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d600 - the dmu is a Westdale kit. I can't claim the credit for building it though - it came off the Cherry Scale Models Stand about 17 years ago at the Heathcote show! I do however have on the workbench a class 122 from Westdale that I picked up second hand for £20 including bogies about 20 years ago. I bought a Bristol models DMU motor bogie and slow progress is being made. Seems that everything I do proceeds slowly - lack of time! Paul R

Time for another update albeit progress continues to be slow. All of the platform tops are now complete - made from 2.5mm MDF cut with a stanley knife. Plenty of new blades needed as this stuff could blunt a diamond. The platform edge stones are 21mm x 14mm 20thou plasticard and you can just see the gaps between them. All stuck on individually. This is what is taking the time. Then I need to glue edges on 21mm x 2.5mm before painting. The photos show progress to date. In fact Cressing station did not have this style of platform edging until modernisation in 1977. All that was there before was a brick edging. However as I am not building a slavish copy I am happy to deviate where it is expedient! The van is an as yet unfinished offering from Frank Titcombe who used to trade as 'The Freightman'. Great kits and sadly missed. These married a plastic body on to an ABS underframe. This provided a good amount of weight and excellent detail. I have a number of other kits of his waiting to be put together. Notley will have plenty of vans! All for now Paul R

Yes I agree - Would this be Regional Railways or a Network Southeast outpost - the former I venture to suggest. However I can visualise an NSE 50 on MK2's working a Saturdays only London Waterloo service Paul R

I used to model in 4mm but sold it all apart from some of my kit built and converted stuff - prototypr HST and Bullied pacific to move to 7mm. That was before we had the current high standards of rtr. I would not go back though as I have too much invested in 7mm now even though most of it is still in boxes waiting to be built! Having said that I have drooled over the Bachmann Standard 3 tank and the S & D 7F. I need a Heljan 31 though when it comes out! Paul R

And that Heljan 33 looks pretty tempting too! Paul R

Just a quik couple of shots of the latest piece of rolling stock - a Connoissuer Bogie Bolster A. This along with some other similar vehicles will be used for the Lake and Elliot traffic to Braintree Goods. The kit is the usual format from Jim and is very easy to put together. Sorry about the slight focuis problem of this one. Progress on hte platform edges continues - I did take a couple of photos but the quality was too poor. All for now Paul R

Progress continues to be slow but I am getting on with the platform edging. In the meantime I was given one of these new Peco Yard Cranes for Christmas and the almost completed kit is shown. Sorry about the lack of focus on the last one but I included it because I am not entirely happy with the height of the thing - looks too tall. Anybody else got an opinion? I have posed it in an approximate final position. Does anyone know if this is based on a prototype or is it a Peco freelance. Any opinions welcome Paul R

I think you are right about the origin of some of them being Ravenscale - I think the N7 is from that source and maybe the BOB. I still have a Ravenscale N7 to build - pretty basic kit this but I don't know if it was reworked when ACE got hold of it. Paul R

Will there be a working Crossing keeper too? Seriously though I am a great fan of your work - very inspirational Paul R

Well progress on the layout has started again - still have domestic issues - mother in law in hospital and conservatory wanted by wife for business purposes, but over the Christmas period I did start on the platforms having given much thought to how they were to be surfaced. I did consider using foam board for the tops as well as the base but the thinest I could lay my hands on was 3.5mm and by the time I have added the coping stones this would have meant the surface was about a scale 7" thick. So I have gone for another method. At my wifes company they have deliveries of letterheads in large boxes and these have 2mm MDF sheets in the bottom so that is what I have used. This will cut with a sharp Stanley knife and glues on to the base with white glue. On top of that will come plastikard coping stones and wet and dry tarmac. The photos show the top being attached and the form of the base. The photos also show two of the coaches. One is an Ian Kirk 52' compartment third and the other is a somewhat underscale Lima Mk1 composite which has had its bogies repalces by Wayoh Commonwealths. These will be surrendered at some point to an RMB but I use the coach meantime for clerance checking and trials. I really must get around to finishing the Gresley as I only have one other 7mm scale coach made - a Thompson non corridor brake 3rd which can be seen in earlier photos. I will hopefully post updates more frequently now that Prancing on Ice is back. Can't stand these programmes. All for now Paul

Any photos of the finished results Paul R

Love this photo - the solitary wagon and overgrown bits of track really makes this Paul R

I've got some of these Noch Grass tufts to try out. A bit expensive at £11.00 a pack but they will be worth it. I can see some heading for between the tracks. I've got summer ones which come in two shades of green. There are other packs and a mixed one. I preferred the colours of the summer one so thats the snow scene out then! Paul R

Well its been a while since anything happened on Notley but I have made some small progress on the crossing where I have stained the crossing timbers. This is the first attempt which turned out too light I darkened it down to this It now needs some weathering to finish it off. A dry brush coat of light grey should do the trick. Using a sample pot from a DIY store I also gave the road a first going over. Its a bit rough and ready and will need a lot of work. I have pavements to add as well as manhole covers and drains. I couldn't resist getting some road traffic out though I have managed to get some wet and dry paper for the platform surfaces so I will now go back to finishing them off. I have also been working on a Connoisseur Bogie Bolster wagon which is near to being finished so more photos soon hopefully Paul R

HI Pete No not a great deal. I have installed the crossing and I am starting to paint the crossing timbers. At the moment I have the mother in law in hosspital which is eating into modelling time. I have however been working on a connoissuer bogie bolster and this is getting to the nearly finished before paiting stage. I have a couple of photos of the crossing which I will post when I have weathered the timbers and when I have the wagon completed I will post that too. Thanks for the continued interest Paul

I am now well on the way to finishing the crossing and I am pleased with the way the timbers - ex Costa stirring sticks - have blended into the roadway. I am still filling and sanding but I am nearly ready to paint. I have to install the pedestrian gates first and this should hopefully be done by the weekend. The photo makes things clearer. I have some Slaters fence that I will use to finish the area off. Timbers will be painted with dilute water colours and a grey dry brush wash. More photos soon Paul R

Pete Progress very slow but I am working on the level crossing and the associated roadway. Gates and main posts in and now smothing down the road surface. Damaged one of the gaates - knocked the oil lamp off and it went up the hoover but have now retreived! Hopefully should get soome pix up soon Thanks for watching Paul

Pete I know these feelings too. You get halfway through project and wonder if you could squeeze in an extra siding or another feature and before long you have moved away from your original concept and what you end up with it either too big, too unwieldy, a sod to operate and eventually provides no pleasure. Had the same with Notley which started out with 4 scenic boards and ended up with 5. as it happens a good move but it could so easily have grown further. The problem I am going to have is that the fiddle yards are a tad too short for the length of train so I may have to have a 12inch cantelever extension on each end which pushes the length again. Should have stuck to the 4 boards concept and had slightly longer fiddle yeads. At least it might have gone up in the house whereas its just too big for that and we have no level ground outside! Hope this works out for you as its a really promising concept. regards Paul R

PJust seen the new Middleton Press book, Branch Lines around Witham and Kelvedon. Usual format with some useful unpublished pictures. There are some shots of the sugar beet facilities at Felstead including the grab crane and industrial loco.Few shots of the DMU/early diesel era and I would have liked to have seen more freight and more photos of freight facilities, particularly the Crittals sidings at Witham and Braintree and the Lake and Elliot siding also at Braintree. There is an error in the caption for plate 54 which describes the train as arriving Witham from Braintree whereas it is actually arriving from Maldon! Although a useful addition to the resources, we still don't have the definitive history of the Maldon, Witham and Braintree railway. I wonder if Peter Paye could be persuaded to write one. regards Paul R

Here are some pictures of the revised level crossing base. You can see the sleeper sized wood cuts from the coffee stirrers. The wood stands slightly proud of the rail and the check rail and will need to be sanded down or the tains will get stuck! Then I need to paint and weather before intalling the gates whihc I have now practically finished. More pix soon Paul R

Chris - The base for the platforms is made out of foamboard. Some of it was once a Tesco advert! This bit is not yet finished as it does not yet provide the necessary support. The top is likley to be made from 2mm MDF boards that seem to come in packs of A4letterheads from my wife's firm's printer! I may have two layers of this and it will be topped off with Plasticard edging stones with the top surface of wet and dry paper to represent tarmac. I'll post pictures when I get to that point! regards Paul R

Just a quick update. The new Middleton Press Book - Branch Lines Around Witham and Kelvedon has been published. Well at least Amazon seem to have despatched my copy although I shan't get it next until next week as it has been directed to work and I am off presently. On the modelling front I am still progressing with the Level Crossing. I initially opted for a plaster fill for the road surface but was not happy with this and I have picked it all out and gone back to a sleeper fill. Sleepers are being cut from the coffee stirrers that you get in Costa and the like. Each seems to do a different width so its worth experimenting. The gates are coming along a treat until I trial fitted them and realised that the gates on a 2 gated crossing are not handed as I had assumed, the are both the same but appear different because they are hung from different sides of the road. So I had to strip off the gauze I had fixed to what I had supposed was the road side, remove the lamp and start again!. I have just stuck the gauze on again and will then do the lamp the other way round before priming and painting and by that time I should be ready to fit on the layout when I will post more pictures. One thing I had not realised was the height that you have to build up the roadway to get a 'level' level crossing. I think there may still be a hump in the road - quite prototypical - but I have had to stick more cork down to raise the road level. It will all become clear when I post the photos. All for now Paul R

Well here are some pictures of the final section of the layout. The Connoissuer Tram has made an appearance and is shown toying with a coal wagon! This final one shows the mess that is the crossing. As I mentioned in the last post I have to decide whether to press on with it or remove it. Before I do anything though I am going to have to build up the roads so that it can at least have a top surface. The next job is to test the layout electrically again and then get on with the platforms. At the same time I need to build some more cassettes and sort out an electrical feed mechnsim to cross the baseboad join. All for now Paul R

A momentus day - I have finished the ballasting - just! It won't dry until tomorrow when I hope to get some more pictures. However I am beginning to think I have made a mistake on the level crossing. Against my initial and possibly better judgement, I used a tub of polyfilla to make the surface of the crossing and I am not sure this was the tight thing to do. I should have experimented with the wood first. In the latest edition of Southern Way there is a photo of Crawley and this had a sleeper base to the crossing. So even much bigger and more important locations used wood. I need to decide whether to chip it all out and start again or persevere and finish it as tarmac. regards Paul R

Rich In essence yes. I don't want the sleepers the same colour as the rail so I spray this after the rust. If you spray from a height of about a foot and at a perpendicualr angle you should not get much if any grime on the side of the rail. I actually spray them with an aerosol and enough paint so that the rust is not seen on the sleeper. The ballast is coloured using the powder paid mix shown earlier. I put in a small scoop - heaped tsp of burnt sienna and two tsp heaped of black. I mix this with the ballast in a flake ice cream tub about 3/4 full of ballast. I large heap of cascamite and mix it together well. Don't worry if the mix looks a bit powdery. Once you wet it and apply the pvc, the original ballast is all that is left and it will dry a much darker shade. Some people airbrush their track after ballasting and colour it that way but I prefer to do it this way. This is what we did on an HO gauge Dutch layout called Engelsdrecht and it worked fine although we used a bit more red in the ballast. I have never had a problem with point blades sticking altho;ugh I don't as a rule ballast round the tie bar. I get as close as I can but ensure that the point moves before wetting the ballast. You need to get a fibre glass pencil on the blades afterwards to get rid of the paint or you may have electrical problems. I hope that helps but shout if still fuzzy! Paul R