It works!

 One of those moments the other day when you finally see the results of the work you have done over many hours or in this case now months. In this instance it is all about the long ago constructed second baseboard for the 009 narrow gauge layout finally getting track laid in a plan that now makes operational sense and that track wired up and a loco actually successfully going round it. If I were a drinking man I would have had a pint in celebration but a swig of cola suited me fine! There are a couple of issues that need to be resolved though - in my World there are always a couple of issues that need to be fixed. If I were a drinking man I would be a glass half full person as I try to look on the positives. In this case the loco stutters on a piece of track on the original board where it joins onto the new board. Closer examination reveals a hump in the track probably caused by my bad workmanship! The hump is just enough to upset the loco and it stutters as you can see at the end of this post in the video shot by the WMD Film Crew who really need to improve their skills. It also stutters slightly at the other joint on the opposite side but that is a bit of dirty track upsetting the electrical pick up of the loco. Both are solvable!

With regard to the wiring it was nice to be able to work on this without having to bend over and whilst the manner in which the layout is supported whilst doing this may upset any one with an interest in health and safety it worked for me!

Almost like opening a car bonnet!

Chocolate Block joiners are used and the colour code wires of red and white follow the same pattern as on the original board which makes connecting things up very simple - a good job too with me in charge of this job!

Loco and carriages passing over the yet to be bridged and yet to be created river! I have some bridge ideas which will no doubt upset any bridge engineers who may see them!

Going round the far end of the new baseboard the canal wharf will be behind where the loco and first carriage are.

As the train is crossing back onto the original board it struck me just how long a run it is now for the train and secondly just how much work is ahead of me to get that second board matching the first one.

Next on the agenda is to sort out the couple of issues with the track and then weather it before probably starting with either he canal wharf or the river - that probably means I will do something completely different! For those who like such things here is a video of the train running round the whole circuit.