Having failed to get trains running ( see previous entry), I decided to turn my attention to trying to complete another build, last week I bought some lights from Kyte Lights and the Andover Model Railway Clubs Modelex, I got 10 for a very good price. Not strictly the GWR prototype, but nothing a coat of paint wouldn't help.

It was handy that the moulded base could be separated, however the lamp part was fixed to the pole, painting it would be tricky, I gambled on the fact that I wouldn't complete obscure the grain of wheat lamp !

I'd built the actual platform ages ago, and had started work on the station a few weeks back, I grabbed a cheap off the shelf country station Metcalfe kit off E-Bay for a fiver.

One thing I didn't like about it was that it didn't look very GWR, so out came the paint, GWR Light and Dark stone soon altered the aesthetics and would fool most people ( rivet counters excepted !).

Some Ratio fencing added a bit of extra, and the addition of advertising signs, strategically placed to hide the joins in the fence, it was beginning to look more like a station.

Also added were some typical latticed canopy supports from York Model Making, drainpipes and guttering courtesy of Eileens Emporium plastruc stock.

I'm quite pleased with the end result, it's my first major build for the layout, and my first major build in any hobby, the details I've added have come from what I've seen visiting preserved railways up and down the country, all I need to add now is some station clutter like baggage trucks/trolly's, porters and of course passengers.

Yes I know I should tidy the workplace up a bit, but to be honest when I do that I can never find anything.

The tree's in the background are my attempt at making my own, yes I realise the large one is a tad out of scale, but you have to start somewhere, 'N' gauge trees are difficult to get the proportions right, I'm never happy with what I've finished up with, so now I have bought some of the Woodland Scenics type, just to try and copy them.

I soon realised that its more important for things to look right, rather than concentrate on scale all the time.

I had to make the lamps taller than scale, because given their dimensions they would have looked very stocky when you place an N scale figure next to them, the one thing I have to remember now is not to place any figures standing near or next to a lamp post.