Modelling Report:
Progress is slow and steady on my Barra Town layout.
A major project is under way consisting of ballasting and weathering the track. I have used Peco code 80 track both setrack and streamline and it's amazing how much better it looks after ballasting. I'm painting the sleepers grey and will 'dirty up' the track after the ballast glue dries. There is one pre-used point which I think I'm going to have to replace. It's the one taking trains into the back platform. Ballasting is a slow process even for a small layout like this so while I'm doing this I'm also fiddling with rolling stock and scenery/buildings.
Buildings and scenery are the two areas of model railways I like the most with electricals being my least favourite, so not a lot of trains have actually run under electricity on the layout yet. Actually none have, so that's an area I need to do something about!
I often get sidetracked, so I found some telegraph poles in a box and have been fitting those as well.
Also because the river end of the layout is easier to access more work has been done at that end than the road overbridge end but I will have to bite the bullet one day I suppose! By the way it's not really a river. It supposed to be a part of a larger river/lake and you just happen to see a small part of it. Sort of like the little bodies of water which abound along the Hawkesbury, so there is no visible source for the water. I'm in the process of 're-watering' the river with satin estapol to fix the problem outlined in the last post. Sometimes the traditional way is still the best. I also found a snazzy little fishing made by Noch so that will be fitted when the water dries (see below).
The other thing I discovered recently were more grape vines for my Ga Hong Ha layout, again by Nokia. Yes I know it sounds strange but quite a few grapes are grown in the area where Ga Hong Ha is supposed to be situated in Vietnam, mainly in the cooler hills. The buildings are from a company in the UK and still need to be painted.
Heritage Photos:
From top to bottom: Brand new L275 outside Clyde Engineering works at Clyde/Granville, freshly painted 3616 (with the Giesl Oblong Injector), "American" end platform suburban coach in the Clyde Yard, P Class 3255 on a tour train (set 108), and 3526 on a tour train at Picton (note white lining - a mistake made on the loco's initial restoration- the lining is now gold.
Vietnam Photos: A couple of Vietnam photos just to add variety. The first one shows a D12-E class D12E-637 doing a bit of shunting in the pouring rain and the second shows US built boxcar still in use more than 50 years after delivery.
There'll be more in a week or so so stay tuned. Don't touch that dial!
See you then.
