Real progess is happening on project Victoria Bridge. The laser cut bridge now has a home, a wooden baseboard/box that is both portable, and can exist as a nice, vaguely functional diorama on my wall! It is following the plan I cooked up a while ago to have the backscene deeper than the 'depth' of the baseboard itself, if you see what I mean... a layout 'painted' vertically rather than 'mapped out' horizontally.. (the baseboard is 6" deep and the back 'wall' is 12" high)

This is a nice departure from my previous childhood dabbling with model railways where there were vast plains of flat board but no up-ness or down-ness to the topography

The vague apology about the lack of camera continues, some more impressionistic attempts using, of all things, a telephone...

^ The general scheme of things. The embankment to the left is open, on the right, beyond the bridge, the line vanishes into a tree lined cutting, more of which soon.

^ The effect I especially want to capture is that of a train on an embankment viewed from below. Note the appropriate stock, 45110 thanks to the kind folk at Farish, and some Dapol teaks, toned down with a muddy mix of thinned gloss red and matt black/brown, it does wonders for the 'wooden-ness' of them.

^ I have posted this sort of view before, but this version shows how the tall box structure wraps around the scene, remember here you are looking UP into the trees. For now you have to use your imagination to paint in the foliage, flowing river, ducks and other riverbank accesories/ (1:148 vole anybody?) Sneaky bit of modelling here is a Dapol carriage backdated (slightly approximately, the panelling is almost right) to the SVR's GNR carriage.

And finally for tonight's installment, 'shaping' progress on the 1:450 scale bubble car, with the menacing mass of a little Dapol Terrier looming above.....