George Woodcock

Hello Yellow is the colour of my true loves hair in the morning.................. Cheers George

Hello Simon Work, what is that. Us OAPs are free as the wind. Unfortunately John still does work so he has to do weekends. Richard may very well be present, don't know who else but Sunday afternoon looks like being a key day Be there or be square. Cheers George.

Hello Simon, it will be all up in my lounge on Sunday next weekend, come and have a go.. You of course will be press ganged into operating in the future. Night night now I'm off to bed. Cheers George

Hello Dark Mick like standing in front of a firing squad. Look after your guest tonight, I need him. Cheers George

Hello In fact we didn't need the extension kit as there were enough lighting strips in the base kit. Be careful when plugging it in as the connections are a bit fragile. The strips are self adhesive but we gave them a bit of extra support with double sided tape and even little dab of Evo-stik' They are very bright. We mounted them onto a length of angled moulding to direct them down to the layout and also not to be in our eyes too much. Overall very pleased with them, we will have to how they stand up to being used under exhibition conditions. Cheers . George

Hello Don't you worry your pretty little heads about me, I will be fine. Thanks to the inestimable Kevin Dickerson Towcester is now a fully DCC layout. A bit more wok to do it but we are now pretty well ready to go to Stafford in 4 weeks time. Cheers George

Hello Lights for the layout now fitted and working as well as the sign board completed. All the road vehicles have had drivers fitted, weathered and tax discs added. I set of wing mirrors to be fitted to a small truck. Two more wagons kits built, a Sturgeon with cranes which is finished and a 13T open which requires painting and a 12T pipe wagon which will be finished tomorrow. Also finished detailing a pair of Class 20s , they just need weathering as does the Cl 108 unit. Then all we have left to finish are a rake of Esso tanks and that is all the rolling stock finished for the time being although there will be other items in the future. Happy New Year. Cheers George

Hello We give off a nice warm glow as well especially after a good curry.. Cheers George

Hello Just a little update to say that the layout went live this afternoon on DCC featuring a Cl33 and a Cl20 making a lot of satisfying noises. Just a few small tweaks to make and it will be fine. We have finally joined the 21st century. Also recently been working on our last new rake of wagons which make up a block train of Esso TTV tanks. These have had new etched walkways and laddering added to correctly model the Esso version of the Bachmann wagon. They have been resprayed and are now just waiting to have transfers fitted and weathering applied. This just leaves 3 more wagon kits to complete and a couple of Bachmann BGs to be re-numbered and weathered and that's it. Cheers George

Hello All the station signs are now in place. I would like to thank Adam Warr of Electra Graphics and James Barraclough of Trackside Signs for all their help with these. Also completed our rake of 16T MCVs for our coal train. We also had our first play with our static grass machine on Sunday. i'm not overly convinced but it adds another dimension to the scenery. Now back to building van-wides. Cheers George

Hello Fear not, I am OK after my trip to A&E on Saturday night. The bee alas isn't. The class 25 is also well on the road to recovery after some fairly major surgery. The work goes on as you can see and hopefully by next weekend we should have the whole layout live. Cheers George

Hello The good lord being willing it will be there; hopefully working, although not all of the planned rolling stock will be there. For that you will have to wait for it's next appearance at Glasgow in 2015. I just have to live that long. In the meantime the fiddle yards fascia panels are now varnished and an almost complete rake of Parkside 16t mineral wagons are nearly finished. lots more to go.The station area is waiting for signage but this should be done by next week. This weekend we shall be attaching a lot of wires, fitting point motors etc. Cheers George

Hello Thanks for the nice comments. A few more trees have been planted since the pictures were taken. Hopefully next week all the point rodding should be in place. The rake of tanks wagons in some of the pictures are in 'as bought' condition. They will be fitted with S Kits single ladder etched walkways, pepainted and renumbered to represent a late 70s Esso train. A rake of Tunnel liveried Presflos also to follow. Most of the rolling stock we now possess but there are few gaps to fill, at least to get us through the first exhibitin at Stafford next February. After that we have nearly ayear before it's next show to complete the job. Cheers George

Hello The Lucas bridge is now fully restored, at least in model form, as the signs on the bridge have been fitted. These were made for us by James Barraclough at Trackside Signs. All the buildings are now complete and fitted and the layout is now completely ballasted and the rest of the embankments have had all the grass matting installed. We are now busy putting more foliage in place as well as a lot of those small details that you cannot do without. More pictures up soon I hope. Cheers George

Hello Just seen this thread. First went there in 1965 so that will be how you are modelling it. My version of course is much later circa 1997/2004 when it was the most unlikely freight terminal in Great Britain; all sadly gone now though. All the best with your project , I wish you well. Cheers George (Woodcock)

Hello Since those last pictures were taken I have ballasted the whole of the Blisworth/Salcey Forest end of the layoutas far down as the site of the goods shed . This will be completed when that building is in situ. The track through the platforms as far as the 'Lucas' bridge will be finished later today. Also all the fencing is now complete. I am just waiting for a delivery of grass matting to finish the embankments off. The layout will be at Wrec-rail next weekend asn a static work in progress. That's it ,back work. I haven't listed all the materials I have used or the ways I've done things but if any-one is interested feel free to ask. Cheers George

Hello Forgot to mention last night that John has nearly finished the goods shed, the shell of which isshown in one of the photographs. Also we have now wired both of the scenic boards so possibly by next weekend we may have something running on the layout, that is if it works. Cheers Geprge

Hello The last structure, the occupation bridge beneath the track to the left of the Lucas Bridge, is now built and will be painted and weathered over the next day or so. In real life this was located half a mile away but as it is one of the few bits of the line still extant in Towcester we had to include it and although it is not an exact copy of the original we hope it will be OK. Pictures will follow later in the week I hope. Thanks for interest shown in this little project. Cheers George

Hello The platforms are done, painted, weathered and glued in place. The A5 roadbridge is done painted, weathered, glued in place all except for the 'Lucas' signs. The A5 road is also complete. The signal box is complete, painted but not glued in place to prevent damage. The old Tiffield road-bridge and road are now complete, painted, weathered and glued in place and the track beneath is ballasted. The last piece of platform on the bay platforms is nearing completion. The station building is finished, painted and weathered and is in place though it will be removed for transport as it spans a board joint. The footbridge is built, painted but just need a bit of weathering to complete. The first board has also been wired, second scenic board will be done soon. Hopefully pictures to follow.. We are making progress, we will succeed. Cheers George

Hello Alright for some sitting in a nice hotel enjoying yourself while I am working my fingers to the bone. Back to the paintbrushes now. See you on Saturday when we go to Debbie Tailbys'. Cheers George

Hello Yes they are out of date as the station footbridge is now in position and the platforms and Lucas bridge are being painted. Cheers George

Hello A short up-date on deveopments so far. The platforms are built as is the Lucas bridge over the A5 albeit with just 2 little bits to add when I get another delivery of ~Evergreen strip. also the A5 road itself and the sloping part of the old Tiffield road are in place. The footbridge is also complete and the catchpoint have been installed. John is working on the station building and I should be moving onto the bridge over the Olney branch. Hopefully photos,(right way up), to follow. Hope to make a start on the wiring next weekend. Cheers George.

Hello Glad to hear it Mick, my partner will be making you an offer you cannot refuse Cheers George

Hello Brixworth Station will be appearing at Northampton Show on March 9th this year. Similar in theory to Towcester as they are both 'what might have been' layouts. Brixworth circa 1998 while Towcester is set in 1997/8. The track plan on both is different to reality espea=cially Towcester closed in 1964 and Brixworth in 1980. They are both meant to be atribute to the real places. Another walk down that famous memory lane. I won't say a word Clive as long as you rejoin DEMU. Glad you think us old codgers have a bit of promise, remember we are only entry level modellers so be gentle. Cheers George

Hello All arrived safely and set up in the crypt. Cheers George