A layout in progress, slow progress...

About time I reported on some progress…. well, not a lot just about covers it. First we had that fortnight of impossibly hot weather and high humidity which meant loft time was restricted to switching on the fans and opening the window in the morning, reversing the procedure late in the evening. Finally with the weather returning to something like normal I did eventually get up there, and rather than get on with the signalling changes, I decided on some more operational therapy. With the clock getting close to 15.00 it was back to thinking about getting this Shrewsbury (via Granby Junction) – Birkenhead milk train on the layout, just to see how it fitted in with the existing timetable – with the mid-afternoon lull in the passenger services there is already a fair bit of freight on the move as can be seen in this view of the marshalling yard ….with apologies once again for the lack of ballast – another job I really should get finished.



The Class 5 has just arrived with a fruit train, now waiting to be shunted up to the goods shed to be unloaded. The G2 has just backed on to the oil empties bound for Ellesmere Port and will be on the way in the next half hour. The Sulzer type 2 is about to leave with a general freight bound for the Midlands.

Meanwhile the milk train, assembled and is now on the way, seen here leaving the fiddle yard behind Ragley Hall…



 â€¦.en route for this dairy/processing plant somewhere near Rock Ferry/Port Sunlight – where it will leave the fresh delivery, and collect yesterday’s empties for the return trip, leaving them in the yard at Birkenhead while the engine gets fed and watered at 6C for the return trip. As noted before the empties will bear a remarkable resemblance to the new delivery – only way I can justify a relatively short stay in the loops under Woodside, where there is no long term storage facility available.

One more view which I noticed a few days ago, the Sulzer type 2 is held at the signal on the mainline, while the English Electric type 1 is similarly held at the entrance to the fiddle yard.


 
Back in the early 60s, my trainspotting days, I always thought that the proliferation of these particular classes of ‘mixed freight’ diesels really did spell the beginning of the end of steam….memories, memories.

P.S. Last Tuesday (25^th) in that freak stormy weather two of our neighbour’s oaks came down – and promptly cut the main fibre for the valley. Around here all fibre is strung on poles. So we were without fibre phone or Internet for eight days, and no mobile signal in the house ….causing havoc with our on-line shopping….. and the reason for the delay in posting this.

This interconnected world in which we now live is fine… until a tree falls on it!!!

Keith

High time I reported on progress….. that’s the almost imperceptible variety, the continuing misfiring mo-jo hasn’t helped.  I have been progressing the timetable, very slowly, more of that later, and busy with ‘other things’ – like building up a decent stock of brownie points before winter puts a stop to outdoor activities. However as it is now three months since I finished that 3 aspect signal I decided it was high time I got on with the signal swap at the entrance to the first tunnel from the fiddle yard. This is how it has looked for the last few years



… with the Dapol motorised home signal on the down line and a two aspect colour light on the up line approach to the fiddle yard. I did want to use a Ratio kit built home/distant semaphore as I have either end of Hooton Station – better from an operational viewpoint as with the home off and the distant on, tells the controller that there is already a train in the loop ahead, so it will need to be watched to avoid coupling up. With both home and distant off the loop is unoccupied and a train will stop automatically at the end of the loop. Not a big deal to most folk, but it is the sort of operational idea which keeps this fat controller happy, takes all sorts…. I can’t fit the Ratio signal in this location, and again at the entrance to the first tunnel from Woodside, because of the Heath-Robinson method I use for automating the signal – I have to have proper access below the baseboard for fixing the point motors and adjusting the w-i-t  to get it just right. The signal I’m looking at now has the panelling for the cold water tank just three inches below it – and so is a non starter for this method. The only solution is a three aspect colour light, with the Dapol home moving across to the up line. Must admit I was concerned that the current arrangement ‘looks’ better than what was proposed.
Nothing too complicated then…. except it is a few years since I fitted the current signals, and with no notes, of course, it did take a fair while to get to grips with the wiring – and which power source I was using. After a few ‘tracing the wires sessions’ and noting a couple more colour code anomalies through the tangled mess under Hooton, pictured in an earlier post, I finally knew what I had to do to get the signals moved. Attaching the wires to the small circuit board of the Train-Tech colour light did test my soldering skills – I’m not used to such ‘precision’ soldering – but the finished product doesn’t look too bad.



At least the wiring itself was quite simple, for the semaphore of course it was just a case of reconnecting the wires. For the three aspect I just reconnected the existing red/green wiring to the new signal, swapped the SPDT switch with a SPDT c/o version and added the SPST switch and new feed for the amber. In the end the new arrangement looks better than I expected, and I’ve now got the indication of loop status sorted. Just another one to do…..



A long distance view, showing the amber – not as bright as the red, but close up the red and green lights do seem to ‘leak’ into the other lenses…



That could be down to me, or the leds are not a good fit for the holes in the signal – probably me, also looking at another kit, the leds have a square clear base base which locates behind the back of the signal which must transmiit some of the light generated by the led, possibly some black paint on the base may sort it. Anyone else had this problem?
As to the control of the three aspect, as Dave quite rightly noted ‘an interesting method’ – this is only temporary – which means anything up to five years on Woodside, possibly longer  â€“ while I work out how to fit the Eckon three-way levers I’ve got into a redesigned control panel so they don't protrude too much. For now the slightly odd arrangements fits well in the existing panel


…the lack of covers on the switches is noticeable. That is down to this memory of mine – before starting I checked on what stocks of covers I had, I could make up a red/white and a yellow/black. All the covers were then left in a safe place. When I find that safe place the covers will be added…. the loft is full of safe places…. In the meantime I’ll probably order some new stocks, just in case. The Peco levers here are for the two Dapol semaphores.

Meanwhile at Hooton before all this, highlights of the operational side were the Shrewsbury/Granby milk train empties passing through Hooton followed by the DPV with a couple of vans on the local parcels heading for Birkenhead, here seen arriving through platform 1.



It then reverses across to platform 3 for loading/unloading, leaving platform 1 free to deal with a semi-fast for Birkenhead, just as the pick-up freight an hour or so earlier. Once loaded it sets off for Birkenhead – with a couple more stops en-route before arriving at Woodside. I think I’ve mentioned before I’m assuming that the DPV was being trialled at Birkenhead, no idea if such trials ever happened – must admit I never saw one in the area, nearest was at Manchester Victoria, but it is not impossible.… and it is a reasonable excuse for getting a very good and different model on the layout.

Now, time to get on with the other three aspect, although having said that I’m having second thoughts about the clearance to the fiddle yard approach below, which may mean going back to the Eckon signals. There may well be just a bit more operational therapy first….. get those Shrewsbury/Granby milk train empties up to the marshalling yard at least.

Keith

Hi Keith

Another excellent write-up on the current state of affairs. Hopefully by now you have enough brownie points amassed to be able (err, allowed!) to spend more time with the layout. A nice addition - the DPU Class 128 parcels van/coach. Looking back through your pages, I spotted it again way back in Aug 2015, but it never registered with me at that point (or since). I'm generally more interested in the "layout" as a whole and the building of it rather than the individual locos, etc. I'm not looking to add one to my layout, but the DPU took some looking into (as a research project on what I think is an unusual piece of rolling stock) certainly an interesting item. Nice one.

The Dapol colour lights look good - as you say a bit of bleed through looking at the red in the photo. Maybe that (and the green) can be toned down a little with the addition of another small resistor (or replace the exiting (presumably a 1k) with something a little larger in value) - maybe upping it from the normal 1k to perhaps 1.2k will drop the current taken by 2mA - and the brightness of the LED is reduced by a little as a result (that's for a 12v supply line). It may not be enough to stop the bleed through but may start to level-up the brightness across all three LEDs. But maybe there is only the one resistor in the supply feeding each of the three LEDs in turn and then it's an additional small value resistor placed in-line with each LED to suit what's needed. A bit of trial and error (something I usually can't be bothered with, to be honest!).

I'm not familiar with the Dapol lights but would presume the LEDs are a push-fit into the housing in the same way as the Eckon signal heads whereby the LEDs push in until a slight/feint click can be felt when the LEDs are fully pushed home. Or maybe, as you suggested, the addition of a touch of black paint across the rear of the LEDs might help. Either way, I'm sure you'll get it sorted. Hopefully, you still have the availability of moving it "off-layout" to make these adjustments, although I understand that is not always the case. Once an item lands on the layout, certainly in my case, it's generally there for keeps.

Anyway, good luck with that - I'm sure you'll get it sorted to your satisfaction.

Keep up the good work. And stay safe.

S’mae Dave

You’re spot on with the ‘allowed’…. and have you noticed these brownie points do appear to be perishable?!

That’s the thing with this hobby of ours – there are so many different aspects to it – something for everyone. Even allows for folk, like me, who just check out various aspects, to make sure I can produce something vaguely acceptable, like the green bits - one bit does have some static grass, then get back to the important job – for me – of running the actual timetable.
 
The DPU in the 2015 picture is the gangwayed example of the 128 – all six of them were allocated to the Western Region. So when that one appears on the layout, it is on loan – to cover when one of the four London Midland non-gangwayed variety is out of action, or replacing an engine and vans from Shrewsbury – I can always come up with a just about plausible excuse.  At that time it was the only version available. I bought the LM version in 2017/8, and that is now permanently on the layout – except when it goes for overhaul (Crewe, or somewhere) – and then the Western Region version reappears. Looking back at 2015 shows how little things have progressed since then, don’t know about ‘slow and steady’ – more like ‘spot the difference’. That said for three of the years we were concentrating on nursing the cats through their final years.

The colour light is Train-Tech – Dapol are the semaphores – and the leds are fitted on a very narrow pcb which fits inside the signal post – the other end of which is what I had to use that precision soldering to attach the wires. As you well know I’m out of my depth with all this high tech stuff, but the individual leds appear to be moulded with small square bases of clear plastic/glass and then mounted on the pcb. The leds are just pushed through the signal front, not a particularly tight fit at that, leaving the square section behind the signal front, if that makes sense. All very clever, but I’m not convinced, and may explain the light bleed. I’ll post some pictures on the Signals thread. It is annoying me, which probably means in the next week or so I’ll have to get the signal off the layout to do something to try to improve it, totally against my usual ‘it’ll do’ attitude. First thing will be to try the black paint on the bases of the leds, and the rear of the led given the loose fit. I may well try your suggestion of a larger resistor to balance up the brightness at the same time – I am using a 12v supply. Covering all bases, I have also just received an order from Rails, more Eckon signals, one of which is a three aspect, which I suspect will end up on the layout in that location. All the existing colour lights are Eckon, which for me now are the best of the budget signals, apart from the one Absolute Aspects on the approach to Woodside station, which is in a different league, with price to match. I am very envious of folk who can produce their own signals.

In the meantime however, there’s a railway to run….

Stay safe everybody, the second wave appears to have started….

Keith
 

Out for our usual trek around the forest recently, came across this at the side of the track:



Usnea Florida, I think – never seen this particular lichen before. With the surge in on-line shopping and the corresponding increase in the need for cardboard packaging they have started felling again in the forest, so the usual large bits of kit on low-loaders had gone up the track, rearranging the trees at the edge of the track, and dislodging the lichen on the higher branches. I’m sure I’ll be able to do something green with this. The following week Margaret (SWMBLT) found this on the road just outside the house – never seen such a large example of my preferred lichen – another usnea  â€“ obviously fell from one of the loaded artics as it passed, using every inch of the single track road


 
Meanwhile back in the loft, the light bleed problem of the new signal continued to annoy me. I can cope with the trains running with green undercoat painted ‘scenery’ as a backdrop for years – even after finally proving I can produce something more acceptable with static grass – although I have to admit that the standard of modelling of what I refer to as ‘scenery’ on other layouts on the forum is way beyond anything I could ever produce.  The light bleed problem however is another matter, that is classed as ‘operational’ and so has to be sorted. Although I could try painting the bases of the leds to see if that improves things I decided that replacing the Train-Tech signal with an Eckon example would be the quickest way to guarantee solving the problem. So, Eckon example was hastily built and installed – no more light bleed.

Hastily built, well not quite…. first it was assembled with the red in the top position, only noticed when taking a photo of the ‘finished’ signal…. managed to rearrange the leds without taking the signal off the layout…. but that resulted in the phone diamond getting knocked off…. only noticed that, again, when taking a photo of the ‘finished’ signal… took some time to find the missing diamond – it was lying upside down on the base of the Dapol semaphore opposite…. Again managed to reattach the diamond without taking the signal off the layout…. this time without creating any further problems… … apart from dislodging the safety loop on the ladder, which then had to be reattached…. and so, finally, at the third attempt we have, fingers crossed, the finished signal



…leaving the Train-Tech version to be sorted off the layout.

I get the feeling this misfiring mojo of mine is still not yet exactly sorted. My first thought then was that I can now return to getting the timetable moving again, good therapy for this mojo, and also I can see how a newly acquired Gaugemaster track cleaner wagon performs on the layout. I’m thinking about running it in tandem with the Dapol track cleaner in vacuum cleaner mode. Unusually for me however that thought was quickly replaced with the decision to see if I could sort out the Train-Tech signal first.

I had already decided that before I did any more colour light signals on the layout it would be useful to have a switched supply available at all times for signal testing before drilling holes in the baseboard. So I started by first getting that switched supply sorted – frighteningly I think I may have been planning ahead in an organised fashion, that has never happened before.

With the new supply set up, I tried just painting the base of one led with matt black, so only the ‘body’ of the led remained clear, a job that required a fine brush and a seriously steady hand, I’ve got the brush…… chose the red led as that does seem to be brighter than the yellow or green. Tried that in the signal head, here just holding the front and back of the head together



and no light bleed. So problem solved, more on the Signals thread. I have since then painted all led bases with matt black and I now have a properly functioning 3-aspect colour light signal which will find a home on the layout, probably at the final tunnel mouth to the loops under Woodside, subject to clearance below, to provide the ’caution’ for the operational side of things.

Keith

Good to hear you have the light bleed on the Train-Tech signals sorted - a dab of paint in strategic places can hide a whole multitude of minor issues - been there, done that! Perhaps I shouldn't say that as, in certainly my case, it indicates a less-than-close attention to getting the job done right in the first place - fumble-fingers and all that. But your issue seems to be problem with the kit as bought - such as the LEDs on the small circuit board - looking at the photo on your Signals post, bleed would appear to be inevitable unless there was better light blocking as the board gets pushed into the main housing. Perhaps Train-Tech ought to revisit this to prevent the bleed. Anyway, well done; job sorted.

I bet the air was getting somewhat blue with the installation of the new Eckon signal and the escaping parts; one thing after another. Perseverance has paid off for you and it now looks good. Nice one!

Dave

  S’mae Dave

   Apologies for the delay, been a bit under the weather recently after a very cold day at the annual gutter cleaning, still the brownie points will come in handy. Must admit I can’t see the Traintech signals being right without the black paint mod. I was thinking about them for the temporary signalling of Woodside Station, but with the pcb construction that is a nonstarter – the headroom under Woodside is the lowest on the layout, and so the pcbs would cause real problems with the storage loops below, particularly for platforms 1 - 3.

   Don’t know about the air being blue with the Eckon signal, more like verging on black, still the job is done now – and again, very unusual for me, I’ve decided to get the modified signal in place and functional before the new track cleaner gets a run out. At least then all four tunnels will have the 'caution' signal  - much better from an operational point of view. Worrying trend this, actually finishing something rather than leaving it for ‘later’ – it’s a bit late in the day for me to start becoming ‘organised’.

   Keith.

[user=1798]Woodside[/user] wrote:

S’mae Dave

You’re spot on with the ‘allowed’…. and have you noticed these brownie points do appear to be perishable?!

That’s the thing with this hobby of ours – there are so many different aspects to it – something for everyone.
 

1: The "Non-erodible Brownie Point"© is that rarest of things, something to behold when one is earned! I know that for a fact; I think it was 2007 when I scored one. TBH they just have a much longer half-life than the normal sort which are probably measured in days!

2: wonderful isn't it. Reading about your steady progress gives me heart, my tiny area measuring a few sq m is progressing at a snail's pace and now summer's here again.

Great work on Birkenhead all the same,

Regards,

[user=2170]Colin W[/user] wrote:

[user=1798]Woodside[/user] wrote:

S’mae Dave

You’re spot on with the ‘allowed’…. and have you noticed these brownie points do appear to be perishable?!

That’s the thing with this hobby of ours – there are so many different aspects to it – something for everyone.
 

1: The "Non-erodible Brownie Point"© is that rarest of things, something to behold when one is earned! I know that for a fact; I think it was 2007 when I scored one. TBH they just have a much longer half-life than the normal sort which are probably measured in days!

2: wonderful isn't it. Reading about your steady progress gives me heart, my tiny area measuring a few sq m is progressing at a snail's pace and now summer's here again.

Great work on Birkenhead all the same,

Regards,

I can easily relate to the "progressing at a snail's pace and now summer's here again." It's too hot and humid to do much, but we had a belter of a storm yesterday arvo, but happily the hail stones were only about egg sized and no damage, although the garden looks a bit like the Somme.

Apologies for the delay….

Colin – yes, the brownie point is a strange thing and as to shelf life, best described as ‘variable’, all I know is that irrespective of when I try to cash in my brownie points, it is almost always way passed the sell by date. Many thanks for the positive comments, although ‘steady’ is pushing it a bit, you only have to compare the earlier photos in this thread with the current ones to see how little things have changed, especially over the last few years. That said, I have spent a lot of time working through the Winter 61 timetable, timetables are my thing, just to see if it was possible to reproduce it on the layout – it was, and so now running through it again. If there were three operators who all knew what they were doing I reckon it would be possible to run it in real time, unfortunately there is just the one operator…. and he’s really not very good, keeps getting the switches wrong!!

Shouldn’t take too long to finish it now, just the evening rush hour to deal with and the gentle run to the end of day. Then it is back to start 1955/6 – the West KIrby branch from Hooton was still open (1400 and autocoach or two) and through trains with Buffet car to the South Coast from Woodside to look forward to…. and some time to get on with the ‘scenery’, perhaps….

---

Pete, summer here often makes things difficult in the loft, if not impossible. Can’t compete with your hailstones thankfully, with no garage I dread to think what our car would look like after that storm!

---

Keith

We were really lucky with the car. It was in the open in a car park and didn't get any damage. Must have been the force field.  :)

… Pete, it was either that, or it was a mult-storey and you were parked at ground level …..or just maybe you’ve got one of those cars with a cast iron shell…..

---

Christmas took over here a little earlier than usual this year – the first online Christmas. Two orders Christmas week with the turkey in the second order. The turkey grew somewhat from what we had expected, but at least it hadn’t been substituted with a large tin of luncheon meat, which was our main concern. Turkey will be on the menu well into 2021.  With all this online lark, the decorations and tree which usually appear around the 20^th, didn’t finally happen until Christmas Eve. In this very different Christmas, we’ve yet to sort out presents…. The Dapol mogul looks rather good, and one of the models, 7310, spent almost all of its working life post Nationalisation at Croes Newydd (84J/89B/6C) – so I’d not need to renumber it.… not that I’ve actually started that with any of the locos… although it is on a list somewhere.

Limited time in the loft of late, I have finally installed the modified Train-Tech signal at the first tunnel mouth from Woodside Station and connected it to this new test supply just to check it – and all is well.



I now have a caution signal at each of the tunnel mouths leading to the loops under Woodside, which improves the operational side of things. Now it is just a matter of wiring the two switches (same method of operation as the other 3-aspect) on the control panel and then I can get back to some much needed operational therapy and/or testing out my new track cleaning train formation using the Dapol and Gaugemaster units together. That will happen in the New Year, I am aiming for January… as to resolutions, every year I decide I’m going to progress things in the loft at a much faster rate. Every year, the same resolution, makes no difference…..

As we wait in our isolated world for the jabs, the developing Covid situation continues to give cause for real concern. Stay safe everybody out there, and have a happy, healthy and successful 2021 – despite the bug.

Keith 

The second 3-aspect wiring, with the two switches, is now finished and so the small panels are for the time being at least, complete. I have now labelled all the signal switches on both small panels with the correct codes, something I’ve been meaning to do for ages….



The two three aspect signals have the octagonal label between the two switches (FJ2, HJ3). The square label HJ4 is for the junction signal. Although it is now February, I did actually complete the job within the planned timescales ….that rarely happens. Now I am faced with clearing up the mess on the floor and around the edges of the layout….



…. I always end up working on the floor – the only clear (well it was at the start) flat surface in the loft, the unfinished edge of the layout at Hooton Station becomes a handy shelf.



As to my idea of using the two track cleaning units together – a non starter on the layout I’m afraid. In a quick test the total weight, and resistance from the pad, of the Gaugemaster unit plus the Dapol unit is just too much for any loco on the gradients of the layout. The compromise will be to run around first with the Gaugemaster (which may yet have to be downhill on both tracks, at least until the pad starts to wear down) followed by the Dapol to vacuum around afterwards. As it is getting on for three months since anything moved it is essential that some track cleaning is done before anything moves, but the desire to see the timetable moving again may well change that….

Finally got the first Covid jab (AZ) last Thursday, and was really rough the following day – the side effects leaflet made interesting reading as I appear to have had a few of them, which is not like me. M’s turn this week, her letter arrived at the weekend, see how she fares.
 
Keith
 
 

Ah! Someone after my own heart. Nothing beats working on the floor! These days it's a necessity; there is no option.

Even that is getting filled up; it won't be long before I need an extension to the Train Room just to do the building and some of the electrical stuff. I can't get to half the layout for all the rubbish that has collected on every possible spare square of space. Where does all the junk come from that seems to breed on the floor?

It's another case of "one day" it'll get sorted.

I'm off for the jab this afternoon - with mixed emotions to be honest. Hopefully you and the Mrs have fully recovered the side effects and are now looking forward to the restriction getting lifted.

Cheers for now.

Dave

Hi Keith.  Splendid tunnel you have there.would you please tell me the dimensions of the tunnel and how you built it.Best wishes Kevin 

Hi Keith

Good to hear from you…..hope you are well.

I see you are kindred spirit using undeveloped layout space as a handy ledge. I have no idea what I will do if I ever finish my brewery.

I have been meaning to write to you for a while. I downloaded a working timetable for the Chester Area 1948/9 and I am a bit confused about the relationship between Woodside and Manchester. If they are both shown with arrival times for a given train (say from Bristol) do I assume the train was split at Chester? If this was the case would there be fresh locos for both portions?

Any advice/help would be much appreciated.

Best wishes

PS I havent forgotten about the Milk Train ……  Its just slipped down the list a bit with the hotel project :oops:

S’mae Dave

Glad someone else ends up on the floor! I can’t get at any of the layout without first moving stuff, I’m beginning to think that soon I’ll have a problem getting at the control panels just to operate things.  As to where does all the junk come from – you answered the question – it IS definitely breeding down there, must be. “One day” is a familiar refrain in the loft… I’m still waiting for it to arrive.

I hope the jab went well, M gets hers later today, be interesting to see how she fares – usually gets a reaction to every jab, perhaps with it being my turn this time she’ll get away with it!

Keith

S’mae Kevin

One of my more successful  attempts at the scenery side of things – just uses two of the basic Peco twin track tunnel mouths, gap between the  walls at ground level is roughly 4.5 inches. All the details of how I did it begin on page 2 of this thread, have a look at that, any further queries let me know.

Keith

S’mae John

Fine thanks, surviving in our new hermit like, online shopping world, trust you two are keeping clear of the bug. Yes, that patch of bare board outside Hooton Station is destined to be the last part of the layout to be finished, there’s plenty more bare board to deal with, just not in such convenient places!

I haven’t got a timetable going back to 48/9, but I doubt it is any different to the ‘56 one I’ve checked. Things are exactly the same for the Winter 61 timetable I’m running now. All services from South Wales/West of England to Birkenhead and Manchester follow the same route – the trains divide at Shrewsbury – one portion usually continuing with the original loco via Wrexham and Chester (reverses, Woodside tank on the other end) and on to Woodside. The other portion continues via Crewe to Manchester, probably with either a Shrewsbury or Crewe loco. I assume the same applies with reverse workings. There are no north bound through services and just one south bound through service on the Winter 61 timetable: 9.20 from Woodside, 9.56 Chester (where it reverses and gets some ex-GWR motive power), 10.22 Wrexham and 11.11 Shrewsbury where it waits for 9.30 (similar departure times again) ex Manchester, 10.30 Crewe, arrives Shrewsbury 11.29. The Birkenhead portion is added before heading south at 11.35 for Cardiff due14.25 with the Manchester portion then continuing on to Swansea 15.56 – the timetable only mentions TC to Cardiff from Woodside. During the summer timetable there were probably two services, in both diections, daily.

I haven’t forgotten about the milk train either, it has passed through Hooton heading for the processing plant in the Port Sunlight area and so is currently in the loops under Woodside while the tanks are emptied at the plant, the Hall couples up to yesterday’s empties, for the short run to the marshalling yard. It goes without saying that nothing happens to the stock while in the loops but the narrative is believable, and explains the relatively short time the Hall is at the plant, as I assume in the real world the tanks would be flushed out before returning South. The Hall then gets fed and watered at 6C before heading back South with the empties. Not sure of the exact time yet, depends when I can fit it in to the timetable – but I think it is around 6.30pm, just as the rush hour eases, which would make it around 7.30ish in Wrexham…. Then you take over…
 
Keith

Hi Keith. Thank you for your reply.  c/o Barry Miltenburg who was the photographer I have my portals for everyone to see, but they do look stark with a clear view (and a light in the middle of the tunnel?) instead a longer tunnel would be preferable, I have been thinking about a third , albeit short, baseboard to extend the tunnel. Including something to make it black. Best wishes Kevin