Author name: David Hagger

Wye Valley Greenway 21st Aug

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On Friday 21st August seven members of the club set off to walk a lower section of the Wye Valley Greenway. We took the train to Chepstow (a through Cardiff to Edinburgh service!) Then walked over the Wye and into the English part of Chepstow. Crossing over the main line we were able to pick up the Wye Valley branch trackbed and head north. Climbing through cuttings we came to a support structure and sculpture, then the 2 kilometre long tunnel.

Having dodged cyclists but no bats in the tunnel we had a break at the north portal. Here there was a dragon sculpture that would make a good P4 soldering challenge.

Our leader and organiser Rob F had photos of the line in use and historical information. (Many thanks to Rob for this great day out) Apparently there was a structure on the line called BlackMorgan’s viaduct (very piratical) which we were finally able to find by detouring a bit and peering through bushes. At the Tintern end we walked across the wireworks branch bridge with a Newport connection.

We ended up at Tintern Station where we were too tired to take any pictures.

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18 August

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More decisions on terra-forming are being made with more foam base stuck in place. The white foam and dark ground make decent photos difficult. We have to sort out the wall supporting the colliery next.

18 August Read More »

05 August

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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.

Terraforming has started at the north end using mod-roc

05 August Read More »

Too much like the real thing!

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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.

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Llanastr at Larkrail

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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.

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Too – hot

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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

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09 June

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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

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.

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26 May

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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

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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.

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