mjcampbell

Track looks good, but there's a slight kink visible at the toe of the point where you have seen issues. Check this is resolved satisfactorily before proceeding! I've laid track down to 5.5" radius before, the tricks are: Remove the rails from the sleepers and pre-bend them - bending between fingers gently and slowly to approximately the radius required. Keep placing the rail on a flat surface to check you are bending in the horizontal plane only - no twist Slide the sleepers back on - this is fiddly but may be easier if you cut the sleepers into short sections Cut the webbing between sleepers under the outside rail. This allows them to fan out with the radius and remain perpendicular to the rails, rather than twisting which can look odd, resist the curvature, and cause gauge narrowing at this radius After all that the track should be close to the desired radius. I then glue it down with PVA, holding the shape with track pins next to the rails/sleepers rather than through the sleepers. Once the glue is dry you can remove the track pins. Insulfrog points can cause issues at low speeds, I'd avoid them on a shunting layout but I don't think it will be a big issue on this fun little layout!

I use fine granite ballast, I think intended for N-gauge. But the look of the ballast varies by line, and even by location - sheds and yards often had ash ballast, very fine and dark. I've used sand or sand/plaster mixes before (applied dry). I'd recommend painting the rails rusty brown first (not orange or red - I used Humbrol 113 I think). Make sure the rail sides and foot are covered well, including inside. Clean the tops and top inside edge with paper towel or even a block of wood while wet, then clean properly with a fibreglass stick or track rubber afterwards. Don't worry about getting a little paint on the chairs, but try not to coat the sleepers. Next for a really good effect, dry-brush the sleepers with a grey-brown, though not essential. After ballasting is done and dry, apply a thin wash of track brown to the ballast and sleepers. You can use cheap acrylic for this. It tones everything together, removes the over-clean look of the ballast and the shine of the plastic sleepers. It is very easy and quick to do, just make it well thinned - you can always add a second coat. In yard areas I sometimes add sand to the ballast to fill the gaps and make it look clogged, then paint dark grey to represent ash. IMG_5956 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr

Very nice. Does the Ruston run well without the match truck?

Ooh, pretty. I don't draw the wires on my wiring diagrams, just the connections they make. Not as pretty though. If I've got it right the blue circles are the point operating switches, with yellow wires to the servos, and red to the frog. However is not the input to the lower side of the second point the frog output of the first? Or does it not work that way with a 3-way point? (Would a 3-way rotary switch be better for a 3-way point?)

Indeed, but I usually forget. That's why I like solenoids, I can change them right in front of the moving train when I realise I forgot to earlier, and they change instantly! OK, don't take operating procedure from me...

One thing to watch is that the frog polarity will change instantly with the switch, whereas the point blades will take time to move. Assuming you've not isolated the blades from the frog, that means a momentary short will occur. As you are not using DCC it won't cause any real issues (and I know of at least one person who uses a similar method), but best to change points while the train is not moving.

Ah, pull-string technology! Simple, but little to go wrong. Might have to copy that...

The drop-down magnets look interesting, how do you bring them up?

I'd get a sheet of foam-core board - it's polystyrene sandwiched between thin card, 5mm thick. You can cut it with a knife, and glue it with a hot glue gun. It would be easy to cut the track-bed to shape, and cut vertical supports accurately to set the height, building up the structure accurately.

A gradient up to 1 in 30 should just about be manageable by short 009 trains, though it does depend on the loco and the weight of the train, and the sharp curves won't help. Do make sure gradient transitions are gradual to avoid uncoupling problems. 6mm ply will be sufficient as a track base if well supported, but you'll need lots of supports to ensure the correct gradient anyway.

I recently picked up a Bachmann WD Baldwin which should be a useful loco, but I need to fit couplings to match the Microtrains "buckeye" type I use on most of my 009 fleet. Unfortunately Microtrains don't make a version to fit the NEM coupler pockets fitted to this loco. I had hoped to remove the couplings and fit standard Microtrains into the recess, but I found the recess was about 1 mm too narrow for the Microtrains draft box, and the shaft in the centre too large to pass through the coupling. As this part of the loco is cast metal and close to the chassis I couldn't see how to open it up without risking damage. I did some searching. Dapol "Easi-shunt" buckeye couplings fit NEM sockets, however they are quite pricey, and from what I have read online they are not compatible with Microtrains. Bachmann make their own "EZ-mate" N-gauge buckeye coupling for the US market, and although there is no NEM version, from pictures it looked like the mounting was very similar to that used for the NEM bracket in the Baldwin loco. As they were reasonably priced I ordered some to try (type 78503). Comparing the "EZ-Mate" buckeye above to the coupling removed from the Baldwin the pivot with "whisker" springs appears very similar. So on to fitting to the loco... The guard-rail is removed from the front and rear with the tiny screw, which also frees the coupling. One of the guard rails appeared to have stuck in place (paint?), a little work with a knife and gentle leverage freed it. The EZ-mate coupling then just replaces the coupling and the guard rail and screw replaced. However, the trip pin fouls the track, and the coupling droops - it is too free to move vertically. So to restrict vertical movement a piece of plasticard was cut to fit the coupling recess with a 2 mm hole to clear the pivot shaft, and acts as a spacer or washer to support the coupling. The photo shows the rear coupling, and you can see graphite powder (Kadee lubricant) to help free movement. Once assembled the height of the trip pin was checked - is should just clear a piece of 10-thou plastic placed on the track. It was still a little low so the trip pin was pushed up through the coupling by about 1 mm. As you can see the result is couplings that match the height I set the Microtrains at (which I think is about 1 mm lower than they should be for US N-gauge), and despite a slightly different design, couples up with them and look similar. Coupling seems quite reliable, uncoupling is a little less so as the Bachmann coupling seems more reluctant to swing over a magnet than the Microtrains. I've tried to ensure they are free to swing, and if the spring is any more slack they wouldn't centre, so I'm not sure why. However testing suggests they work reasonably well. The delayed action is rather hit and miss as even if they uncouple, the Bachmann EZ-mate often doesn't swing far enough to not re-couple. So maybe this won't work for reliable delayed action shunting, but the conversion to couplings that are compatible with the Microtrains was relatively easy and didn't involve any non-reversible changes to the loco. Assuming other Bachmann 009 stock uses the same coupling mounting, I should be able to use the same EZ-mate couplings for easy conversion of those too.

Before my operation I figured I might be able to do some modelling while recovering, so to make that as easy as possible I sorted out various projects into some fruit trays, including easy tasks like plastic wagon kits, making and fitting couplings, through more complex repairs, adaptions, and detailing jobs. It means I have a choice of activities depending on what I feel up to, and without having to go looking. A relatively easy pick this week is this Welsh Highland coach from Dundas, which I figured would make a good preserved-era observation coach to run on Hexworthy. The kit is good quality and went together well, with just a little flash on the bogie mouldings that was easily cleaned. The instructions could have been clearer on how the seats went together, but I figured it out in the end. I decided not to fit glazing first as the instructions suggest - as that would make painting a real pain - but I can see cutting the glazing to fit each window will be the most fiddly part of the build. As you can see I did "open" some of the drop-frame windows by cutting away the upper part of the frame and gluing in a piece of microstrip at the part-open level. This isn't hard to do and gives the coach life. The day after assembling the body I found the sides bowing in already, so added some strengthening from 40-thou plastic, though I can see they won't help the fitting of glazing! Underneath the bogie securing nuts work loose quickly and will need fixing with glue. I'd prefer to see a captive nut in the floor myself. I trimmed the step support slightly to ensure plenty of bogie swing, and fixed Microtrains couplings to the floor with a piece of packing. As the couplings pivot and are sprung they work well body-mounted. Another kit from the pile assembled, and awaiting the paint shop!

With care you can lay very tight curves, this is 5.5" radius: You do need to make sure the curve is even and consistent without kinks or tight spots: - Mark it out first with a compass - Remove the rails from the sleepers and pre-bend it carefully with your fingers (or a rail bender) to approx the desired radius, ensuring the bend is only in the horizontal plane - Re-thread the sleepers - Cut the webbing between sleepers under the outside rail - it stops the sleepers twisting and causing kinks or gauge narrowing Of course a tight radius like this does limit you to short wheelbase locos - a Roco 060 will get round, but mainly it's 4-wheel stuff - and you have to watch coupling overhangs. But stick to short stock and it will work like this... IMG_6131 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr

Oh no, I hope not, it took me ages to build that model and get it working...

I'd suggest that 6" radius is likely to be too tight for most of the commercially available 009 stuff. It really limits you to short 4-wheeled locos and stock - for reasons of coupling as much as whether you can get the things to stay on the track. The smaller Minitrains stuff should be OK. If you can I'd suggest going for 9" radius. It still won't take a Heljan 2-6-2, but a Baldwin should get round (possibly not coupled to anything!), the planned Hunslets and RNAD diesels probably will too, and Minitrains stock will have no issues. Peco make 9" radius 009 set-track and it looks much better than the Kato N-gauge track too, should you decide to make it scenic. I'd recommend sticking to live-frog points in 009 for good running, sadly the Peco set-track 9" radius points are dead frog, maybe that won't be an issue on a test track but something to be aware of. I'm guessing the Kato points and diamond crossing are dead frog too. I bet that crossing causes 4-wheel locos to stall - personally I'd avoid it to save frustration.

The Hunslets came first, the Baldwins were ordered because Hunslet and other British loco builders were busy, and just weren't able to build locos fast enough in quantity (Baldwin built about 500 I think). The Hunslets were definitely prettier... IMG_4209 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr That's a Langley kit on a Minitrix chassis, though the chassis mods are are a b***er to do.

About three weeks ago I had to have an operation, which means I'll be recovering for a few weeks. However over the last week since being back home I have started some modelling - having lined up some easy tasks that would not be physically taxing. First up was some wagon kits - three of the recent 009 society kits, two wooden bodied opens and a flat/bolster wagon, to join the iron sided wagon I built already. These are nice easy kits for relatively small freelance wagons with good proportions, so I will look out for some more of them. I've also made a batch of couplings and fitted them to all 4 wagons, plus to the digger wagon. Another easy job was the scribing of stonework for the walls around Hexworthy. This just uses a pencil in the styrofoam. Photos of stonework in the area and the actual bridge were used to get the right style as best I can. Here's one of the river bank retaining walls in place, with the wall to the road in the distance. The bridge and wall to the road, the stonework is larger in the bridge walls. At the other end of the layout is this small culvert over a stream. I'll have to get the paints out to complete these walls. Before the op I'd cut platforms from 3mm foam-board, marked out from a paper template. I think the platform surface should be paved around the station building, but I'm not sure how to go about this best. I'm considering individual plastic paving slabs but I'm not sure on the size, or pattern. Here I've cut large slabs 3' x 2' (12mm x 8mm) - the same size as the pavement in our street - and smaller ones 2' x 18" (8mm x 6mm). The smaller ones probably look better though would be more tedious to lay, but the bigger ones work better along the platform edge where I expect a substantial paving slab would be required. I guess they go length-ways along the edge, but which way to lay them over the rest of the platform?

I've a Bachmann Baldwin, not had it long but it's a good runner and you won't be disappointed. Note that they have coreless motors so beware of basic traditional controllers which may cause heating. I don't have a Minitrains Baldwin though I have other Minitrains locos, and they all share similar motor/chassis arrangements which gives good smooth running. The motor is small and modern but I think cored, though I'd still beware of older style controllers. Minitrains sell their own high frequency PWM controller which works well with them, but not with many other motors. So both should run well. As said above the Bachmann is a 009 loco (4mm/ft), whereas Minitrains locos vary in scale depending on model and the Baldwin is HOe (3.5mm ft) - may not be a big deal on it's own, but next to a Bachmann - or other 009 stock - the Minitrains will be visibly under-size. I also think the Bachmann model is more detailed, and doesn't have the motor visible in the cab as the Minitrains does, so given some Bachmann models are little more than the price of the Minitrains models I'd say they are better value.

While on the 009 stand at Ally Pally back in March I made a start on a project I've been planning for a while. Given the widespread use of ex-RNAD wagons on preserved lines, along with plant such as mini diggers, I thought a digger-carrying wagon conversion would be interesting. Now the RNAD sites had similar converted wagons to carry fork-lifts, except they were loaded from a platform onto a flat wagon, then onto an adjacent wagon which had a ramp down to a lower level deck, allowing the fork-lift to be carried within the loading gauge. These provided useful details but I envisaged an arrangement that allows the digger to be loaded onto the wagon from ground level. A low-loader might be a better solution, but preserved railways make the most of what they have. So here is the nearly finished unpainted result. The mini digger is from Wiking, to HO scale but looks fine here, while both wagons are adapted from the 009 society kit. The left-hand wagon has one end removed and the other reduced to 2 planks, and is used to store ramps and timbers for unloading, as well as the drill attachment. The digger carrying wagon itself is significantly adapted. One end is removed and the end frame tucked further under the floor, while the nearer end is sloped down. The end frame is under the sides, which are cut to a taper, and the removed wedge refitted as a sloping brace to the lower end frame. Under the end a beam is fitted just above track level, to be wedged with a timber during unloading to stop the wagon tilting (a detail taken from the RNAD forklift carrier). The wire loops are supports for the removable ramps, while the deck is reinforced with checker plate. The brake handle has had to be shortened too. To hold the digger in place I fitted a 2mm diameter, 2mm deep magnet in the wagon deck, and another in a hole drilled in the underside of the digger. These tiny magnets are very strong and hold the digger firmly (it can lift the wagon), but allowing it to be removed. There's a couple of strips of lead under the wagon to make it stable. I suspect the real mini-digger would have a very low centre of gravity, despite appearances. A picture showing how the ramps could be fitted to the wagon, packed with timbers placed over the track, to allow loading of the digger. The ramps and timbers will end up glued to the carrier truck. Note that the digger fits best if reversed on, and the top swivelled 180 degrees. Anyway I have finally got around to painting them. To add interest to my usual wagon grey I thought the ends would look good picked out in yellow, and suits the PW train. The ramps were also yellow, but well distressed with rust and gunmetal as they would be, having a digger drive over them. The wagons got the usual dirty wash, some dry-brushing and a dusting of weathering powder before a spray of Dullcote matt varnish. The digger also got a dirty weathering wash, using a cotton bud to add streaking. This was used over the windows too, cleaning with the cotton bud, while a brown wash covered the tracks. Pipework was touched in black, with gunmetal on moving parts, and dry-brushing for rust and bare metal - such as on the shovel. I added weathering powders too, but I've not varnished as it would fog the glazing. The digger can still be removed and posed - it is held with a small magnet - but I've had to glue the ramps and packing timbers along with the jackhammer attachment onto the match truck. It took me a couple of attempts to arrange these in a realistic manner. While the paints were out I completed this wagon built from another 009 society kit, which I'd also built back at Alexandra Palace. It's iron bodied so for a change I went for a red/brown oxide colour, and weathered as a coal wagon. It's a nice size wagon - small but not tiny - and I've a couple of wooden ones to built, but I might have to get some more. I just need to fit couplings to these and put them into service. That digger might have work to do at Hexworthy.

Although fitting the back-scene had appeared to go well, after a few days I noticed a ridge in the middle. I'm not sure what went wrong, but probably I'd not kept enough tension on the paper while sticking it down. Attempts to smooth it down didn't work, in fact they seemed to make it worse. From some angles it wasn't too obvious, but from others it was - and once I'd noticed it I knew it would always bother me. So after mulling it over I decided I wouldn't be happy with it, so ordered a replacement, only one of the two sheets was needed as the short right-hand piece looked fine. The question was how to make a better job of fitting it at the second attempt, especially as experimentation on the old piece showed the print is damaged by masking tape. I decided on a 2-step approach. First I applied PVA glue to the first inch of the backboard, I don't know how well it will hold the plastic-backed print (experiment on an off-cut suggests sufficiently), but it did allow the back-scene to be positioned carefully and adjusted, checking the edge is neatly against the fixed piece and it unrolls straight. When I was happy with the position the glued inch was weighted and left overnight. Back out in the garden with everything (including the rolled back-scene) masked for the spray glue. This time my wife helped, while I unrolled the back-scene carefully keeping it straight and under tension she smoothed it down a little at a time with a cloth, working away from the glued edge. And it worked, a week on there is no sign of ridges or bubbles. The lesson I think is that tension must be kept evenly on the paper while applying it, and it's a two-person job to do properly. The join between the two pieces is much neater this time too, here it will be partially disguised by trees but it isn't that obvious. It isn't nice deciding to re-do a job, but I'm glad I did.

More progress has been made with Hexworthy station building. The barge-boards have been painted, first grey - a similar shade to the slates, ensuring to cover the edges and there is no white visible. The colour was then painted on, but leaving the top edge grey to disguise the fact it is outside the slates, rather than under them. Although a bit of a cheat this has worked well, and it is certainly not obvious that the barge boards are not quite where they should be. The other obvious change is the down-pipes are now fitted, having been painted matt black (along with the gutters) and super-glued to the walls. I confess I didn't bother with gutters and down-pipes at the rear of the building as it will be very hard to see. The chimney pots are also painted and fitted, though the chimneys have yet to be glued in place. Not so obvious but internal walls are now fitted, and floors prepared. The interior is mostly painted grey for a "shadowy" interior, but the booking hall, ticket office and goods shed have pale walls and brown floors in case they are more visible. At the other end the toilet block roof is painted - matt grey covered with talcum powder is ideal for felt. A down-pipe has been fitted going up inside the fascia board, with a hole drilled in a corner of the flat roof suggesting the drain. The heating fuel tank is a Bachmann item, and has had a dirty weathering job so is ready to be planted, it will probably be partially hidden by bushes and flowers in due course. I've been pondering how to finish the roof, it looks to consistent and clean, so I put together a small test piece - imagine it in quarters. The right-hand half was given a dirty black-green wash of well thinned enamel, but this has just darkened the paper slates. The lower half was treated to a mix of black and grey weathering powder, brushed over and into the cracks, I think this is much better at disguising the (slightly oversized) cracks and giving some variation of shade. I picked up this container for the yard some time back, but while the paints were out decided it needed weathering - heavily. I rubbed off some of the lettering with a fibre-glass pencil, then gave the whole thing a wash of black-green enamels, wiping off any excess with a cotton bud and causing downward rain streaks. This collects in the detail nicely. A little rust was dry-brushed on, particularly the corners and outer corrugations, and the door closing bars. Finally a little weathering powder and a spray of Testors Dullcote to seal and it is ready.

That looks loads better, the lighting colour is more natural and the improvement in visible detail is clear. Just need to arrange to get rid of the shadow on the sky (second photo), and I think you are there.

It seems a long time since I posted progress on Hexworthy's station building, but alongside other projects I have been chipping away at finishing it off. Starting with the top down, I needed chimney pots, and having trailed around the Alexandra Palace show searching, they are something that seem surprisingly difficult to buy. In the end I decided to just use plastic tube, a basic approach but seemed to work well on a Petite Property kit I built recently. I've a cheap and cheerful chopper tool which rarely gets used, but it worked well here, with a steel square used as a length gauge, and made chopping a dozen pots to the same length straightforward. The base is a couple of layers of 40-thou black plasticard, with holes punched in the top one and opened out to take the pots. Simple in theory but tricky to get all the holes lined up and without distorting the plastic too much, and the pots all in straight, however it seems to have worked out well enough. Once solid the tops were all levelled by sanding. With hindsight I should have fitted the barge boards, then slated over the top edge of them, but I didn't so I used thin plasticard (10-thou) and tried to not make it too obvious that they don't sit under the slates. Cutting them to get the angles neat takes time but I think the result will work. The 3mm wide boards hide any gaps under the roof nicely, though I'll have a challenge painting them without getting paint on the slates! The gutters are a cheat, they're a strip of 40 thou black plastic with the front lower edge rounded to a curve with a scalpel and emery paper. Hint - do this before cutting the strip. The rear of the strip is stuck under the edge of the roof with about 1mm showing. The gutter is obviously solid rather than hollow, but no one will see, helped by shaping the end of the strip to a small "D" shape. This shot reminds me I'm not happy with that roof valley. Again with hindsight, painting the roof valleys lead grey would have been a great idea before slating it, now I'll have to think of a solution. The toilet block has gained a roof too, a simple flat roof with edging boards, and covered in strips of masking tape to represent felt. Finally for now, down-pipes are made from 1mm plastic rod, with support brackets stuck on from microstrip. With a few to make I used a simple jig, double-sided tape on a piece of glass, and marks on masking tape. High-tech it isn't, but when making multiple parts it does help. These will be fitted after painting, though I confess I've not bothered with gutters and down-pipes for the rear. Now somewhere I have a nice moulding for a station canopy valence, but can I find it now I want it? I'm still pondering whether the station needs a canopy, but as a preserved railway station (especially in an area with a reputation for being wet!) it probably should have one.

Sorry I've not caught up for a couple of days. I think that shows well what you are trying to achieve. That the light from the torch from the front was needed tells you that more light is needed from the front (!), and the white light from the torch is a good colour balance. The mixed light from the two types of LED strip is close, but still seems to look a little odd - maybe it is confusing the camera more than the eye though. This has provoked me to post about the lighting experiments I did for my layout - I'm just a bit tardy at posting on here. This post might therefore be of interest, as I've covered the experiments of positioning, using foil as a reflector (no expense spared here), and included links to the components I used. I'm not sure I've got it right yet, right now I think Hexworthy is too bright without a dimmer, so I have scope to decrease overhead lighting while maintaining front lighting. So far there is little scenery by which to judge thought. But the key thing I've learned is that the lighting should be mostly (or wholly if one strip) set as far forward as possible just behind the fascia. Probably angled down and back onto the layout is ideal - even these LED's have a more concentrated beam perpendicular to them - but facing back and using foil to diffuse and reflect light with a combination of some downward facing lights seems to work too.

In the interests of catching up with posts I'll move straight on to the lighting. The layout has a simple lighting pelmet/fascia made to fit across the front edge of the layout, forming a "cameo" box. In the past I've used tungsten strips for lighting such layouts, but that now seems rather old fashioned, however I've had my doubts about some LED lighting solutions - many seem too blue, or just have a strange colour cast, which I wanted to avoid. I also wanted to make sure the light was sufficiently bright. But LED's low power and heat output, compactness and light weight mean it's the obvious solution and worth pursuing. Last year I got a strip of "Natural White" (4000K) LEDs to experiment with, with this embryonic layout in mind. Natural White 4000K SMD 5050 LED strip, 60 LED's per meter IMG_4604 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr At the time I set up a strip on my then layout Awngate to experiment. IMG_4602 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Set at an angle pointing back onto the layout the result seemed to work well. The colour does indeed look natural, the single strip appears to give enough light for this 12" deep layout, and a good distribution although the challenge will always be lighting the foreground. IMG_4656 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr As an interesting comparison, in this view the LED strip covers the left hand end of the layout, the right hand still being lit by the 30w tungsten strip light. The tungsten light looks much yellower and warmer, the LED is a much more neutral colour, and a little brighter too, but definitely not too blue. I was very happy with that result. IMG_5057 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr However in the event it was my son's micro layout Slugworth that got to use them first. That small layout used a short strip right under the forward edge of the fascia pointing directly down, with foil on the inside of the fascia. The result worked well on Slugworth, although each scene is no more than 8" deep. 2018-10-27 09.27.04 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr IMG_5956 by Michael Campbell, on Flickr Slugworth only used 1m of the 5m length, so I had plenty left for Hexworthy. The strip is self-adhesive and can be cut at the marks every 3 LED's. Easy enough, but it didn't stay stuck to the ply even though it is painted, and even after a layer of PVA was tried first. The solution was to spread contact adhesive over the wood, then when it was tacky stick the self-adhesive strip to it. So far that seems firm enough. The "holy grail" of lighting a "cameo" shelf layout like Hexworthy is even lighting, including right to the front of the layout. It's difficult because we want the lighting neatly tucked out of sight in the pelmet, but really it needs to be high up and well out front - where the viewer is. LED strips are good at distributing light with minimal shadows but putting them right over the models only lights them from above. I chose to add the main strip towards the back of the pelmet bar, putting it about 2" or 3" back over the layout facing down, then a second strip split between the front fascia facing backwards, and the underside of the beam facing downwards but right at the front of the layout. Hopefully this puts plenty of light at the front. Ideally the strips would be at an angle facing the layout, but I couldn't find an easy way to do this. A hot glue-gun was used to cover the ends of the strips, securing them and protecting the soldered joins, and also to secure any loose wires. The view of the whole beam shows the arrangement of strips, plus the foil I pushed into the front edge to hopefully reflect and diffuse any stray light. The strips were joined by soldered wires, taking care to match the "+" and "-" marked on the strips (I hadn't thought of this when sticking the strips down so some are the other way round, not a problem as the wires can be crossed provided polarity is matched), and joined by a terminal block at one end. I added 5.5x2.1mm DC connectors to both ends of the pelmet - because it might be useful being able to plug the power in at either end - and bought cheaply as a pack of 10 pairs I might as well use them! These connectors have screw terminals but no way to secure the socket in place, so a big lump of hot glue is used, along with a couple of screws so they can't pull away. As there is more lighting than Slugworth (which had a 2A wall-wart) I thought Hexworthy needed a bigger power supply. The LED's use about 1A per meter, not knowing how many meters I'd use I went large and got a 6A supply - plenty as it happens, but I'd rather know it isn't overloaded. It wasn't expensive, and a sealed plug-and-play unit is convenient. I was disappointed to find it fitted with a 13A fuse though (the mains side is rated at 1.5A), I've swapped for a 5A for now as that's the smallest I had in, but will find a smaller fuse. All plugged in, and we have light. In situ in the dining room, and with the building in place, the light is bright - actually, maybe a bit too bright. There is a reasonable amount of light reaching the front of trains on the station track, even with the lighting bar in the flush position, though as expected moving the lighting bar forward really helps with light on trains on the front siding. I don't think any further light will be needed at the back of the layout. When I bought the light strip I also got a dimmer switch, being ridiculously cheap and thinking it might come in useful. The easiest way to try it seemed to be to attach in-line plug and sockets, and fit between power supply and lighting. It's not easy to illustrate the difference with a photo, which exposes for the amount of light, but it does allow the light to be dimmed without affecting the distribution or colour of the light. Incidentally it doesn't dim all the way to off, but switches off from a low brightness. The dimmer allows the light to be adjusted to the light in the room, but I may yet experiment with just dimming the rear strip while keeping the front strips brighter. I might even remove LED's from the rear downward facing strip, so that the bulk of the light is from the front rear-facing strip for best front lighting.