Philou

4 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

A three way point, of any sort, in a running line waaway from a major terminus was a pretty rare event to say the least

Bum! I have one as a proposed space saver at the end of a single line passing station. Can I Rule 1 or would it be a no-no? Asking for a friend ;).

Hello chaps and chapesses,

It turned out to be a bit of a slow day. I had all good intentions (isn't the road to hell paved with 'em?) of getting Dymented laid if not levelled today but it wasn't to be. I wasn't happy with the horizontal alignment of the branch on approach from Ledbury and I decided to revisit it. This entailed a bit of moving pieces around and dismantling the mainline for ease of access. The time I'd relaid the branch and put the mainline back, the afternoon was nearly over!

I did manage to cut the sidings area for Dymented and plonked that in place that allowed me to loose-lay some pointwork to get a feel for what should happen next. It looks as if things will now fall into place - but carefully does it as the two ends of the branches will need to meet in a flowing curve.

Here are some photos:

^ There you have it! To the bottom right, the branch on approach from Pontrilas with the mainline off to Hereford above. The emptiness is Dymented station and on the far upper left is the sidings/fiddle yard for the branch.

^ This is the fiddle yard/sidings to Dymented on the bottom left with the branch from Ledbury poking its nose out from underneath the mainline. The station of Dymented will be in the area mid-right.

^ This is a general view of the branch line leaving the Pontrilas station throat on the lower right. The pan shaped area right in the centre of the photo is the area for what I call the 'tin shed'. It was the engine shed for the tank loco (517 class or 14/48/58XX class depending on era) that was based at Pontrilas to serve exclusively the branch. Whether I shall have enough space to depict the shed in its entirety, I don't know at the moment. I should like to as it makes for a nice little cameo in its own right.

The area which was rather confined had:

The loco shed fabricated in corrugated iron (steel) sheets fixed to a timber frame;

A conical water tower similar to the recent Dapol model;

A brazier below the arm and bag to stop freezing in the winter; and,

A donkey engine (I have assumed steam powered) to raise water from the River Dore and into the tank.

Additionally, the shed has some back doors through which a coal wagon would be pushed through on a short length of rail to serve as a coaling stage. The tank loco in most of the pictures I have seen seems to be bunker first towards Hay-on-Way and would be 'correct' for being re-filled directly from the coal wagon.

There we are - it's all going the right way despite some reversals. I'm hoping that tomorrow will see the station area of Dymented cut and positioned. If it works out, then I shall level the two parts and then cut the linking piece to present end of the branch down from Pontrilas - fingers crossed!

More tomorrow,

Philip

@JeffP No worries (at the moment) as I'm calling in all the brownie points that I've acquired since 2003 - plus Mrs Philou knew that the end game was the layout - I think I'm still in credit ;)).

I have news regarding the layout (but no pictures today): The mainline circuit is complete. The last part was done and levelled at lunchtime. This afternoon was spent cutting new bits for the branchline out of Pontrilas towards Dymented. A bit of a faff but it was done by this evening. I should have spent a while longer to set out the gradients, but I couldn't think straight, so I knew it was time to stop for today. The result is that the branchlines are now at both ends of Dymented and, apart from the levelling of the link down to Dymented from Pontrilas, there's only the setting out of the station area to be done tomorrow. Dare I hope that by Saturday it'll be done?

After that, what? We're away next week for a fortnight so nothing is going to get done :(((( . There's still the sector plate to do plus the link back to the Ledbury tunnel modules but I also want to do some basic setting out of the landscape as once any track laying starts, I'll find it difficult to do the work behind as it'll be at arms length. Track and electrics will have to be done sometime too.

Cheers everyone take care,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

A short day today as I was involved in a workshop on how to set out a local plan - right up my street, so I was interested in that.

Notwithstanding, I managed a little bit of fettling and adjustments to the gradients of the branch and main lines. I am now 753mm short of completing the mainline circuit! Oh yes! We also have some pictures:

^ The viaducts set at their gradients and fixed in place - the Ledbury Viaduct (nearest the camera) will remain, but the supports will be gradually removed as I create the viaduct in card. For the branch viaduct behind, this will be replaced in its entirety by a 'steel' one.

^ Here we have the branch line passing under the main. I was worrying for nothing much - plenty of room for the Bachmann coach which is on a piece of Peco Code 100. As I'm using Code 75 the height of the track will be slightly lower anyway! By the weekend, the branch should be linked to Dymented. (I have just remembered that I left to coach where it was - hope it doesn't roll off the end overnight!)

^ The mainline gradient looks level but it is 1:100 and the branch looks exceedingly steep, but it's at 1:50. If I'd cut down on station lengths or lengths of sidings, perhaps I could have eased the gradients, but then full-length trains (10 or more coaches) would have not been possible.

^ Last picture for this evening - the two viaducts with a side-on view (similar to last night - but no ski-jump). Here the gradients look more reasonable.

Tomorrow I shall cut the missing main line piece, get that levelled and with the exception of Bromyard Road bridge, the circuit will be complete. Thereafter, I shall do Dymented as there's the fiddle yard, station area and the link back to Pontrilas to be done. There will be only the chemical works siding to be cut and laid and all the formation (trackbed) will have been finished.

I'm itching to get track laid, but I suppose I really should give thought to the sector plate - M. le Menusier didn't get back to me regarding his idea so I shall plod on regardless and do a design.

Mrs Philou is somewhat bemused by my eagerness to get into the barn and do things. I think she's hoping I'd be as enthusiastic for cutting the lawn, or doing some vacuuming maybe .......... this is modelling, this is my nectar, this what I've wanted to do for over 45 years and I shan't be stopped now :)))))) !

Cheers everyone and stay safe,

Philip

I did do a bash before time was up. The mainline viaduct was set up and the next piece attached too. It would seem though at first glance that the levels are going to be exceedingly tight between the branch and main. I can see I'm going to have to revisit the levels along the mainline. It probably has made a difference by taking spot levels every metre in a straight line, whereas they ought to be along the inner edge of the curve - not much difference I'm sure but in this instance every millimetre will count. I shall look at it with a fresh pair of eyes tomorrow - I did rush things as time was very tight - when I rush, errors creep in.

More tomorrow and maybe a photo!

Cheers everyone,

Philip

PS: Mrs Philou is back and her train was on time too!

Hello chaps and chapesses,

No noisy work today as it's Sunday so the work was limited. Some curves were cut and a bit of fettling done to the viaduct. What stopped me in my tracks - sorry - was that all my little electric screwdrivers and drills all decided within minutes of each other that they needed recharging (fixed batteries - not external ones) so that was that!

As Mrs Philou will be back tomorrow evening, I suppose that I will need to do a bit of housework :(( . It's not too bad except for The Lump that tends to shed a lot of fur.

I shall have a good bash on the layout in the afternoon before I scoot off to the station to pick up Mrs Philou.

More tomorrow,

Philip

@lezz01 Hate to break it to you, but it probably was jet fuel! When I were a lad and Noah was in primary school, we used to take coffee from the UK to my grandparents here in France. There was the Costa Rica Coffee Company in Cardiff and they used to roast their beans right in the city centre - it smelt so good! I have no idea if they became Costa Coffee or if it's just co-incidental. Still can't find decent ground coffee around here - you can, but it's always the expensive Italian one. Our local supermarket - you know the one - a lidl more expensive than Aldi - is improving as you can now buy coffee from Ethiopia, Brazil and Peru in soft pouches rather than super-duper vacuum packs that are as hard as bricks. Not as strong as I should like, but flavoursome nonetheless.

Today became a building marathon as Mrs Philou says she's coming back on Monday so there won't be any morning starts beyond Tuesday. Oh, and I autotested Covid + this afternoon - but I feel fine save for a slight irritation in the back of my throat.

I managed to lay and level the trackbed along the branchline as far as the throat of Dymented station and I've started to set out the Ledbury viaduct proper. We have pictures, but they're most definitively WiP:

^ The next section of trackbed to be placed at the end of the branch will be the pointwork splitting the single track into two through platforms, a bay/goods shed siding, headshunt and access to some sidings that will double up as branchline rolling stock storage. The location here is critical as the Mainline (top left) will oversail the branch and I can't lower the branch any further (I can physically but it would create a sump that I didn't think would be terribly realistic - water run-off, drainage etc.) According to my plan the headroom will be tight - I'm aiming for 75mm at best as that will allow 5mm for underlay and trackwork, do some under bridgework detailing and keep a bit of waggle room and not go for the bare 60mm minimum.

^ This the start of the viaduct embankment now with the viaduct bases in place - branch to the left and main to the right.

^ Here is the Ledbury viaduct being set up - the spirit level is - er - level and as it's 1.0m long the left hand end has been chocked up by 10mm giving me the next pier height at 1:100. The camera angle has exaggerated the rise - looks more of a ski-jump! Tomorrow's pictures will make more sense.

Cheers and take care everyone,

Philip

PS: I met someone today on my way to the chemist to get a test. He's an ex-pat and he said that he and his partner had Covid a fortnight back and it hit them hard both ending up stuck in bed for four days! So, do take care.

3 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

It's good with cheese on toast

I like a good dose of L&P on my toast before it goes back under the grill with the cheese. From what I understand, if you want a Welsh Rare-bit, it's a couple of slices of raw onion under the cheese before grilling. French cheese on toast isn't. Mrs Philou tries to persuade me that a croque-monsieur is nectar. When has cheese on toast been made with two slices of bread with a slice ham in between topped off with a mix of cream and shredded cheese and then ovened!? No cheddar, no Marmite, no L&P! ;))

@Stevie Indeed it was Lea and Perrins to which I was referring - I confess I've never heard of Lemon and Paranoia - what is that?

@lezz01 Big thumbs up for Marmite - though I've never tasted Vegemite - mite be OK. Have you tried Marmite on soldiers then dipped in egg? Mmmmm!

As they say no news is bad news. I was pooped this afternoon and the rain came but not before I managed to cut some more jigsaw puzzle ready to assemble tomorrow plus glue-blocks. You can't have too many glue-blocks! I was hoping to have the branch 'viaduct'* in place but I cocked up the height on one of the risers and I couldn't gather my thoughts. I've since worked it out so it'll be adjusted tomorrow. Pictures quite likely.

*The branch viaduct will be a temporary affair as I want to do it as a steel one which is a series of rectangular sections for the base and not a continuous curve as presently cut. I shall do this in card with a bit of 3mm ply as stiffener to support the track. The mainline viaduct inspired by the one at Ledbury I shall leave as curved ply, but clad it in card. It'll give me a nice base from which I can construct the arches.

Despite this possible Covid (I shall have to go for a test, I suppose, AND my one set neighbours have returned today with Covid anyway :(( ) progress is being made - hurrah! Might get the branch into the throat of Dymented tomorrow - yay!

Cheers everyone, more tomorrow,

Philip

@Andy Hayter Huh, I wish I could use that as an excuse but he's gone on holidays and won't be back until Monday and No 1 is attending to his wife who has developed Alzheimer's - and deteriorated quite quickly, but is now stable. She doesn't even recognise me. That leaves who ............ ? Oh, and I have the keys to three houses to look after whilst they're on their jollies, shutters to open and close, plus cat that needs feeding twice a day :(( .

I'm not completely flat-out, and I'm just waiting on the weather to dry up so I can take The Lump out for her bedtime walk and then bed.

I will say though, I haven't lost my appetite as I did myself a rather large spag bol - with good UK ingredients to beef it up (Oxo cube and Worcestershire Sauce - L&P only)! I shall take a small toddy of whisky, lemon, honey and hot water before bed. I had one when I came indoors - it was vile! It was either the whisky (cheap blended stuff from the four quarters of the globe - really) or the honey, that I don't like as a rule unless it's acacia. This honey has a rather strange taste, probably mixed flowers, but it is produced around here.

Keep safe everyone and mask up if needs be,

Philip

Hello everyone,

Due to a change in plans and no rain until late this afternoon, I was able to do a little more work. New curves cut and risers all ready for fixing in place tomorrow. No pictures as there's nothing to see!

I seem to have the lurgy - dry stuffy nose, aching limbs, itchy throat and possibly a slight temperature. It could be a dose of man 'flu, mild real 'flu or Covid! There seems to be a lot of it about round here at the moment. Mrs Philou, despite being 225 miles away has the same symptoms - we may have picked something up on our lunch aboard boat on Sunday - my daughter was complaining of not feeling too well. No kissy kissy, but you never know. It's not enough to stop me working at the moment - in fact as my mind is on other things I feel better.

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

Not much progress today as it involved cutting out long lengths of curves for the viaducts and annoyingly one of them would just not fit. However, using the second one as a template, it fitted, so I need to recut the one. I may be thwarted in my endeavours tomorrow as Mrs Philou's sister and her hubby have invited themselves round to lunch .  I don't really mind as I think they're checking up on me as I'm on my own temporarily probably on instruction from Mrs Philou! They're bringing lunch, but there are a number of essentials that I'm short and so off shopping first thing in the morning (it's Thursday but there won't be buttered scones for tea either). In the afternoon it's forecast to be wet and wet, so it's unlikely much will be done.

However, as a bonus, the now-redundant curve I'm going to use as a curved plank just to check that 45mm centres will allow coaching stock to pass each other, otherwise I shall need to ease out to 50mm. I seem to remember that Class 8xx stock will not go on curves of 45mm centres unless the curve is in excess of 3.0m radius. I'll let you know how I get on if I can't do any cutting.

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

Well, off to a reasonable start today. Parts cut and assembled and we have a launch pad from Ledbury. Bromyard Road is in place - this was essential as it forms part of the foundation to the rail over bridge. It took a while to get the road in place as it's on a falling grade in two directions. It is done and once that was in place risers were installed to support the first section out of the station that comprises the main line towards Hereford and the double junction (as was) forming the Gloucester branch.

It's now in place and levelled, though it'll be off again tomorrow so that I can chamfer the edges as it's on an embankment. I shall cut and lay temporarily two curves, branch and mainline, where the viaducts are to go until I decide how to construct them - heavy card is still beckoning me!

I have some photos:

^ This the view from the end of the platforms at Ledbury. The gap, lower centre, is where the rail bridge over Bromyard Road is to go. I have some 3mm ply which I can use as a base as there's only a 125mm to span. The rest of the bridge will be in card. I've chosen card as a medium in this case as I have a nail punch that has a hollow ground point and makes decent looking rivets in card - it's long and boring to do, but the results are worth it. Further along away from the camera is the lead on the left to branch. I need to put a spacer under the limb as the branch is on a 1:50 grade and I need to pull it down.

^ This is another view showing the embankment approach towards the River Leadon and where the viaducts are to go.

^ This is the temporary end of the rising grade out of Pontrilas - where I'm aiming to arrive from today's work! The curves were adjusted as mentioned previously and the fit is far better. From the Ledbury end, I'll be starting with the branch as it's furthest away and I need to be sure that it is in place before I oversail it with the mainline and that there is sufficient headroom between the two sets of tracks. It was already 'tight' on both my 2D and 3D plans and I want the ruling grades to be 1:50 and 1:100 branch and main respectively.

There we have it - I'm quite happy so far :)).

More tomorrow.

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

No pictures again today but despite having to take Mrs Philou to the station and wait for the train that was 30mins late (it had only done 100 miles or so), I managed to sort out the top end of the climb out of Pontrilas and, the section leading from Ledbury to the viaducts has been cut out and the levels established.

As it was nearly beer o'clock*, I decided to pack up for today - just as well as 10mins later a big thunderstorm came by and dumped a large amount of water in a short time (no flooding or anything) and I think my ply and I would have been very wet.

Early start tomorrow and the Ledbury end should be well under way by the end of play (rain notwithstanding). I still haven't decided what to do regarding the construction of these viaducts!

Pictures tomorrow all being well.

Cheers,

Philip

*I don't drink much by way of beer, but I just fancied a glass today. Now I'm indoors, the fancy disappeared. Oh well, I still have a bag of crisps and I can pretend!

@lezz01 The only other time I've been for a bash on a boat was when an uncle of mine reached his 80th birthday and he'd promised his second wife that he'd take her on a cruise on the Seine in Paris. He asked if I should like to join them, with Mrs Philou, and it was left to me to organise it. Booked it and a Jaguar limousine on the night, nice night time cruise with a meal and champagne - the lot. All the buildings and the Eiffel Tower were lit (said it was specially for them).

Slight fly in the ointment at the end was that we'd been asked to join them, but we had to pay our half!!!! :((((. Rats!!!

Hello chaps and chapesses,

I got the risers and joiners all cut, placed and levelled and the new curves are fixed in position - no photo as it would have looked very similar to the last one!

The last curve for this phase will be in place on Monday and then I can start from the Ledbury end and work my way back. Nothing will happen tomorrow as it's my daughter's 40th birthday bash - on board a boat (and I can't swim!) so not too much alcohol for me.

Toodle pip and enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Philip

PS: Mrs Philou is away for the week - there's a problem with her granddaughter's minder and so she's off to baby-sit. It means I'm all alone - I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy ;))) !!

I confess I hadn't looked closely at the small print on the coaches - I just wondered what the heck I was going to do with three of them! I now know - three engineering trains!

Can I ask for some assistance regarding the ballasting itself? Currently I'm preparing a layout and I'm at the stage of laying the 'formation' in ply and topping it with some wood-fibre based floor underlay and then finishing off with rail and ballast. The track layout at one point is 1 + 2 + 1 (up relief, up main + down main, down relief) and I've allowed for the 10' + 6' + 10'. What would have happened with the ballast pre-nationalisation and post-nationalisation? Would the ballast have been laid level across all four lines of would there have been a cess in the 10'?

If anyone can let me know, I'd be very grateful.

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chums and chumesses,

Not much advance today - I got waylaid by M. le Maire to go and fix some more numbers to the various parcels of woodland in the possession of the commune. That was this morning taken care of and I found it was slow going this afternoon as walking around the woods and making holes in the ground with a thingummyjig, knackered me.

I did spend some time rejigging the curves around as, though they looked good in the photos, they weren't going to complete the curve without colliding with the rear wall. I cut some different radii and played around until it all came together again. The underlay was cut and edges to the curves chamfered where they formed part of an embankment.

Tomorrow morning I have to go shopping (it's not Wednesday is it? And there certainly won't be any buttered scones for tea) so I'm limited to the afternoon that shall be mainly cutting risers and joining pieces to it can now all go together.

I may well terminate the trackbed here and go back to Ledbury and start towards Dymented so I can be sure that I haven't c*cked the levels up - be a pity if there was a step, wouldn't it!

I have two questions, a starter for ten each:

1) When a 10ft is created between pairs of running tracks, or main line and sidings, is the ballast laid right across near-level or is there a form of cess between the lines?

2) Should I make my viaducts with a 10mm ply trackbed or would thick card (in layers) be enough to support the track. I ask because card is tempting me somewhat as I could work indoors on my cutting mat. I also have 13 arches to cut out which I can do in card as well. I don't have access to a laser cutter as that would the easiest way - everything cut and indents on the surface for the brickwork - and in thin ply. The branch line viaduct will be in card in the light of all the steelwork - however, the same applies regarding the track bed proper.

Any thoughts?

Cheers, more tomorrow,

Philip

@Chimer Old wallpaper? Old wallpaper? Wassat? Hardly anyone does wallpaper over here - far too expensive. They do fibre-glass paper that is even more expensive, but it holds the crumbly plaster together ;). I didn't do any of that when we moved in as some walls I took back to the stonework and then repointed and left it on show, some was hacked back but then splatter finished and whitewashed (the real lime stuff) and the rest I left as-was and constructed new walls with metal studwork and plasterboard with insulation behind. Plaster skim and white vinyl paint finish. We use soft furnishings to add colour. Good idea though. The shape was right - I just went cross-eyed and had a brain-f@rt putting the measurements down on the ply as the one off-set was 3.5mm and the two others were 0.9mm each. I found having a very very sharp pencil and a quality straight-edge helped. It all came together as you will see below .............................

Hello chaps and chapesses,

Yes things did come together finally today. I cut out the rest of the curves and while I was at it I cut the underlay to shape as well. I made up a few spacers and it was already to go this afternoon. Setting the gradient out was a tad bothersome, but worked it out in the end. Here are some pictures .......

^ Here we are on the approach to Pontrilas from the Hereford/Dymented end with lead towards the Golden Valley branch in mid-photo and the station throat just behind.

^ This is the long climb out of Pontrilas towards Hereford waiting to be set at its gradient. The branch is immediately to the right. I shall do it once I'm happy with the mainline.

^ Here's an overview of the the curve in the landscape. I will say I'm surprised just how shallow a 1:100 gradient looks. The branch alongside will be at 1:50. I expect that it'll look too steep!

So I'm on the move again!

Cheers everyone, more tomorrow,

Philip

Well! Another day gone by!

Hello chums and chumesses,

I cannot believe that it took me all morning plus part of the afternoon to cut one piece of ply 440 x 245mm on a 6.9m curve. How many times can you get things wrong? I had to construct the curve geometrically as I don't have anywhere flat or long enough to set out a curve with string (which I don't like) or a long (very long in this case) batten. I did it by offsets four times! Each time the tape holder would read the readings wrong. I had to it properly as there was the junction to the branch line to be included in the cut. Got there in the end. In an hour and half, I cut two others that were twice and three times the length and that was that for today. Tomorrow I shall cut the two last remaining curves and then it'll be a case of jiggling them around to create the best fit as it's a compound curve. Bit like using 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th radii curves in the same curve :)).

I shall also cut my spacers/risers and I should be good to go - hoorah!

No pictures today, but no doubt some tomorrow.

Cheers,

Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses,

Another exciting update this evening - unfortunately, no. I spent some of the morning cutting out a part of the Pontrilas station yard to replace it with a differently shaped piece that I shouldn't have removed in the first instance - oh well - and then fettled the next section that contains most of the station throat. In the afternoon, I screwed the whole lot together and it all seems to fit and at grade - a couple of spacers that looked fine using the level decided that they weren't going to play nice and had to be reset. Apart from one riser that I want to add, Pontrilas station is done.

Late afternoon, a thunderstorm turned up and threatened to put the kybosh on any more woodwork, so I packed up and did some sketches and calculations for the next series of curves that will contain the junction leading off to Dymented and the turnout to serve the chemical works. If there's not much fettling to be done we could see an arrival in Dymented early next week (says he optimistically!).

No photo today as it wouldn't be too different from the one of yesterday.

Toodle pip,

Philip

We now have a hose-on-a-reel. Been there, done that with the cheapy plastic hoses, then the coily curly whirly that was used once in anger and would never again uncoil itself properly. Oh, and not all hoses are made equal. Even using quality fittings such as Hozelock(TM) (other makes available etc., etc.) doesn't necessarily mean that they will fit! No end of problems with them coming off - usually at the most unexpected moment (a la Johnster's sitting room). Mrs Philou was using one of the earlier hoses with an adjustable spray-type pistol grip and the words were coming from my mouth saying, 'I think the end is about to ......' PSSSSSSSHHHHTTTTTT! Oh, how she laughed! It was warm and she dried out in no time, but she swears I did on purpose!

Thumbs up for a hose-on-a-reel (was available in Lidl recently), 25m of 'ose and reels itself back tidy-like. I wouldn't like to risk it in our lounge, mind. Silly Johnster! :)))

Cheers,

Philip

Oh phooey!

Hello chums and chumesses,

Yesterday was three steps forwards and today two steps back. I got all my spacers cut out and fixed in place and cut also the next piece of gradient that contains the bulk of the station throat pointwork.

Having put the station section back in place, I couldn't help thinking to myself 'That's not right - the curve out leading towards Hereford is never going to get to the right place.' Indeed having measured (which I failed to do yesterday) the position of the platform relative to the wall was out by 50mm. May not sound much but when you've got a large curve to put in place - the difference can be enormous. I undid the link to the Ledbury SB and twisted the board slightly to realign it and shoved forwards and backwards a little and joy! it fitted well. The downside is that some of my spacers will need to be reset as some are no longer supporting the board and the link was no longer a link.

Nil desperandum! The link was recut and shaped and it's now better than before. The spacers are only held with two screws and won't take forever to slide along (the heights will not change).

Having attached the next piece and levelled it (before my - er - error was spotted), I laid out some pointwork to try and get the feel for what was happening in the throat. The new piece will need shaping but it's fine generally. However, because I thought I'd made the station board too wide, I trimmed it back - bad move! I now have to add some of it back! A morning of fun and games tomorrow doing all the bits and then in the afternoon the next section of curve to head off towards Hereford/Dymented. The first part of the branchline will form part of the next cut.

At least nothing much was destroyed so it's all heading the right way, but more haste, less speed. How true!

Here's a photo showing the pointwork loose-laid in place :

^ This is looking at Pontrilas (yeah, you'll have to imagine it for the moment) with the main station platforms to the left, branch line platform plus cattle pen in the far centre and run-around pointwork, goods shed siding to the right of that and two sidings to the far right. The errant too-much-cut is where the fourth point is above the signal box. It should have been a right-hander but I flipped it over for the photo as otherwise it would have looked really silly.

Behind the camera and to the left is the main line plus two loops heading uphill towards Hereford and to the right will be the pointwork leading to the Pontrilas engine shed (glorified tin shed basically) and on to Dymented. On the extreme left of the photo will be the end of the siding feeding the Pontrilas Chemical Works. (This how I also knew things weren't quite right as the space for it had disappeared!)

The SB is a bit of a novelty for me as the prototype is constructed entirely in ship-lap rather that a brickwork base with a timber first storey. Also, it sits on top of a road bridge (which is no more than a big cattle-creep) that gave access to the chemical works.

The good news is that the smooth transition at the top end of the station has been retained and improved.

Onwards and upwards!

More tomorrow,

Cheers,

Philip

@GWR57xx Thanks for the research! I don't have a single GWR book except for a very old Ian Allan 'GWR Locomotives'. If indeed there was a named train to either Birkenhead via Shrewsbury or Birmingham via Worcester (which the latter I think unlikely unfortunately) then that's fine by me! I say the latter would be unlikely as the GWR tended to access Birmingham via Severn Tunnel/Gloucester, viz. the successful introduction of their railcar services along that route from Cardiff.

Today, despite being Sunday and Scorchio! I was able to a little more this morning using power tools and this afternoon it was up in the room and hand-tools outside. We now have complete underlay and trackbed in place from Ledbury tunnel (west or town end) right through to Pontrilas north-east end. I have yet to do some packing pieces under the Pontrilas station and the lead into the rise towards Hereford. I will add the underlay to the goods yard area when I've laid out some pointwork as I think there's a little bit of trimming back to do along one edge - all for tomorrow.

^ I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I have a nice sweeping curve through Pontrilas station dropping down through the road 'tunnel' and then back up the rise towards Ledbury Home End SB. There is also a generous transition between the two gradients.

^ The bottom of the two grades coincide with the spacer on the extreme bottom left: 1/200 towards the camera and 1/100 to the SB.

Today's starter for ten: Taking aesthetics into consideration, is better to have one sweeping curve or a series of curves? I ask because when using SCARM to draw the trackwork it can't create any curve longer than a piece of track - in my case Peco. I'm limited to 914mm. The ideal would be to know the radius of the track and you can work from there, but that means - again in my case - lengths of up to 3.0m. I just used best fit. However, in engineering terms, you would lay a continuous curve - unless there was a very good reason otherwise eg: Immovable object, no? I can now draw one continuous curve as I worked it out yesterday, but I don't know what knock-on effect it will have on all the modules that have been made. What do you think? Does it really matter? Will you see the difference once the track is laid and ballasted? etc., etc.

Cheers everyone and enjoy what's left of the weekend,

Philip

@GWR57xx It's a picture I found on the internet. It's an ordinary train calling at Pontrilas. It's definitely not an SLS or RCTS charter as the loco has no headboard - just the coaches. I just can't think of a named train that would have used the North-West route! The picture was taken between 1948 (BR) and 1957 (closure of the Golden Valley line).

It may just be the coach nameboards are blank!

Cheers,

Philip