Things seem to be moving forward again in the direction of getting back to the situation prior to the accident. Last Sunday we had a family visit and with the aid of my son-in-law (a Jack-of-all-trades for my wife and me) I managed to get the layout tipped edge on again to be able to work on the underside since, at my age, my body is no longer supple enough to do contortions to work underneath. I reconnected a couple of point motors and then started testing them all. I found that one was not working, but the wiring close to the motor was correct so I went to the other end and found a loose connection and, at the same time, found another loose connection which was why the station lights did not come on. Once the connections were remade the problems were solved. I then started wiring in the new droppers I had added taking advantage of the fact that I had had to lift portions of track when repairing damage on the top side of the layout.

On Monday I finished wiring in the new droppers and finally managed to repair the street lamppost that had lost its head as a result of the fall, not without a problem, since the bulb fell onto our hemp carpet and since it was almost smaller than the roughness of the carpet, it took quite a while to locate it. Nevertheless, I did locate it, reassembled the lamppost and refitted it to the layout and it works.

On Tuesday I decided to go part way to solving a problem I have had ever since I changed my point motor and public lighting system from AC to DC operation. I have Faller station which has a moving belt under one of the platforms to drive a rotating advertisement post and also passengers walking up and down the platform. The motor was originally wired into the AC system but when I changed, it stopped working because it only works on AC. I also doubt that it would work through the controller since the current delivered, apart from not being exactly AC, is much too high for this motor. So, I decided to extend the wiring to a point adjacent where the transformer is located, with a view to devising a way to insert it in the system between the transformer and the controller. I then lowered the baseboard back to its horizontal position and thought it would be a good idea to give a locomotive a run to see how things were. The first one I tried was my Lima 40101 (with a Zimo chip) that had previously worked very well, but this time it objected. I put it away and got out my Bachmann 150 DMU (with its 36-554 ESU chip) which has also worked very well (in fact, apart from its mysterious derailing fault, now cured, it is perhaps the best performer of all) and on the main circuit it went O.K. I then tested it on the sidings and the first effort went alright. I varied the siding and it stopped, lights on, and would not respond to orders. In the light of previous experience with this machine, I sensed that it had done a spontaneous reset and, effectively, this was the case. This is the second time so I assume the best thing it to leave it with address 3 (obviously cheaper than changing the chip).

Wednesday and Thursday went by with some cleaning of the track but I still think that more has to be done. To-day, Friday, has been a blank day.

I am now going to ask for some help. Any day now it will be eight years since I started this layout ais no nearer being finished than it was a year or even two years ago. It is not one that can keep on growing since it is constrained to an 8x4 board.

So, I enclose some photos and would appreciate ideas for filling in the bare spots.

The Metcalfe filling station is too large for any available space and for this corner I had thought of the Sports Pavilion.

I have some level crossing gates for placing on the road. I had fitted the pair closest to the board edge but too close to the track and while most vehicles passed with a hair's breadth clearance, my City Class sent them flying so I have to reinstall them. As for the remaining space, I have two pillar boxes but two seem too much for such a small urban area.

Also, please forgive me for such a long-winded entry.