquette to modelling 'from life' when dealing with a private house? I'd been wondering about this when pondering a model of nearby Northwood Halt, another scene dominated by a substantial private dwelling.

With that in mind, I'll not reproduce the pictures here, but use them to get the one side of the building near enough right.

The station is of course host to a procession of exotic machinery and long trains. That said, it looks very 'proper' with a 14xx (Sunday just gone) or a railcar (Railbus gala a few years ago). This might point to a way of creating a small diorama based on the station building without the need (yet) for a large layout around it... but ready for extension...