News

New Home
June saw the layout move from the Sheffield MRS clubroom to it's new location in the spare room of my new house. Work then paused for a month or so while I completed my University studies and got settled in at work. However I have now completed most of the scenic work and performed a complete electrical test.

Trackwork
Only thing of note is that the point motor on the central y-point has been replaced, with the MkII version of the ZTC DCC 302 point motor. This version is much easier to wire in than it's predessor, with a simpler layout which includes larger and more accessble soldering-pads. The faulty MkI has been consigned to the electronics box and at some point I'll contact ZTC about a possible replacement.

Ballasting
Ballasting is mostly complete with only the pointwork at the front of the layout requiring attention. The ballast has been weathered using an aerosol spray of Railmatch Frame Dirt, since ballast in the 1950s/60s was not the grey granite ballast used today.

Bridgework
This is scenically completed, including the addition of a blue-sky backscene to mask the fiddleyard beyond.

Platforms, Buildings and Platform Furniture
The footbridge (a modified Ratio kit) has been assembled and painted a in a drab and dirty colourscheme, not unusual to footbridges of this era. Scratchbuilding of the ex-GCR Type 5 signalbox has been postponed until after the October exhibition and instead will be using the Scalescenes Signalbox kit as a placeholder in the meantime. The station buildings have been detailed with period signs and posters. Gaslamps have been placed on the platforms too, though these are unpainted - being the Peco Modelscene type. Passengers have been placed strategically around the platforms and a Morris 1000 convetible (an Oxford Diecast product) is parked at the front of the layout with a workman attempting to look under the bonnet. A Hornby Skaledale Police Telephone Box ("Tardis") and public telephone box have also been placed on the layout.

Rolling Stock
I have recently purchased a second-hand Bachmann Ivatt Class 4MT 2-6-0 (for goods and passenger duties) and will shortly be acquiring a 2-car DMU to provide the main passenger service. This takes the current stable to two diesel locomotives, 2 steam locomotives and a DMU. All of which will in time be renumbered and/or weathered to represent locomotives familiar to the Sheffield area in the early 1960s.