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The passenger footbridge is now completed. I had to shorten it by 25mm - in it's maximum length it would cover 4 tracks at standard spacing. As a result I have left the roof off - no DFR footbridges have one anyway. It also lets the end of the station building show through with it's charms like bashed dustbins!! Next job is covering the electronics in the foreground - then a back scene - then loads more detail.

Doug Johnson of DFR has published some excellent photos of what the Lineside Clearance Team face every week. These have been a great help to me for finishing the top RH corner of the layout (well apart from some beasties to wander under the trees!!). So that team appear now on the layout cutting down a tree, clearing brush and scrub, with old rails and olde sleepers under brambles, plus some metal scrap still to tackle. Right now I'm building a kit - yes a kit - passenger footbridge. It comes with a 25mm extension piece, but is already too long to cover two tracks at standard spacing. So I've had to swerve mid build and remove 25mm and hope that the latticed panels will still fit - with one less panel each side. Probably won't attempt to fit the roof though. Fingers crossed.

I’ve had no issues with running the 6 I’ve added DCC chips to as a result of the track. This ranges from a Pecket W4 through to a Class 42. However, the current Dapol Class122/121 Railcar occasionally derailed on the 2nd radius curve out of the fiddle yard. At first I suspected this was the track but eventually found that the front coupling fouls on the underside of the buffers and a pipe right in the middle of the underside fouls the bogie. Removing the little pipe both ends of the loco and removing both front and rear couplings totally solved the problem. I don’t intend to try Lima locos though.

Some more work done adding grass, vegetation and trees to my balsa construction to work into the corner of the layout board. Next area to tackle is from this piece of "forest" forward over the bare MDF. What I plan is a representation of the DFR line side clearance teams work - to minimise fire risk and prevent branches hitting carriages.

The “idea” for the back corner of the layout is in progress. Just because the tracks have to turn 90 deg right onto the fiddle yard I didn’t want to bend the embankment around to follow it so it looked as though the lines ran around the inside edge of a football stadium. Thus I’ve let the embankment lose height along the length of the board and down into the centre of the board. This also keeps the overhang of OO gauge stock from snagging on scenery. The construction is hollow balsa built on the fly so I could manage and support the compound angles as I went. Scenery fo be built onto this next - essentially the end of the walled embankment flowing into forestry. 8 more 140mm broad leafed trees of two species are on order and I anticipate planting firs behind them. My mind on backscene now.

During the last few rainy days I've added more gravel at the back door of the Goods shed and around "Smokey Fuels" plus grass detail and two trees to it's left hand side. At the other end of the layout I have added fencing and two trees to the station car park, and a small tree by the signal box. Grass and vegetation has been added in both these locations. Something else I was dodging was the gap between the two main running lines and the undulating ground with the stone buttresses and around the approach to the station - mostly because of the point wires - but I've bitten the bullet and used short grass and vegetation - but so I can still remove bits of the modular slope to get at the DCC controllers. Next job is the RH back corner of the layout - this is going to be forested but not looking like a "stadium" - I have an idea.

Promised photos of new "ground" around the goods shed area. First photo is BEFORE. Second two photos are AFTER. Haven't decided what to do with the space immediately behind the goods shed and up to the two main lines - it's an unnatural space created by the feed in from the fiddle yard - think it needs some trees in it and obviously something to with the goods operation - it is the Forest of Dean after all. Still thinking.

I’ve been fine thanks Jonathan - just more outside than indoors. I’m in awe of anyone who can make convincing trees but suspect I would be underwhelmed by my own attempts - probably come out looking like the foliage on trees in a Florida swamp. I still don’t have a natural feeling for scale in OO. I understand the maths but can’t yet judge if something is going to look real when it’s in place - I still have to look at the Coleford GWR Museum building to feel comfortable with how much bigger a GWR goods shed is than a DFR station building when you get both on a layout.

My railway modelling season has just started courtesy of this wet weekend and fuel shortages. Right now I’m installing the ground in the proximity of the goods shed with stone chip sheet and scrub foliage. Then I shall move to the car park behind the station building installing fencing and some trees - I’ve sent for 4 trees from Steven Bird at The Model Tree Shop, 2 at 130cm tall and 2 at 100cm tall hoping these will be a good compromise between excessive expense and looking like standard rose bushes. There will be a lot of trees on the layout before I finish. Sooner or later I shall start painting and assembling the footbridge- a kit I’m afraid. Photos soon.

It rained today and the three DCC decoders had arrived so I set to and fitted them. The Dapol 121/122 GWR Railcar ran first time with its Dapol 21 pin 6 function decoder - and it runs beautifully in both directions at any speeds, forward and in reverse. A welcome addition to the layout. Next I decided to fit the Hornby 4 pin motor only decoder for Pecketts and Sentinels to the professionally weathered Hornby Sentinel .................................. 4 hours later I switched to the Peckett which runs like a dream with either of the Hornby 4 pin decoders - it's beautifully engineered and made and has really surprised me with it's performance. Back then to the Sentinel. The Sentinel just will not run no matter what and thus I have had to conclude that after 4 hours of trying it's Dead on Arrival. Not sure what to do with it really but it may just suffer the same fate as many Heritage Railway Sentinels and finish up on a corner of the layout on a length of rusty rail, decaying with long grass growing through it.

With all this hot weather I have to confess no more layout work has been done since the last post. I've regularly run the two locos on the track and operated the points and have been delighted they have stayed stable - everything works. However, I am now starting to accelerate the fitting of DCC decoders to the stock of 21 locos - of which only 5 have chips fitted. Right now I've sent off for 3 more of which 2 fit locos more suited to light goods operation on a rural layout so the middle section of the layout serving the goods shed can be used. Rightly or wrongly I'm trying to avoid low priced "shops own brands" having had one such chip fitted at the same time as the loco was purchased new played up and then failed - it's much more expensive branded replacement has worked peerlessly from the word Go. The Peckett W4, Sentinel, and Class 121 Bubblecar will be the recipients of the chips. It's already quite obvious than short trains work best on a small layout - no 9Fs or anything with a tender pulling more than two coaches.

The grounded carriage is finished other than for an entry walkway with handrail and planted on rudimentary groundwork. Fences, signs, and other details to be added later.

Grounded carriage finished to all intents and I’ve decided that it will be used to raise funds by selling ice cream and fizzy drinks, postcards etc plus secondhand railway books - which folk can see from A boards outside. I have loads of parts left over since this is typical Ratio daftness in thinking we will be excited to build OO gauge tables out of four parts, chairs out of three parts etc. Fitting 16 ventilators in the roof provided no more detail than just moulding 16 dimples into the main roof component. Nor have I turned it into a slum by boarding up windows etc. I am fitting buffers though despite only 2 being provided - one of which I lost when separating it from the spruce - it shot off like a bullet and I can’t find it. I’ve sent for a packet of replace Hornby oval buffers from eBay. Photos soon when I’ve added it to the layout.

DCC decoder replaced successfully in GWR Railcar. It’s strangely satisfying, if a little scary at first, taking little screwdrivers to £150 worth of loco and holding your breath whilst connecting 1cm sq of pcb onto 21 pins. It worked ....... second time. You have to push harder than feels safe. So that’s two locos running and two “Routes” programmed from fiddle yard to two different platforms. Now to set about the Class 03 (which has a DCC socket. ........ not brave enough yet for a harness chip let alone a soldering iron job. Grounded carriage progressing from a kit - all painting so far. Also choosing which 120 cm trees to send for to try in corner of car park.

After two days of railway inactivity centred around my 74th birthday it’s time to get constructing again on Speech End. Just a reminder, the track layout is C J Freezer’s Minories with one crossover removed which was both unnecessary in this application and was an electrical complication I couldn’t solve. So not unlike the real DFR’s mineral loop passenger and goods operations are separate but appear to come from the same “over yonder”. My Postie has brought me BrianUSA’s buffers, a grounded van kit for a volunteers accommodation coach, a pricier DCC decoder chip to replace the blown one in the Dapol GWR Railcar, and a pre-owned one plank wagon to continue Dan’s cleanup after legacy “maintenance” crimes from the past. A point in passing - the Dapol GWR Railcar brake and hub detail cannot stand even the handling to position the bogies on the track - two less than 0.5mm plastic attachment points simply snap off. Hopefully the soon to arrive Heljan competitor will be more robust. In the meantime glue and railer/rerailer to the rescue. The railcar, a bubblecar, and my two car DMU are going to be staple runners on this small layout - anyone know of a model of Iris the Railcar? Time too to experiment with trees and a fence in the car park.

I've started to surface the car park behind the station building, adding gravel, a small raised undulating edge at it's, and long grass. When the post arrives I can start work on a grounded carriage volunteers accommodating unit to go beside and behind the signal box. But most of the work has been on the embankment. So hear are the promised photos of a Derails professionally weathered Hornby Sentinel Shunter "Graham" and two three plank wagons doing a cleanup operation. Bachmann Branch-Lines Class 42 Warship diesel "Zenith" has muscled into the action on the mainline - this was very hard to find in the same livery as "Onslaught" from the 2018 Diesel Gala. It's slim and short, runs beautifully on DCC and is a great match on a small OO layout.

I ran a check last night with the Dapol GWR Railcar to make sure the front edge of the embankment coming out of the curve doesn’t foul. Short answer - it doesn’t. Long answer - I blew the Hattons 21 pin decoder fitted at purchase. Running was jerky so I cleaned the track and picked out the odd grain of ballast glued to the inside of a rail or two. Then, crossing a point, the Cobalt SS indicator lights started flashing. One decoder I had moved had to have the positive and negative frog control wires reversed - and the solution proved by a secondhand Dapol Class 42 with a Bachmann decoder already fitted and programmed on my Prog Track. But the Railcar was completely unresponsive. Reprogramming failed - and reading back the decoder programming showed no Address to be read. Removed and refitted chip - no improvement. So have sent for a 21 pin Dapol chip - fingers crossed.

Not ready yet for the Derails cleanup gang photos yet - want to add at least some vegetation to the embankment first. But the “groundwork” for the station car park (bringing it up 15mm level with the station building) and for the land the signal box stands on. The signal box has to be level but the ground around it has to slope from the embankment to the car park, and from the side of the signal box to the track. The signal box “ground” module is not as simple as it looks. There’s more vegetation growing through the gravel behind platform 2.

Hi Brian. There’s another 18 months work yet even if I don’t extend along the parallel wall - started June 2019. I will use conventional buffers on the goods sidings, wood flap with buffers screwed in by station, and a hinged flap at the end of what at the moment is a fiddle yard. The hinge lets me drop the flap to use my railer/rerailer. It’s going to be super detailed- not minimal/scrap/start a new one.

Not ready for the photo for Dan but more done today. Have undercoated the stonework on more of the embankment and tried out Gaugemaster Gravel Matting. The matting is pretty convincing especially if you don’t try to use it like wallpaper. I used squiggles of Wills Scenery and prodded the matting down with the end of a 3/16” stick which did avoid the wallpaper look - it has a strong surface texture too. Best trimmed to fit dry. I cut it to “fit plus a bit” and stuck it down a bit, trimmed, more glue, stick a bit more down ...... and repeat. I’ve included a photo of one of the embankment modules. Bearing in mind that these bits aren’t kits, the amount of figuring out how to do it, how to make it fit and progress to the next stage, how to make it and for it to be strong, is very high for such a small as yet unadorned bit of layout. Next steps are dry brushing stonework and grass and vegetation for the embankment, adding sparse vegetation and sprouting long grass to the new gravel, and continuing on to the corner behind the station.

That’s exceptionally good new Dan and sure to be welcomed by every passenger boarding at Norchard when lockdown ends. Although travel from home to “UK destinations outside Wales” is still only a maybe for a few more weeks, I will celebrate the volunteers achievement when photographing the grassing and vegetation when more work is done over the next few days on the developing layout embankment by including a Derails weathered shunter and wagon undertaking clear up work at that location. Thanks for the comment and the news.

Some photos from a few minutes ago. There is some abandoned engineering “might need it one day metalwork” in the long grass at the end of this new finger of ground - to preserve that feeling for passengers at Norchard watching for a train to arrive from Lydney Junction.

The final finger of balsa emulating undulating ground has been grassed with short grass and will get less undergrowth today than the other bits due to its proximity to platforms. I want to move onto the area extended under the signal box and on behind the station building but have run into what appears to be a national balsa bundle stockout. After much internet searching I’ve come up with some that should really finish up in something sophisticated and beautifully engineered that flies with radio control rather than holding up railway scenery above the baseboard. Also Gaugemaster Gravel Matting arriving today for ground areas that looked fine dry brushed onto sanded Plastikard in N Gauge but I think warrant more texture in OO. Thinking about trees too - there were nearly 200 on my N Gauge Parkend and this is Forest of Dean territory too. Won’t perhaps get behind the broadleaved margins but need to understand scale in OO - want to avoid that standard rose look sometimes seen from “bargain bag of 25 trees”. Anticipating trees between 80mm and 150mm from The Model Tree Shop but don’t know where to pitch it because can’t see them physically at a show at the moment. Will send for about 3 at maybe 80/100/120mm to get an idea. Another photo or two soon.

Starting to look like nature has got involved.

Colour is finally starting to come to Speech End, and the Cobalt SS Controller covering embankment continues to march towards the station. Although it has to be roughed up with underbrush (which I have ready) Gaugemaster Summer Grass Matting has been added around the stone building in the middle of the layout. It’s easy to work with although it’s worth noting that the new backing (compared with older issues) shrinks when the Wills Scenery Glue dries - so joins need a slight overlap. The embankment work continues towards the station, gradually losing height towards the platforms. The next section (when the current balsa famine ends, will lift the signal box 18mm, blend it in, and run behind the station to become a little car park.