This is by way of a holding entry - because of a difficult period at work I've not managed to do any modelling for about 6 weeks, and consequently there's been nothing to report. I was really hoping to make some serious progress on the backlog this year , only life comes along and throws a spanner in the works...

However I did manage to get to Ally Pally this weekend, and while I was there managed to purchase some laser cut flush glazing for the Bratchill 150 from Shawplan. I gather these are the "beta" or test version of the thing and they are not yet openly on sale : he had some tucked away in a box. Anyway , £20 and enough for 2 cars was mine.

Some weeks ago I showed a friend the completed Walrus (see below) . A week or so later, when I saw him again he said "I've got something for you" - a plastic bag containing some Cambrian kits. "I'm not going to build these now - you can have them". So I'm now the owner of two Shark kits, a Dogfish kit, and two more Walruses. I admit my feelings about the last are a little mixed, but I sourced some replacement plate bogies for them at Ally Pally. Plus some Modelstrip as I'd run out.

My Provincial 150/1 from Trains4U arrived a week or so ago, and very nice it is too. I remember these units in Provincial on the Lincoln/Nottingham services when they were new and based at Derby Etches Park, so it's a very appropriate addition to the early period for Blacklade. However with pressure of things at work it hasn't even been out of the box and run yet, let alone fitted with a decoder. There seems to be little prospect of getting Blacklade set up to programme and try it out in the next fortnight, the way things are at present. My other purchase at Ally Pally was the 21 pin version of the Bachmann 3 function decoder (for £12 - I'm counting the pennies) . The one I have in my 108 produces excellent running and according to the paperwork the decoder now supports 4 digit addressess . The old version didn't - my addressing convention is class number for the Modernisation Plan units (ie within 2 digit) and for locos and 2nd/3rd generation units - first 2 digits , class, then last 2 digits of the TOPS number . Hence 150 135 needs to be 1035 (I'm never going to own a Western or a Hastings unit so there's no risk of duplication) - there are so many 15x classes it seems best to drop the middle digitof the class number to get a distinctive ID

This may be more or less the last RTR I buy this year as things look at the moment: I've more or less completed the stud for Blacklade, as far as RTR spending goes. The gaps are the things that need to be built, not bought - ie Pacers, 150/2, Cravens , and longer term 114. I've got the kits , I just need to build 'em. There's quite enough on that front to keep me busy for at least 2 years without flashing the chequebook around

About the only thing that's made any progress is the Van B. The droplight etches are painted, the windows glazed, and the etched bars from Roxey have been sourced and fitted behind. Doors are fixed in place and the interior of the van sections has been painted a suitable brown. And that's as far as it's got...

I now have both the Cambrian LMS 5 plank and LNER 6 plank open kits - thanks to Barry at Cambrian. The LMS kit is sitting on the workbench - I've not had chance to start it. And it's looking as if I won't make it to York this year, though if travel disruption during and after Easter is bad enough I may well find myself with some time stuck at home and perhaps something might happen on the modelling front