Hmmm, what do they say about whilst the cats away the mice do play?

Only a couple of us from the N Gauge group were at the club last night, and unfortunately a consensus was reached very quickly about something which had been bothering us for quite some time...the visible section of track behind the yard.

Perhaps one of the reasons why we had gone off this idea was quite simply the novelty had worn off. Another was that it had become out of place for the scenic evolution of the layout...the road had become too close to the backscene, thus limiting our scope to blend the scenery effectively with the backscene, it was also hampering plans for our long-time number one bugbear...the hidden return curve behind the flyover.

Perhaos it was unfortunate that those that were at the club were of a more 'creative' persuasion, and within a couple of hours a large amount of scenery from behind the yard had gone, and a new form was taking shape.

Perhaps most striking is the reduction of size in the yard. It was felt that there was a lot of wasted space in this area...in fact there is a fair amount on the entire layout. The scenery will now encroach more on the yard giving the impression that hillside has come up beside the railway at this point. The road can still be seen in the background, however this will be covered by hillside, the road will take a new course, swinging forwards and crossing the railway on a viaduct, marked out by the strip of white plasticard.

Behind the yard will now be a terraced hillside, with a few buildings scattered around.

Overall, this seems to make the scenery flow a little better, although we have suddenly gone off on a tangent and created a whole lot of extra work for ourselves..

Meanwhile on Weyford, more polystyrene is being stuck down. The area surrounding where the line emerges from the fiddleyard is being built up, and a tunnel mouth will be affixed in due course. This area will all be chalk cliffs, with a number of concrete retaining walls scattered around.

The premise of this area was that originally the line served Weyford docks only. This would have been back in the 1850s, and originally the line would have entered the docks through the lower tunnel; now converted for road use.

Sometime in the late 19th century Weyford grew in popularity both as a holiday location and as a port, serving mainly the channel islands. As well as now having a larger station, the original docks line was too steeply graded to be of any further use, hence the decision to re-route the docks line back to the new terminus station and close the original branch.