Here are some photos of the WW1 layout before the crowds arrive.

Photos by Les and John

I have just finished the new fiddle yard and blended the new with the old. We still have some extra bricks to add and this will be done before its next Exhibition.

The new fiddle yard gives us far more flexibility and lets us run longer and more realistic trains.

The dilapidated Shed was made using MDF, Cork and various strip wood.

Today I started to blend the front of the new fiddle yard with the original baseboard. There is a lot to do with the broken down Barn a priority. Graham has ordered a load of 16mm bricks and is actively seeking some appropriate roof tiles. It will be quite a tight schedule as this needs to be complete by September 10th when we are at the Cambridge Model Exhibition with the layout in its new form.

I also took the chance to touch in the flaked paint and replace missing ballast. Humbrol Enamel paints both diluted and neat were used.

While we were adding the new fiddle yard we also tested the DCC System for the Locos and the DC system for the points.

Here are a few photos taken during the testing.

Yesterday we added the new fiddle yard to Gare De Brindille. We now have an off scene fiddle yard, all shunting previously done on the scenic section. We also took this opportunity to clean the whole layout and patch up some ballast that had come adrift. All that remains now is to blend the colours for continuity, Graham will also be making a building, probably an old Barn to ensure exit from the layout is not through a ‘hole in the sky’.

Over the last two days I have made a fiddle yard for Grahams latest SM32 WW1 Layout. Before this fiddle yard all shunting was carried out on the visible layout, but now it can be carried out off scene. Simple construction as there is only one line, but it had to be matched up with the old ‘end board’ which is still part of the layout.

This Layout is Appearing at the Hornby Model Mag – Great Electric Show at Milton Keynes (2022)