David Hagger – Newport Model Railway Society

05 August

5 August 2026 / ABB, Cwm Carno

Apologies to our readers for the gap in posting but the main contributors have been busy elsewhere.

ABB is set up ready for testing the timetable and refreshing the operators. We even found some more of the red buttons for the control panel. These operate the uncoupling magnets. But if you turn the panel upside-down they tend to fall off!

On Cwm Carno below work is progressing on the scenery and around the river bed. The long stone wall needs more colour variation to be added. The terraces, Grenfell Terrace (remember Gren in the South Wales Echo?), are now on their supports which are being glued in place. The clingfilm is to keep the adhesive off the buildings.

05 August Read More »

Too much like the real thing!

22 July 2026 / ABB, Cwm Carno

The layout room at the club is covered by a flat roof. In the sun it can get very hot and this year it is often unbearable. Just like the real thing the track expands and you can see the result in the first picture. The strip of MDF is the intended curvature. We’ll have to wait for cooler weather before ballasting. Also present are the new coping stones on the platform edge.

Meanwhile Luke has cracked on with buildings for Cwm Carno. The terrace is painted, the chapel renovated and both are close to their final positions. And ABB is erected ready for preparation for the Swansea show. A test loco has run over all track, after cleaning and vacuuming, though no uncoupling tried. Luckily there is space for both CC and ABB in the layout room.

Too much like the real thing! Read More »

Llanastr at Larkrail

11 July 2026 / Larkrail, Llanastr

On a very hot Friday and Saturday we took Llanastr to Larkrail in Bath. Its a small venue with not a lot of space for our worktray and wheel cleaning. So give the temperatures we moved it outside.

And here is Mr Chairman doing sterling work fettling stock, and LBH’s stuff needs a lot of fettling.

Here’s the day’s crew.

Double vision, Andrew N and LBH both built a Brecon & Merthyr 2-4-0T in S4, and both chose to make it No. 11.

Here is (I think) Andrew’s No 11 and a brace of Masokits B&M composites.

Llanastr at Larkrail Read More »

Too – hot

27 June 2026 / Cwm Carno

Monday and it was warm but not yet unpleasant. On Tuesday the workroom was bearable and the layout room hot. That day Wagonman brought along the current projects, both the result of progress outside in the sun.

By Friday the workroom was really hot, as was the layout room. Nevertheless, Luke was able to get some terra-forming done on Cwm Carno

Too – hot Read More »

09 June

10 June 2026 / Cwm Carno

Monday was another mucking out day with more stuff taken to the tip. This week was more small stuff with lots of drawers being sorted and re-labelled.

Tuesday involved a lot of shifting layouts around to allow ABB and Cwmcarno to both be erected.

So Cc now has all fiddle yards in place and the latest constructions tried in situ. Note the obligatory mug of tea.

Opening the ‘signal box’ reveals the signal options created by Andrew N. The starter signal is either very early with only one colour light, or early with two colours, or later somersault type or finally GWR standard. The ground signals are rotating (out of focus) or GW.

09 June Read More »

Mucking out Monday

2 June 2026

After years of procrastination we finally got to sort and chuck unnecessary ‘stuff”, especially wood, from the clubrooms. Thanks to those who turned up with empty cars and permits for the tip booked. We removed a lot of stuff and freed up space.

You can actually see the wall now that there’s no sheets of ply leaning there and no lengths of timber on the floor to trip you up. And at the other end the black dustbin rammed with off-cuts has gone.

Mucking out Monday Read More »

26 May

27 May 2026 / Cwm Carno

Further progress has been made on the colliery track with the new crossing laid in.

Elsewhere we have been planning, yet again I have to say, to have a clear-out and create space. We’ll see how well it goes.

On Tuesday Andrew N delivered some very nice signals for Cwmcarno. I’ll get some pictures later, but there are two varieties of ground signal and four varieties for the starting signal.

26 May Read More »

Mid-May missing

20 May 2026 / Cwm Carno, Frecclesham

Posts have been a bit rare recently so here’s an update to cover mid-May.

The track in the colliery on Cwm Carno is extremely difficult to reach when in its usual horizontal position. So a chunk of polystyrene was carved to shape to support the layout vertically, leaning against the wall, making access much easier. The track work is being replaced with stronger components to hopefully make maintenance infrequent. It’s back to copper clad timbers and long lengths of nickel silver rail. Sticking the sleepers down when near vertical needed clamps. Then the layout went back horizontal to check and adjust the alignment and flow of the stock rail.

Frecclesham showed signs of age later on at the Thornbury show, with wiring and servos causing minor problems. With a number of invitations being received we decided to upgrade some components to ensure future reliability. Here is TAFKATYS at work, and currently not swearing.

Mid-May missing Read More »

08 May

10 May 2026 / Agenoria, Gwendraeth, Heljan, Pavilion End

Not many of us there on Friday, but two locos were present for the camera, both in 7mm scale. The saddle tank is from the Gwendraeth Valley railway and was built by Wagonman from an Agenoria kit. The little shunter was a bargain at just under £100 from Accurascale / Heljan. It runs very smoothly and is destined to be a second works shunter on Pavilion End, after a repaint. Hopefully it will be battery powered, radio-controlled but there is not a lot of space for all the bits.

08 May Read More »

Frecclesham at the Bristol Show, Thornbury

6 May 2026 / cold tea, Frecclesham, Thornbury

The show at Thornbury was a good weekend away for us. We managed to get get Frecclesham erected, tested, fully stocked and running in 1hr 15 mins. We had run two sequences prior to the doors opening. There was just one electrical niggle to sort out.