Ballast, Bothy and a Baby Bachmann

Time for another update on our progress so far and from the top picture, you can see that the Ballast Yard is still being worked upon. I think we have now given it its final coating of stone and rock dust and, from the photo, you can see that the glue is still fairly wet! Next time we will be concentrating on the edges and, maybe, installing some yard lights.

Meanwhile, behind the ballast yard, and with the help of my nephew and his girlfriend, we have 'built' a stone shelter, or bothy, complete with camp fire and outside seat for sitting and admiring the countryside. A couple of hill walkers are also crossing one of the footbridges while, in the distance, a farmer and his dog are coming up the hill in order to gather his sheep.

The third photo gives another general view of this section of the layout wherein we are also slowly adding more trees to make the hills look a little less barren.

Finally, we have added sound to our Bachmann Class 03, not an easy job given the restricted nature of these smaller locos. The sound is by SWD and is very good, I must admit. We used a YouChoos SugarCube7 speaker and the sound is quite impressive from such a small speaker. However, either through dirty track or faulty pick-ups the loco's performance was decidedly dodgy when we were running her in. So, unfortunately, it is back to the workshops for a quick check to see what the problem might be!

A Ballasted Long Time

With not much happening on the layout over Christmas and during the first month or two of the new year it has been a while since I have posted anything. 

However, with quite a bit work having recently taken place on the central section of the northern half of the layout, I thought that it was high time for an update.

So, to begin with, the first photograph above gives a general view of the area around Carswater, with the station now fitted with lights and name boards and, yes, even some potential passengers!

The adjoining lake has yet to be filled with water but it already has a couple of climbers scaling the hill behind, courtesy of my nephew and his girlfriend. I will include a photograph of the climbers in a future posting.

Once atop the ridge, these climbers will be afforded a 'wonderful' view of the ballast yard which is just starting to take shape. 

There is now a small shed in the far left-hand corner in which the Sentinel locomotive will be housed when not in use. The ground has also had a few coats of stone scatter applied to it and we are pleased with the way things are progressing.

The long chute between the hill and the building will obviously be cut, once the building has been fixed in place. This chute was made purposefully too long becaue, when it was constructed, we were not too sure how long it needed to be.

I will post more close-up photographs of the ballast yard as it progresses.

We plan to build a small hut or 'bothy' on the hill at the far end of this area, just beyond the ballast yard, for walkers and, yes, climbers too, to take refuge. 

We also wanted to make it possible for them to walk across all of the hills, from one end to the other. However, to be able to do this, bridges were going to be needed to allow walkers to cross the railway (twice) and the road (twice). 

Well, an old Tri-ang brick bridge already spanned one of the road crossings and, now, two more bridges have been added at the far end, as seen in the third photograph above. 

This just leaves one more bridge needed to cross the railway for a second time at the bottom of the first photograph.

Finally, for this time, I have included a photograph showing Class 50 50011 'Cenurion' calling at Carswater station with a special train consisting of Orient Express Pullman coaches. 

It is not intended that this station will see too many express trains, with local services and semi-fasts being its more usual visitors - together with the occasional ballast train, of course!