Housekeeping:
The bridge board was set up and Stephen gave it a close vacuuming. Geoff laid a line of Modge Podge to the outer edges of the bridge roadway and then used shortish electrostatic grass strands to add more texture. Stephen followed using clumps of long grass fibres, hand-trimmed, and placed into patches of glue along the edges.
Stephen also went over the general layout foliage with more yellow paint splodges to brighten-up the extensive gorse bush flowers (As trialled the previous week).
A discussion took place about whether the check rails should be painted and the answer was - yes. Geoff found some 'Brass blackener' and tried it out on a point, but it was a bit watery. After lunch, another coat was added, but after it had fully dried, it was easily removed using the track cleaning tool.
The uncleaned checkrails had looked good, so it was decided to try paint, which was easier and quicker to apply. However, this time, Geoff decided to make a specific tool for cleaning the point rails, just the areas where the wheels would run. A strip of thick brass with a flange milled along one edge was made and a strip of emery paper was applied to the recess using double-sided tape. Some adjustment might be required, but the effect was brilliant.
Finally, Stephen finally got around to painting the timbers at the bottom of the retaining wall where they sit rotting in water, a job that was finally ticked off the list.
