I have been quiet for a while because my layout is at a standstill, mainly due to my not having been able to replace the hoisting pulleys I wanted to change way back last November and also due to the fact that it is cold in the garage where the layout is suspended. With a bit of luck, there may be some new movement the weekend of Feb. 28-Mar. 1 and the new pulleys installed. I also have to replace a burnt-out point motor. That will leave a few blank places to be filled with appropriate scenery and repairs made to deteriorated material.

In the meantime I have been fiddling around chipping locomotives and had a funny experience. I fitted a Zimo decoder to an old locomotive and found that as soon as I put it on the track, the front light came on, without having addressed the locomotive. When I addressed the loco and selected reverse, the rear light came on, but the front one did not go out. Apart from that, I was able to read and program the CVs and the locomotive responded to orders and the wiring was correct. I sent it back to the suppliers and they immediately replaced it.

Apart from that, since the original track plan called for two signal boxes and I had only installed one, I decided to go for the Metcalfe GWR box (already half built) which, in theory, is out of place, since, as previously mentioned elsewhere on my blog, my layout can be considered to be scenically Leeds orientated (mainly from the large number of vehicles having Leeds registration numbers and/or other indications, because the buildings could be found in many U.K. cities) but it looks nice and, moreover, is not expensive. When I finally get around to be able to play trains, there will be many other incongruences since, as I have mentioned in other posts, the majority of my rolling stock is H0 continental. From the traction point of view, the U.K. side is slightly ahead, with three steam locomotives and two DMUs against four electric locomotives, but the passenger stock is way short (four against thirteen) and I have no U.K. goods stock.