Cwm Carno

With the twin commitments of taking two layouts away on the same weekend the pressure is building.

And speaking of a building (oh! why does he bother?) LBH is slowly progressing the local pub; this evening fixing the newly-slated roof in position. He thought he’d found a pretty wizard way of holding the roof in place with two steel bars flexibly held together by masking tape straps.

We’ll see this evening if it works!

When we were moving ABB to set it up ready for the show, the terrace took a tumble. Obviously the magnets were not strong enough to hold it in place. So now there are some long bolts araldited to the base that pass down through the baseboard, secured by wingnuts. Also, some chimney pots were damaged when it hit the floor. The replacements are on the way from Modelu.

On another hot Friday most decided to stay cool and avoid the clubrooms. However, Mike G called in to drop off some stock he prepared for Cwm Carno. In the Bay at ABB we see 1610 and a more modern autocoach destined for Cwm Carno. For that layout, the long stone wall has had mortar and colour added and is looking better.

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

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.