Through the Arch and Onwards

nevard_120715_polbrock_DSC_7105_BW, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

Ivan Locksmith's (A good friend of Lord Kernow of Brent, aka Cap't Kernow) Zeiss Super Ikonta peers through Sweet's bridge at 82005 which was recently recently transfered from the deepest Wales to Wadebridge. Its train slowly gliding over Polbrock's open crossing with a Wadebridge bound service on a sultry summer's day in 1961.

Having just penned the final part of Polbrock for Model Rail, I've very much enjoyed taking some snaps of the 'finished' layout. Of course a layout is never finished, but for this little project I've had to draw the line from a writing point of view. This is one of several views taken, this one in warm black and white having quite a nice feel. Most will know that I often add a wisp of smoke, not enough to fool people, but just a hint, a suggestion, the sort of thing that maybe the brain imagines when watching a model railway loco in full flight. This time I used some real smoke pinched from Clan Line last week speeding past in the pouring rain commemorating 45 years of the end of Southern Region steam. The shot was a disaster, I was concentrating on the loco so much I totally mis-cropped it and lost the back of the train  - oh well!

Looking forward to the next layout project I'm thinking of something very different, and working on some ideas for a present day scenario based on a real location with DCC on a whopping 12 feet of baseboard. It's always good to try something new, and whilst modern day isn't (Cement Quay) new to me, DCC is, so there'll be lots of new things to learn. The 12 feet of layout will be on 3 baseboards, but I don't want the backscene to have joins, so that's another aspect I'll be working on along with ways to make it easy to transport around and take up minimal space when not being used. All this but without compromising the presentation, for most people know that my one of bet hates are layouts with 3 inch high damaged backscenes and a tatty old drape on the front hanging off drawing pins. I also want to develop some other aspects like loading loose minerals along with some DCC sound and a mostly hands free operation. Watch this space!