Jules

Hi Mikkel Thanks for the comment. I just built the cattle dock and track infill as per the Ratio instructions - it isn't modelled on/from any prototype picture. I do however seem to recall that most pictures of cattle docks that I have seen do have a similar sort of arrangement. Unfortunately, I am at work at the moment so cannot have a look for any pics to back me up! From memory, Cirencester and Ashburton are two places that show this feature. Cheers Jules

Not quite! It is in Gloucestershire (well - it's South Gloucestershire these days) just south of Yate, or north of Coalpit heath if you prefer, on the A432. There are about 4 houses there and it is more of a rise than a hill

Righto - a bit of an update. I don't appear to have achieved a great deal recently, so I think since the last update I have : 1. painted the track 2. done most of the ballast 3. painted the bridge 4. started the yard crane base 5. built a wagon 6. shunted some wagons about! Hopefully the pics below illustrate the progress....

Thanks for the kind words chaps Progress will be slow....... The cassettes are quite good, although the next ones I make will be a bit wider - with the current ones it is very difficult to place stock on the track. I'm also not too sure about the long term use of croc clips to transfer power to the cassettes, but it will do for now.

It is indeed a Wills Craftsman kit. It was made for my previous layout, and I made it harder by reversing the plans! (the plans have the house on the right and the station bit on the left). It is only temporarily placed to fill in the blank space. I intend to make something a bit more GW.

A bit of progress : - Balsa for the platform in approx position and shape, now need to construct the front walls and surface - scenic break bridge constructed and placed in place to - allow a start to be made on the landscape. The cutting sides are made with polystyrene as the basic shape with newspaper soaked in wallpaper paste over the top. It will be finished off with a skim of plastery type stuff to give the final surface. Never tried this method before so should be interesting! Ta for looking

A little bit of progress... the control panel is (almost) finished. Seemed to take a long time to get to this stage, just to control seven points! The only thing left to do is mark out the track schematic on it. Remarkable, it all worked correctly with no faults when powered : my 'back of an envelope' cable numbering and layout was obviously up to the job! Now I think I will make it a bit more formal for future reference. Anyway, a couple of really exciting pics to show my hard work....more details on request if anyone is interested. Now the fun stuff can begin...

A little bit of progress, but not much! I have been playing trains a bit before continuing too much just to make sure it mainly works. Haven't built the control panel yet as I am still trying to find the right power socket for the plug of my transformer, so in the meantime I am using my trusty old H&M Duette. It still gives surprisingly good control. Also I have been testing out my fiddle yard cassettes. I think I might have made them a bit narrow! I think any more I make will be a bit wider to help with putting rolling stock in position. I am currently applying power using croc clips which appears to work pretty well so I will probably stick with this method for now. Any building shown are purely temporary just to break up the bareness!

Ta for the comment and a Happy New Year to you too The continuation of the wiring will be slightly delayed as I am short of a couple of switches and connectors.....

A bit of progress... On the surface not that much, track pinned down and painted underneath. Test runs have taken place to check it all basically works - it does! What can't be seen is the spaghetti underneath, all the points are now wired to a terminal block waiting for the connection to the as yet un-built control panel. This wiring hasn't been tested yet..... As to a name, my current thoughts are to call it Mayshill after a place nearby. It did have a railway, although it was a colliery line that closed in 1948. I'm afraid I haven't come up with some meaningful history, but it is just a toy afterall!

Hi Mikkel, thanks for the comment The cassettes are another bit of the plan in my head! I think they will be 9mm ply to match the baseboard depth, with strip-wood along the sides. The ends I will probably block with sponges - I saw that method at an exhibition and it looked quite effective. Still not quite sure how I am going to connect then electrically..... Progress : I have wired in the power, so I can now play trains for the first time in 18 months!! Just got to wire the points and build a control panel now.....

Ta for the comment It will be 'interesting' to see how it pans out - i haven't ended up with quite as much space as I would have hoped, and I usually try to squeeze too much in, but I like to have a bit of fun operating rather than true prototypical fidelity... I hope to get some of the wiring done this afternoon, once I've been for a walk in the snow!

Ooops! It is OO. I am using Peco code 75 for the first time along with electrofrog points (except the double slip). Also fitting point motors for the first time, so a bit more wiring than I am used to! Progress might be slow on this one.....

Finally..... after a rather protracted house move and the skipping of my last layout, and some essential diy on the new abode, I have finally started on my new layout. I have switched from the eastern side of the country to the western, so I can have a bit of GW tank engine action! I guess my liking for these little beasties results in my late Father taking me to the DVR when I was a nipper so my first steam memories are of GW tank engines and a ride on the footplate of one of their Peckett 0-4-s in pre H&S days. Anyway, the layout. As the piccies hopefully show below, it is a quite small and compact terminus, this bit is 6' * 2'. I am planning on having a fiddle yard with cassettes which will be a new experience for me. The only plan I have is what you see here, the rest is in my head! (not the best way of planning I know, but I am a bit impatient to get something running - its been 18 months since I had a play!) The track is only temporarily in place, although the holes for the point motors are in so the track scheme is pretty fixed. Enough waffle for the time being...