chris

I've never been shy about admitting it, for the first few years of Railway Modelling I just copied what Ian did. So I have done this to all my points. I've done it to points in my indoor layouts because... The issues I now have is the the bonds to the point blade are failing. I'm not going to lift the points to re solder them, too much hassle. I've just lived with them being dead. But running old models with few pickups dead point blades became annoying. Thinking about it I realised that I could clean up the stock-rail and blade sides to enable electrical conductivity again. I applied a little WD40 with a brush and gently scraped the sides with the point of a 1mm drill bit I had to hand. It worked a treat. Trains ran though noticeably smother, especially through ladder junctions where wheels can be on more than one point at a time. Definitely worth doing if your points giving you trouble.

Lunch (leftover pizza) was followed by a Northern Rail take over. All my fleet baring the 153, which is in bits, headed to Colwick. My Grand Central HST got it's first run of the year. It's missing a buffer, but I found it while sweeping the shed floor yesterday. Refitting it is a quick job fo this week. I was ruining into Amblethorpe and Barnmouth. I didn't insert the lift out section of track so didn't have the loop to play with. I chose this way of operating, end to 2 ends, because the lift out section blocks the path to Colwick Station and I wanted the to be the centre of operations today. So although Barnmouth is a through on the main, I operated it as a terminus mainly turning back in platform 1, but occasionally shunting into Platform 2 or the siding beyond 1. My charter train reached Clowick with Bittern in change. With the second tender in the formation the train is slightly too long from Platform 2. Scots Guardsman returned from hibernation and took the stock for a spin round to Barnmouth, while Bittern light engined to the service point at Amblethorpe. By the end of the afternoon I had a lot of stock around the garden and an empty shed. My wife enjoys the pack up shunt, she joined me as driver while I concentrated on singling. I still forgot to set the points right on several occasions. I'm out of practice. Forecast isn't as good for the next few days. I've got a few tasks than can be completed in doors, so work on Amblethorpe will continue through lockdown.

Finally a day just for running trains. The forecast was for the weather to worsen as the day drew on. I decided to run trains form morning to late afternoon. Set up was slightly delayed by a damp out-field, sorry, baseboard, so scenics were put in place once the sun had removed the moisture. For the first time this year Colwick Station was carried out of the shed and attached to the railway. It attached much better than I was expecting and trains ran in and out smoothly. I had forgotten that I'd made improvement to it last year. Due to fragrant breaches of social distancing the police were call. I was in a BR blue mood. Grabbing a box of a mates DMUs I got some trains running. Colwick was rather busy. Amblethorpe station also saw some action as I mainly shuttled trains between the two. These units are not the most reliable. They are also hampered by Hattons DCC chips, which have a annoying characteristic which doesn't help on units with a lack of pickups. The morning was fun, but BR Blue was returned to its boxes before lunch was taken. The afternoon would see more recent stock run.

The camp out is a great idea. Our two man tent is slightly larger than out back lawn and less than 10 metres form the ECML, my wife and I won't be joining in. No much train running for me today. A massive Spring clean of the shed consumed all my day. It was time well spent. My shed has been running at over capacity for a couple of years. it's made running the railway less easy, so it's not been run often enough. Now its clean, tidy and safer I'll enjoy being in there, which will be a very nice change. Only one issue arose. I smashed a pint glass of water in the shed. One train got a splash and a track flooded. But it was warm and windy so things dried out quickly without any damage being caused.

Excuses were over. Yesterday was was the day to rebuild the campsite. Usual techniques of scatter on PVA. Ballast, sand and static grass. The only problem I had was with my homemade static grass applicator. A faulty switch was replaced. Initially I installed push button replacement, but I couldn't mount it. I went for a toggle switch, which is actually a big improvement. It was a bit of a rush job, intentionally so. I want my outdoor stuff to look as good as my indoor work, but I've learnt that just leads to frustration as the elements and wildlife take there toll. So I now try to crack on, get a good model, but without too much precision.

I've read reviews of those PRA, they look very impressive. They will really fit in on Worsley Dale.