We seem to have entered the 'quiet' weeks when workshops and lofts in the northern hemisphere begin to approach that heated, humid phase and a cool beer is more inviting. Over the weekend I will post an update on some work, in the meantime, any progress elsewhere? Tim

Slowly but surely getting to grips with the Model Loco 03.10 kit. Just purchased some brass sheet to prefabricate all the brackets to hang all the ancillaries on. Also a lot of plastic card used to allow the fitting of the Model Loco parts to the Liliput loco frames and cab, which came with the kit and an awful lot of Weinert lost wax castings for the boiler plumbing. Must admit I am finding it quite a pleasurable project. Isnt life bliss! David

I am busy with 2 projects. 1. A new american On3(0) logging and sawmill exhibition layout. 2. Upgrading,rebuilding and integrating landscape parts of the first 4 modules of Dreimühlentalbahn. Tim, as soon as 2 is finished, I will send some parts of 3M-bahn. The pleasure in MR is back and I have plenty of plans. This year's exhibitions: 01-02 November Helmond ( Groep Zuidoost ) 07-09 November Orleans 22-23 November Lahnstein When I can organise a crew, I will go to Intermodellbau 2009. Jacq

Well, progress on Kabburg is non existent. However I have three Oe wagons on the go at the moment, a flat wagon, a stake wagon and a post van. A friend has lent me an Oe box car, construction of one of those will commence soon. Today, is my birthday, so it will be interesting to see if I get any model railway equipment. Unfortunately, since I did not take my daughters shopping, the chances are slim. John

Just watching Zillertalbahn loco no: 4 running round the train at Mayrhofen station, then I'll drive alongside it to try to get the picture of it in full steam at speed.

An impulse purchase of some used gauge 1 stock has inspired me to convert a boxcar into a Pwgs 54. I'd like to use it as a battery car for running at a G1 get-together in August. The deadline may provide the proper impetus for completing this task. RK

I've been travelling for 3 weeks so not much. Now that I'm home I'll get back to work on my VLWFL...Very Light Weight Folding Layout :D

I have been revising my backdrops and have removed the photograpic ones and replaced them mostly with painted sky. I have never been happy with the photo ones. They just don't look right. One of them I replaced with a cliff face which fits in well with the seaside town that that part ofthe layout is modelled on. I also made some tunnel entrances from plasterboard to disguise the partition between the UK and German parts of my layout. I am fairly happy with the results and now have to detail all of this. I am waiting on a delivery of sea moss so I can make some trees. I'll get cracking on that whenever the delivery turns up.

The local club's H0 layout burst into life a month ago when we finally completed the electrical connections on the longest track circuit (5 years in construction). Now we are very busy in updating all the switching and routing tables in the control system for manual and/or manual operation. Designing timetables for a large variety of operation is what I especially enjoy. We have had many visitors in June (the most recent were from Antwerp) who were able to enjoy the new operation of this H0 layout, as well as the long established Gauge O layout. Also in progress is the construction of the modern architecture I mentioned elsewhere (ugly, yet lovely). To compensate that for that, a fine mountain scene with a H0m rack railway is evolving. In 2 weeks we have the open day for children. This is an annual event for children on holiday where we try to encourage them to take up our hobby. They can enjoy a number of activities: a shunting competition making scenery out of polystyrene assembling a building kit connecting tracks running a train operation our layouts (H0 and O) Hopefully some will become infected and join our club when they are older.

This just rolled off the workbench and onto the new layout. BTW it was a DJH kit. I may have found something to revive my interest in German railways, this time no clues except it does involve golden grapes.

Update, The layout arrived from storage yesterday and work will start when I get back from Menorca. Checking I have got back all that went. I have taken onboard the wiring system, suggested by Tim, which will simplify the wiring. Sorry still can't bring myself to go DCC. Thats some loco Tim, seem to remember one at Maidstone West, on the Ashford Local, at that time not electrified. David

Is it me or is there less discussion/interest/visitors on this forum? About a month or so ago, there was an influx of those interested in the KBayStsB that happily coincided with Paul Eaton's magnificent efforts on Wikipedia but since then almost nothing. There are more than a few daily drop-by visits by a hardcore of the faithful but of recent weeks we are averaging just two posts every three days. I am hoping that it is due to the usual quiet months of modelling when barbecue's, the outdoors and rail-fanning is in full swing but what if it isn't the case and the forum is slowly running down? And if it is, will that be a problem? OK, the forum does not fulfil a number of needs, for example we don't review the latest releases or provide any up to date expo news but are those things that we should be doing and if not, what else? Has the tempo gone out of the interest in German railways?

I think perhaps the summer silly season is taking a toll on indoor pursuits and on web browsing time. Things that might stimulate interest and possibly more members from those new to German railways might be: 1. technical tips for beginners in German railways - signalling, loco classes, etc 2. specific advice on fitting decoders to German locos _ I'm part way through doing this to around 100 locos right now. 3. more members reviews of their new purchases. 4. "on my workbench" forum with pics showing progress on members models in a more structured way. Just my random thoughts!

Any rationalisation of the forum into more specific folders needs to be reviewed but if the folders are created is there any possibility that they will be used or populated? Previous experience has shown enthusiasm rapidly waning after a couple of weeks.

Hi Tim, We are in the middle of holiday time, I for one have not touched a computer for at least two weeks. See what the end of august brings. David