Philou

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

Hello chaps and chapesses, I decided to forego all the copy from one plan to another nonsense. I'd be here until next month doing it! What I have done instead is to take a long batten (over 3m in length) and drill two holes near the one end that are of a diameter to hold two pencils (interference fit). These holes I have set at centres of 50mm apart. Knowing the radius of my curve from SCARM I then marked a third hole, the radius distance from the innermost hole, placed a screw there to act as the point and I then scribed/marked the ply accordingly. This I used to mark out some templates first to test the idea - and it worked. (Well it should have as it's basic schoolboy carpentry - but I never did carpentry at school. I did do the once and chiselled wood towards me - palm of hand meet sharp implement. They (the staff) decided that carpentry was probably not my thing!) Unfortunately, rain stopped further play for today. The trackbed 50mm wide will do for the tunnel areas but once outside I shall have trackbed 75mm and 120mm wide for single and double track respectively, and I shall adjust my pencil holes as necessary. This will allow for landscape to cover the edges of the trackbed when in cutting or to chamfer the edge when on embankment. Too bad about the weather as I should have liked to put the theory into practice - but at least I'm under way again - huzzah! More tomorrow and perhaps a picture or two. Cheers, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, My day off lasted longer than intended. I hadn't realised just how long it would take me to find, classify and cut'n'paste all the photos for Mrs Philou's granddaughter. There were thousands of them! Really, thousands of them plus not short of a hundred filmettes. I was against the clock as the last post is sounded at 15:45 from the post office in the big village - except the level crossing is OOS as they re-do the rubber inserts and a quite long detour has to be travelled. Anyway, post office was reached in time and the rest of yesterday was spent cleaning up our various devices by copying all the photos onto an external harddrive and then deleting from the devices. Funnily enough, I freed up a whole load of memory! Today, I have become a keyboard warrior as I need to visualise the cutting of the trackbed. Using SCARM and SketchUp I shall draw out the trackbed and then try to transfer the design onto my plywood. I do have some templates for curves - 1000, 1200, 1500, 3000mm but none in the 2000mm range. In SCARM, my curves do not fall in any nice convenient sizes save where I specified not less than 1000mm - they're all 'odd' radii! Luckily, there is a programme in t'intertubes that if you know any two items (radius, length or offset) of a chord it'll calculate the missing item. In SCARM, I'll know the radius and the length of my curves and so the calculator will give me the offset and I shall then be able to draw the curve in 3D or directly onto the plywood - well, that's the theory anyway. I haven't found any programmes that will calculate transitions though. When I was in the roads design office, we used to use railway curves (yes really) to draw curves and we had a set of assorted transition curves with tables - all gone with computerisation and AutoCad. I wish I had them now! I shall try to do the transitions by hand when tracklaying. Nothing to show today I'm afraid as I'm getting my head around these curves. Cheers everyone, More tomorrow, Philip

Oo-er - and there was I thinking DCC was the solution - except as my DCC unit is kaput at the moment, I shall need to keep a DC option open. Food for thought in all the above!

I decided I would have day off today and not do anything train-related as the weather was wet on waking. By 11 the sun was out and now it's nice and warm and dry :((. Still, Mrs Philou is happy to see me today! Tomorrow, I really should start my UK tax return and get that out of the way - otherwise it'll all be done in a rush (again!). I also have a gift to prepare for Mrs Philou's granddaughter (a collection of her photos taken since she started coming here at the age of 18months - she's now 12!) I shall restart work on Monday doing some 3D drawings as I need to 'see' the curves that are to be cut from my sheets of ply. Have a good weekend everyone, Philip

@Andy Hayter Thank you. Very much appreciated. Edit: And thanks to all of you for your encouragement.

Well chaps and chapesses, I've waited over a week to say this: The circle has been squared! (I know it's a mathematical concept and my layout is neither a circle nor a square, but I just wanted to say it). I finally got the frame of Module G in place and secured this afternoon. We have some photos too: ^ Don't panic, its not the frame that's twisted, but my back in taking the awkward shot! I shall use my train journey again. Imagine this time, if you will, we're a freight train and we've just burst out - sorry - wheezed out of the single and rather narrow bore tunnel (centre background) headed by GWR Class 38XX N° 3809 followed by a mixed bag of wagons - mainly coal trucks but a few covered and open ones as well and assisted at the rear by GWR Class 52XX N° 5243, the resident assisting engine based at Ledbury, bunker first due to the poor air quality and about to pass the protecting signal box. On arriving at the crest of the climb they pass under a farm access bridge - a nice three arched affair set quite high above the railhead - and through the single to double track pointwork and down the grade (well, it should be Colwall) to the Dore Valley and Pontrilas. You can see the tag that I've left on the left hand side for the overbridge. The assisting loco will uncouple (I don't think it was coupled - just buffered up) and will proceed a short distance before reversing direction and taking the cross-over onto the Ledbury bound track where it'll wait for the right of way back through the tunnel. In the model, it's my intention to have a short but steep grade out of the tunnel to give the impression that it's been a long hard slog from Ledbury. The reality is within the tunnel it'll be relatively flat due to the pointwork leading to/from the storage area. ^ In this shot it's a view from Module F towards the exit of Ledbury tunnel. You can see where the Big Beam cuts through the scenery of Module G, but we're only talking of a few centimetres, it unfortunately coincides with the tunnel exit - I shall fudge this to ensure the tunnel mouth is forward of the beam. ^ Here is the module secured in place. Everything is nicely in place and levelled. The tag on the far side is the farm access overbridge and you can see where it leaves the scene on the levelled section midway on the nearside. To the left is the end of the tunnel cutting and here trains are are a downward grade over the River Dore bridge and then rising up to enter Pontrilas on a grade. As I write, the weather is breaking and I shan't be able to do much outside tomorrow. I do have one last module to make (I'll call it X for the moment). It's the bridging link between the main circuit and the storage area. M. le Menusier who said he had an idea regarding the operation of the sector plate hasn't yet come back to me so sooner or later I'm going to have put my thinking cap on and do some designing. First job first: I shall start tracing and cutting out some trackbeds! Yay and double yay! Ledbury station area is complete and seeing that I have already laid some trackbed in the tunnel area, I may as well start from there and work my way round to Pontrilas via the tunnel. I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers and more tomorrow, Philip PS: Do you realise, it's taken me since March just to do modules? That's ..... that's ... er ..... six months. I hope the trackbedding won't take as long! I really should like to have started track laying this side of Christmas. I can hope!

Hello mes amis, It's another hot'un this afternoon. I did my stint this morning and I'm quite happy with the progress tho' as I had pre-cut the end pieces to Module G ages ago, I seem to have changed my mind somewhere along the way and had a little more fettling to do. The sides of the module are complete including the leg pockets that are in place and the one end is complete ready to be attached. I will have a strengthener to add (maybe two as it's quite high) to the last end piece and that'll be ready for glueing and screwing too. The longest job tomorrow will be making the four legs and once they're done everything can be taken to the railway room and secured in place - hoorah, hooray and huzzah! I did a dry run with the wall-side piece as it's the one where the Big Beam cuts through it - it's not as bad as I originally thought - a small cut out and the job will be jobbed - all for tomorrow. I hope I shall get it completed in the morning as apparently the weather is changing - coming from the UK so the meteorologists say. Thundery and rain with a marked drop in temperature. More updating tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Hello @CameronL. I hope you'll stay with us until the end of the journey. I went back to the beginning of the thread and the previous one, but I think all the pictures that were before a certain date were lost in the great backup burnout last year (or was it the year before already?). I was dismayed to see that all this kicked off in 2017 and still no track is laid! But I'm getting there, thanks to the RMWeb collective. It took me much, much longer than I imagined dithering about and the angst of the right plan and then actually doing the work creating the space in the barn for the layout, topped by COVID and a lack of building materials just when I needed them! Here is the plan. It was created in SCARM - it used to be free but if you need to create a large plan you'll have to purchase a licence. I did as it was worthwhile. The software allowed heights and gradients of the tracks to be calculated and these I then transferred into SketchUp Make (which is still free, I believe). There is a selection of 3D views following the track plan: ^ This plan follows the awkward shape of the room. The space had been created, so why not use it? The overall measurements are 8.2m x 6.4m approx. No board is deeper than 900mm otherwise I wouldn't be able to reach to the other side due to having short arms (and deep pockets - old joke). BTW, where did Julius Caesar keep his armies? .............. up his sleevies! (Brian Cant - Playschool circa pre-Boer War probably). The layout will be a roundy-roundy with two through station based on real locations (as were), Ledbury is still in use (top of the plan) but has no goods yard and Pontrilas. This latter station was removed in the 60s but the building was not demolished and is a guest house and apparently a good place for spotting. The signal box remains as is one refuge siding. No curve on the layout is less than 1000mm radius (3' 3" approx.) Each station had a branch line, the Ledbury one going to Gloucester and that Pontrilas ending at Hay-on-Wye via the Golden Valley. (The Golden Valley possibly was named after the Dore Abbey which is a corruption of the French 'Abbaye D'Or' - the golden abbey - my guess, haven't checked). The two branchlines connect at a double track through station called Dymented (temporarily) that will allow trains from either station to terminate and go back (prototypically) or keep going to the the other mainline station (not prototypical). Though the branchlines were never connected, the mainline still is via Hereford and Rule 1 will apply In the centre is a 4m long 14-road sector plate, which is yet to have detailed work done and will be the very last construction to be completed (I need the central space for storage of stock until I've finished doing the trackbed and wiring up). Here are the 3D views - look great don't they? I just hope the real model will look similar 'cos if my woodworking has set out my stall .................... :(. ^ This a view of the Ledbury viaducts - there is only one in reality - but I wanted to get the branch over to Dymented. To the right is Ledbury station and to the left is a small fiddle yard attached to Dymented station where I can hold some branchline stock. ^ This view is looking at Dymented form the Pontrilas station direction. The mainline sweeps up a gradient partially in cutting (as the real line does) with the branchline dropping down towards Dymented. ^ This is Pontrilas station as was in about 1900. The station was extended by demolishing the water tower. The water tower wasn't re-erected until the 1940s and IIUIC water was pumped up from the River Dore. I liked the station with the water tower so I kept it. I haven't shown the goods shed here (nor indeed at the the other two stations!). ^This view shows the approach to Ledbury tunnel with the signal box protecting the single line tunnel. I wanted to keep this single bore tunnel so to give some operational interest. Here you will really need to pay attention to the signals before entering - otherwise 'Bad Things'(TM) may happen! You can also see in the centre where the mainline crosses over the A465 and the River Dore. Compression has dictated that the bridges be close together whereas in real life they seem to be at least 1/4mile apart (400m). Neither does this part of the mainline access Ledbury - it would be geographically impossible - whereas the other end of Pontrilas could link to Ledbury via Hereford (you'll see 'Hereford' mentioned in the previous post). ^ We've arrived back to Ledbury via the tunnel and into the deep cutting that had been created to form the station yard. Finally, a view of the proposed 14-road sector plate. Why so big? Just a lot of stock and nowhere to store it and it may as well be on show and used (even if not prototypically correct for the region/time period): Cheers everyone, more tomorrow, Philip

@JeffP My brother with whom I spoke yesterday mentioned that they'd had six weeks fairly continuous poor weather in the Cardiff area. Whilst I don't really fancy a cold wet summer, we really do need the rain. I'm really saddened to see that you and your wife cannot now come to France so easily as before. @Andy Hayter I've never seen an exclusion mentioning sea-level as a criterion - they're having you on, Shirley! Our paint hasn't held well on our shutters either, despite it being a good quality paint (complete with a proper RAL number). I put it down to the constant swelling and shrinking of the wood due to the extremes of temperature/dryness/humidity. I did once buy in B&Q some their own brand micro-porous paint that I used in our bathroom/shower room back in the UK. It seemed to last forever and that was subject to damp/dry on a daily basis. I can't seem to find any over here - probably has some forbidden/carcinogenic/other/nameyourpoison compound in it! The good news is that the last but one infill module (N) has been completed and put in place, levelled and secured. There was an alarming space on the one side between the adjacent modules despite measuring at least twice! Nevertheless, the securing bolts soon drew all the modules together so I'm happy with that. Here are some pictures and our little train journey will set the scene: ^ TaaaDaaaaaa ....... Module N in place and bolted. I did say levelled but any final levelling will be via the trackbed and the modules are just shaped frames indicating how and where the landform will be. ^ Module N covers most of the Dymented station area - we're looking at the Pontrilas end of the twin platforms. To the left, on the upper level is the double track mainline. As this is my make-believe/Rule 1 zone, I intend to have the mainline cut through a rocky outcrop with brick retaining walls at the back of the Dymented platforms. The back story is that the mainline company wasn't allowed running powers by the branchline company - due to an resolved dispute between various parties - and the mainline company built their track over the branch line - but at a cost geologically speaking. ^ Here our train will have left Pontrilas (behind and left of the camera) climbing the bank towards 'Hereford', the flat part on the right. The mainline here is bounded to both sides by the stop-ends of the relief sidings/loops. To the left is the Golden Valley branch that has now dropped down towards Dymented. At the other end of the module we can see the mainline on the right and the flat station area to the left. Beyond, at the Ledbury/'Hereford' end of Module O, we can see where the mainline will start to cross over the branch line (here, it'll be the fictitious alignment of the Gloucester branch from Ledbury). The branch will have completed it's drop from Ledbury at this point. The mainline will also commence it's drop down to Ledbury, crossing over the brick arched viaduct in the corner module (P) waaaaaay in the background. Can you imagine all of that? Can you? If you can, you're all doing better than me!!!!! :)))) An early start again tomorrow morning before things heat up, should see the two sides of the last infill module made up - they're cut to shape and now need the strengtheners glued and screwed plus glue blocks. These last items plus the leg pockets are already done. Then the ends, and away we go ...... upwards and onwards! Cheers everyone, take care and don't get rusty from being out in all that damp weather, Philip

Oh my! It's another hot'un today. Mrs Philou took pity on me and suggested that I work on one of the sun-decks that are shaded until around 11 o'clock (our time) and she even got a sunshade out of the barn for me so that I had shade 'til lunchtime. After walking the dog I managed about 30mins more work, but I've had to give up for today. The sun is so hot that it stings the skin even through the sunshade. In @Andy Hayter's region they're having over 40°! Given the height where he is, it may be a little cooler - let's hope so. I did get two sides and and end assembled with battens and glue-blocks and I also cut some leg-pockets fascias ready for drilling and assembling tomorrow. I've to do one length of batten for the other end piece and the whole module should be complete in the morning - yay! More updating tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

As by way of a diversion, those of you who may not have seen a motorised unicycle, I took a few photos on Friday of Mrs Philou's son about to embark on a 20 mile (35 km) journey. He was pleased and surprised that the Highways and Transportation Dept. of the Haute Saône have really been very busy and have constructed or resurfaced miles (kms) of cycleway mostly along the river bank - which he is allowed to use. I gave duff info a couple of days ago - the wheel is limited to 25kph and not 25mph. ^ It stands about 500mm all told. (Compare to our IKEA cupboard doors). The handle is just for manoeuvring off piste - not used when running. ^ There you go! One foot on the one foot-rest and the other on the ground ready to scoot off ............. ^ Going ..... going ...... gone and en route. Cheers and more updating tomorrow, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, TaaaaDaaaaaa!! Yes! One more infill module completed this morning, placed, levelled and secured to the adjoining ones. Two to go. At the moment I have Pontrilas and Ledbury station areas complete (in terms of modules). I really do hope that by the end of the week the other two will be completed. I'm keeping the one under the Big Beam (do you remember the Big Beam?) for last as the beam will cut into one of the sides and will need trimming as and when. It's too hot for any more work today and it's Sunday anyway. My neighbours opposite are lunching with friends and family and as their patio faces the street, I think it would be very unneighbourly of me if I made noise. Here's a photo and I'll take you on that little train journey: ^ Module K in place and it all seems to match. Even the levels are in the right direction! ^ Our train is arriving from the 'Hereford' direction aka Dymented and has just dropped down the bank, the mainline bounded each side by the relief sidings and to the left is the siding leading down to the Pontrilas Chemical Works and the little crank adjoining the mainline to the right is the Golden Valley branch running parallel. At the bottom of the embankment, again on the right is a shallow slope leading to the now ex-A465. ^ This is a view of the station throat where the lines and pointwork diverge, towards the camera, and cross accessing the goods yard and the branch platform bay. To the right is a lane that runs under the pointwork and the signal box ( the size of the road 'tunnel' is more of a cattle creep) linking the A456 and the chemical works. There are a couple of houses along the lane too. The ex-A465 runs tight against the foot of the embankment of the throat so much so that there is a substantial length of low retaining wall. The A465 eventually curves away and off the board near the camera. In the background is the mainline curving away on a rising grade off towards 'Hereford'. The missing link just to the left in the background, is tomorrow's job. Today's apprentice is a young swallow who's managed to fly up from the main barn below whilst I had the cellar doors open. I've opened the Velux windows, but he hasn't yet understood that that is his escape route. He'll have to push off soon as they normally feed pretty regularly and besides which I don't want extra pooh on my boards taverymuch! Speak soon and more tomorrow. Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, I am about having returned from the club and peace and quiet has returned to the Mrs Philou abode. Good day at the club where one of the lads who's a bit of a whizz regarding electronics put in a pair of sound chips into a Dapol 68 and the driving unit of the Accurascale TPE unit for me ready for the club show later this year. I could have done it myself BUT I'm glad I didn't as there were some extra speakers to put in and the solder pads and wires were TINY! Sounded OK too. 🤯 I did end the day yesterday with enough parts pre-assembled to make up a complete module. This should be finished tomorrow, so I'll keep the real update for then (provided the weather isn't as hot and clammy as today - 35 in the shade!) Yikes! Cheers everyone, Philip

@lezz01 There is no seat at all - you stand on a pair of foot supports with the wheel throbbing between your legs - ooer, missus. As for being a death trap, it is limited to 25mph (40kph) and restricted to cycleways outside of any built up areas (technically). I haven't heard of any deaths or serious injuries caused by these machines, but perhaps @Andy Hayter might have seen or heard of some in his part of France. Given the max speed, I doubt if injuries caused by falling off would be any worse than on a bicycle. Push bikes can and do go faster! He's kitted out with a proper m'bike crash helmet, knee and elbow protection pads, reinforced gloves plus appropriate footwear. The wheel is also kitted out with its own head and tail light. Today's adventure was sluggish to say the least as the weather is still hot and sticky. Nonetheless, I do have six sides and six end pieces for the outstanding three infill modules plus the right number of legs cut. I managed to make up some battens too. Tomorrow should see glue blocks and pocket fronts made up. After that? We'll see as it's going to be even warmer, but I intend to have the 12 pockets assembled and the legs completed with their feet before we go out tomorrow evening. For an out in the sticks place, our Big Town tries to do things to attract people and they have a very active astronomy society and so Mrs Philou and I are going star-gazing (must remember my binoculars) - all pre-booked as there are not many places available. It may well be the Perseides shooting star night too (or is it another one?) that occurs around this time of the year. There probably won't be an update tomorrow night for the above mentioned reason and Saturday's may be late as Mrs Philou's son, DiL and daughter are off back to Paris in the evening and I'm out clubbing - yay- for most of the day and it'll be chaos when I get back from there!! Cheers everyone, not long to the weekend! Philip

He was on a forest track and well away from other people when it had made a strange 'chirping'. He was quite safe and rather adept at this wheel malarkey. It stopped before he did. Touched a command unknowingly. These connected things - they'll never take off!