The Wednesford Chronicles

Today I finished off the scenics and had a change of heart as to the location of the footbridge.



The footbridge is now at the end of the road which used to be a level crossing until the trackbed was lowered in an attempt to get clearance through the Old Town tunnel.  It meant a few minor changes to the scenery I'd already done but I think the effect is better and is the kind of thing that would have been installed where a road crossing was closed.  The footbridge is of course the Bachmann Stetchford model from eons ago.

 

Euneda House from the footbridge.  I need to have a think about backscenes, I'll probably end up making my own for this part of the layout.



The 1960s "lollipop" trees arrived from the Model Tree Company today so Euneda House got some more foliage in front of the block.



Moving the footbridge meant I had to remove the bus shelter I glued down last night to relocate it.  There's nothing like planning, and this was nothing like planning...



The prefabs now have gardens.  Small areas to the front off the footpath, cosily lined by neat trimmed bushes.  Wednesford likes it's tenants to keep their bushes nice and trim.  The tenant on the right has laid a nice mock Yorkstone patio which is brave given the prefabs were supposed to be replaced after ten years, which is why the tenant on the right has stuck with grass.  Wonky - sorry, wind damaged - larch lap fencing separates the garden from the hoi polloi at the bus stop.

The edge of the ply has since been clad with some redundant platform edging I 3d printed which simulates a dwarf retaining wall, and neatly hides the foundation strip of the railings.

So, tomorrow it's back to corking, then onto tack and OHLE.

Oh, and I also managed to convert a Lima HST non-powered car to have DCC sound without soldering.  Most chuffed with that.

A few more photos.  Yet again I've made a few changes as I sit and look at what I've done and think "perhaps I should do x instead", mainly to do with paving.  



Proper pavements now laid either side of the road, which narrows it a bit but looks better.  The scraggy end of the road where the footbridge lands from the other estate is being taken over by scrub, and will probably have some dead sofas dumped there, something sadly all too prevalent as much in the 1960s and the 2000s, so no need to get any more penalty points on my modellers licence.

By the way, the orange hue is a test of how the camera takes the orange "hot summer sunset" setting on the LCD spots.  As you can see, it's surprisingly effective.

It's obviously In Cod We Trust's Orange Chip Friday judging by the cars parked outside.

The Swan Centre has now sprouted two lollipop trees, two K8 telephone boxes (odd, they were introduced in 1968, a year after the earliest timetable sequence planned for the layout...) and some railings to keep people off the tracks.

The laying of cork has now been completed, so a day off tomorrow, followed by tracklaying, OHLE installation and ballasting/weathering.  Definitely on the home straight now.  Well, home flexi-track...