The ongoing upheaval that has kept the layout from these pages for some weeks now. The mainline behind the camera has been reinstated with extra track-circuiting, but the middle level is still under reconstruction, having been raised and moved further towards the back of the layout. Work has progressed as far as the green Tortoise point-motor, but you will note a large gap between this and the other half of the line, which is still at the lower level.
The Hornby Virgin Class 86 and it's not very prototypical rake (10 HST vehicles plus a DVT arranged in no particular order) is seen having a last run before being put into store. I've shelved the idea of modelling the modern scene in the immediate future as reasonable motive power just isn't available. I'll be coming back to it later, but for the time being I'm concentrating on the 1970s era as there's a better selection of locos available. It doesn't matter what you do to models such as this Hornby one, whether you weight them, beef up the pickups or whatever, you can't hide the fact that the pancake motor is a crock of sh*t, not even suitable for the toy market. A shame, really, as this particular rake looks especially smart as it flashes by, but the illusion is soon spoiled when the loco executes a random speed change that whiplashes along the rake. I have a quantity of Bachmann Warships set aside as chassis donors for 86s and 87s, but that's a job for later.
There are at least 3 different types of coupling visible in this shot, something I'm slowly trying to erradicate. The translucent tub with a spoon in it contains the ever indespensible liquid lead, in case you're wondering, and the green bottle shows what most of my money seems to go on. Not locos. Not track. Not decoders. Just plain old wood glue. Finally, the 12 ton van seems lower than the rest because it's awaiting replacement wheelsets - it's not supposed to be the grounded van body beloved of railway modellers everywhere.