On the Rails

I'm absolutely exhausted by all the fall out from last week's election - and it isn't over by a long chalk yet.  Mind you, I didn't help my energy levels any by sitting up to all hours on Saturday night/Sunday morning, drinking beer and watching The French Connection for the hundredth time on Film Four in an attempt to wind down after all the politics.  Anyway, I think we all need a break from politics, at least here on Sleaze Diary.  So, a quick update on my model railway.  The track for the main running lines is in place, but not ballasted or fixed down.  Right now, I'm engaged in the labourious task of running, by hand, my most pernickity and sensitive rolling stock to try and find any problem areas where they derail.  My 'problem' rolling stock are several Mainline Mk1 coaches and the older of my two Wrenn CCTs - these all fall off of the track at the slightest excuse.  There's also a mainline ex-LMS luggage van with similar propensities.  My old Hornby Mk1 coaches are generally better behaved - unless they are coupled to their Mainline equivalents.  Old Lima coaches, I've found, are pretty much bullet proof and will run over even the worst laid track without problems.

Once I've identified and dealt with the problem areas, the underlay will go under the track and it will be lightly fixed down.  I'll then have to temporarily connect each loop in turn to a controller and repeat the tests with my most 'sensitive' locomotives, to check that there aren't any areas of track that they 'object' to negotiating without derailment.  Then I can think about fixing the main loops down properly and turn my attention to laying the track for the various sidings.  Here's a quick view of the layout under construction, looking toward the non-station side (I know it's a mess, but it is a work in progress):

The area in the top left hand corner will eventually be the site of a small goods yard with a couple of sidings.  In the top right hand corner there will be a small locomotive shed and facilities.  The area below the main lines currently covered in unused track and points will eventually be a marshalling yard where the stock will be shunted together into trains, (a fuller explanation of this will come when the layout is more advanced.

This shot shows part of what will be the station area (you can see some of the Hornby platform sections I've been using to align the track).  Also visible are some of the rolling stock I'm using for testing purposes.  The troublesome Mainline luggage van is on the inner loop, coupled to a well behaved Lima Siphon van.  The equally troublesome Wrenn CCT is the uncoupled van beind them, at the bottom of the picture.  The Mainline Mk1s are out of shot, but are part of the formation which includes the Hornby CK and Lima BGseen at the top right of the photo. 

So there you have it, photographic proof that my model railway layout does exist and isn't just a figment of my imagination!