Tidying up the spare bits....

 I decided to get all the spare bits which have been in little plastic bags into some semblance of order. I picked up four small boxes with compartments from Hobbycraft...  after about 40minutes everything sorted - now I can find things more easily....

Build a Brake Van kit....

After tidying up the garden after the storms and doing some pruning - not the weather for running a train - leaves blowing onto the line just as you clear them. So definitely back inside to keep warm and to make a kit from Mumfy models of a guards brake van. The kit costs £25 + p&p, its a 3D printed kit.

Lots of bits, reasonably obvious where they go...(a instruction sheet would have been useful)

buffer beams attached by screws supplied, underframe detail glued in place; the cradles for the wheel sets screw in and rotate ...

I decided to fit some LGB couplings (rather than the ones supplied); to start with I put in the wheels from the kit...

buffer end ... nice detail...

Dry fit of the roof; shame it is in two parts - I think it would have been better as a single piece..

Some quick tests on the garage layout, didn't run to well. So I replaced the wheels with some LGB ones - much better and runs smoothly.

Comparison to an Accucraft guards van

I'm going to use this smaller Mumfy models one as a brake van for my tipper wagons and the works train as they both have LGB couplings. 

Sunny Sunday (19) - A short mixed train..

Lovely weather, not to be wasted so out in the garden today running a short mixed train, pulled by 0-4-0 loco 'Green Dragon'.

Project Railbus (8) - Finishing off and Test Run

 The completed seating module...

The headlamps at the front/rear, get a cosmetic lift using some parts of lamps of an old LGB loco ..

The control consoles for each end painted grey with the control section left in the original colour.

All the parts ready for assembly....

During first fit assembly, the sides of the body tended to move inwards at the bottom, slightly distorting the final look. A piece of 2mm cardboard was added to either side of the seating module to stop 'inward drift'.

The fully assembled rail-bus on the garage layout...

Plus a little test run....

Sunny Sunday (18) - tanker wagons train ...

 A small train with tanker wagons today...

After having difficulty with a troublesome truck, I finally got some good running in without derailments and watched the train run round for a while;  short video clip of it around the top of the garden layout...

Project Railbus (7) - on its way to the paint shop...

Added a horn.

'Bee-Bar' (nice little item from SLR Models - https://slrmodels.co.uk/)

Driver's Seat

A central seat added each end for the driver...

driver position test (an LGB tram driver figure)..

view from the front showing the driver....

Primer Coat

The rail bus gets a coat of primer (missed a few bits !)..

its off to the paint shop....

Signal Box ...

 A pottery 16mm scale signal box (Ebay purchase)....; paint work has faded and some damage to the roof finials...

did simple fix to smooth off finials and repaired one of the tiles...

Initial repainting done (apart from gutter down pipes)...

Repairs to the bottom of the gutter downpipes: using square section plastic and some plasticard; stuck onto the pottery surface using Gorilla super glue.

All painted, varnished and in place on the garden layout....