As I continue to wallow about in Tweedale's little backwater of dubious freelancedom and outdated technology, I keep getting these feelings of deja vu. It started with the reappearance of Castleport. Now Tweemoor Yard has also made a comeback. If I'd known I would be going around in circles like this I would have hung on to the original versions! Although the new scene is not an exact copy of the original Tweemoor, there is a rather creepy family resemblance.

I had a couple of 'givens' for this scene before I started. In the first place I particularly wanted a marshalling yard (if that's not too grand a description) at this location. Secondly I wanted it to be rural and act as a green belt against the creeping urban-industrial ribbon development that was threatening to take over. The Slaghill Low module had worked well here in the interim and fulfilled the first of these criteria, but not the second. 

There are only a limited number of track arrangements that can be fitted into these small scenes, so it was pretty well inevitable that the Inglenook configuration would crop up again for the yard. For the rural scenery it made sense to re-use the leftover trees from the original Tweemoor, which had been sitting in a box for years awaiting their resurrection. Then it occurred to me that it would all come together that much quicker, and with less thinking involved, if I more or less repeated what I'd done before. Thus Tweemoor was reborn. The bridge is there, the road at the front is there, so are the buildings at the back and the Jolly Poacher pub. 

As far as the railway is concerned the main differences are the addition of a kick-back carriage siding, where the railbus can rest its weary wheels between trips...

...and the relocation of the station.

Mr Yardley the yardmaster can be seen sitting on the steps of his 'portacabin' looking a bit dejected, as well he might. He was enticed out of retirement by the promise of a more spacious yard office, only to find it consists of a disused camping coach brought up from the coast. How it survived the journey is anyone's guess. The company admits that it is in need of refurbishment, but adds that it is ideally situated and includes living accommodation, thus allowing Mr Yardley to work from home. The smell of rotting seaweed will no doubt fade in time, and he can brush up his handyman skills while off duty. A spot of weeding might be in order too while he's about it.

Speaking of which, as I was running short of ballast I decided to embed the yard tracks in crud and weeds instead. This was done by draping strips of thin toilet tissue over the sleepers. The tissue was then fixed in place by carefully soaking it with slightly thinned grey emulsion paint, using a soft brush so as not to tear the paper, which easily disintegrated when wet. Once the painted tissue was dry it formed a hard crust. The impression of the sleepers was still discernible where the paper had sagged between, and they could be enhanced by dry brushing and weathering. Any wrinkles or holes were disguised with patches of weeds. The technique seems to work quite well on plain track, but is probably not very feasible for use on points. 

The new section has now taken its place on the layout, next to the Docks Branch module, and is busy earning its keep. More detailing could be done, but probably won't. I might do something about that jarring caterpillar-like hedge at the front though, before moving on to something fresh.

Cheers, Alan.