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The civil engineers have been busy… Some coping stones to do and then we can turn our attention to the canal, before finally getting on to the viaduct.

More progress at both worksites. Firstly the platforms have been painted grey. They still need some filling to get them smooth, but the Polyfila was too white to see any shadows. They look ok in the photos, but need some more fettling yet. Down at the bridge the centre cast iron supporting columns have gone in. Brickwork and front girder to do next. The columns are all equally spaced and vertical, despite not looking like it!

1D43 was hot on the heels of 1D42 all the way! It left Euston 9 minutes behind and left Crewe just 14 minutes behind, a margin it maintained all the way to Holyhead, despite an additional stop at Bangor (neither stopped at LJ).

Some more progress with platforms and bridges. At the station all the platforms have been filled. Once fully cured I’ll sand them back, paint them and think about coping stones. At the moment they look distinctly festive! But a lower angle shot looks half decent. To the left of the 20’s is a bit of vertical plywood with a screw in it. This will be a staircase entrance to the station, similar to coming up from the Dark Arches bus stops in Leeds. At the West end I’ve started to sort out my canal bridges and tunnels, which are loosely based on those around Manchester Oxford Road to Deansgate. A 25 pauses on the Chester canal bridge. The canal angles sharp left here into the basin to the top left of the shot. From further out we see the 20’s passing over the Warrington lines canal bridge, with the third and fourth tanks over the road bridge through to the basin and mill. You can only just see but there’s now 100mm extra scenic section in front of what will be the brick viaduct. Finally a 45/0 brings in a ‘liner from the coast, with the new road visible on the right.

I’ll have to dig out the WTT again to see if the second train fell further behind the first. That would make sense. The second one is going to have to be mk1s in this version of reality!

In the middle of the day there is a glut of Euston to Holyhead trains. Here we see 1D42 running just 9 minutes ahead of 1D43! I assume the first service ran as a relief, although both are booked for 100mph aircon stock. Willesden obviously had more coached than I do! In platform 4 you can just make out that a class 31 has backed on to a 2 coach DMU replacement service, which was brought in by a 25. This is a Hooton turn, booked for a 142/150. Later in the afternoon, with on-going platform work in evidence, we see a class 108 in platform 2 having just arrived from Crewe. In platform 3 a DPU fills in on what should be a local service from Manchester Oxford Road. Potentially this could be a class 304…

I managed to finally get an hour to myself this weekend, so progress has been made. Polyfilla has been applied to the first of the platforms as a trial area. It seems to work quite well! I hadn’t expected the surface to be so good, but with a little sanding and some paint it could look the part. Meanwhile at the West end, the civils contractor has been busy with the road over the Chester lines. The footings are in for the supporting steel work in the middle. It’s going to be tricky hiding the wall to sky interface at this end, but a tower block may do the trick.

That’s a great offer. I sort of have a plan already, but let me think about it and I’ll DM you.

Just after 12.00 noon and we see the first 33 hauled service from Crewe to Llandudno. It has a surprisingly long lay over and connects with several local services. In the middle road a pair of 20’s have just run round the Fiddler’s Ferry to Point of Ayr merry go round (cylindrical HAA’s in use at the moment). Approaching the station is a 25 on a DMU replacement service. I doubt Chester ever ran short enough of units to require a loco hauled replacement and even on the rare occasions that it did happen, mk1s would probably be more likely than mk2s, but you run what you have!

Don’t hold your breath!

With another operator staying for a couple of days we spent 3 hours running through another 2 hours of the timetable! I think given refinement and practice we’ll be able to run in about real time. One thing that working from a real timetable does is introduce complexity into the running that I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to write from scratch. In the first scene, from left to right. In platform 1, a class 128 DPU substitutes for a DMU on a Bangor to Crewe service (hurry up Heljan 104). A class 47/0 waits for an opportunity to run off the steel train (currently just two BBAs); there’s an 85 in the electric stabling to take it on to Mossend. A 47/4 has just backed down into platform 2 to pick up the Stoke to Holyhead service, booked for 100mph air con stock, but today mostly formed of PV mk2s. In platform 3 against the buffers is a 101 to form a service to Manchester Oxford Road, behind a 108 on a Helsby local. Over on shed are a 31 that brought in an early morning Speedlink service taken onwards by a 25. The 45 is awaiting a Holyhead Newcastle, taking over from a no heat 45/0. An 03 is deep in the shed, with an 08 having just sorted some GUVs into the carriage sidings. A large logo 47/4 will pick up a service from York to Bangor, currently awaiting signals outside the station behind a generator 47. When I conceived Christleton I genuinely thought I’d have to add some services to keep it interesting! Just a little later and we see the same 45 on the left, having run down from the shed, being passed on the Up Holyhead by another no heat peak bringing in the Newcastle service. It will take the crossover reverse into platform 4. Some 45/0 to 45/1 conversions are long overdue.

To make a change from endlessly altering platforms, I started the woodwork former for the Chester line scenic break. An unnecessarily complicated bit of work! The middle pier former is only loosely in place, it needs to hide the fact that the 3rd carriage siding actually follows the mainlines into the fiddle yard. The tower block is temporarily in that position. I can’t decide if I like it or not, but it does add some nice depth.

All the platform ends are in, and I think all the platform fronts are in the right place for mk3 clearance. I’m really quite happy with the new concrete sections and the contrast with the brick fronts. The sensible next step is to do some train running and check for any clearance issues. I understand BR used to put polystyrene blocks on the ends and centres of coaches to do this!

Cutting the ply accurately was always going to be the issue. This is just bodging by evolution now!

Sometimes it just doesn’t look pretty… The platform faces have all been realigned and screwed into place. I’ve part filled the platforms with wood blocks to help support the tops better and give more structure to them. The various tools are helping the first concrete section glue in place. Probably. I have a couple of tubs of about to go off decorating filler that I plan to fill the gaps with. I’ll then lay the coping stones to get the edge curved correctly, before finishing with a top skim of filler. That’s the plan today, but it may yet change! Meanwhile a blue 47 hammers through on a parcels set. I need to find a way of hiding the under-the-layout part for these reverse angle shots. I guess some black paint on the woodwork and a black curtain would be a start.

I haven’t caught up on here for a while, but progress looks amazing. Really impressed!

A long overdue visit from the major saw the long awaited trial of the new timetable. After nearly an hour running trains to their starting position we managed to run through 9am to 10am. This is mainly DMU’s shuttling back and forth, but at 9.30 1D34, the RM&EE service, booked for up to 595tonnes behind a type 4 comes through. I suspect this would be the Crewe test train - boarded up mk1s (in chocolate and cream?). Today though it looks like a spare parcels set was pushed into service. The only half decent shot I took, mainly owing to the brewery’s excellent output!

I think I used bendy mdf for my curved ones.

1mm plasticard for the surface, because it’s not too hard to cut and will get them to the right height. The 18mm x 4mm pine curves really nicely into place, I just didn’t use enough anchor points. Once I cut the platforms at the baseboard joints they had less support so pulled fractionally, but significantly, straighter. We live and occasionally learn.

Well a little progress… I want to try to sort out my platform issues. The first job was to shunt a speedlink service out of the way. The new Peco concrete sides are loosely positioned. I intend to have concrete platform ends on 2/3 (shown) and platform 4 (furthest from the camera). This copies the various platform construction methods used at Wolverhampton. The 08 takes the wagons out of the station on the Down Holyhead, underneath the wood former for the Chester line road bridge. That will be getting brickwork soon, but there are some running issues to sort out before I make the bridge permanent. Nothing like propelling loose coupled trucks to test your track. One of the two issues with the platforms is that the faces haven’t stayed sufficiently curved (the other is sagging platform tops). The curve issue is due to insufficient retaining screws, so some additional wood blocks have been glued and clamped in place. Once the glue is sufficiently dry I’ll screw these blocks down. I’ll then need to repeat on platform 4. With all platform tops removed, attention is turned to platform 4. I’ve never been happy with the relationship between ‘not platform 5’ and the shed access road - the empty line between coaches and 08. I think the solution is to shorten and narrow the platform slightly. A trans-pennine set shows that a loco plus six will still fit in the platform. The right hand edge of the platform will be moved over a little to the left. I’m still not quite sure what to do at the buffer stop end of the platform. The geometry of the room and layout makes the platform really tight here. Possibly putting a canopy over the top will hide it sufficiently.

Building a model railway is usually about how many steps backwards you’re willing to take to address an error you know you shouldn’t have made!

Well it’s been a while… this isn’t a full update, but it is a strong hint of tools being picked up again! A Hornby mk3 sleeper has arrived. This is important for hanging on the back of the 17.00 ex Euston and (I think) the midnight service from Holyhead. It plays a more important role in the short term in allowing me to get back on with the platforms. I decided only using mk2s for gauging could be restrictive in the future should I want to run a mk3 set.

I’ve found the research and trying to get the trains right absolutely fascinating. Glad that my completely made up location happened to mirror a real location close enough that it allows recreation fairly closely. What’s interesting with Flickr and so on is that you get the possibility of choosing a specific data and getting all the numbers and liveries spot on. But that may just be me!

Hopefully this is the last ballasting I’ll need to so I’m not sure it will be worth the investment! I would like some yellow plant though.

End of the weekend engineering works: 2 rats await authority to exist the possession and take their empties away.