December 29th 2011

Anderton has gone to Birmingham for the Christmas holidays. Here are some photos of the work done.

The mock-ups of the buildings give a better idea of what the finished layout will look like.

Enjoy and have a Happy New Year!

Meetings - December 2011

Well, a busy month this one with two meetings in two weeks.

At the first we cleaned up the track and turnouts following the ballasting session in November.

The three-way point in the timber yard has been causing us some concern - its narrow gaps and slender rails have meant that it is rather fragile and has caused us some problems.

At the second meeting Allen turned up with his latest creation - a three-way stub point. This was designed to be a simple replacement for the existing three-way. It took most of the morning to remove the old turnout and insert the new one. Then came the fun of tweaking the alignment of the lines in the yard and then sorting out the wiring. With unerring accuracy Allen wired it up correctly first time - well Ok, the switches now work in reverse, but you can't win 'em all.

Meanwhile Ken painted the remaining deck in a very dark colour, which really improves the look of the layout. Andy and Peter worked on the remaining back-scene boards which overlap onto the large fiddle-yard board. We are trying an experiment here in the layout of the back-scene to see if we can disguise the exit more subtly - watch this space for pictures.

During the afternoon we paused for tea and mince pies (thanks Andy) to celebrate our final meeting before the festive season.

This week the layout goes on its Winter holiday to Birmingham. It will return in the New Year in time for its outing at the Trent Valley group's exhibition on January 21st.

All that remains is to wish you all

Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year