Colour vision

There has been some spectacular progress with South Pelaw in recent months, mainly on the scenic side of the layout. Much of the trackwork is now painted and ballasted, and work has begun on greening up the trackside areas. A lot more detail remains to be added of course, but much of this will need to wait until the electrics have been properly tested. Meanwhile, it is starting to look like a proper railway, and here are some photographs to enjoy.

Above is a view looking over the site of the Signal Box, with the lines into Stella Gill yard on the left, and the bank up to Consett to the centre right. Pelton Lane bridge is missing, and the cocktail sticks are in the signal holes. On the right, the buffer stops (which were still there a few years ago) have been installed. In the immediate foreground are the sidings for South Pelaw colliery.

Here is another view of the start of the bank up to Consett. In the foreground is a test-piece of teddy bear fur. Having experimented a bit with this, we have opted to go for other scenic materials at least for the time being.

Not sure about the historical accuracy of this shot, but it is a nice view of Martin's class 40 posed on the bank with a few ore wagons. On the left is Rich's fantastic model of Stella Gill Box. 

In the last week or so, this box has acquired a set of spandrels to support the platform around the windows, and now looks even better.

In addition to the scenics, Phil has been working on the NCB shed, which lies between the Consett Lines and Stella Gill yard. As mentioned in a previous blog post, we have had to re-arrange the geography somewhat in this region to make the layout a reasonable size. The shed is taking shape very nicely indeed, but there is still plenty to do on the bridge -- not to mention the signal gantry which will dominate this view.

At the other end of the layout, Pete's bridge is now nearing completion, and looking the part. Each of these stones has been individually carved from plasticard. Pete is also responsible for the very fine bufferstops.

We have also been busy assembling some motive power, keeping in mind that operating a layout of this scale is going to require many tough locomotives. Rich has recently completed a London Road models N9, which is seen here posed on the ramp up to South Pelaw colliery.