That's Alexandra Palace and the London Festival of Model Railways next weekend.

So, time to take Fen End Pit out of the cupboard under the stairs where it resides and do a few 'pre-fight checks'. Fortunately the whole layout goes up in our back room with the kind permission of the domestic authorities.

A quick bit of scenic work with a hoover, removing the spiders, was followed up with a new coat of paint on the backscene and on the facia panel. The work then turned to the stock, fixing a couple of broken couplings and adjusting others so that hopefully everything will couple and uncouple correctly.

A couple of pictures for you.

A Simplex passes the refueling facilities with a short train of skips.

The Lister hauls a fuel train ready to fuel up the dragline with diesel for the hard weekend's work ahead.

Come and say hello at Ally Pally. It is always good to say 'hi' to other RMwebbers. We are 'backing on' to Liverpool Lime Street which I'm very much looking forward to seeing.

David