Layout update and the arrival of overhead catenary

A few things have arrived since the last update, namely the Aucision CDY wagons and the CTS coal hoppers, as well as a Casula Hobbies ABV, and CW (there were still some on the books in 1979!) and a BCH to throw into the CH rake to mix things up.

I'm not going to do an update on every wagon as it arrives, but the CTS coal hoppers were one of the key factors in designing the Mount Wilson layout. The length of the coal loader siding for example was determined by whether I could fit four CTS hoppers and a guards' van without fouling the main. Happily, the calculations have worked!

The the detail on the hoppers is quite impressive and they have run well so far. I'm looking forward to running a longer operations session with these later in the year prior to Christmas. They will weather up nicely with some panel liner and a couple of coats of black pastels to get a more prototypical look.

They also fit on the traverser with the guards' van, however not with a loco. Each road on the traverser is 1 metre long. I should really get around to laying some loco tracks on the traverser wings as I intended to about 6 years ago...

The big news is that my Peco catenary has finally arrived from Hattons in the UK and I've almost finished building the overhead stanchions required for the layout. 

They still need painting, but they're coming along nicely.

The top bar of the stanchions currently sit 95mm off the head of the rails. I'm going to lower that another 5mm, but I don't plan on the pantographs touching the wire, just to limit the damage it might do if snagged. The Peco catenary is the thinnest I've been able to find and to my eyes does a much better job of representing catenary wire than some of the other stuff available, especially for the 95% of time where no trains are running beneath it.

I've had some interest in how to make the stanchions, and I've been significantly helped in building them by Matt Joiner, who has provided me with measurements and working out the best materials to use. As it's quite popular, we're putting together an article for the AMRM to thoroughly detail how to build these. It will likely come out in one of the editions next year, so keep an eye out!

Lastly, I've been slowly working on some wagons loads. Below is a BDY with some telephone poles for delivery to the local council via the co-op siding. I really want to have a day of building and painting some tarps for the other BDY and one of the CDYs before the end of the year, but as always, time is a precious commodity at the moment.

That's all for now - cheers!

Ben