Not yet but I did have a productive weekend wiring up track. All the dropper wires bar the vees and wing rails are now in place and soldered up. I used up some stranded wire that looked small enough without being silly with flexible insulation. The wire (pre-tinned) is passed through a hole drilled adjacent to the rail on the operator side. The wire is bent towards and then parallel with the rail, fluxed and then helod underneath the rail whilst the soldering iron (with a small pointy tip) is introduced to make the join. You don't have to be super quick, but prolonged heating will require a couple of localised fixes to the sleepering.

Apologies for the latter photograph where the focus is beyond the intended subject matter. Once painted and ballasted I think these will go unnoticed.

Work was also started on getting the switch blades operative. I really wish I'd made these another way using a jig, but I am where I have got to.

A trip to the model shop for some telescoping brass sections turned up a Farish Macaw B. This is a model I have eyed for a little while, but had been told by the man on the Bachman stand at Ally Pally that there would be a delay in supply whilst they made some more . I only managed to source one, but it is a nice model that compares well with the kit built Macaw (from an earlier diagram) I have. A quick swap of the bogies to 2mm SA association ones is made easy because the bogie retaining pieces just pull off, although the holes need opening out in the etched bogie stretcher to fit the chuncks on the bottom of the Farish moulding.

The pockets for the stanchions on the outside of the wagon are a little thick when compared directly, and the tie down rings are also different, but it is a very nice model. I intend to produce a load like that depicted early in Russels Freight Wagons and Loads... There was a timber yard/saw mill at Wheatley and I suppose that sawn timbers could have feasably been transported this way.