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Thank you for that Andrew. It gives me a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction to see some of our 'pioneering' layouts continuing after all this time and it's good to see how our layouts have developed together. Long may we all continue. I'd just keep that vegetation in the 4 foot under control rather than clearing it completely. Sorry to hear that some of your timber decking is nearing it's end. Seven years or thereabouts appears to be par for the course with timber as that's what I managed with mine. Still, now you get all the fun of starting over again! EDIT! You just made me realise that 2019 is actually the 10th anniversary of the forum! Starting out as the forum on my Selby Garden Railway website in July 2009, we transferred to OO Garden Railway in October 2011 so yes, we're 10 years old!

There might be a signal box Roddy but I'm thinking not much more than a plain backscene and grass embankment - much like Balbeggie. I want focus to be on the trains and while there'll be trains passing there will also be trains arriving and departing the sidings alongside the loop. There will be little doubt that this is coal country!

It's still a layout without a name but at least we now have some movement. I've threaded bus wires along the entire length of the layout except for the removable end section and by soldering half a dozen droppers in place I'm now able to run around the full length of the outer main line. After cleaning the class 66 loco wheels and collecting my trusty 26024 from the garden shed in order to haul the track cleaner round I was able to record 66022 hauling a rake of 36 MGR's along what will become the scenic section. It suddenly seems a less daunting task than it did earlier and the fact that it's been possible to achieve decent running with very little effort makes me keen to keep going forward.

There's a couple of different threads about Balbeggie Sidings on RMweb Roddy and a couple of videos on YouTube as well as a Blog which follows the modellers later progress at http://thesulzer27.blogspot.com/ Suffice to say that my 'attic layout' (still for want of a better name) will be much more freelance in every single aspect. For instance, I don't care whether I've got concrete or wooden sleepers and I'm not concerning myself with adding trap points where the loop or sidings join the main running lines. I'm not really bothered about signals either! It's not that type of layout - it's just somewhere to watch trains rolling by and I don't believe that will lessen the enjoyment too much. Back to my attic layout and if I'd used track planning software it would probably have made things much easier for me but as it is I've struggled along this morning trying to make points fit while maintaining decent radius curves and long sidings. I am pleased to say that I now have (in a fashion) one completed circuit and with a bit of temporary wiring I should be able to run in and out of the 5 storage roads and, with a couple more lengths of track, along both main running lines. The photo's not brilliant due to the poor lighting but the above shows the west end of the storage roads now fully connected to the main line. There are four roads which all currently have wagons standing on them and are accessible from the outer main line and a fifth road to the left of them which is accessible from either main line so it gives me the opportunity of swapping sets of wagons over. The blue wrapper is just my packet of biscuits!

Cornish Pastures After working an express down to Plymouth, Castle Class No. 5043 ‘Earl of Mount Edgcumbe’ of Old Oak Common (81A) retired to Laira shed (83D) for servicing and repairs to a damaged smoke-box dart. A smart turn-round on these tasks provided the Laira shedmaster with the opportunity to allocate this locomotive to a special duty, taking a large party from various local Sunday Schools back to Newquay after an outing. The first photograph shows No. 5043 easing down towards Laira Junction, where it will turn on the triangle. The next two images show No.5043 passing through the north end of the yards at St Blazey, before making an assault on the long climb up to Luxulyan, some of it at 1 in 37. In the yard an unidentified 45xx (but possibly visiting No.4570) is shunting china clay empties. The last photograph shows No.5043 and its train approaching Luxulyan.

Small Prairie and B-set on a Cornish branchline

I also cover some parts of may layout outdoor in Winter, especially where points are and most of all, where peco points with these springs are. I have also covered some stretches against the leafes in autumn

t long last finely under way with th construction of the last two stages, one good thing is I didn't need to have the bridge set up to put the curve deck in place to hit some small marking stakes for the larger adjustable stakes, was pretty hot today waited till it cooled down,be up early tomorrow to hit in the tow sets of stakes which be shorter that the ones that hold the bridge down. I will have to extend the curve decking past the brick retaining wall , the first take is two foot out and the next three foot, every three feet I drop down 3 quarters of an inch , the level jig will have to go in a foot onto the bridge, that curve is 6 feet in length will be adding another 4 feet with hinges for easy storage. The second pic is my new work bench, I swapped computer tables, the other table I couldn't have the light on the side like this table,, need more room just na matter of shifting the lap top out the way. Tony from warm down under keeping on moving ahead.

Well that's taken me by surprise - I just assumed it was the weather! I'm not sure how to respond in case some things have been lost in translation. In one way the mention of taxes makes it sound quite amusing and I want to shout out "Go Thomas!" but then I can appreciate that it isn't something you'll probably be smiling about over there. It sounds like you're facing up to the consequences so I'm sure it will all turn out okay in the end and you'll learn from the experience. And winter time is the best time for them to seize control of your means of operating the Z21 so it's not all bad!

Dorking Garden Railway 7th Anniversary Celebrations The commemorative operating session took place yesterday, one day early because of wet weather forecasts (which proved accurate). Looking back at the early photos on this thread, after seven years the vegetation has advanced impressively and some of the timber track base is starting to deteriorate. More importantly, the timber decking on which Bamboo Curtain Straight is founded has been discovered to be substantially rotting, being around 13 years old, and will have to be replaced. The hope is that that part of the railway can be underpinned so that it becomes free standing, with the decking then being swept away and replaced by something more permanent. We'll have to see. At this point I'd like to say a big Thank You on behalf of all the users and viewers of this site to our webmaster and proprietor Mick for his commitment, work and expense in maintaining such a splendid resource for us over so many years. We are really grateful, and the site has been a pioneer in advancing 00 and HO scale modelling outdoors. Back at the DGR, yesterday was business as usual. First out of the box was a Black 5 with a stopping train. The new platelayers' hut needs a bit more weathering. And the platelayers need to deal with all that vegetation in the four-foot -- this isn't Network Rail! Now autumn is definitely approaching and it won't be long before Sycamore Curve is covered with leaves... Then the Jubilee arrived and is seen here tackling Foxdale Bank with a mixed rake of pre- and post-nationalisation coaches: At the end of the day, the Jubilee heads towards home: Meanwhile, over in Beijing the anniversary celebrations continue, although there may be confusion about the number of years involved (or perhaps they know more about the Fat Controller than they're admitting):

After a few days of heavy rain had a running session this afternoon. Relieved that the 2 lift out sections across pathways fitted perfectly after the rain. i have a soft spot for class 40’s and had a Lima version that always ran well on DC so decided the convert to DCC and fit the Hornby Sound decoder. While the sound isn’t up the the standard of Howes/SWD/Legobiffoman etc I have in my Bachman’s and Heljan, it is very good value and is a good representation of the “Whistlers”. Very impressed. Conversion has been fully successful with the old Lima running very well and pulled 11 coaches with erase.

Looks great with the trains on track Thomas even if they are just posed for now. I'm not familiar with overseas railways but the two Shinkansen look absolutely stunning in that setting.

Yesterday I had an enjoyable morning at the annual American flavoured exhibition of the Seaboard Southern group who are based in Crawley. Ian Lampkin's excellent Fort Myres layout is a very effective depiction of railroads in Florida, as in this photo with two local residents thinking about lunch.

The entire section of plywood track base between the two viaducts has now been removed and replaced using slices of aerated block. The next task will be to sand and level before bonding on a layer of roofing felt as underlay for the track. That's the method I used over the viaducts and I intend to ballast all this track in the same way as I did on the viaducts so I'll stick with what worked previously. When it comes to landscaping I'm considering a narrow gravel filled border either side of the track to help keep dirt away rather than having the soil right up to the tracks. I might have to look at something other than those log-rolls to act as the border as many of them have simply rotted away. Anyway, that's a job for over winter.