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The Station area will be the first to be worked on with the car park and road being high on that list. The island platform needs to be narrowed to fit the 153 and hopefully the new GWR 158 when its out. From there the platforms can be plastered, painted and fitted. The retaining walls around the platform will also be started soon. A lot of the buildings, including the bus depot are standings from the old layout until i have decided on the actual buildings. The main problem is it is becoming clear the upper level raisers are too high and should be cut down but i haven't decided whether its worth the effort yet.

Finally by the time term started in mid January a bulk of the ground work had been done and scenics were underway. Now its just finding the time to continue and not being distracted by my other railway interest Czech railways with the mass of new stock that is being release in HO, like the Czech Railjet by Roco, Rh854 (comparable to a 153) and several locos all with hefty price tags. Anyway thats a side point but here is the layout as it stands. New GB stock since Dec' ATW 153 ATW 143 ATW 150 in dark blue and turquoise Crosscountry 221 Colas 70 Virgin 57/3

Over the Christmas break the base board was build and by the new year the track and power bus were laid.However having it as a single nearly 4mx2m baseboard is probably a mistake.Already having a less scenic layout with 3rd and 4th radii curves and a fiddle area are proving much better for the NMT, voyagers and Co-Co locos compared to the 2nd radii the old layout. So for once all the consists went round first time.

So after many distractions from my car's restoration, aircraft design competitions to exam revision, I have finally remembered to give an update from the work on the base board in December. Plans for the summer and further work are underway and i am counting down the days until my last exam so i can get back to the railway and other scale model projects. Way back in December the station buildings were completed. Although standard Metcalfe kits they have full lighting and were painted with scribed mortar lines to better resemble the rendered finish of the actual Cheltenham spa. They still need interiors and at some point i would like to scratch build the main building but there are bigger priorities first. The Pacer was bought at Warley this year for a decent price compared to eBay atm. If anyone has any advise on chipping them at home that would be helpful as Realtrack's instructions suggest taking it to a shop but if it can be done on the work bench that would be great.

Current ATW stock is limited to the Realtrack 143, Hornby 153 and Bachmann cream/turquoise liveried 150. I am trying to get my friend who no longer railway models to sell me his ATW 158 and am debating whether to take the plunge and buy the newer ATW 150, but at £270 that money could go along way on buildings and scenics so it may have to wait. I would also like to repaint a set of Mk2s with a BR blue Mk3 buffet to go with the future release 57/3.To make some thing like the photo but probably not top and tailed. A full DVT,Mk3 and class 67 premiere service would be nice but I missed the boat when they were in the shops a couple of years ago and finding a DVT and ATW buffet now is rare with out paying through the nose. With regards to the bay platform I have seen some photos of it, but as you said all the photos I can find only have freight workings on them. The reason for the bay on the layout is really to make running more interesting but its nice to be partially mirroring the actual station The signal box that with sit on the 'north' side of the tracks on the layout was also taken form the box which at just off the end of the bay platforms on the south side of the tracks. This is quite a nice history about the station I found. https://sites.google.com/site/gloucestershirerailwaymemories/home/train-services/175-years-of-trains-at-cheltenham-lansdown-station---1840-to-2015 As a stop gap I am using a modified Metcalfe station for the main building but eventually I will have a bash at scratch building it. Finally I want to represent the Midland Hotel and was wondering if there were any kits that could be kit bashed to look like it. Currently the closest I can find is the 4 Ground Railway Inn (OO-SR-110) but the windows and frontage are all wrong.

Hi After recovering my account of old I decided to move my new layout topic to my original account. The layout will have a 3m x 1m scenic area with a hidden return loop.The loyout takes inspiration from and loosly resembles Cheltenham spa but with the additon of a bay platform and will have a bit more of a welsh emphasis on rolling stock and vehicles. I am currently at university so updates will be outside term times as I don't have the access or time for the layout while studying. The baseboard have already been made (thanks to my dad) and the track and electrics ordered so I can get a head start when I'm home for Christmas. The layout will be DCC and run off a Roco Z21 inherited from my previous layout along with a fleet of DCC fitted locomotives and DMUs. All the scenic track will be code 75 and concrete sleepers for the mainline and bullhead for the sidings. Originally I was going to incorporate the faller car system however due to the ease and cost of converting British outline vehicles I am now leaning towards the Dutch Magnorail system. Any experience or knowledge of either system would be helpful. After making a track plan on Anyrail to work in the space it was transferred to the following plan/drawing. Hope fully the track will be laid and we will have a running railway by the third week of December Thanks Tom

Hi does anyone know how to get the sound files for the Rivarossi ČDC Rh753 it is the same as the Rivarossi Hr0100 V3.5 Loksound.Will the V3.5 be the same as the V4.0 for the Italian variant of the Rh753

I see some of you stuff is on eBay what happened to the layout?

Great Fan of the Layout What decoder is in the MTB 'Bardotka'? Tom