Stone Me!

With no updates since September you could be forgiven for thinking that work on the layout had ceased.

However, nothing could be further from the truth although we have not done that much during the last few weeks, I will be admit.

Much of what we have been doing has involved getting the ballast yard to completion, something that took a lot longer than we had anticipated. We have also been refreshing the scenery at various locations on the layout, applying new grass, trees and bushes, and I will feature all of these in future postings during the coming weeks.

To begin with let us take a look at the aforementioned ballast yard and the arrival of a Class 47 at the head of a rake of Yeoman hopper wagons.

In the first photo we see it reversing its train out of Carswater, through the small cutting and into the yard. Its passage is being observed by a walker on the little footbridge that crosses the line at this point.

In the next photograph we see the train leaving the main line and entering the ballast yard and, as it does so, it holds up traffic at the level crossing that is situated at the entrance to the yard.

Finally we see the 47 squeezed between the yard's buildings and its rock face, with other hoppers occupying the other lines.

In the distance, the a Sentinel shunter can just be seen standing outside of its little shelter.

The buildings in the distance are actually Knightwing's 'Mine Top Buildings' kit (PM113) while the signal box in the foreground is from the Hornby Skaledale range (R8534), which we picked up second-hand. It is a bit worn and grubby but perfect for a ballast yard!