Freshwater on Freshwater at Abingdon

My Freshwater layout was at Abrail last Saturday. It has had a busy few weeks, but this is the last booked exhibition at the moment.

Today was also the first time the little Terrier has earned its keep, running nicely all day with just one minor hitch, when the coupling rod came off a crankpin, bent and threw out the quartering. It was soon fixed though. Finally, I seem to have overcome the current pickup problems, with a combination of 'Simpson Springs' on the axles, rail skates, and 'stay-alive' capacitors for the DCC decoder.

The layout also came second in the 'Best Layout' competition. I was quite chuffed, especially as the layout is obviously unfinished, and there were several fine layouts at the show.

And also some video:

Camford Junction survived the weekend at the Basingstoke exhibition. We had trains running to and fro on all four main line tracks, and could even control them from mobile phones - no mean feat for a non-DCC layout. There were some glitches in the track alignment still, and lots of paint, flux and glue to remove before we get faultless running, but it went better than expected. The yard area is still to be wired up, but was used to display an impressive collection of locomotives and stock. A number of buildings, huts and other lineside bits and pieces are appearing, although ballasting and groundwork will need to be completed first. We also need to start thinking about fiddle yards to complete the layout.

Another deadline approaches

Before Christmas last year, The Committee decreed that Camford Junction should have all the scenic track laid and some trains running in time to show it on the club stand at the Basingstoke exhibition in March (11th and 12th). It may look like we left everything until two weeks before the deadline, but things have been happening behind the scenes. The gang have built all the points and track, assembled the Dingo servo mounts and prepared 2mm Scale Association under-baseboard tiebars. Actual track laying was delayed by the problems with the baseboard joins (which are now resolved) and by me turning the baseboards upside down to wire up the main line tracks. But now, track laying is proceeding rapidly:

This board will have the last three points laid this week. The troughing for the carriage washer has been installed beneath the concrete sleepered track, and etched drain grills added, although they are barely visible.

The left hand board is being sculpted to fit the inspection pits for the loco shed. These were salvaged from the previous layout, 70K Coley Park.

Latest update, trains are now running the full length of the layout, and some temporary cosmetic arches have been added (to be replaced by properly modelled ones later) and more buffer stops are appearing: