Back to where I started

So it is over a year and I still haven't built the signal box which was fundamental to my original design for Apa Valley. So the carefully installed but virtually invisible to the naked eye point rodding currently disappears  into the undergrowth where the signal box should be. The undergrowth in question is, however,easily removable and easily exchangeable for an empty baseplate for the signal box.

There are three reasons why progress has proceeded beyond an early  attempt to fabricate the windows

The first is because the signal box doesn't fit in with my plans for LM.

Secondly I know that my first attempt isn't going to satisfy me, so whatever I build will need replacing fairly quickly.

The third is my usual excuse of being too busy and on the road too much.

This week for example I've been in France since Sunday lunchtime. I got back from Grenoble on Thursday night and having been out of wi fi contact for sometime found enough work in my inbox to keep me busy until midnight, and thgen I had to get up early today to get to a meeting in Birmingham.


Actually I didn't need to get up that early to get to the meeting. I had to get up that early  to get to the Ian Allan bookshop before I got to  the meeting.

It seems a lifetime ago that I used to spend large amounts of time and money in their London, back in the days when I commuted to and from Waterloo.  I've never got the hang of their current Birmingham shop. Clearly there is some sort of reason behind what books are where, but  it is usual beyond me to work out what it is. The nice thing is that visits therefore end up being a bit of a lucky dip, especially for someone with my eclectic tastes.

On this occasion I got a nicely produced but old book on the historic railway sites of Pennsylvania, reduced to a bargain £10. More relevant to the subject of this post is I also picked up a copy of Western Region Signalling in Colour.  needless to say I kept that well hidden in my briefcase during my meeting.

There is only photo in it of direct relevance, a picture of Barmouth South which like the Tanat Valley boxes was a product of Duttons but when I get round to building the interior for the model it has given me some ideas .