Several months have passed since my last update, and during that time I abandoned the idea of modelling a small signal box, and opted for a simple ground frame instead.
This is the assembled MSE etch for what is described as a Saxby and Farmer style frame...........
.........and here it is on the layout along with the recently installed point rodding and one of two facing point locks. The FPL cover is styrene, its securing bolts being cubes of the same material. Lurking underneath the cover is a loose interpretation of the lock, linkages and cranks, all being fabricated from scraps of styrene, brass section and wire along with MSE cranks.
I used the excellent Modelu GWR rollers, along with MSE square section rods and etched cranks etc, etc. The 2mm association handbook on point rodding was a godsend, and without it I would have made a couple of costly mistakes. It also came in handy when making the point rodding locks, there being plenty of photos and drawings within its pages.
Once the rodding had been installed and the bases for the rollers had been painted and bedded into the ballast the layout began to look more like a railway.
Adding the rodding was rather tedious but once I got into the swing of things and saw it all coming together I began to enjoy modelling it. Talking of tedious jobs I have at long last completed the goods sheds brick support pillars, and bedded them into the surrounding ground.
In all I had to make and install twelve pillars, the shed itself is a separate model and its corrugated cladding will overhang the base by a couple of millimetres.
The land to the side of the goods shed is slowly being worked up, it is my usual mixture of Silflor and Noch grass mats torn into clumps and blended together with MiniNatur static grasses. There is also some Woodland burnt grass coarse turf in the mix as well, I have also been experimenting with Greenscene fibres as recommended by Gordon Gravett to good effect. The height of the grass will slowly be built up in some areas and weeds planted, which will make a pleasant change from tearing the blighters up! The structure in the background above the covered van is a combined lamp hut and gents urinal, well I do like to be a little different
Constructed from Slater's corrugated iron sheet as an experiment, this unusual structure once stood at Llanrhaiadr Mochnant, from where I found inspiration for the station building, goods shed and ground frame, so it is in good company.
And this is how it will fit into the grand plan, the ground cover is yet to be secured in place and the trees salvaged from Llangullo are only being used for planning the backscene.
Finally and if you haven't fallen asleep 7719 has now been fitted with etched number and shed code plates, all the extra detail that comes with these Minerva models has also been fitted.
My sort of train and typical of those than ran between Kington and Presteign a month or so before the line closed for good.
The End.........
Geoff
