Following a hugely enjoyable SWAG 23, for which many thanks to Rob, Grahame, Stu, Phil, Andy Y and all involved, I returned to sunny South Wales with renewed modelling mojo and a strong desire to push on with the layout.

Recent work has been focused on further tweaking of the trackwork, painting sleepers and rail sides and so on, and generally trying to get it looking semi-finished ( at least on this half of the module) before I move on to other matters.

Various blobs of solder were either reduced or disguised by painting - hopefully to good effect.

In the meantime, I've added the last of the SEEP electromagnets needed for operation, which has meant I'm able to indulge in some more realistic shunting moves, which has been a good test of what works and what needs attention.

I think the positives are that the DG couplings work very well with the magnets, uncouple when you want them to, and tend to stay coupled when you don't want them to uncouple. Not having a large amount of goods vehicles yet converted, the scope for testing is still limited but it's still shown the viability of the layout with regards to the necessary moves and the positioning of the magnets. I've found that the long siding is still tricky with a 56xx and these short wheelbase mineral wagons due to the end-throw of the couplings tending to want to derail the wagon closest to the loco, but this is alleviated by the use of a judicious barrier wagon such as a van or a toad. Rather than being a drawback, I hope that this will just add another operational wrinkle which adds to the fun, rather than detracting from it.

And as I hope these pictures show, I've begun to add some more developed scenic contours with the usual Mod Rock type plaster bandage, which I must admit to finding hugely enjoyable (and messy) to work with. There's something almost alchemical about cutting out little slivers of bandage, dipping them in water, hearing the fizz as they react, then beginning to build up three-dimensional shapes which begin to look like real embankments, meadows etc.

On the subject of scenery, I've also started on a steeply sloping valleys terrace, using these Dornaplas cottages as a basis:

I've got a lot more of these to do, and they're not yet fixed in position, so there'll be some jigging around until I find a nice arrangement of textures and colours. The roof pitch on the kits as supplied was very steep and definitely not something I recognised in my observations around the Cynon Valley and surrounding locales, so I've cut them back quite severely. I also need to recess the front doors as I've yet to see a valleys terrace building without the door being set back into the front. Other than that I think they work quite well, representing the narrower (older?) type of miner's cottage I see from time to time. Some of these kits are in brick, but since brick-built terraces are extremely rare around here, I'll be "rendering" those with a coating of Mister Surfacer.

So what's this miracle ingredient X, then, almost nobody asked? The answer's graphite. I'd heard that a few flakes of the stuff can have a hugely beneficial effect on running, so I tried some. I've used both dried powered graphite from an applicator, and also just flakes of the stuff off the tip of a B pencil, and the effect is remarkable. At the risk of over-stating it, I'd say the result has been an almost total elimination of stalling, which gives me added confidence that the layout CAN work as a shunting module, at least under the sort of conditions it's faced over the last couple of days in my conservatory. That's a relief, because other than track wipers, there is little scope for improving the pickup of the locos as they stand, and I think I've probably tweaked the track to about the limits of my skill. Anyway, I am greatly motivated to continue adding DG couplings to my few outstanding items of N rolling stock, so that the testing can continue.

Thanks for reading, and for the encouragement to progress with the layout.