Cowes

Built by Chris Gardner & Mark Pretious

We start work in February 1998, cobbling the baseboards together from an earlier project. The layout is contstrained by its location to a 10' by 8' "L" shape.

In March we thought we had completed the basic trackwork, but find on testing that the platform roads are too close together. In the end, I spend many months fettling the trackwork to achieve the ambition of no derailments, and it wasn't until September that I feel the fiddling can stop and that a) it is as good as it is ever going to get and I will live with it but b) I will learn from all the mistakes made on Cowes and that the extension to Newport will have perfect(!) trackwork.

Slow progress in the Spring and Summer. Mark completes a number of buildings, and I start on the wiring.

Between August and October, following a house move, we make good progress. I complete the wiring and folding legs Mark creates the basic scenic contours, Granville Bridge is completed. On 4th October, the first train runs into Cowes. We complete the ballasting by the end of October, and have an operating session on 29th October, where the whole layout performs faultlessly. Obviously, this is a very rewarding occasion. The most remarkable find in October is that Hornby make a footbridge which bears a remarkable resemblance to the one at Cowes (now, of course, at Medstead and Four Marks on the Mid-Hants Railway). It needed some modification, and has the major drawback of being made of a soft plastic material which resists almost any kind of glue. Nevertheless, after a couple of evenings' work, and at a cost of only Ł8.99 we have a presentable footbridge for Cowes.

Into the Autumn and Winter, and we are occupied mainly with scenic work. The cutting is grassed, the tunnel mouth installed, the brick retaining wall around the signal box is fitted, the ballasting of the station throat is completed, and a permanent way gang materialises. Alverstone, which has had mechanical and cosmetic problems following a nasty drop onto the concrete floor, is well on the way to recovery. Some coal wagons appeared in Chris's Christmas stocking, as did a number of miniature passengers. Mark steams ahead with the Station Hotel and next door shop. Chris accepts an invitation to attend the mid Hants Preservation Society exhibition in Alton in May, so there is now a deadline for "completion". No room for complacency, of course, but at this stage we think this is is achievable, though I am expecting a new family arrival in early March, which will bring the usual degree of disruption.....

Leo duly arrived on 25th February, and I use the paternity leave to snatch a couple of hours a day to make good progress towards "completion" for the exhibition (by now only 9 weeks away). I tackle some major constructional tasks:- additional legs to stop the layout sagging, facing the baseboards with a neat black fascia, black curtains to hide the legs, a cassette system fiddle yard, and a lighting gantry which has proved not to be a great success. Back to the drawing board on that one!

Finally, on the first May bank holiday weekend, the exhibition arrives. Will the layout fit in the car? Only just, it turns out. I drive it to the exhibition hall (all of 3/4 mile) on Saturday afternoon, set up and breathe a sigh of relief when it works first time.