It has been a long while since I have posted anything on this thread. Over the last two years the layout has been to a few shows and has had some minor upgrades to the control electronics. My plan was to basically retire the layout and replace it with a new, more ambitious exhibition layout, but alas, work commitments mean that the new one is postponed for at least another year.
So - plan B is give Sarum a minor facelift and let it have another year or two in the limelight.
The first stage of the upgrade is nearly done - a complete revamp of the electronics to finally get low-speed running and station stops up to the standard I want. The new system has been built, tested and (sigh) shipped to Doug for installation on The Bridge. I am now building a duplicate copy for my own use, and that should be ready in a week or two.
The second stage is get one or two new trains into service. With its existing set of three running continuously and full time at every exhibition, they get fairly tired by the end of the show, so having another couple to share the load should help a lot. I have a pile of Ozrail's improved wagons ready for the paint shop, and I hope the new wheel sets will let me run longer goods trains. Still thinking about the other one.
The third stage is to extend the layout by a few inches at the castle end. That has always been the rural backwater end of the layout, with nothing very interesting happening. This stage will add a simple working canal scene, with a couple of narrow boats shuttling back and forth. I can even see how I might implement a working lock, but the effort involved for that part says "not this year".
The fourth stage is to extend the layout a few inches at the town end, and then scrap the existing town and replace it with a much more extensive town scene, with a much more elaborate (working) road network.
The fifth stage will be to build and fit new backscenes. The existing ones were intended to be temporary, but experience shows there is nothing as permanent as a temporary expedient. Still thinking about these.
Anyway, the new stuff should start appearing on this thread piecemeal over the coming months.
First pic... the new control electronics and panel (unit #1, as shipped to Doug):
