Philou

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

Despite my feeling of doom and gloom yesterday, things went rather better today. Hello chaps and chapesses, I worked my little cotton socks off despite the still hot weather we're having (and no, I'm not enjoying it, either). I re-cut the station piece partially where needed as the curve to the sidings was too large. I fettled the area where the platform cuts into the hillside and things were looking much better. My downhill curve from Ledbury North End Signalbox looks as if it will now join up with the station throat. I have to design a curve for that! The rest of the day was cutting out spacers to set the station area at its correct height and level. These were then fixed to my cross-members and voila!! all set up. I have another five to cut first thing tomorrow morning (it's Sunday again!) and fix them to the cross-members too. I CBAd to get my mitre saw out again as it was getting late and I was hot. This is the state of play this evening: ^ Spacers all set out and fixed - a couple more to be done this end. ^ This is Pontrilas station platforms in one complete piece with the goods yard area to the right. The platforms will measure approximately 2.1m. The board isn't fixed in place yet so as to give me a bit of wiggle room when I join up the Ledbury section. The station throat with the signal box and the branch-line junction will be on the next piece to the lower left. This section is at 0.5% (1:200) - the prototype was at a grade too. I did have the correct profile of the track that Mike @The Stationmaster kindly sent me, plus a load of other information, but the whole lot disappeared in my harddrive failure of some time ago. ^ These are the two sections to be joined up - the Dore river valley on the right and the station to the left. In between will be the road 'tunnel'. The circular part jutting out is - I have no idea really. On the old OS sheets, it shows this semi-circular extension to the sidings immediately adjacent to the buffer stops. I think it was just a bit of landforming done when the station yard was being set out. I liked that idea and so I kept it. Happy bunny tonight and more tomorrow. Cheers, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, A nail-biting day for me today as I decided to cut out the trackbed for Pontrilas station. Firstly was the cutting out of a 7.5m radius curve as the station on the prototype is curved. This took me the best part of the morning to set out as a series of straight lines and off-sets (there is a very handy maths calculator on the t'intertubes). Then it was setting out the goods yard side which too is on a curve which was another set of off-sets. Anyway, late this afternoon, it was all marked and cut out. I hurried upstairs with this big piece of mis-shapened ply and plonked it down were it ought to go. It didn't fit! It's again the problem of following two plans that don't quite agree but it isn't any thing that I can't put right, just a question of 15mins with the jigsaw and that should be that! If it looks correct tomorrow, then there'll be some pictures. The levels seem to work though, so it's not all doom and gloom! I have another question for you today: I have a photo of a large ex-GWR 4-6-0 arriving Pontrilas from the Hereford direction on a nice summer's day, pulling six coaches - seem to be blood'n'custard as it's the early 50s (style of clothes and an 0-4-2T waiting to head off for Hay-on-Wye). The loco could be a Castle or King (4 cylinder jobbie and Kings were permitted on the North-West) but the smoke-box number is not decipherable. I'm getting to the question - the coaches are carrying nameboards - what is the train? More tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses, I am at last on the approach to Pontrilas. It has taken me most of the morning and a fair few hours this afternoon just to set my trackbed to its correct levels. It surprised me how much a slight waggle on an unsupported end can change a gradient (butterfly wings and all that). I wasn't going to chuck it in but it was getting hotter and hotter and being sat on my bum with arms in the air is not the most comfortable of positions. Both batteries in my mini-tools decided to die within minutes of each other and I was quite happy that that stopped play for today. I finally could see what was happening regarding things that didn't fit - as my 3D plan wasn't amended as it should have been, then it was slightly out of kilter. It has also meant repercussions on gradients entering Pontrilas, but as long as I get back onto a rising grade through the 'tunnel' under the road at the station throat, all will be good. Here are a couple of photos: ^ This is a view of the River Dore valley enbankment. The combine road and river bridge is approximately in the centre. I haven't put a support there yet as I want to cut out profiles for both the Dore and the A465. Once in place I can then drop a support clear of both (I'm aiming for one in between them). On a side view the gradient looks a tad fierce but I've been checking all afternoon and it is at 1/100 - I think it's an optical illusion. ^ This the present end of the trackbed left hanging in mid-air. I left it as it was for tonight as I'll need to cut out the next piece of trackbed and then set the levels. In the distance is the summit at the signal box and all goes downhill from there on ;). The pointwork is loosely in place as placeholders and to check that no point motor would foul the packing pieces. ^ The summit. For those not familiar with the Ledbury to Malvern line, the grade through the tunnel continues for a fair distance behind the camera. Unfortunately, space doesn't permit the 1:76.2 version so the layout will be simply 'inspired by'. In the distance is the mouse-hole leading from this module to the next. The model grade entering the tunnel is at 1/60 whereas the real thing is 1/80. The tunnel mouth will be just in line with the Big Beam overhead. One thing that has become apparent in just laying the trackbed, is that I'm going to have to do the scenic modelling on the wall side first, then do the tracklaying and ballasting and finish off operating well side. It'll be much easier for me whilst having access standing in between the cross-members rather than trying to stretch. In any case, the Mark I eyeball is very good at laying curved track if you can view it low down - which I shan't be able to do if the landscape is all done. That's it for today. Keep well, Philip

I should have gone to Specsavers :)) !! Thanks for the heads-up and additional information.

I have an additional question regarding ground signals (shows how little I know about these things), were these actuated via the point tie-bar or off a lever - I had assumed the former.

@Nick C Ooooh ............. thank you for that link, it did work! I can see that I have to add at least two trap points just in the area alone plus another further along. There are also three ground signals plus a SRI. Now which shall I have 15mph or 25mph? I don't think I shall have enough length to place all the signals shown - however, there's no reason that they couldn't be part of the signalling leading into Pontrilas. BTW, here's an extract of a colour photo that post-dates 1948 (number on smokebox) that contradicts the SRS drawing placing the Home signal between the bridge and the tunnel. I won't show the whole photo as it's one I borrowed off the internet for this project and I never thought to note the author. The original taker of the photo may well be long gone! LedburyTunnelEast.doc @5BarVT I see what you mean regarding the fixed distant, but would it not have been more of an indicator of being prepared to stop at Ledbury? I like your thinking regarding the banker scenario - clever. It must have been used occasionally as there's a ground signal at the spur exit. I can see that I'm going to have to source a heck of a lot of signals, both post and ground. A great pity the Ratio signal kits, as were, are no longer available. Here is a small selection of some that I prepared for Ledbury during lockdown. The kits I bought in the late 70s and the plastic had become brittle. Though I have put LEDs to light them, they shall probably remain non-operating. I'll just have of a mixture of them being either at danger or at right of way. Well chums and chumesses, today was a, shall we say, frustrating day. Despite having measured everything and carefully cut to specific radii for the next section over the A465/River Dore, it just wouldn't join up with what I had laid down in the tunnel area. Notwithstanding, I fettled and trimmed and cut an infill section and it now fits. I didn't take a photo as it was hot and getting late and I didn't want to rush things as it seemed to be fitting together. Tomorrow morning I shall pack from underneath to set the levels and then screw into place. I shall take a photo then. Cheers, Philip

@5BarVT Thanks for that. I just had it in mind that seeing as the tunnel is single tracked and that trains on the up line (London direction) do wait at Ledbury until the train in the down direction has arrived and cleared the tunnel. I will say that when I lived in Ledbury and caught the HST (full fat one) to London, I wasn't aware of any tokens (but then I didn't know about anything of the real railway in the 1990s). Cheers, Philip

This is for my mate @Chimer (stop peeking you others!). Did you want to see more track? Did you? Did you? We have more track just loose laid on the latest bit of work: ^ It was rather too hot late this afternoon to continue and my knees were aching due to the heat and all the knees up mother Brown yesterday. I did manage to cut out the next two pieces of ply plus the underlay and just placed them on my work table for the photo. Tomorrow things will be in a proper context. This is the view looking towards the eastern portal of Ledbury tunnel. The tunnel mouth will be at the limit of the end of the trackbed in the distance. I know the signal box is incorrect, but it's the only one that I've got. Here the trackwork will be in a cutting and the signal box protected by retaining walls set at an angle so that the signalman can see the tunnel and the signalling. The points have been placed overlaying each other as I intend to set the trackwork at 45mm centres, but the crossover rails need to be cut back to achieve this narrowing. I've done it before, but not where curved pointwork is concerned. As they're Peco large radii points the curve is fairly gentle and it doesn't look too bad just laid out. I'm sure there'll be a lot of fettling to do. I don't want to overdo it either as they're somewhat expensive to replace! ^ This is the view from the tunnel towards Pontrilas and the River Dore overbridge. The catch siding/sand drag protecting the tunnel is nearest the camera. There are two pairs of crossovers - the one nearest the camera is the double to single pointwork and the pair furthest away is the assisting locomotive release, where the banking loco would return back to Ledbury. I assume there would have been a token working arrangement here, though I've never seen it mentioned. I shall have to ask Mike @The Stationmaster later, if he can propose a signalling arrangement eventually. From a photo I have of a freight plus banker coming out of the tunnel, there seems to be a fixed distant on entering the tunnel with another signal on the opposite side - unfortunately as it is the back of the signal and the size is very small, I can't tell if it's a distant or home. I'll also need to know what would have happened signalling-wise to allow the assisting loco to stop and then return back to base - all for later. That's it chums and chumesses for today - more tomorrow. Cheers, Philip

YAY!! I was also going to add in the earlier post, that some of the moves I did, would have stretched even poor old Twizzle. :))

Regarding the guillotine, that does look worthwhile investment - I never thought I needed one! The club does have a very small version with an exceedingly sharp blade that will do fine cuts in plasticard. Next time I'm up the club I'll ask for details. Today was rather a back-breaking, knee-bending sort of day. I was working IN the tunnel area - luckily I'm not too corpulent and I just about limboed and shimmied up and in between the cross-members. By holding my breath and sucking in my belly I managed to squeeze through the 300mm gaps - now why didn't I foresee having to do that?! All the track-bed within the tunnel is laid to levels and screwed down - I haven't glued anything as I keep thinking, 'Will I need to dismantle that bit later for whatever reason?' I hope I won't. I also have some photos. They show the green underlay in place, but it's not yet glued as I need to find out how to fix Cobalt point motors in place - I have one somewhere but I can't find it the moment. Perhaps I'll need to take out the relevant pieces to do it. Here we go: ^ This shows the triangle leading into the sector plate/fiddle yard. In the background is the exit of the tunnel towards Pontrilas (it should be Colwall - but there you go - Rule 1 and all). Even though not terribly noticeable, unless there's a bubble, there is a downward grade from the right and continues to the fiddle yard. Across the top, towards the tunnel exit, the grade bottoms out between the two 'arms' and then rises to the exit. The left arm follows a similar pattern rising out of the fiddle yard towards the tunnel exit. The two arms of the triangle never meet, hence avoiding any possible short circuits caused by reverse loops. ^ This is the centre section showing one of the two Y-points in place (the other is just outside the tunnel exit in the photo above). This is the curve leading back towards the Ledbury tunnel mouth - again all graded as required. This is the part I laid first this morning - three hours later(!) I still hadn't sorted the gradient. I couldn't get rid of an unwanted hog in the curve. Finally found a slight lip on the one module causing the part to tip backwards when screwed down and it being fixed at one end was making it bow. A few minutes sanding had that sorted! In the afternoon, it was all fairly plain sailing. What took longest was ensuring that all the riser packing pieces (there are two in the photo) were set at their proper levels, once done, that was that! Tomorrow, I'm tackling the Pontrilas side of the tunnel where the track diverges from single to double and there's also a non-parallel siding that rises alongside acting as a catch siding for runaways (IIRC there's a picture of a very sad looking 2-8-0 laying on its side after using it in anger). This graded section should be quite long between the tunnel mouth and the protecting signal box further uphill - about a 1/4 mile, I think - but compression means that the modelled distance won't be more than about 1.0m (1/440th of the distance!). More tomorrow chums and chumesses, Cheers, Philip

Same here as @chris p bacon. I have a 'If anyone can, Canon can' printer (Pixma 550) and use cheap cartridges from Amazon that come in a box of 20 direct from Germany and cost no more than £1 a cartridge. Quality is perfectly fine for standard printing and for colour photos. I have had the 'B525 error' and a simple cartridge holder that cost about £25 to replace had that soon sorted. I am led to understand that not allowing 3rd party cartridges in printers is illegal - but I'm happy to be corrected. Cheers, Philip

@lezz01 I did reply yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether! At £4 per sheet it doesn't seem expensive at all - look at all the zillions - er - hundreds of sleepers that could be cut from £20-worth. Today petered out as Mrs Philou was supposed to be going to her sister's place with my grandson, but her sister and hubby decided to come over instead. Pleasant lunch and some cool white wine later means I'm no good to do any woodworking this afternoon - besides it's far too hot again! I shall start in the fresh tomorrow. Cheers everyone and enjoy the rest of today and take profit of the warm weather that's coming your way. Philip

@Nick C Yes, that's the sort of thing. The club uses 'solid' copper faced board and then cut out the shape of the sleepers and their webbing with a cutting disk on a mini-tool. As a whole bunch get to work on the joiners, it takes no time to produce a fair few. I dare say cost comes into play as a sheet of copper faced board costs very little - apparently. They have a 'source' ;). Onto today's happenings: I went to bed feeling ever so pleased regarding the curves that I had cut out during the day - you know the saying pride comes before a fall? Oh yes. I realised that the glue-pads I had so carefully glued and screwed (and by now set hard) were going to interfere on the one piece crossing the join between two modules AND wouldn't allow the fitting of a point motor underneath. As my meeting this morning was finished before time, I found myself recutting the one piece differently so as to avoid conflict - except that I handed it wrongly and it was third time lucky - ho hum. Tomorrow, I shall place all the parts and get started doing the gradients - what could possibly go wrong? I'll let you know :). Cheers everyone and enjoy your weekend, Philip

@lezz01 You're a star - thank you for the offer. I may well take you up it - but not just yet as I want to explore the brass screw idea. I see that @Carl L has given some thought to that idea. Hello, Carl and welcome. You've used the same sort of thing that the club (and I) have already used - I think I have a photo somewhere of my method which is very similar: The club's in-house style has evolved as they now create a short length of trackwork base in copper-clad, say 8 - 10 sleepers worth all webbed and then solder the rails to the base and cut afterwards, either straight or diagonal. I was exploring something quick and dirty as a number of my rail/module joints are on the curve and rather than spend time making the copper clad type (though lezz01's offer may well be taken up!) I was considering the older fashioned way of brass screws as to me it seemed rather more straightforward to screw directly into the ply trackbed and then solder afterwards, especially on the curved sections. Food for further thought! Onto today's output, which wasn't anywhere near as much as I thought I would do (mostly lining up the curves and fettling the mouse'oles that I had already cut. Nonetheless, I'm still going the right way. Here's today's photo: ^ Bits! That's what I've got - bits! These are all the tunnel curves (not one straight piece amongst them). These I cut after having a dry run and, doing a bit of thinking ahead, which is unusual for me, I cut all the underlay to fit onto each piece. The underlay is laminate flooring underlay. It's wood-fibre based (IIUC) and is green - there is also some foam type, but I've never used it. It's about 5mm thick and is cuttable with a heavy duty cutter - however the blades don't last very long. This little lot has just about dulled my nice new blade but luckily I've got another 90 in stock! An update regarding the youngish chap who hailed me yesterday. He stopped by today on his way home to see what it was I was doing - and I was quite happy to show him. He was the sixth visitor of the day. Before he entered the barn, I felt that I had to explain my expression of 'hating wood'. It wasn't that I didn't like wood, but I'd never been taught how to work with it - I mean, I can't cut square with a panel saw - starts off fine but then wanders off! He came into the barn and saw the stairs and the timberwork to the flooring of the railway room and all he said was 'Well, I don't think there's anything that we can teach you.' Despite my self-criticism of naff-ness, perhaps my wood work isn't too bad and I really don't want it to sound 'blowing my own trumpet'. He was impressed by the modules and he then said that his dad had a layout, but he hasn't. You never know, there maybe someone else who's is a latent railway modeller. All the pieces shown have received a glue-pad (rather than a block) so as to create a continuous piece. I will lay all the pieces in place on Sunday (nothing doing tomorrow unfortunately) and place risers underneath to create the levels and once they're done, the pieces will be fixed to one another and then underlaid. I have about an hour's worth of fettling to do before final fix. After that, I'm proceeding towards Pontrilas and I'll come back to track laying a little later. So there you have it for today, more on Sunday. Cheers, Philip

Thanks everyone for the clarification - order duly sent.

@lezz01, @kingmender and @Flying Fox 34F Thanks for your input there, useful stuff. I didn't know about the nail method - I'll certainly give that a go. At the moment, I'm in the tunnel and I'm not too bothered about transitions or super elevation for the time being - but that will all change once out in the open. I was going to draw the two curves - or straight and curve directly onto the plywood with an appropriate gap between the two and then fudge the change in curvature. I won't need to fudge now. Regarding the width of my ply in the tunnel section, I hope I'm one step just ahead as I have an large quantity of 3mm ply that I didn't know what I was going to use it for other than for general modelling (backing to some buildings, platform surfaces, retaining walls, that sort of thing) that I was going to cut into 40mm strips and then glue and pin it to the edges of the trackbed within the tunnel. It's quite flexible in the one direction and cuts easily with a heavy duty cutter. I've already checked that none of my modern coach stock overhangs the track bed either at the front or the middle. Thanks for the tip regarding the Hills of the North thread. At 150-odd pages it'll give me a few nights reading. I've started but not got past page 2 - yet! I got off the drawing board and back into the barn where using the info from SCARM I cut out five of the curves. Two to go. I did a dry fit this evening with the bits and hey! they actually line up with the cut-outs that I'd already prepared earlier. One cut-out needs fettling as I cut them straight and didn't allow for the curved sections being - er - well - curved. I am very happy so far. No pictures tonight as there wouldn't have been much to see, but tomorrow if I can get the whole of the tunnel section set up (and possibly set to it's gradients) then I'll photo. I'm inclined to the idea that if the trackbed is in place, then I shall lay some underlay and track and put droppers in ready. I can then put the hills back in place and draw closure on that section. A technical question arises: I'm proposing to lay my track continuously over the module breaks. However, at some time in the future, when I'm no longer here, or there's a major problem and the modules have to be dismantled, what method would you use to ensure that the rails remain in their fixed positions? As I see it I have a choice: The club uses copper coated circuit board and using assorted mini-disks and sanders etc., make a set of sleepers (say 8) all joined with webbing (but grooved, to prevent shorts natch) which is screwed over the joint, the rails having had their plastic sleepers removed over the same length are then soldered to the copper sleepers and then cut right through with a slitting disk along the line of the break. OR, do I use the old-fashioned way (perhaps it never went out of fashion) of brass screws fixed into the track bed, the rails soldered to the heads and then slit. It would seem that the second method is relatively quick and simple and the height can be very easily adjusted before final soldering. What do you think? And a follow on question regarding maintaining curvature of the rails at joints - what method would you suggest? I have heard of soldering joiners before laying to a curve or ensuring rail joints are staggered. In the good ole bad ole days I used to try and bend the ends of the rails to the curve, but that was never ever a satisfactory solution as they would either end up looking kinked or out of gauge. Your thoughts and suggestions would be very much appreciated. Cheers, Philip PS: Here's a little story of a happening today. I was putting the finishing touches to one of the curves - just a bit of light sanding - when a car pulled up. A head pops out - cheery youngish chap - who says, 'I've been watching you working for months and I thought I should tell you that there's a communal carpentry workshop in the next-but-one village.' (Looking at the way he was dressed in blue overalls and ear-defenders, it's possible he works there). 'Oh?', says I. 'Yes', he continued, 'you pay €40 a year, €1 an hour and €8 for the use of the machines. You seem to like working with wood.' 'No', I politely said, 'hate the stuff and my work is frankly naff - and besides, I've finished (taverymuch). Just putting the finishing touches as we speak. But thanks for the thought' I said, laughing. There you go, 6 months down the line and now I find out there are machines waiting to be used. Ah well, such are the way of things. I could have usefully used a table saw and a decent scrolling saw for example. The downside though is I wouldn't have been able to transport my sheets of ply without cutting them first and there would have been the inconvenience of taking materials back and forth. But still, it was a nice thing to do. I have asked him if he'd like a look to see what I have done (couldn't this evening as he was picking up his missus). Wait until he sees the stairs I erected first in our kitchen!

A question for @Revolution Ben if I may? I too am interested in getting my pre-order in as I'm intending to run steel trains once the the layout is set up. On visiting the site, I tappity-tapped the wagons I wanted but then I was faced with a further choice of A-B-C or D - what is this sub-choice please? I've read through this thread but I'm no wiser, unfortunately. A sub-question follows: If I want six different numbered ones, what have I to choose and do I have to order 2 x 3 or is it just 6 once? (I assume I'll have to place the order for 2 x 3). Cheers, Philip