So bringing the blog up to date after very little progress over the summer due to work and hols. Ballasting of the two main lines is complete at last as is most of the carriage sidings trackwork.

I was rather taken by a Virgin Voyager advertised for sale here on RMweb so I now have yet another piece of rolling stock that doesn't really fit with the geography .... but it will do for fun until the layout is finished.

A couple of years back at Warley I bought a very cheap Heljan plastic kit of a sanding bay (US outline) with a thought I could use the walkways in carriage sidings. You can see the unpainted version in the first pic. In the background you can see the overbridge that hides the curve to the backscene.

And the painted version in the second. Was painted with Halfords Grey Primer and Halfords Silver metallic spray. To be honest I thought it would come out rather lighter silver. Will get round to a repaint in due course.

On the overbridge the plan is either for a road or for a warehouse / depot of some sort. In the meantime I have indulged a little side interest. A month or two back I found a web site that sold card models of London Transport bus garages (plus a few provincial ones). I couldn't resist having a go at my local garage Sutton so this will sit here until replacement buildings are made (only after finishing the model did I realise I only have one single model bus that represents a Sutton route - the RF is obviously an interloper ... so I might have to buy one or two more buses or maybe a different garage).

(I should have added the web site is Kingsway Models. Highly recommended. Delivery of my kit was within a couple of days. They come ready mounted on card which needs cutting out but the card is relatively thin ... though the models when built are plenty sturdy enough (think Metcalf/Superquick))