Right then, Its that time of year again, when two worlds collide. I’m sure i must be in the minority of people who looks forward to Indietracks as much to see the comforting sight of sidings full of diesels and a ride on the DMU as well as the music. This year feels slightly (very) different and it’s with a sense of trepidation that i’ll be heading off on Friday morning.
Anyway, thats not what this is about right now. Over the last couple of weeks things have been moving on at a pace approaching steady down in Gravesend. Summertime isn’t usually the season for railway modelling, theres other distractions, the weather, beer gardens, festivals, The World Cup, life really, but i’ve enjoyed having it as a distraction this year and throwing myself if not headlong, then carefully back in. I stood having a look at the monster i’d somehow created for myself the other day and started to really think about what i needed to do and what i wanted to achieve, then i realised that best way to do it would be with a proper plan. A plan to start with the basics and get it at least looking respectable and finished enough to run and then move onto the details after that. They do say a model railway is never finished.. So, this is a brief update on what i’ve done in the last few weeks in case i forget -
· ‘Bideford’, as it was known as, successfully rebuilt and stripped ready for finishing.
· All ‘Bideford’ - trackwork now laid and 90% ballasted.
· Top loco laid, tested and isolating sections wired in.
· Top loco trackwork embedded and waiting for detailing.
· Roadway along front of top section cleared and waiting to
be redone.
· ‘Hartland Junction’ footbridges reduced and rebuilt to only cover
tracks they need to.
· Fiddle yard cleared and ready to be finished.
· Decision made to not cover down gradient and move terrace housing on top of new ‘floor’
· Gradient covered behind the cinema to allow that to be built back once terrace also half built to cover new roof.
· Bay road at ‘Bideford’ relayed with isolating section and rails/buffer stop started to be detailed to check how easy it is!
Quite a lot gone on then, it still doesn’t look like it, but by concentrating more on this section than moving all over the place it looks like things will gradually slip into an acceptable and presentable layout. Cant wait to get it back into a postiition when it doesn’t just look like a tip out there, the motivation for that is a good incentive.
More to come post Indietracks
