Widnes Road - Stock Update

A week before the exhibition season begins and I have made enough progress on Widnes Road that a) It looks fairly finished; and b) I can have a break from the scenery and get back to what I enjoy most; resprayed and detailing rolling stock.

The results of this have been i) the fitting of a Howes of Oxford Sound decoder in one of the Class 33's. I'm very pleased with it, I reckon its a match for my much loved South-West Digital decoder fitted locos. ii) The partial respray of my last 'out the box' loco, 37 057 "Viking" into Eastfield Machine 37 035.

Whilst not finished, I still need to plate over the nose doors and remove the sealed beam headlight and aerials, with the fitting of Heljan ploughs (from a 47) it looks the part. The respray was needed to remove all traces of the nameplate and Tinsley Rose. I will eventually lightly weather it to match 47 597.

Widnes Road - Exhibition Ready

With two weeks to go to the Sudbury Model Railway Exhibition; I have been adding the finishing touches to the latest section of Widnes Road. This new element, although only adding just over a foot to the scenic section, adds a rear part to the depot scene, as well as allowing more depth to allow a for realistic backscene to be incorporated. The road overbridge has been improved with new supporting pillars which make it look a much more believable structure. A further low-relief depot building has been added to the far right-hand end of the layout, as shown in the close up picture above; I still need to add the far bridge abutment and add much more to the backscene.