It's not my intention to do much more with this layout. But the odd few things keep getting added, and at last I can report that I've picked up my trees from my local model shop (Haslington Models, Crewe) and they were planted within 20mins of getting home. This is probably a great stage to be at with a model railway, as small additions make the layout look much better than before.
Above: Intres Bahnhof again - but this time with added extras. Sheep (look near bushes to bottom right of picture) (by Model Scene), additional trucks (by Roco) and a coach (by Reitz). There are some Prieser benches on the platform which came with 100 or so unpainted people. And how could I forget to mention the trees. These are Faller part no181461 - silver firs. I am particularly pleased with the way these trees look as they have a realistic looking texture - easier to see in the next shot.
Above: The road side of Intres Bahnhof, a close up of the new coach. Clearly the road surface needs to be finished here. But the shot also shows a closer view of the trees.
Above: This is the road through the village. I've yet to complete the Hotel Europe which will go in the block of buildings on the left (just to the left of the blue excavator). Here the road surface is finished (I've painted a bit of the road a very dark grey to model some road repairs in this area - just near the green tractor's wheels). The rocks etc in the foreground are leftovers of bits of polyfiller which fell off the cliffs as I was covering the polystyrene. It would be better if I could put in the pavement on the right side of the road.
Above: Another new addition is this electromagnetic uncoupler by Minitrix part no 14969. This is another experiment for the Intres layout - so I rearranged the sidings in the yard area and installed it. Operation of the uncoupler is by switching 12V DC or AC to the solenoid. This moves the ramp between the tracks.
Above: Another view of the uncoupler.
Results have so far been mixed. Not helped really by the siding not being level, the wagons tend to roll down to the main line as soon as they are uncoupled, usually rejoining the train they've just been separated from!
I plan to use the uncoupler on my next layout to separate a loco from the front of a train after another loco has coupled onto the back, so having the sidings perfectly level may not be such a problem.
I've also noticed that the couplings on my yellow hopper wagons by Minitrain do not pivot easily, and the uncoupler tends to lift these wagons off the track.
Also, the uncoupler cannot be left energised while a train passes over, as the mechanism makes contact with wagon axels etc. You have to park the wagons at just the right point, energise the uncoupler, then drive the train off. Normally the couplings would part and the mechanism will tend to hold the separated wagons until it is deenergised.