Slow Progress

Trying to make progress over a fenland Winter seems a bit of a lost cause. There just aren't enough usable hours of daylight to get everything done. It wouldn't be so bad if the workshop/engine shed had power or even some windows.

However, a couple of nice weekends have meant I've finally been able to build the third and final point planned for this phase of construction. This one is another Y point but with the tightest radius possible using the Miniature Railway Supply Company components. All I need to do is connect the point lever.

I'm going to have to lift this section again so I can ballast it, but for now the garden is far too waterlogged to accept a delivery of limestone. We had been hoping to have a small open day to coincide with the 16mm show in Peterborough. Sadly the state of the drive precludes that since even our 4x4 has struggled to get on and off it.

The net result is that in this direction the line now extends as far as it did last September before I borrowed the track for a temporary extension at the other end of the line so we could access the wagons from the path outside the kitchen door.  More importantly, with the point in place laying the next 20m or so can go ahead which will complete my planned construction campaign for the year. Incidentally it is amazing how much track sidings seem to absorb, so I have to build quite a few track panels in the next couple of weeks.

If I get a chance I might extend in the other direction, but that depends on our longer term plans for the front garden, which currently resembles the field that it once was.I might also build a couple more items of rolling stock, with a brake van and a small coach topping the list.

Meanwhile, what about the OO9 Cadeby layout? Well finally, and I'd almost given up hope, the Minitrains point turned up in the post. So who knows, I might even crack on with that as soon as I can venture far enough into the shed to find my modeling gear.

A quick post script

After sharing these photos on Facebook with a throwaway comment about having missed the deadline for the 2016 Dave Brewer Challenge it struck me that the competition was the only reason why I was restricting the size of the baseboard. If I  use one of Tim's photoplanks I can both improve the scenic setting and extend the "mainline" to a more realistic length. So that is what I'm going to do, but still keeping to the single point layout. The only problem that then leaves me is how to avoid needing to model Teddy's rather hideous "modern" Rectory. Option 1 is to just leave it out, option 2 is to replace it with something more attractive.