Philou

Hello chaps and chapesses, Slow but steady. I got started this afternoon on the ribs and managed to get four of them in place - only another 50-odd to do ;) . I have a photo showing how I tackled the angled angle: ^ All a bit Heath Robinson - I cut two pieces of angle of a correct length and glued them along two sides of the rib that too, had been pre-cut to length and notches cut to oversail the two horizontal angles along the top and bottom webs (draws breath). The rib, together with the two angles was then glued on the pencil line. Then taking the length of angle in the photo above, a notch was cut on just one part of the angle to allow it to bend. A tiniest drop of MEK was applied to the rib at the end of the pre-glued angle and the short piece of angle put into place - it didn't always work first time. By applying gentle pressure on the long piece of angle, the tiny piece was wedged against the first angle and then the long piece glued on the web. This was repeated for the other three angles, though it became unwieldy once there was more than three long bits of angle wobbling about. The MEK had softened the plastic and I couldn't cut the excess straight away as intended. I modified this latter part by notching the angle and once happy that it would bend as required, I cut the piece off leaving about 10mm with which to hold and push into place. The short excess was cut off after a couple of hours (surprising how long it takes to go-off) and then sanded back using a fine grade nail sanding block (things you find in a make-up kit!). This one side should be finished tomorrow, logging notwithstanding. As it rained copious amounts this pm, I doubt if we'll doing any wood for a day or two. Cheers everyone and stay safe, Philip

Evening all, There wasn't anything to report yesterday as it was a day in the woods with M. le Maire splitting and piling those pesky logs. Just one tree left to do. As there wasn't any wood to be done today, I thought I'd do some landscaping afer lunch - yah, real modelling with plaster and paper towels and water and PVA. Hands on job. That didn't happen as after doing the last of the decking, Mrs la Poste arrived with a very lightweight parcel that had no more than £30-worth of plastic angle in it asking for another tenner in VAT and collection fees - grrrr. As it had turned wet anyway, I went into the barn and got the bridge bits out and started the angles again and I now have all the plate girders angled up and as there was a little time left, I also started to cut the ribs to length, so I'm under steam again! Huzzah! More tomorrow and enjoy the weekend, Philip

Modelling never happened yesterday as it was a lovely spring day, almost a barbecue day but we didn't have any sausages or other suitable grilling food. So, what happened? Gardening, that's what. I started off pressure-hosing our decking as it had gotten covered in a green slime that had become slippery when wet - 'elf'n'safety' and all that. So one half was done before lunch and then it was coup de grace in the afternoon. Mrs Philou was pleased. This morning it was doing the other half - all done before lunch. I have another deck to do in the next couple of but not tomorrow as out in the woods again log splitting and piling - hey ho - never a dull moment. It isn't all bad as I have a smile on my face - see > :) as this afternoon I tackled the awkward centre girder doing a cut'n'shut by taking 6mm off at the level of the deck-plate, working on the assumption that the angle will cover the cut line and re-inforce it as well. I've had a dry run with the rolling stock and the bodywork now oversails the top of the girder - I kept the curved top. The bonus is I can maintain the trackwork at 45mm centres throughout but I shan't be putting the baulks on a curve (24m radius - so a very flat curve anyway). Here we go, a picture for you: ^ There you have it - 6mm sliced out and then re-glued. I can recycle the slice as a flange. ^ This is the slime we get in the winter - admittedly here is the worst place as it doesn't get much sun even in the summer and even then only late in the afternoon. Not helped by a flock of about forty sparrows that over-winter in the ivy just above. Comes up nice and clean, though I shall need to get some treatment down before it gets too hot - but that's for another day. Cheers everyone, Philip

Funnily enough, the surfacing as is, is crying out at some sort of waste land - informal parking area - why not. As BoD said, bushes, undergrowth, brambles. Otherwise, junk? Scrap? I doubt if I could get a surface like that if I tried! It's crying out for water-filled pot-holes and the like. Unloved but beautifully re-created with TLC.

Not only that, @Oldddudders, but real life gets in the way too! Yesterday was going to be some retaining wall work, but it ended up as being pressure-washing our decking yesterday morning, followed by a coup de grace in the afternoon. This morning, more pressure washing, though I might get to do a modelling afternoon. Tomorrow is out in the woods splitting logs and piling up ready for stockpiling as winter fuel for years 2024 AND 2025!

To add to my earlier comment, my boards are 900mm (a nadge under 3') and without the aid of a hop-up, I cannot reach the outer edge. I've even made the boards in the corners curved so to maintain a maximum stretch of 900mm. The fiddle yard is wider but as it's on a peninsula, it'll be accessible from both sides. You might want to have a look at this layout (not mine) being constructed in an ex-chapel. It's big and yet despite the size of the building, they cannot get it all in - just to give some idea of the dimensions needed: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/128568-hills-of-the-north-the-last-great-project/page/ If you want to plough through 42 pages to see where I'm at, here's mine: Good luck in whatever you decide to do - @Harlequin and others of the RMWeb cognoscenti will no doubt be able to give you helpful advice. Philip

Go for it! BUT, do you have the space, time and money to see it through? I'm doing presently my one and only layout and for me it's big, but nowhere near as big as Pete Waterman's latest. I have a space of about 8.2m x 6.4m within which to build it. I'm into year three - well nearly four - started during Covid. One year ago, after building the room first, I started doing the boards and whilst they're done, I haven't yet started any track laying whatsoever. It takes FOREVER! I just hope that my biological clock isn't going to time me out first. The upside is that I can have not one but two stations at prototypical lengths (there is a third one but that's my Rule 1 station). Both stations can accommodate full sized HSTs, but the one does have the last two coaches outside of the platforms - as per the prototype having grandfather rights. You will need somewhere to park your stock, otherwise it'll be lift-on, lift-off with all the problems that follow. Do think it through before you press the commit button! Cheers, Philip

C'mon Philou, stop messing about. What about this OH!! moment. Well, you'll have to look at the photos below: ^ Not one train on a bridge, but two. There are baulks to go underneath and the whole of the track will raised by about 6mm. So? What's the problem - do get on with it ....... ^ This is the problem - our friend clearance. There's less than 2mm freeboard between the coaches and the girders and they're not the widest stock that is intended to run through this bridge - that's why OH!! I have options, quite a few: Give up. Well, that's not really an option and not really me either. Hard option. Cut the outer plate girders down to about 10mm above railhead and then crank each outwards by about 4mm. Quite doable but it'll mean an awful lot of fillets to be made up. Positively, they'll all be the same and I can incorporate them whilst doing the stiffeners. Easiest option (and this is why I didn't chuck it all in the bin) is to cut the central girder down to about 10mm above rail height so that the bodies of the rolling stock can clear the girder. The downside is I'll lose the curved top (or I could cut'n'shut and have the top of the curve no more than 10mm above). If I cut really carefully in the first sub-option, I may recover the laminated curve and flatten it. There is a photo of a flat topped central girder a few pages back. Hey ho - a bit of a set back but nothing that a sharp scalpel and some glue can't fix. I'm having a day off plasticard and going back to proper card to start dressing up the retaining wall in the first photo just above. Cheers everyone, more tomorrow, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, After my message of yesterday, I did take some photos but I felt it was too late to be bashing the keyboard so they're up today. Not much modelling happened but a lot of 'behind the scenes' was done. As the side and centre plates were done and so was the deck, I thought I ought to have a dry run and fit the bridge in the space intended on the layout. My first real afternoon in the railway room! A palaver ensued as the plates were now longer than the 'ole and trimming of the trackbed followed - I had already foreseen that it was a probability. After much up'n'down the stairs, things were happening and finally everything fitted together - then I had an OH!! moment - but more of that further on below v. The photos so far: ^ This is the stiffener to the inside face. The foot meets the deck plate. I did have a photo of the two but it was quite crap poor. ^ This is the stiffener on the outer edge of the girder. Looks OK and you can see all the angles that I mentioned yesterday. They're fine but it'll take a while to get them all cut then glued. ^ These are the girders in-situ without the bridge decking - some trimming of the plywood trackbed had been done to get this far. ^ A bit more trimming later and the deck together with the bridge deck fitted - can't say perfectly but the bridge isn't glued together yet and won't be until all the stiffeners are attached - just waiting to take delivery of the additional angle. ^ Here's an underside shot and looks much better than the one of last week. The grease bearings will need to be attached to the underside of the girders that'll raise them about 1mm off the abutments. Bits of concrete coloured paper will also need to be glued over the engineering bricks to imitate the pads under the bearings. Now what about the OH!! ? Oh, there's no room for the next set of photos, so you'll have to wait with baited breath (just like in the pictures on a Saturday morning) until the next installment......................

Hello chums and chumesses, No photos today as it was a bit of a mixed bag overall. After posting up yesterday, I decided I'd tackle the ribbing (come to think of it, I think they're stiffeners) and I did the central one on the inner face by cutting some 0.5mm thick 'card (I didn't have any 0.3mm) into strips 3mm wide and re-cutting the one piece at the length required. I also cut a piece of my remaining angle to an appropriate length and then glued it alongside the pencil mark on the side girder. The rib was then placed against the angle and glued, followed by a second piece of angle on the other side of the rib forming a sandwich. Then the fun started cutting out some ever-so-tiny pieces of angle at an angle and then glueing them at an angle and horizontally against the top and bottom webs. I think a photo would have been more useful here - I'll do one tomorrow as it would have avoided all the 'angles'! This one rib took an hour! Most of the time was spent glueing the tiny bits in place. I was however reasonably happy with the result. This morning, as I still had just enough angle to do one more rib, I did the central one on the outer face. This time, having cut and fashioned the rib to length, I cut the angle slightly over-length allowing enough to do the 45° bends and horizontal bits. This was followed by cutting tiny bits out of the one part of the angle to allow it to bend. The long vertical part was glued to the rib and once set (it takes quite a few minutes) the 45° bends top and bottom were secured in place. It bent, but not quite as planned as the MEK weakened the angle where the cut had been made, leaving me with a tiny bit - the horizontal part - in my hand. I then had to glue that separately. Rinse and repeat at the bottom and then for the other side. Once all had 'gone off', the completed rib was then glued to the side plate. This rib only took 45mins! I have another 62 to do and I don't want to be doing them for the next 62 hours. Now I've started of course I'll finish it but I must find away of speeding up the process. This afternoon, I carried on with the other two plate girders. As I made mention above, they were slightly too short (why I have no idea as I'd already lengthened the card jigs - oh well!) and rather than re-cut two new ones, I decided to split them both and splice a new piece 20mm wide in each. I was really chuffed at the result as I had cut them slightly higher than the originals and then sanded them to size (on a curve) once set. I also lightly sanded down the surfaces along the glue joints and you could hardly see where the parts had been stitched together. Any marks will disappear once sprayed and painted. I then spent what daylight time was left 'framing' the girders with the webs. I have the top web to finish tomorrow in good light and they too will be ready for their angles and ribs. I was on a roll and a bit disappointed that bad light stopped play - it was time to eat anyway. Not sure what progress I can make tomorrow as I may be out earning my woodsman's badge if the weather is dry. Photos tomorrow and stay safe, Cheers, Philip

Hello chaps and chapesses, I hope I find you all well. I have some more photos. Over the last few days when real life allowed it, I tackled the one plate girder side that was of a good length - funnily it's the longest piece that is correct. I am amazed how much plasticard is munged through when building things. I have come to realise that my paltry six pieces of 1.2 x 1.2mm angle is nowhere near enough to do the one side, let alone all three! I need at least another 1.0m just to do the side stiffeners/ribs along the plate girder. It'll be rinse and repeat for the other side and the central girder - though less materials will be needed as they're shorter, much shorter than the long one. Here we go: ^ This was the state of play at the end of the afternoon. The angle had been glued to the top of the girder that is curved and another section placed at 9.5mm from the bottom of the plate. This angle forms the join between the bridge deck and the plate girder. The pencil marks represent the joins of the plates and guides as to where the ribbing/strengtheners are to be placed. On this face, they will only reach as far as the deck itself and not go through. On the outer faces the ribs will go from top to bottom. Having seen the pictures of the collapsed bridge (further back ^) and the accident report, the bottom of the ribs/strengtheners are rivetted directly to the deck. I've added the angle as a guide (see below). ^ A dry run of the plate and deck together. Thanks to the angle and the flange (hidden by the deck) it all clips together. Once I've done those pesky ribs and sorted the alignment for the baulks, it can then be glued - subject to the central girder being finished first. ^ Here we have this afternoon's work. The top and bottom webs have been attached with additional strengthening plates as per the originals. I've also scored the deck along the line of the cross-member on the underside, to represent the deck plates. The pencils marks are an aid to locating the ribs with their respective heights - saves measuring everything again. The ribs will be cut from 0.3mm thick plasticard 3mm wide with a 1.5 x 1.5mm cut-out top and bottom to pass over the angles. Now comes the hard bit: I'll need to cut the angle to length, allowing for the 'nick' top and bottom and then two very small bits of angle to form the returns over the deck and under the top flange. Rinse and repeat for both sides of each rib - hence I need 1.0m just for this side plate. ^ Here's the outer edge where the ribs will go all the way from flange to flange. I'll need to order some RailTec rivets to finish it all off. You can see clearly in this shot the gradual thickening of the top and bottom flanges as they approach the centre of the side plate. The deck is made from 3mm thick plasticard (I made mention of this already) with the side girders in 0.75mm thickness. The flanges are 0.5mm thick. The cross-members are 5mm square tube with flanges top and bottom, and 6.0mm channelling as closure at each end. You can just make out the strengthening plates mid-way on the flanges. There's also angle along both sides to allow more surface on which to glue. Before I started glueing the flanges on, the side plate was very wibbly-wobbly and it is surprising (to me anyway) how it is now quite rigid with the flanges in place. I'm a bit stuck at the moment without my angle - but more is on its way from the UK. There seems to be a bit of a shortage of 1.2 x 1.2mm angle. Is the whole world + dog building plate girder bridges at the moment :)) ? I might have a go at doing the one rib as I have just enough angle left over, but that will be that for today otherwise. Cheers everyone, Philip

One of the Ranelagh's is on display at Lord and Butler's in Cardiff, if you're going thataway ...................... Very nice layout in a very small space.

I'm not that friend, but I'm doing Pontrilas. I didn't know about Bucks Hill when I started off, and I wouldn't have thought to look at a name under anything else but Pontrilas. Too late now as the layout is well under construction ................................ Cheers, Philip PS: If anyone is interested look under 'Dymented'. Progress is slooooow at the moment but a bit is being done daily ..............

Hello chums and chumesses, Busy, busy, busy - but not in a modelling sort of way, alas! Out in the woods again, spring clean in the barn as M. le Carpenter did come as he said he would and the barn door is now re-hung and opens up very sweetly. This morning it was emptying the trailer that was overflowing with stuff to go to the tip - er - recycling centre, sorting the rubbish - er - recyclable materials into groups and orf we went. that was the morning done (again) and in the afternoon more log splitting. We're doing M. le Maire's trees and the one, that has taken two days to split and pile, has given a volume of about 15m3 - say 12T of wood - just the one tree! There wasn't a lot of time for modelling but the now two bridge decks are done including the angles that will connect with the side plate girders. I have the flanges to do this evening and that'll be the decks done. The fun will now be making the sides fit - two are too short so I'll have to redo them. The plasticard won't be wasted as they can be recut into strips as flanges to the side plate girders. I have some pictures: ^ The decks placed temporarily in position. The side plate girders to be done next. There are also the baulks to do, but later. ^ An underside shot. On reflection, I was too cautious regarding the cross-members. I could have used something of a smaller section. The bottom flanges await to be done. They're all cut ready to be glued. I'll need to fabricate some grease bearings to go on the underside of each of the plate girders - just two small squares of plasticard each. I must also remember to add some coloured paper to the top of the bridge abutment to represent the concrete supports to the bearings. That's all folks for this evening. Cheers, Philip

@Andy Hayter Now you are being tease - do tell. Where is your layout to be based? How big? You know, the usual questions ;)) ............ It's looking good, but I don't think it's GWR .................. If it's any use, Brassmasters make a whole range of windows (in brass, natch) if you want sash-type or cast iron windows. They're made to fit the Scalescenes DIY buildings (it may be the buildings were conceived to make use of the windows) but not limited to them. Cheers, Philip PS: I note the doors to your 'grange' are nicely weathered too :))

Hello chaps and chapesses, Hope you all had a good weekend. I have some pictures for you, nothing much, but progress is being made: ^ These are the two bridge decks that took me an age yesterday to cut out. I did find my scroll saw but as it had never been unboxed, it had to be all assembled and I thought it quicker to cut and snap. That wasn't such a good idea as the plasticard was so thick I had to cut through quite a lot (top and bottom) before it would snap. I got there eventually. Today, I had to clear the barn of some of the collected detritus as the carpenter is coming around (finally!) to tackle the barn door that lost one of its hinges. He's coming tomorrow to see what tools he needs to do the work and then coming on Tuesday to actually do the work. By the time I'd put things away and swept up all the sawdust and waste wood and then started yet another bonfire to burn it all, all the morning had gone in a puff of smoke. However, as I'd done a lot of cutting other bits of plasticard a couple of days ago, I managed to do this in the afternoon: ^ It's the underside of one half of the deck. This particular piece was in two parts that was simply butt-glued together with a flange to one of the cross-members strategically placed to reinforce the join. I have done all the cross-members and placed the track reinforcing girders. There are some missing, but as they're shorter, I need a pair of tweezers to hold them in place while I run a fillet of Butanone to secure them. There are angles to be cut and glued along the sides to help hold the deck to the side plate girders. Once that's done then I can fix the top flange (as we see the deck above) to the cross members. I'm not going to detail all the underside with rivets as they won't be seen ever again, just the bottom flange (deck right way up). I'll reserve the rivets to detail the upper part of the deck and plate girders. I shan't have much modelling time tomorrow as it'll be into the woods again doing some more log-splitting. More tomorrow :)), Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, Finally got under way yesterday and made better progress today. I cut out the side plates and all the cross-members plus track supporting girders (not sure if they have a proper name). Tomorrow will be a no go-er unfortunately as I have real life matters to attend in the morning and log splitting with M. le Maire in the afternoon. I'm happy to do the log splitting as the wood is for me anyway for use this coming winter. I have a picture for you: ^ WUT? It's the cross-members all cut to length and chamfered where necessary. They're loose-laid on the card jig just to make sure that I have the right number and cut to the correct lengths. I hadn't yet cut all the supporting rails at the time of taking the photo, but they're all done too and they fit at right angles to the cross-members aligned with the rails above. You can see the dashed lines. At a suitable moment either tomorrow or Saturday, I shall cut out the deck plate (same shape as the card above) out of my 3mm Plasticard and re-mark the markings but on the underside so I can start glueing the cross-members (with their flanges) to it plus the supporting under-rails. As the 3mm 'card is very stiff, I may cheat and cut the central girder length-ways and glue one part underneath and the other on top. This may be easier and sturdier than building what would be two bridges side by side glued to the central girder. Any thoughts? Unanswerable question as it's moot. I thought I'd better check and the size of the plasticard has determined that I have to make it as two bridges anyway - the one side being made up in two sections due to its length - drat! Next question: How to cut the thick plasticard? As some of the cuts are on a curve will it snap to the curve or shall I just cut through with my trusty Stanley or even my jig-saw with a fine blade? BTW, I didn't find my razor saw but a did remember having a junior hacksaw in my plumbing kit. Did the job! And I've just remembered in my stack of tools, I have a scroll saw that I bought over 10 years ago and never used. Now would be the time to dust it down and cut that plasticard! I feel better now, a clear road ahead. Cheers everyone - the weekend is just around the corner, Philip

Not a lot of progress to report as it took a while to mark out my card as a cutting jig for the Plasticard bits - there's hundred's of 'em quite a few bits and I can't find my razor saw (I haven't seen it in ages so may well be in the UK) and I shall now have to order a new one. I'll have to look back ^ as I remember some Czech ones were recommended. I shall also get an X-acto one too. Some Blu-tak will come in handy. The new longer card sides for the plate girders have been prepared as jigs and so the sides in Plasticard can be cut out later tomorrow. Slow progress, but it's moving forwards. Cheers, Philip

Possibly. If you're modelling UK brickwork, Flemish, garden, common or whatever bond, depending when the wall was built, so will the depth of the mortar joint vary. Only in recent times has it become trendy to have deeply recessed joints (saves mortar but exposes more brick to weathering and potential frost damage) whereas the joints would have been flush or recessed to 1/2" (about 0.15mm @ 4mm scale) and can't really be seen when viewed from 2' (600mm). I find the plasticard offerings are recessed too much even for 4mm scales. Just my tuppence worth. Cheers, Philip

Oooh ..... a tempting morsel. I shall look forward to seeing it, whatever 'it' is. Oh ho, what's that then? \/ ^ As I said yesterday, a bridge-in-a-bag.......... ^ It is a bridge kit without any instructions. There are various thickness of 'card' from 0.5m to 3mm, square and rectangular tubes, channelling, 'I's and very small angle. I did have a plan but I think the concept plan and what is on the ground are not quite the same so I need a couple of hours to re-measure and check the 3D plan before knife meets plasticard. I'm so glad I didn't start bending tiny bits of card for the angles and then to find it was WRONG. I bought out the stock of angle so I probably will have to GSI. I found that some of the sites selling plasticard don't make easy for picking out the sizes needed. The angle profile will be for the - well - angles between the side plates and the top and bottom flanges and at the edge of each individual plate. The plated side will be made up from 0.75mm 'card' with 0.5mm flanges along top, bottom and sides. I have some thinner 'card' for the reinforcing webs along the plate sides. The square tube will be used as the cross-members underneath - I'm cheating here as it ought to be a simple girder made of rivetted flanges, angle and a single web - nothing will be really visible, so who's to know? The 'I' pieces will be the rolled girders between each cross-member that will be laid directly below the running lines under each rail. I did notice on the real thing, part of the top flange of the rolled girder was removed to make a snug fit within the cross members and maintain contact with the underside of the plate supporting the track. The rectangular tube will be used to simulate the baulks. I may use a bit of 0.5mm to pack under one side of the baulks to simulate the cant. The grey 'card' measuring 3mm will be the plate used as the track 'bed'. It is quite stiff as I didn't want it to flex with the weight of any loco passing over. I also have some channelling to form the wotsit joining each plate along the top of the abutments (there is a name for it and it has escaped me at the mo'). It has come to mind that the only thing I have missing is some blu-tak to hold the bits together while applying the MEK with a fine paintbrush (I have plenty of them - somewhere :) ). Question for @lezz01: I have come back with 50% MEK - is it going to be too strong for the thinner material and do I have to dilute it? Re-measure it is and make a start, Cheers, Philip

I saw on the news this evening that there was a lot of snow in parts, but I didn't think that you would be affected as bad as that. Pity you can't use it as an excuse to do some modelling!

Hello chaps and chapesses, I did manage to do a little work in the barn - but got waylaid again this morning - this time by Mrs Philou who wanted to do some gardening whilst it was dry and warm (a balmy 15°) and as I had commandeered the wheel-barrow for 'other things', she needed it toot-de-sweet. Some emptying of my bits ensued followed by carting some loads of earth around for her and that was the morning done. I cut the last remaining wall to size and fixed it to its glue-blocks and is now ready for further decorating. I'm glad I did do that as it has shown that the card sides to the bridge that I cut out some time ago are too short and will not meet the pilasters as erected. A pretty minor but major detail that I now need to take into account when constructing the bridge in plasticard - once stuck, it's stuck! I may have to re-do the pilasters as well - but they're in card and easy enough to replicate - bit annoying but it's not a major disaster as everything is demountable. I didn't hang about in the barn as I felt it was getting cold. Colour me surprised, in an hour the outside temperature had fallen to 8°!! In warming up inside, I was browsing a thread on RMWeb (Fatal that. Don't. Just don't.) I had missed, and got engrossed - more modelling time disappeared - hey ho. Tomorrow, I shall open my bag of bits - bridge-in-a-bag, I suppose - and then moan I haven't enough of this or that. Once I've re-dimensioned the bridge side and centre plates, I shall get cracking! More tomorrow, Cheers, Philip

Hello chums and chumesses, 'Tis done! I completed the wall this evening, gave it a going-over with my pastels and a waft of spray varnish later ................... taa daa: ^ Once the photos were taken, the two parts were taken into the barn and screwed into place and they fitted together, can't even see the join! I wonder if I should go the whole hog and add details such as downpipes now as later will be more difficult once things like station platforms are placed in front of the wall. What do you think regarding the question I posed yesterday of adding lighting? (I meant to take a photo of ones I did earlier). As for the next step - I shall probably start the bridge, but it's years since I actually used plasticard so I'll have a short learning curve of how to cut and bend the stuff without too much waste. However, before I do do that, I really ought to set up the last retaining wall that will sit alongside the sidings at Dymented as I did see a part of the upper level track bed that needed fettling to allow the wall to sit square. Once that's set up, I can do the arches and decorating later. Now we're moving! More tomorrow, Philip

Hah! Well, I was on my own today but did I have more time to myself? You know the answer ............... It turned out to be 'help the neighbour day' again. My opposite neighbour is having fibre to the door (as we did a few weeks ago) but the technicians turned up yesterday and gave up try to thread their draw-wire through the previously laid ducting - blockage somewhere along way. 'Nah mate' (or the French equivalent) 'We're going to have to come back with an excavator and expose the ducting even it means digging up the flowers beds and that nice new drive laid last year in blockwork and trench into your garage ...... '. Armageddon basically and they're both in their eighties so M. le Gendarme (retired) decided to help and did I have a ladder so that he could go down into a manhole where the ducting popped out of ground before popping back in. Yes I did and did he want a hand (he had a shoulder joint replacement last year and is not as mobile)? It was an interesting couple of hours this afternoon pushing and pulling the draw-wire into the duct that was full of water and goodness knows what else and finally between us we pushed through three blockages and onwards and upwards into his house. The other end of the draw-wire was threaded into the duct in the opposite direction and out it popped in the street next to the pole from where the fibre will make its connection - that bit was done in minutes. Three old guys did in two hours what three strapping young technicians couldn't do in a whole morning ...... pffff, the yoof of today, mumble mumble .......... I did do a little more modelling, but I still have the cappings, copings and corbels (I said plinths yesterday) to do, but I do have a photo of the whole of the supporting wall that will be behind the platform at Dymented: ^ The peg is holding a bit of buttress in place whilst drying. This is the return of the wall where within which the waiting shelter of the platform will be placed. The return will not be fixed permanently to the already finished wall in case I need access to any electrical gubbins under the track on the upper level. ^ Here's more or less the whole of the retaining wall behind the platform (I don't know if it'll be the up or down line :)) ). There's a bit of wing wall to add at the very end where the retaining wall becomes embankment in the direction of Pontrilas. Nearest the camera will be the one ramp and way over at the far end will be the other ramp. The length of the platform, including the ramps, will be about 1.6m - long enough for a decent branch-line train. All-in-all, despite the untimely cry for help, I'm quite pleased with the outcome for today. As there's no club tomorrow, there'll be no excuse for not finishing the wall by tea-time. Question: Do you think the railway company (GWR influenced) would have put lamps attached to the wall or placed them independently on the platform? I can do the former easily enough as I have a whole load of LEDs that I can form into swan-necked lamps with a white-painted metal reflector made from card. Cheers everyone, Philip

Received a photo of one of these from my go-to railway emporium with just the words: 'These arrived today. Stunning.' If he says that, then they must be pretty good. I am very tempted ...................