jacko

He'll need at least one lonely Mountain Ash high on the moors in a stretch of limestone pavement. Graeme

On the topic of point-rodding (AAAARRRGGHH) I just wanted to say that, prototypically correct or not, it adds so much to the realism of the scene. I've seen so many exhibition layouts without it that just look 'Meh' to quote my youngest. Back on the subject in hand, I lived in Leeds for 8 years and got out walking the dales nearly every weekend and the scenic work on Jeff's layouts has brought back many happy memories so I'm very grateful for the progress pics 'tho I may not comment on every tranche. Graeme

The station and goods area are the bits that interest me most so keep them coming please. Graeme

When hbos got taken over by lloyds our new southern colleagues came up to Scotland to meet us. One of my new teammates announced that he'd spent time in a greek jail for planespotting. Graeme

I had a layout on the go in the loft of my last house but have barely made a start planning baseboards at the new one since we moved nearly 6 years ago. However, I've now finished building my observatory and I have half my double garage cleared now and have started on the boards so I'm hoping I'll be able to start up my own layout thread soon. As I mentioned months ago, it will be more or less based on Lazonby as my aunt had a cottage there and I spent many happy weekends in the area. I'll have around 24' x 12' to play with and still leave enough space to work on my Landy. Graeme

Ought to be a sprint finish today. Fingers crossed for him to catch eddie merckx' record. Graeme

I got quite a surprise watching last night's Tour de France highlights; the helicopter flew over a near exact duplicate of your Arten Gill viaduct right down to the track going under one of the left hand arches. Sadly, it was only single track viaduct and 'repurposed' as a walking route though. Graeme

When I think of Kate Bush I go all mushy.

I've been looking at the pictures from Sunday wondering where the modelling ends and the backscene starts - it really is that good!. I'm a bit surprised as I've been thinking for a while that maybe the green is a bit too vivid - just shows what I know. Graeme

Yep. 55 north so it's not dark till after 11 and light again by 2 or 3. The odd clear night we get I'm looking at globular clusters otherwise not a productive time of year. Graeme

In the first photo, is it just my eyes or does the end of the bridge parapet need finishing? Regardless, the overall effect is superb. Veering slightly, did you manage to see the partial eclipse in your neck of the woods? We had scattered cloud in lanarkshire right up till 10am when the heavy grey clouds rolled in and stayed until after midday. Only managed a handful of images in the small breaks. Graeme

... Stanier. By a country mile

I'm just looking forward to seeing all the rodding in place Jeff. It's the lineside 'clutter' that I find adds so much more realism. Graeme

possibly a religion thing? We got married in a united reformed church ( ex presbyterian) and definitely 'did'. Perhaps it depends on the phrasing of the question - our minister asked 'do you' rather than 'will you'.

I hope you're taking the time out to run a few trains now and again. Graeme

Will you be 'completing' the wall in the first photo Jeff? As it stands it's very reminiscent of collapsed stone walls around the dales. Maybe something to think about even if it's a shorter stretch. Graeme

wasn't the Fosdyke saga set in Salford?

Maybe a daft question but, will you be putting some sort of backdrop on the walls? The last view is superb but the doorway in the background gets in the way a bit. Graeme

The amount of work you're putting into the 'stonework' on this layout is staggering Jeff. You have a lot more patience than I'd ever be capable of. Graeme BTW - just bought a WO 73mm zenithstar and guidescope so I can get pictures of much bigger areas of the sky than I see in my 8inch reflector.

Hah! beat me to it. I was just about to ask if there were plans to 'treat' the ballast. The grassed area looks superb. Graeme

I can't see any clocks Jeff. Graeme

Just been watching 'Our Yorkshire Farm' on channel 5. Filmed in the far north of the Dales, the scenery always brings this layout (and KL1 and 2) to mind.

With Jeff's permission I'll post my two galaxy images up. These are my first real attempt at deep sky imaging so they're a long way off the quality found in magazines but as a start I'm quite pleased with them. M101 - the pinwheel galaxy is just west of the star MIzar in the handle of the plough. M51 - the Whirlpool galaxy is in the constellation Canes Venetaci although it's just east of the last star in the handle of the plough. Neither of these are more than a small smudge in my telescope eyepiece so I'm always amazed at what the camera sees. Graeme

last week I managed an hour on the Whirlpool galaxy and 2 hours on the pinwheel galaxy. Still have a lot to learn - especially manipulating the data in GIMP (free photoshop equivalent). One big obstacle (that will be resolved when I get my CMOS camera) is the battery life on my Canon. In freezing temps they only last about an hour and I only have one spare so that limits me to 2 hours collecting at the most just now. Graeme

Loving the view along the cutting back to the viaduct. Graeme