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You were just round the corner from my house Adrian, you could have popped in for a coffee! A friend who lives round the corner is building Corsham station in OO and has modelled the bridge on his layout.

You can get reproductions of various years to stick in, my dad is buying some for the MG's for the year they were first registered

Amazing, I am amazed you even managed to model the scammell coupling as well.

Ha ha, while they are not a favourite, I don't dislike them. I would choose a 33 over anything post 1990 any day of the week. The time I lived in Southampton coincided with Mainline freight who has a penchant for class 37's so even in their heartland I missed out on the charms of the 33's. Give me a few weeks I will finished off at least one class 25, a solution for the glazing is proving problematic coupled with the need to finish the layout has put them on the backburner.

I spent the evening cleaning stock and track in readiness for Cheltenham tonight a rather laborious job. I also needed to reorganise the stock trays as some of the Pallet Lane wagon fleet is not required for Peafore Yard. While the stock was out I couldn't resist a few photos of my 2 favourite locos:

Thanks Peter, a lovely set of photos so thanks for sharing. I will struggle for a smoke unit in the class 31, although it is a Lima shell it sits on a new Hornby chassis and there is literally no room inside the shell! Re the class 33, possibly one day, they were never a favourite class of mine and the issues with the Heljan 33 body have put me off, I know they have corrected some of the faults but even the new version needs work. I have the small matter of some class 25's to finish first, there is an outside chance I will have one finished for Cheltenham

Thanks George, it is predominantly Railmatch track dirt, it is a good colour

... is the correct answer! Biggest problem I have is sourcing the correct type of Mercedes

Ha Ha, I think I will have to build a scale model of Northampton's Greyfriars bus station for my collections of diecast buses next! I was probably one of the few people who appreciated the brutalist architecture, every other person I met in Northampton hated it.

Likewise Richard, looking forward to seeing Orchard Road too.

A while since the last update but I have been cracking on with the scenery for the upper level. It dawned on me when I was chatting to Mike Walker who organises the Cheltenham show on Saturday that there are only 3 weekends between now and the show - Eeek! Although the upper level won't be operational at the show I at least want it presentable so have been busy on the parcel conveyor. I decided after my last post that it was too tall so chopped 15mm of the bottom of the pier. The piers were part brick/part cladding so I have replicated this using the Peco cladding and Wills brick. The pictures I found showed an access door on the end so I used a spare door from the engine shed kit which fits well. I still need to add in the canopy over the platform but so far so good and I have just a few details and the weathering to do. I have also added some black card around the fiddle yard exit to hide that from view. First off a couple of photos of 31210 and 37240 on the upper level. 31210 was a Bath Road allocated class 31 and would have seen plenty of use in and around Temple Meads working empty coaching stock up from Malago Vale 03382 is busy in the yard below. The conflat is going to get a rather unusual but prototypical load when finished... I have also worked out that the best stock for the back road in terms of filling the length is the 08 with 2 x BG's and 2 x TPO vans:

A different take on the same idea: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fray_bentos/2175320090/

I can't believe it has been that long, what an achievement Andy, many in hobby have gained so much from your efforts and the existence of RM web.

Great set of photos Kevin

Hi Rob, Yes it is, as per the photo in the link above. I noted earlier that the cladding bears a striking resemblance to the Peco LK80 Manyways engine shed that was so popular many moons ago. I had some spare bits from one I used to make a low relief warehouse so cracked on with cladding the top of it tonight, just need to fill the edges but I am pleased how it has turned out. The support pier was made of brick and cladding and is a little narrower than the prototype but a necessity due to my narrower platforms. The coach makes the conveyor look like it is higher in the air than it is in reality, I will also paint the area of the backscene underneath the conveyor black rather than sky colour

Sorry Peter, you are dead right, this was the photo I had in mind: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82110268@N06/8579866140/in/photostream 31135 would make a good future project with its unique class 47 style yellow end

Love the latest set of photos Peter, is the TPO a Southern Pride kit, it looks fantastic?

Thanks Peter, it was one of your photos of a class 31 and a split box 45 underneath it that helped persuade me to model the conveyor rather than the more attractive southern end of the station.

Thanks Nidge, will give them a call.

The basic platform structure is complete, with the cosmetics still to add, I am quite pleased with the length of platform I have managed to fit in. In order to provide a scenic break, I am going to build part of the parcel conveyor that was at Temple Meads until Christmas 2014. Although not the most asethetically pleasing of structures it will form be very effective at hiding the exit for 2 of the 3 tracks.

Thanks Pete, I will get round to writing an article for one of the magazines later this year on Peafore Yard

Nice plates Nidge, look just the job, where did you get them done please? I am looking to get a set for when I restore the Land Rover this year.

Thanks for your comment Tony, it will be good to see you again, the shows are the same weekend, Cheltenham is a good show so the detour should be worthwhile. I am amazed at the price that the Presflos are now albeit they are a lovely model, if I needed loads more of them I would consider returning to Airfix kits which with a little work can be made into nice models. One of the beautys of such a small model is you can get jobs turned around quickly, I am also finding that I am able to leave it up in the corner of the garage so can work on it when I have 30 minutes or so spare, especially now the weather is getting warmer. Good luck with your own project, look forward to seeing some photos.

I forgot to mention, Peafore Yard has another exhibition outing this year, it is appearing at Bentley MRG Chippenham show on the 3rd October. In the absence of a Corsham show, this is probably the closest show to home for me being 10 minutes up the road. Ironically Pallet Lane's first exhibition appearance was in Corsham in 2008 but I lived in Northamptonshire at the time.

I managed to grab some time earlier while tidying up the garage to spray the track for the upper level which I ballasted earlier in the week. I have also fitted the base of the platform which will have the cosmetic details added including making the ramp. By making all the sides of the layout removable this job is so much easier than it would have been: I have finished the 20T brake van to accompany the class 08 which still needs renumbering. I have faithfully added the bit of pallet that was visible in the prototype picture taken at Temple Meads And as promised a photo of the class 25 shells which are having the edges of the yellow touched up caused by paint bleed under the masking tape. It is a number of years since I have done a respray and need to practice my masking a bit more.