Update

Much to report:

2 NWNGR 4 wheel carriages have been soldered together, I have the sides for the third but await the ends and chassis - Allen of worlsey works has temporarily lost them apparently. They look good and will complement my NWNGR train.

The two water tanks were scrubbed with ajax, dried and then sprayed with grey primer. Now they are dry the primer has covered 99% so they are ready for the red to be brushed on - railmatch acrylic 2311.

I managed to pick up an N gauge fleischmann 0-6-0 loco on ebay for £30. This was described as DCC ready, which I suspect partly explained the low price. It arrived today and to my great surprise was not just DCC ready, but had a decoder on board. A quick test and she works nicely - another great ebay deal! This chassis will be used under the WHR Kerr Stuart diesel. A quick bit on butchery on the white metal body underframe and she'll be ready to go - easy livery too - grey with white lettering.

I delivered a case full of the main WHR (C) carriage stock to the Cheltenham works for painting at the weekend. Dad has helpfully and very kindly agreed to get these going and there is also talk of a spray booth...cool.

Meanwhile I have continued painting a few random wagons - 7 skips, 3 FR 2t slates and 2 RAFs were painted mid grey last night and will be dry brushed and weathered with pastels later.

Further thought has gone into the design of board joins. Firstly, I have taken the advice of John DeFrayissnet (of County Gate) and ordered some super catches from wixroyd - http://www.wixroyd.com/purchase.php?p_no=4926&id=558&method=w The bolts drilled between boards will now be used as if they were dowels for alignment only.

Secondly, I am gradually removing the plaster bandage where it overlaps the board edges as these are causing greater gaps than necessary. This has shown that the end pieces of the two Fridd boards are not perfectly square and this explains why such a gap appears in the scenery. These will need to be taken off and reattached square. I may also in doing this be able to reduce some of the weight of the main Ffridd board - it is very heavy indeed.

Also at the entry to each hidden sidings I will be copying John's idea about half way down the page here: http://www.009.cd2.com/track_page.htm - i.e. solder tubing to the rails and insert a pin to ensure perfect line up.

This leaves a couple of joints which may need relaying as they may still be too wide, but we'll see where we get to with the above first, and anyway much of this will probably wait until Spring as I need to get on with stock.

I have also ordered a load of pipes from Knightwing - click here - to form the water tower piping.

Progress on all fronts really.

Colin