As Laurence wasn't in attendance this week, we didn't have the worklist he prepared last week, so we just improvised.
First-up, the altered dust cover was fitted to the storage frame. A few extra strips of Velcro had been sewn in and corresponding pieces were stapled to the frame. It all worked well.
Stephen had remembered to bring the switch unit he'd made at home, for the fiddleyard. This houses two DPDT switches, with one pole for battery-powered LEDs that indicate whether the track power is being fed to the cassette tracks. The unit was fitted on the end on the board, close to the track connectors. The existing feeds were removed, lengthened and soldered to the switches, and wires run back to the connectors. Testing took longer than necessary due to a problem with the loom connector - 'clumsy-finger-syndrome', which Geoff had obviously caught from Laurence.
Geoff initially set-about hoovering up the excess flock from the previous weeks work. He then decided to fill in a few more areas with flock/grass - mainly 'dead' areas close to trackwork. Even these small areas had a impact on the layouts appearance. A discussion on ballast followed. Unfortunately, there is little we can do to rectify the original oversized ballast, but added greenery, in the shape of flock and electrostatic grass added all over the track area, similar to the head-shunt, would go a long way. As would some careful painting of known dirt and oil lines along the track.
Stephen then completed work on the lighting for the gasifier building, which comprised fitting a plug to the supply lead and adjusting the dedicated power module to 12v. The bank of switches were labelled at the same time.
Geoff then moved on to building a workman's crossing to the workshop, which would enable a particularly visible track joint to be 'disguised'. Once the ballast had been removed, timbers were glued between the rails. As the other shapes were all rhombuses, edgings and chippings/ash were used.
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| Almost completed crossings. Note extra grass. |
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| Geoff adding bolt holes to another crossing. |
As previously reported, Laurence had tried to drive one of his diesels through the tunnel, but it had fouled the tunnel lighting. Stephen assessed the problem and after carefully prising the lighting off the tunnel wall, carved large chunks of plaster away, before re-gluing the lights. Bring the diesel for testing next week Laurence!
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| The walls carved away to allow the lighting to be recessed. |
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| Lights temporarily held in place for gluing. |
Stephen brought along a new wagon - the first for 20 years or more. It's a toolbox or general storage box fitted to a Peco flat wagon. It's intended to run it with the timber bolsters on the quarry line, to carry loose items.
Geoff is keen to disguise the Kadee couplings and has suggested curved buffing blocks over the knuckle. This will be an ideal opportunity to have a go.
