MARTIN SMITH'S LINE IN LEICESTER

(This line has in fact now closed, as Martin's taken on a model railway shop. A new line (as yet unphotographed) has been built!)

The entrance to Martin's garden was narrow - VERY narrow!

............so you'd better not eat too much, else you won't get out come the end of the afternoon!

The track was raised above ground level...........

........ and was laid on 1" ply, supported by fence posts.........

...... and edged with more ply.

The trackbed was treated with roof paint.............

..... and the sides with wood seal. The whole looked and ran well.

The yard area.............................

........ was worked by a large lever frame..........

...... which seemed to baffle most people. The cry of "SIGNALMAN" was often heard through the afternoon!

The MDLR was represented by LADY SYBIL and HAVELOCK VETINARI with ESME (in the background) running early and late.

Though the layout's 250 yard run had Gradients, the manual loco coped well, though it did tend to pause and gather breath at this point. Martin says "I don't have a problem" but then all his locos are radio controlled!

It was nice to be able to catch the train on a bridge........

. up against the fence...................

...... and on another bridge!

It was even better when there was another train going over the top............

....... but sometimes it's nice to be on your own.

It's a lot easier when both locos are radio controlled.........

..........'cause you can stop where you like.

The next generation getting stuck in.............

"I'll master this £$%&***!! texting if it KILLS me!

Neil Halford gets a picture of his own train...............

.......... and Havelock makes the last run of the day.