Today a package arrived from York Modelmaking with all our commissioned bits for the viaduct. Turnround was about 4 weeks at the end of the day, not bad at all, and on first inspection I'm very pleased with the results.

Very well packed, and a definite aroma of singed timber when you open it, reminiscent of autumn bonfires or charcoal mounds - almost made me feel like getting some roast chestnuts and mulled wine

So, what did we get? Remember this is a viaduct of 37 arches. Here is the box half-unpacked, showing the arch sections in groups of six.

Then there are the sides for the tapered sections of the 36 piers. Nothing special as such, but it would have been difficult for us to get the consistency achieved by computer controlled repetitive cutting.

The basal plinths, which are rectilinear, we can do ourselves with a bandsaw (they need to be thicker MDF anyway for stability). And we will be cutting the apertures ourselves as well, since they are virtually all different.

Now the pieces de resistance - the balustrades and the arched sections of the sides of the eight pavilions. There are about 150 sections of balustrade, each with 19 arches, because they need to be laminated together in pairs to get the required thickness (2mm or 3mm is the maximum the laser can cut without significant burning).

These really are quite something, really crisp and a task that would have been impossible by hand.

Apart from planning and ogling, there will probably be a slight lull in this project while Matford is improved and refined for Scaleforum. Then, once we know precisely the build sequence we want to adopt, it will be full steam ahead . Planning is good of course, and it won't necessarily get in the way of some components such as the pavilions (8 of those), the refuges (72 of those , and the refuge support brackets 144 of those - that will probably be a resin casting job.