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Hi All, just thought I'd share my new project from Sunny (well actually it's been raining all day) Sydney. Still in the planning/build stage. Im using an existing retaining timber wall for most of the track bed. it's a simple single loop of track with a relief section for the station. I've got all my OO British Rail rolling stock, plus lots of German Swiss HO stock, so will run them all.

Locomotive failures Robert came to visit this week with a couple of new engines, the first (continuing with our theme of 0-4-0s) was a B4 LSWR shunter. She was a good-looking lady as these photos of her shunting at Weymouth Docks show. Sadly, despite being almost straight out of the box her performance was abyssmal and she will soon be wending her way back to Dapol's agents for repair or replacement. Staying with the Southern, we then ran resident Hornby West Country Ottery St Mary, seen here in a traditional pose on Foxdale Bank: But it wasn't her day either, as the second axle on the front bogie kept derailing. Closer inspection showed that the metal tyre had separated from the plastic wheel insert: so that probably needs careful application of superglue. Last up here is tender-drive A4 Bittern, again by Hornby. She ran very well but also had minor problems with one front bogie axle on which the plastic inserts seemed to have difficulty remaining in true alignment, although this didn't affect the ability to stay on the track. First photo shows her with an express on the East Coast Main Line near Peterborough: After that we submitted to the inevitability of the implausible fixed headboard sticker and ran her on the Tyne-Tees Pullman, although in some photos she seems to have wandered off the ECML into the wilds of County Durham or beyond: In the interests of accuracy, it's only fair to point out that the tender drive didn't actually have sufficient adhesion to haul nine sluggish coaches all the way round the layout.

Today's activity Better to take the photos in historical order, although there's a story about the C21st images below. So, we begin in the 1950s with the Jubilee taking its train through some idyllic parts of northern England in high summer. Listen to the birdsong! First, passing Throstlebeck Sidings Crossing Foxdale Bank Coasting across the girder bridge and romping down Bamboo Curtain Straight Moving on, the twentyfirst century proved to be most frustrating as the Bachmann intermodal wagons are particularly demanding in terms of track quality. The aged and warped timber which constitutes the DGR trackbed really is not to their liking. It proved impossible to get the rake to do anything like a complete circuit of the line without derailments left, right and centre. There seems to be very little play on the bogies, so any vertical twisting of the track just sees several bogies bouncing along on the sleepers. Having tried things in both directions, eventually I gave up trying to run the intermodal train and just took photos of it. At least they don't indicate the extent of the aggrevation. Then, for consolation, out came the Jubilee and nine coaches - which somehow seem to ride much more successfully than those container flats - so the day provided some enjoyment after all. We start with the Class 66 making an adjustment to the rake at Throstlebeck international container depot: Then heading away down Bamboo Curtain Straight towards the coast Powering across Foxdale Bank and rattling the furniture in Foxdale Carr Hall and crossing the Northern Viaduct (really must add those fiddly hoses onto the front) Having reached the port, the loco duly retraces its steps with another train of containers for Throstlebeck Last seen returning across Foxdale Bank, soon to be home:

A quick update on the layout. I finished the reverse loop at the far end last weekend, and I've started to lay the bitumen felt as a track bed. I'm hoping to get the track Layed in the next couple of weeks, but it seems that track pins are hard to source at the moment!! I'll be using the sandstone tiles for the station platform area, which will look pretty realistic. The German station can be swapped for a UK station depending on what trains I'm running, and I'm looking to get some more buildings in the future. 'till next post. Cheers, Marcus

So with the ‘Brio’ blocks assembled and checked, the next stage was to put some tops one them. These arrived in the form of some 9mm ply....which was reclaimed and free! ...and then some upvc cladding to the sides, and some roofing felt on top.... ...and finally, some nice GWR Green (current livery) to tidy everything up... I’ve started painting the posts a stone colour so that they bland better with the garden. It’s surprising just how sturdy the structure is! This brings my work up to date, with all of the main sections done bar the felt, and once I’ve done that, I’ll make the frames up for the station area. Watch this space....

It may seem a little strange to have what would normally be a permanent structure, bolted together, so let me explain. We currently live in a rental property as my father is terminally ill, and we may need to up sticks at shortish notice - hopefully not too short notice as I like having my Dad around. I’ve not seen any ‘portable’ garden layouts before, but those of you that already know my modelling style know that I don’t do things by the book, and if I start off with a plan, it’s normally 6 times removed when it gets to its final incarnation! The triangle originally had three double junctions but I wasn’t happy with it, so I decided I’d take one of the return lines underneath the straight lines to / from the shed, but this didn’t quite work out how I thought, due to the rather large Minorcan Palm, so Plan C arrived whereby one set of lines now go under the other and converge by the shed. These pictures will explain.... The gradient works out at 1 in 48, and this is achieved by lowering the right hand chord slightly as it passes under the other lines and then it rises to meet them just before the shed. ....more pictures to follow...

As I add more pictures, things will be very self explanatory (in answer to your question Mick). Here’s the first section mounted on the posts - these, believe it or not, are 40mm polypipe... Each section is bolted together with M8 blots.... ....here’s more of the sections being assembled together.... I’ll post some further pictures shortly.

So now you’ve seen the plan, it’s time to show you what it looks like. The whole thing is built like set track, wooden blocks of varying angles 4/5/6 degrees screwed and glued together to make a frame... The frame is bolted together in 6ft-ish sections and sits on top of PVC pipe posts, sunk in to 8” of concrete. The frame is treated 75x22 timber and once assembled, it’s given two coats of wood protector.

Made a bit of progress on the line today, completing the transition stretch from Sycamore Curve viaduct to the start of Foxdale Bank, which will be crossed on a disguised timber shelf. The contour curves should look good, but may be a pain to construct as each section will have to be completed and bedded in (screwed onto preservative-treated timber pegs driven into the ground) before the next one can be designed and cut. Today's progress saw just two yards of track laid. Here's today's inaugural train, with a BR Standard Class 4 loco running off the viaduct with a local passenger service in the mid-1950s - definitely needs some super-elevation adding in due course: Starting to get some mountain atmosphere - the West Highland Line, perhaps? Still looks a bit like a railway on a shelf, but no doubt nature will weather and stain that timber soon enough so that it blends in better. Finally, we see the Class 4 paused at a signal. Just as well really, as the track goes no further today.