Rainhill... yes that one

I spent a happy day playing trains at the Rainhill MRC exhibition on Saturday. I partly had my Festy hat on and took along some goodies to sell but mostly I was being Lord Stoner and playing with Arnold Lane Wharf.

The layout behaved itself pretty well apart from the point rodding falling off one of the points meaning I had to operate it with the big finger from the sky all day. I've been putting off sorting it out for ages but now I really have to. I'll try to stick a point motor somewhere useful rather than try to restore the always flaky bit of rail poked through a hole in the backscene that has just failed.

I met lots of nice people, some of whom I already knew and some of whom I'd never met but feel like I know from the NGRM forum so 'Hello' to those new friends especially Simon who operated the layout while I had lunch. Also lots of nice people who I'd never met in any way before, a really friendly show and the absolute antidote to the previous weekend at Warley. Unfortunately they've changed the date of Warley next year so it coincides with Rainhill meaning I'll have to miss it next year. Shame.

And yes, it is The Rainhill where Stephenson's Rocket did its stuff. Cool railway vibe.

Today the un-liveried PECO coaches arrived in the shop and so I bagged a set of red ones which Father Christmas will bring me I expect. They are nicely painted with all the details picked out but could do with some more lettering which I will add later. The roofs are very white which is correct for the L&B and SR versions but I think I'll modify these ones, I bought some torpedo vents at Warley so I'm thinking of removing the molded detail and adding a new covering and vents etc.