Oh dear. I had a day out on the 2mm association stand with Littlemore today and the conversation went something like:

"Are you going to exhibit your layout then?"

"Yes."

"When do you plan to have it ready for?"

"If I have it in a somewhat presentable state within a couple of years I'll be reasonably happy."

"Would you come to such and such exhibition?"

"Er..." "When is it?" "I'm not sure I want to commit to anything right now."

"Usually January."

"Oh, okay."

"Shall we say January 2014 then?"

"Yes, provisionally..."

This really isn't very far away and I haven't done anything on the layout since the golden jubilee expo last year so I've got a lot of work to do before this deadline! I have recently come around to the idea that I can make stock at any time but need a layout to play with them on. I have sufficient items that, although not correct to the time period I wish to present, could just about scrape through a weekend exhibiting.

First up is re-designing the switch operation. Although it worked I had doubts about it's long term robustness and the pitfalls of adjustability. This was realised when I tried to re-attach the switch rail that some scrote managed to detach whilst the layout enjoyed a day out at Alexander Palace earlier this year. It is back on in the right place relative to the other rails, but not throwing properly. The difficulty will be doing this with the track in place on a 7/8" thick trackbed of plywood!

I've also decided that the rear siding should not be at the same level as the rest of the of track. Looking at pictures in the three books covering the line it is clear that the gradient here increases to almost platform level. The whole siding therefore needs to be inclined so that the stops are three scale feet higher than they currently are. This worries me a bit because free rolling wagons will not tend to stay where they are put, but it looks really odd trying to cheat the ground level here to keep the rails level.

Also to be sorted out before finishing the trackbed will be the installation of (hopefully working) ground signals. These will be the rotating can type indicator signals.

The only thing that I have done recently is scale plans for the station building and a type 5 signal box cut them out and mock up to see what the major buildings will look like in place. I can safely say that this blog is about to get more concerned with the subject of it's title, and less of my dithering about making miscellaneous wagons.