The Norwich & Mucklemouth Railway - Eastern Eccentricity in EM

[Herb Garden]

Ok so it's been a month. Health and life issues affecting my ability to do many things beyond just get through... And even that has been hampered at times.

Modelling therefore has been sporadic and when I have been able to do some a struggle. However I'm on the mend now small steps but I hope by posting again it will at least help the road to recovery

It is also less that 3 months to Expo EM.... Terrifying! I know it's possible but I will need all the WT cheerleading that can be musterd to get it over the line.


The wiring tweaks have been completed so the boards can be finally put back the right way up


One of the he things that was a problem is the crank of the home signal had snapped so wasn't operable.


Easy to fix if it wasn't buried in the baseboard.


Some deep breaths later and some NS brake riding and the signal wire is attached.


Which means finally the layout has been righted.


This has allowed the installation of the level crossing mechanism


The underside view, the foam is meant to deaden the gearbox noise which is loud but as yet to no avail. At least it works though.


And finally turned round and properly set up. Lots to do and not as much time as I would like to do things in. Isn't this always the case?

 

[Herb Garden]

Thanks everyone for the likes and encouragement helps me to get on and post more.

So while there has been some progress on the layout there has also been some progress on the rolling stock.


Attaching boiler fittings to 253 meant that I had some left over glued mixed up so I finally reattached 74's chimney. Nice to see it back on the workbench.


Although being the loco that started this whole thread we haven't seen much of 74 in recent years. It has languished on the shelf as it needed the drive mechanism redesigning again and the suspension issues sorted out as if just wouldn't run. I've made some tweaks and design a new box in the last month. Still got cornering issues as the tender drawbar needs tweaking. It was nice to work on it but given how inappropriate it is for Skeetsmere it's had to back on the shelf until the more pressing items are completed. It would be nice for it to come with us to Expo even if it is just to do some laps of the rest track but we shall see.


253 has now got all the body details applied and just needs some weight and the chassis finished so is a couple of days off painting which us good news for the loco fleet.




In other news the passenger stock has been bolstered by the conversion of this rapido GER diagram 603 tramcar to EM. Not really suitable and a bit of a GER gimic but right now any operational passenger stock is a benefit. Needs a repaint and couplings but it should be of use. The conversion was done by roughly thinning the backs of the wheels on emery paper.