Preparing St. Mewan for its first outing.

St. Mewan was built during the recent lockdown on a couple of baseboards 3ft 6inches long by 8incheswith a short extension to the fiddle yard.

The fiddle yard extension is removable and the layout is hinged to fold in half. This has the added bonus that there is no need to split the wiring as it is permanently fixed together.

The only removable part is the Clay Dries chimney- a resin casting by Bachmann.

The most time consuming thing is checking that all the locos work together with checking the couplings- in the case of Goods Stock these are fitted with Sprat and Winkle couplings.

 The passenger stock has modified proprietry couplings which have a small staple fitted through a hole in the dropper which is soldered into place.

Most of the goods stock is run in rakes of 4 so the centre wagons don't need alteration.

 

 

The magnets for uncoupling are fitted under the baseboard and are invisible to see. The uncoupling points are indicated by figures or scenic items- all I need to do is remember where they are!

 A type 2 Diesel Hydraulic awaits departure with a short goods tarin.

The layout can be run in either GWR or British Railways (Western Region) so stock is split into the two periods.

One era in the morning and one after lunch.

St. Mewans first outing is at the Moors Valley exhibition on 25th/26th June 2022.

If you visit please do say hello.