This entry has taken me ages to get round to as its been a busy year. The new interest in electric locomotives has necessitated the installation of catenary. I bought a few components at the Sanddown Model Rail show from the Orient Express shop's stand. This enabled me to get started. I had a visit to Adelaide recently with work so was able to pop into the Orient Express shop to buy pretty much all the DRG catenary stock they had. The catenary is fairly easy to install. Fortunately it is also easy to uninstall as you will have to do this often to access track and locomotives underneath on occasion. Here are some shots of how it looks.

When I was originally thinking about this I had ideas that I could make finer catenary myself from wire or guitar strings however I have found out a few things since getting this much catenary to try out. On one of the initial pieces I bought there was a slight burr. It was so small you couldn't see it but the loco pant's found it so I had to file it off. The slightest burr on the wire will catch the pantograph on the loco and put strain on the catenary and supports. My idea of soldering finer wire together just wouldn't work as the solder wouldn't leave a smooth surface for the pantograph to run along. The wire does look a bit thick for scale but I don't really see an option that would be sufficiently robust to use instead of this.

These shots show the extent that I have installed the catenary so far. This cost me a grand total of $200 Aus. This has given me cause to stop and consider how much this is actually going to cost if I am to install this on the entire layout. I'm thinking this could a grand! I could get a couple of stealth locos or a decent sound one for that and have some change. I may reconsider this and just have it on the main line and a couple of sidings .

I have also been looking for suitable platform canopies to go with the station. This one is the best one I have found so far. It's a Faller one and looks the part. I'll buy more of these kits to populate the main platforms with.

I have been building more city street buildings for the section to the right of the layout. The idea is to have the trains weaving through conurbation on the way into the station. This way you will get glimpses of the trains between the buildings as they make their way in. This is where I am to so far on this. I have ordered more of these so I can build another set that will be an exact reflection of these to back onto the station.

So the next step will be to finish off the town streets to the right hand side and get that all done. I will get the catenary finished on the main lines. I'm thinking I'll be right to start some ballasting now so I'll pick some areas to start on and get going with that. As always plenty to do.