First of all, Happy New Year to everyone. I don??™t really do New Year. I see it as a bit of an anti climax after Christmas and since becoming a dad I don??™t think I have actually been up at midnight for the last 6 years !!

Never the less, I trust everybody had a great time the other night and I hope this year will see RMweb go from strength to strength with its new format, hopefully a Member??™s Day to rival last year (hint, hint Andy !) and lots of interesting new creations built for the challenge.

With the day off yesterday, an early night under my belt and a promise of a sunny (but cold) day I was up with the hung over skylarks and set about a few jobs on the board before the sun came up.

First up was to fit the extension plate on the front of the board for the Guagemaster Prodigy. Not actually purchased the system yet but did manage to afford the faceplate before Christmas. My local model shop will have a system in stock soon, so an Easter time purchase will enable me to start running locos shortly after. Should have the track laid to the fiddle yard and all the wiring done by then !

Further scenics have been added to the front edge around building 3 and weathering has commenced on the walls & panels.

The retaining wall from top to bottom levels has furthered itself around the back of the depot and along the front face however this still needs a lot of attention in the form of weathering and I plan to cover a lot of it with foliage & ivy. I??™m not unhappy with it, just feel it needs a bit more work to fit in.

Last up was the work to the ballast pile. Why its there, I do not know (!), but it fills a space, acts as a distraction away from the fiddle area and looks ok so far. I may build a small conveyor that protrudes from the building behind. A sort of overflow heap that is cleared occasionally by digger ?

After all this I was ready to brave the cold and go enjoy the fruits of my labour with a trip out with the camera. Most of these have been in the gallery for 24 hours due to the delay in posting new blog entries but I will post again here to keep the blog updated with the latest.