what are people doing on their layout right now

[Foxhound]

What better way to spend a bank holiday than with a Metcalfe kit? Still lots of groundwork to do but here's the new petrol station at it's target location. The surface beneath it will be tarmac and the access road will need to be laid. We embellished the showroom with a white VW Passat....

[OffshoreAlan]

I've just finished trimming off the edges of my laminated cardboard test/running-in layout.

Trying to decide whether to put a narrow wooden frame on it - probably will to protect the vulnerable edges although my alternative would be to cover it all with "grass" vinyl sheeting and wrap round the edges.

[Trainfish]

I'll start the countdown to Mick @Newportnobby telling you to put something around the edges to stop trains falling off 

[guest311]

What better way to spend a bank holiday than with a Metcalfe kit? Still lots of groundwork to do but here's the new petrol station at it's target location. The surface beneath it will be tarmac and the access road will need to be laid. We embellished the showroom with a white VW Passat....

checking the fuel prices, you obviously haven't been to your local garage / supermarket for a while  :'(

[OffshoreAlan]

I'll start the countdown to Mick @Newportnobby telling you to put something around the edges to stop trains falling off 

Not now you've pre-empted him 

Sounds like a good idea, especially since main traffic will be expensive new locos

[crewearpley40]

Cleaning stock wheels, testing a couple of locos. Track cleaning

[Newportnobby]

checking the fuel prices, you obviously haven't been to your local garage / supermarket for a while  :'(

True - I paid 125.9 today, but I guess it depends on the dating of the layout.

I'll start the countdown to Mick @Newportnobby telling you to put something around the edges to stop trains falling off 

Unless they're newbies I've given up on that one. More experienced folk should know better, methinks.

[guest311]

£1.31.9p at our local Tesco for diesel.

mind you, SWMBO decided yesterday she felt up to a trip to Asda  :'(

their diesel was £1.25.7p per litre .... but guess what ...

she well overspent what I saved on fuel  :'( :'( :'(

[KevTheBusDriver]

Today I resolved to have a really good go at cleaning the wheels on a Farish 47 which has been a real pain for months... after wheel cleaning it would do maybe 2 circuits (about 40 feet?) before stuttering to a halt. I removed the body, put the chassis in a cradle, connected power (about 10v) to the 2 sides and used a Minitrix wheel cleaner, followed by meths on a cotton bud (carefully) then a dry cotton bud. There is still some visible 'staining' on the wheel treads but so far, it has run a good hour today with not a murmur!
It's been a good day!

[Foxhound]

checking the fuel prices, you obviously haven't been to your local garage / supermarket for a while  :'(

I  was harking back to gentler times....

I got stung 1.30/L for unleaded yesterday.....

[Ricky B]

Today I woke up and decided to be brave and tackle a job I'd been dreading for a while - re-lettering and naming a Farish 'Peak'. It was taken out of the box 2 days ago as 45114... it is now 60 'Lytham St Annes'. Numbers and names from Railtech Transfers, double arrows are 1981-vintage Methfix, data panels from Woodhead Models (another very old sheet of waterslide transfers). The headcode 4S88 is just a bit of photo glued in after the black paint was scraped off the inside. The nameplates were applied just like the normal Railtech waterslide transfers. It looks okay to me!
Point of note: the loco carries 60 on one side and 45022 the other.
Thanks to the sun for assisting with the photos!
Happy modelling, eveyone!

@KevTheBusDriver Great looking work in the Peak Kev. I'm just dithering about what method use to remove the printed number on a brand new Farish 'Deltic'. If I find one endorsement for using T-Cut or another for Meths or IPA, I can soon find another saying "No!". I've successfully removed the numbers from a Farish '37' with just a cocktail stick but the Deltic's D9001 looks well printed on and I don't want to damage the green paint beneath. Any tips?

[Swindon69]

Sadly over the last year not much - ironically I've had less spare time during lockdown than I had before.

[wombat457]

Work on my layout has come to a bit of a stand still due to a very unexpected health issue a couple of months ago.  The plan though; is to clear off the "old" layout and prepare the benchwork for the "New" layout.  Hopefully that will happen in the next month or so ...   

[Newportnobby]

Here's hoping things improve for you both on the health and layout front.

[wombat457]

@Newportnobby

Thank you, I appreciate that