trying to recover some more gravel ...

I'm trying to recover more of the gravel left after the old layout was taken up to use in the new trackbed;  managed to get some together today by using an old brush - a small pile - better than nowt.

will have to try a different technique as the gravel has sunk a bit into the soil.

I had removed the smaller gravel from by the garage to use in the trackbed, leaving it looking rather bare.  A small collection of materials - already recovered gravel and edging materials await my next session of trackbed laying...

Went out today to get some gravel to match the rest of the paths in the garden and a good quarter of an hour's work had it all down and now it looks much better

New Guards Van and more progress on the trackbed ....

Firstly a guards van has finally arrived for my goods train (this item has been on pre-order since Nov 2012 - waiting for a new production batch run to me made). Well worth the wait, lovely model - must add a guard leaning on the rail at the back if I can find a suitable figure.

 Also today with a lovely sunny (but a bit cool day) continued with laying the trackbed - have now got round to the signal box.

The next phase of the trackbed laying will be up the back stretch and round the top of the garden - I'm leaving the station area for last.

More trackbed laid....

The weather cleared nicely late this morning ( a bit blowy but dry), so I went out to do some gardening - a large buddleia needed a prune. After that decided to lay some more trackbed for the garden railway - about another 10ft done....

will continue from this point to curve round to go past a signal box (just out of shot to the the left). The weather held till I was just tidying up the gravel - then back came the rain..

Crane and match truck

The LGB Toy Train crane and wagon have had a little re-paint, now looking less toy like and ready for work in the engineering department.

Trackbed started ....

took advantage of some nice weather today to get the first bit of trackbed down - about 6ft in length.

I used some old ceramic floor tiles for edging; I'm using up some old gravel for the base of the trackbed - will get some new for when the track is laid.

some digging and work on the RC locos...

I've been digging over where the railway will run at the bottom of the garden, and delineated where the edging will go to conatin the track bed.

---oXo---

Meanwhile the loco works have been busy and modified the two battery RC locos to use chopper couplings to pull the Accucraft rolling stock I have

 engineers inspection of PlayMobil one

 working well - but has to wait for traffic

LGB one, new couplings works OK 

but needs some adjustment

Playmobil RC train - on the layout ....

A quick check on the instructions  ....

Then down to garage to have a play; first a check by the railway engineers to approve the new arrivals....

 Then off around the layout ......