With the glorious weather we've been having, it seems only fitting that progress on my S&D layout finally reaches the "summer" module. And now that I'm finally forced to make certain critical decisions, it's become clear that I'm no longer even pretending that this is Shillingstone, or even an attempt at "essence" thereof. I'd already made major compromises with the track layout, but the clincher has been the need to disguise the entry and exit points of the track through the backscene. I've used view blocks on the other modules, but only for single track. Here we've got three tracks entering the scene on the left, which means a big cut-out in the backscene, which you're almost looking straight into when viewing things from the extreme right. An overbridge, though a bit of a modelling cliche, seemed the best solution. There is no similar structure near Shillingstone, though.

On the other side of the module, some experimentation showed that I could still get away with a view-block, which meant a level crossing was a possibility ... and I like level crossings, so we'll have one there. But by the time I'd worked this out, I'd become concerned about the cramped nature of the goods yard, situated on the same side of the tracks as the main station building, signal box etc. The solution, obviously enough, was to flip the station onto the other side of the tracks, and thereby free up most of the frontage of the layout for some longer, less cluttered sidings. Pros and cons, as ever - I like the roadside approach to stations, but the rear elevation of Shillingstone isn't (in my view) particularly characterful. And, of course, I do like the idea of using Bachmann's forthcoming range of models - with whatever tweaking is necessary or feasible to bring out the best of them. Now we get the front view of the station and signal box.

An idea I was tinkering with for about as long as I've been building this layout is some kind of dairy or factory serviced by a siding or two. But as always less is more, and I've now binned that one, tempting as it was.

So what we've got is a model which now preserves the correct orientation of track curvature with respect to Shillingstone, but which has the goods facilities much simplified and on the "wrong" side of the tracks. With that in mind, the module has become a representation of a fictitious Dorset station which mingles a bit of this and a bit of that, hopefully to pleasing and uncluttered effect. Importantly, the track, which has been down and running for three years, remains untouched - if it ain't broke, etc. A large area is still "TBD" - it could include a pond, a representation of a bend in the River Stour, or a small village scene. In the meantime I've begun putting in the very long continuous backscene - pics to follow in a day or two, I hope.

Cheers and thanks for reading.