A bit of spare time last week meant I was finally able to make a start on track laying for my 1950s West Riding layout (name tbc). At some point soon I'll have to publish a bit more info about it as well as a track plan but briefly it will be a ficticious suburban station situated on a secondary mainline somewhere near Leeds/Bradford. Anyway, the first section of cork underlay and C&L track has been laid in the station area. Not a lot to see yet!

I picked up a PO wagon from the Hartlepool show last week - brand new but nearly half price due to lack of a box. I've been itching to have a go at transforming one of these into BR days. Firstly, the sides were attacked with a glass fibre brush to remove most of the lettering, leaving enough to suggest the origin. Next, BR transfers were applied and the diagonal strapping painted white to denote the opening end before I set to work weathering. I wanted this wagon to look fairly decrepit and patched up so some of the planks were repainted as if replaced. The frame was painted in dark browns with rust detail picked out and dry brushed with goauche. The body was washed several times with dark mucky browns, most of which is wiped off with cotton buds. The metal parts of the body were painted in very dark rusty shades that received further lighter washes to pick out detail. Next some rusty water streaking was applied with goache and finally weathering powders were applied to the frame to give that gunged up dirt look.