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The scenic side has been progressing slowly, but is going in the right direction. There will be some new buildings completed for the next show but they will not be in their final positions.

None of the team were really happy with the station platforms or the el-cheapo Chinese made station lamps. So, off came the tops, to be replaced with Auhagen paving blocks - these are not cheap but almost clip together jigsaw style & are a huge improvement. Veissmann LED Platform Lamps were installed and look much better than the original ones. At the time of posting I still have to weather the blocks, add such seating, nameboards & other platform "furniture" & at some point white platform edges.

On the electrical/mechanical side the final locomotives are in the process of being converted to DCC. These are being converted by Chris Peters who does an excellent job of some quite difficult conversions.
I've spent a lot of time wiring - trouble with wiring is that is that is very time consuming & little (from the display side) to show when it's done.
Signals for all the platform ends have been installed & currently working on the wiring.

Some pictures will follow when I can find where I've saved them !

Progress has been slow.

BelmontBahn was last shown at the Broadstairs exhibition late in 2019. It was received well and ran reliably albeit with no automation.

Unfortunatly, I sort of lost interest and BelmontBahn stayed in the trailer for nearly three months and when re-assembled in the workshop suffered inevitable scenic damage as it dried out.

However, the last month has seen a lot of work, much wiring for the automation and programming of locomotives. Apart from a few recent acquisitions Chris Peters has finished converting the entire locomotive fleet to DCC.

So far this year I have built the Multi Story Car Park (which will be depicted as a derelict, about to be demolished), the Fire Station and around a dozen or so general Town Buildings. All the building will be fully illuminated and I will post some "how to" pictures in due course. I'm not clever enough to do a YouTube video but may get Nezza to help in that regard.

We decided to raise the backscene boards and this has now been done with the resultant damage to the scenery. Once the backscene boards have been painted we will make a start on installing some of the town buildings.

BelmontBahn dried out & suffered with the heat during the summer until the aircon was installed. Unfortunately, damage occurred to the scenery & railjoints, now largely rectified.

Gone are the el-cheapo trees, the backboards have been extended and five half relief houses & backyards installed near the signal box. They have been weathered & lit but still require final detailing.

Just need a couple more buildings to be completed & then work can progress on laying out more town buildings (most of BelmontBahn is set out by eye following rough sketch plans & the imagination of the builders.)

All the locomotives in the fleet are now DCC (except for a few recent acquisitions) & work is progressing entering them into the Z21 database and setting up the CV's.(See a note in the DCC section). As the locomotives are logged in they are documented & after setting up & test running put into the transit crates.

Work will soon progress on sorting out the "train sets" themselves i.e. the rolling stock.

Not much progress on the layout itself.

95% of the locomotive/MU fleet are now "ready to roll" having been serviced/repaired/converted/setup.

A start has been made on the rolling stock & hopefully soon be completed.

Some images will follow.

Looking towards the castle - the HGV is still stuck under the arch & about to be dragged clear by the THW who are using the HGV's predicament as an exercise.
All the grass will be "relayed" & a decent rockface produced.

Looking away from the castle.

The haunted house looks a bit exposed !

The Stable/Paddock areas will be redone & the pond may go.

More detailing round the level crossing to be done.

Backscene will be done, hopefully next month & better trees planted.

Another view towards the town.

THW Depot, Aldi, Signal Box & edge of the town.

The older part of the town. Only the building by the Signal Box are fixed, the others are close to their final positions but awaiting other buildings to be constructed as nearly everything on "BelmontBahn" is done by eye.

Some of the buildings have been cut in half - here you can see the rear sections. they are all fully lit & most of them are fixed. The back garden/yards still need to be detailed.
This image gives a good view of the scissors crossing. It's cosmetic only as most DB stations are bi-directional.