From Evernote:

New New Rolling Stock Clipped from: http://tinyurl.com/create.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmodel-railroad-hobbyist.com%2Fnode%2F7169

So, while it may not be to everyone's taste, the first 'new' (shop bought) rolling stock has been chosen by the five year old* ... and a fine model Bachmann's Class 220 'Cross Country Voyager' is to.

Not having experience of 'shop bought' models before (have bought a 57XX and a Class 57 from eBay, both of which failed on me and need repair), I wasn't completely sure what at expect.  I was immediately really impressed with the level of detail, right down to tiny decals (I'm easily pleased) but was actually shocked at the performance.  Using a 'bog standard' Hornby train-set controller (the type you get with entry level sets) and on track in the Summer House which hasn't seen the rough side of a Peco rubber for weeks, the pull away was liquid-smooth.  Wonderful.  Only regret is that full use of the head / tail lights is not achieved with DC control (they, of course, vary with speed).

This new rolling-stock has also exposed a 'gremlin' on the layout.  (And not the lifting bridge, which continues to work but be troublesome.)  On Sunday, the second day of owning it, I went to run it round the layout and performance was notably sluggish compared to yesterday.  Quick checks of obvious causes revealed a significant amount of dirty gunk on the power car wheels.  The bogies on this model are clearly more closely machined than any other older locos I have and have been scraping up excess No-Ox [http://tinyurl.com/d8m7oc4] on the turn behind the back scene.  It was so thick, I had to scrap it off before cleaning the wheels.  The loco now runs as before, though it also had a good clean before returning to its box.

All round, much excitement.  And a big thanks to Alton Model Centre [http://altonmodelcentre.co.uk/] ... this model is, apparently, RRP £145, but AMC discounted down to £90 ... exactly the amount I had after putting money away since Christmas.  There was one excited five year old (and forty-one year old).

*Why the Cross Country Voyager?  After a day out on the Paignton to Dartmouth heritage line last week, T was extremely exited to see a XC in Paington station and has been scouring YouTube for them since.  It's clearly still all about sliding doors ...

Final Layout

From Evernote:

Layout

Neglected to show final layout on my last post ... see below.  Essentially: top part is a goods yard; country station / goods on the right; and long station on the left.  The goods yard and country goods are separated by back-boards (hence the 'bridge' behind the scenes, top-right).

Dirty Mouths (Tunnels)

I guess nearly a year and half is quite a long time to leave between updates.  A year and a half.  Layout must be complete by now?  Only a couple of months work, surely?  Hmm.  Not quite.  And don't call me Shirley.  (copyright Frank Drebben)

Work has been sporadic.  Understatement.  More than one hour a week and it has been a good week.  More than two hours and it's been exceptional.

Still, progress is progress and after (i) making enough cuts to the planned track that would make Beeching clutch the table for support, (ii) a very enjoyable holiday in the south of France in 2011 where the evening's were spent drawing wiring diagrams by candle-light (with a copy of Model Railway Electrics by Fred Martin - http://tinyurl.com/cy9ssn5) while listening to strange noises in the woods in the dark and (iii) cutting and varnishing base boards in a cold, cold shed with only Radio 4 for company - a layout is finally running.  I was particularly pleased with the switch panel.  More of that later.  (Not much later, though, not sure it's going to survive toddler-attacks.)

Three key issues now need to be addressed: Scenery (needs some); locomotives (needs some) and lifting bridge (needs Dr Brian Cox to explain why it never sits in the same place twice, it's more restless than Schrodinger's cat).

And it does need to be remembered that this is layout is intended to fulfil two purposes: 1. A train set; 2. My modelling layout.  This was never going to be straight forward - imagine a layout being administered by a coalition government.  HS2 will be finished before this one.

Positives, though.  Have started making the scenery!  This is the part I've been looking forward to the most.  I have no idea what I am doing but lets not let that get in the way of enthusiasm.  One piece of good advice I read a while back was don't look at other models when building / painting, look at real items.  (Seems obvious now but, to the beginner, you'd be surprised.)  With that in mind, see attached a couple of 'cheap' plastic kits which are being altered for use in the back scene in the 'country goods' area ... more of which is to follow.