George Woodcock

Hello Thank-you as ever for the kind and witty comments. Geoff the layout will be 25ft long at Trainwest. We had already altered the info sheet to allow for the extension. This the first layout that I have altered after it was originally built; I rather suspect it will be the last. Seemed like a good idea late in a pub somewhere. Cheers George

Hello Nice thought Derek but I don't see it happening sadly. The cable trunking has been put in place this evening. Cheers George

Hello Fencing now in place as are the fields, creation is a marvellous thing, perhaps I get to rest on the seventh day. Cheers George

Hello Mick, wrong on both counts. ~The 24 is a Bachmann one that is meant to run on the new layout, bought S/H at Newcastle two years ago. It was just two wires to one track. The one at the back is a dead siding , all that remains of the old SMJ line to Woodford Halse. It will have a few condemned old wagons on it eventually. The green carpet costs more than Axminster Pete, I wouldn't want to have to use it on my sitting room . Silflor is great stuff but definitely not cheap. Cheers George

Hello First loco ran down the new board this afternoon. Also the new signal was activated, eventually.so it is just a matter of finishing the landscaping and a couple of other little jobs. Hopefully pictures to follow later. Cheers George

Hello Rob not like popping round but the layout will be appearing at Trainwest at Cosham in April which is in your area. Also as mentioned earlier at Milton Keynes in February and Nottingham in March. Hopefully there will be another couple of pictures up later today. Cheers George

Hello the grass has now been put on the embankments and the bridge parapets have been painted and fitted, they will just need a little weathering. Also the track has been painted. Next job is to put the fence along the bottom of the embankment and then lay the fields. hardest part is now over. Cheers George

Hello The foam for the embankments has now been put in place, when it dries later today I will carve it to shape and lay a base coat for the grass matting to be put in place, hopefully by later tomorrow. Cheers George

Hello The River Tove is now flowing through the Northamptonshire countryside. Very placid not even a ripple based on the photos we took a couple of years ago. Also the bridge girders and railings are under construction, should be finished tomorrow. Cheers George

Hello That's the one. Cheers George

Hello The two boards have made the journey from John's garage to my railway room and I am now constructing the bridge over the river Tove. To make this easier I have removed the track bed board. This will be replaced when the bridge and river are done later this week. Also the sky will be painted as well, the blue base at least, the clouds will come later. Cheers George

Hello The two fiddleyard boards have made the journey from Johns garage to my house for final assembly and varnishing. Then we have to lay the track and wire them and then set it all up and see if it works. Cheers George

Hello Little bit of work to finish on the board next weekend and then the scenery will be done next week all things being equal. Fingers crossed it will be ready for the Milton Keynes show. Cheers George

Hello Recovering, hopefully, Chris. Slowly but surely. The lighting rig for the layout will be finished tomorrow, signboard later in the week. I'm getting a bit confused as we are extending Towcester at the same time but I should be working on the scenery for the extension board next week. The two fiddle boards for Fenchurch should also be finished next week as well. Cheers George

Hello Two lots of transfers ordered in the last few weeks, both received promptly as usual , the one this week in 48 hours. Cheers George

Hello Scenically the layout is now complete. Today was the first time the three scenic boards had been put up together. This was for a Railway Modeller photoshoot which will go with an article in the March Edition,(out in February), to co-incide with the layout's first appearance at Model Rail Scotland in Glasgow. We still have some more parts to build and put together but these are the unglamorous ancillary bits though none less important. Cheers George

Hello The goods shed is now in place and all associated work is complete. Tomorrow I shall be installing point rodding. Cheers George

Hello The roof is now painted and weathered and will be fixed in place tomorrow with the last of the granite setts and final ballasting in place around it. Hopefully 'The Highland Laddie' pub should also be installed by early next week. Nearly there now as far as the scenic part is concerned. Hopefully in a couple of weeks time we shall be able to put all three scenic boards up and see it in all splendour. Photos will follow in the near future. Cheers George

Hello I will get it painted and weathered while you are away John, have a good time and send me a post card. Cheers George

Hello The 'Cloud Lady' has now finished painting the clouds on the final scenic board and a jolly wonderful job she has made of it. Ballasting continues. Cheers George

Hello Ballasting is now underway, a fairly long track possession but nobody has objected yet. Also the last unit , the 101 is now in works for re-numbering and detailing and weathering. Might make the first deadline OK. Cheers George

Hello John and I finished the construction of the final scenic board for Fenchurch at his house at !900 tonight. It is now at my house ready to be attached to the rest of the layout and then start work on the scenic side of it. This board features a bridge crossing the Middle Drain which after 50 years is still in situ and is used as a farm crossing nowadays. The landscape is also mainly rough grass and scrub compared to the arable land on the rest of the layout. At least that is how we hope it will turn out. Cheers George

Hello So am I Mick. Rolling stock is nearly all done now, just another couple of units to detail. renumber etc. We hope to start on the third board in a couple of weeks time. Should all be done in time for Glasgow next year. Love the control panel John, very sexy. Cheers George

Hello No need for apologies Scott, I am just flattered when people take an interest in my humble little projects and all suggestions are always valued. Hopefully in the next week or so we should start to make more progress with Fenchurch when holidays and such-like are out of the way. Take care Cheers George

Hello Scott I don't know about the locking bolts but the targets are definitely correct for Middle Drove which is the station the layout is based on. I have spent a lot of time over the last three years looking at as many available pictures I can find as well as my main info source on the TVP DVD 'Branch Lines Across East Anglia. You are not the first to mention it and I doubt you will be the last The other curious thing about the gates is that, as far as I know, they were the only ones on the branch that had six panels. Even the other ones on double tracks had five. It just meant I had to use two Wills kits to make them. If you want to see a picture of the original gates look at the Andrew Ingram photos on the Bramley Line Website and there is a picture there of a Cl31 passing through the crossing. Anyway glad you like the layout and I hope you come to see it sometime if I ever get it finished. It will be at Peterborough next year which is fairly close to you and Bury St Edmunds the following year. Thanks for the support. Cheers George