Bored!

Himself has been working on some more trees and tells me he's already bored after only half a dozen of them!

That's something he's going to have to learn to live with because there are an awful lot of them still to make to go around he layout.

A good number of them will need to be planted on the top of the tunnel to represent the small wood there.

He's also joined the two boards either side of Goat Tunnel together to blend the gardens behind the houses into the rest of the scene.

Please forgive the slightly blurred picture, Himself's phone is clearly not as smart as it thinks it is.

The Gardener's Been

The last of the landscaping has been completed around the new houses.

The bare grass at the back which I showed you a few days ago has had various bushes and other foliage added.

Hopefully you can see the clear differentiation between the rough grass of the field and the more manicured lawns.

At the front of the houses there have been a number of bushes planted, particularly around the entrances of some of the properties.

It's come together very quickly given that just a few weeks ago this area was just open baseboard frame.

Tombstoning

I like it when you get to the stage of adding those little details which really complete the scene.

One of them is the cemetery from which Cemetery Crossing gets its name which is shortly beyond the exit from Goat Tunnel, or shortly before, depending on which direction you're traveling in.

Himself has made a nice job of a batch of grave stones which he has set out in the enclosed area above the line.

I did offer to make some masters and cast them in resin, thinking it might speed up the process, but it turns out he's made them all from scratch.

Here's a shot he posed featuring our newest carriage, 150, and a Triple Fairlie combo.

Fencing Continues

The cocktail sticks and cotton are still threading their way around the layout.

In the last couple of weeks Himself has changed around the boards which are up on the trestles and able to be worked on (because we don't have room, alas, to erect the whole layout at once) so now he's moved onto the Porthmadog end of the station and the section of line to the south of Goat Tunnel.

Here you can see the fencing has been completed along section by Cemetery Crossing.

And in the station area he's been busy fencing in the concrete pad where one day there might be a station building (?)

Even when it does get built ours will remain forever a concrete pad because Bron Hebog is frozen in a time warp around the period of the re-opening.

This view reminds me that I've still got to make some temporary toilet units to go in here.

Slow Progress

Getting your mojo back when you return from a holiday is always hard.

I've been doing some short sessions on the superbarn 118.

The chassis has had the skirt - which is pretending to be the main frames - added to the bottom.

I've also marked and drilled the holes for the bogie pivot bolts, which seems a more challenging operation now after discovering I'd drilled then off-centre on 150 initially.

I've also created the false roof which will keep the body rigid and retain the glazing.

 Himself will fit a brass roof skin in due course.

The other thing I've done is clean up the interior castings.

I made these before we went away but I will wait until the underside of the chassis is finished before I glue them into place.

Growing Season

Foliage has been sprouting on the layout in recent days.

Firstly, Himself has added the long grass to the area around the back of the houses.

It still needs to be trimmed so that it is not quite so hairy.

He's also been making the old barn look more at home it its surroundings.

I do like the variety in the colours which makes the scene look more untamed.

Tried And Trusted

Our approach to scenery is reassuringly traditional and our favourite way of creating bumply and lumpy ground it's the tried and trusted method of chicken wire covered with Mod Roc and then plaster.

With the houses fixed in position Himself has moved on to creating the landscape behind them.

There is a big step in the land immediately behind the houses which is represented here by the pieces of wood you can see, which also act as the anchor point for the staples which fix the wire in position.

In the picture below, taken a couple of days later, you can see the area now with its coat of plaster brushed on.

The next stage will be plant it with very hairy long grass.