GBV – Newport Model Railway Society

GBVs Pontnewynydd (twice), Rhymney and York

24 June 2024 / ABB, GBV, GWR, Pontnewynydd, push-pull, RR, terrace, Tony Bennett, York.ADR

First up this blog is this poster print of York that has been bequeathed to the club by Rowena, the widow of our founder member, club stalwart and Secretary, Tony Bennett.

York held special place in Tony’s affections having spent his student days there.

The Wizard is still working on the Rhymney Goods Brake Van in Scaleseven

Andrew N has recently completed his second Pontnewynydd break van in P4, the first, on the left is from an ancient Falcon Brass kit, the one on the right is a recent product from the 247 Developments stable. Here is the story of the latest build.

Tuesday and more work on the doors and windows for the terrace. The green door has come out very dark because of the red primer. Perhaps the white primed one would have been better. The white of the window frames is too stark, so the second frame has been overpainted with light grey, thought it’s come out looking cream.

Last seen back in mid-May as basically a flat pack the GWR Hawksworth autocoach has been put together by Wagonman. There’s a lot of detail on both ends because of the autogear. Windows, couplings and paint will come next.

Friday

Work on the terrace continues with the pavement to the front. The grey primer is being overpainted with a white / grey acrylic mix. The laser cut edges to the flags made it easier to run the paint up to the edges.

And LBH almost finished a wagon – in this case a NDR (aka A(N&SW)DRCo) two-plank example with the help of Bernie’s paint job. Just couplings remaining to be fitted.

GBVs Pontnewynydd (twice), Rhymney and York Read More »

Week ending 26th May

21 May 2024 / ABB, Barry, Coal Tank, fencing, GBV, GN full brake, Gong, Springing, terrace

One of LBH’s brake vans did not hold the road too well when running at NewGOG and on inspection it was found that the axles were not perfectly aligned allowing the vehicle to rock slightly. It had been built (by a third party) without any provision for springing or compensation, so LBH is trying this somewhat gimcrack arrangement of wire springs bearing down on the axles as there is just a little movement available. He’ll add a load of lead too.

On ABB the area in front of the three sets of semis has never been satisfactory with just a rough bank where a pavement or wall should be. So excavations have started and some brick plastikard cut to represent the wall. Should the wall have a step in it to reflect the step in the houses behind?

We already have some nice laser cut iron fencing from Scale Model Scenery to put on the wall, and the gates look attractive too. The panel size does not match properly to the step in the wall.

The ever productive Wagonman has completed two models that have appeared on this blog. The ex-GNR 6 wheel Brake van has 4 skylights and they are each glazed with 2 pieces of clear plastic. The LNWR Coal Tank is finished in its final format as used on the special train on the MT&A from Abergavenny.

The work converting the L&Y 2-4-2 to a Barry Railway J class continues. The bunker and cab section has not fitted as smoothly as the tank section with sawing, grinding and filing required to get it as far as shown below.

And congratulations to Paul 🏅🏅on being awarded his second Royal Medal, this is for driving King Charles’ train, and goes with the earlier one he had for driving his mam’s. Apparently there is no truth in the rumours that he also drove for King George VI.

The long term dissatisfaction with the area behind the station building may be over. This laser cut terrace from Intentio seems to be filling the space in a better way. The shop on the left is a chippy, and the space to the right will have a pub, also laser cut. The name for the pub is not confirmed yet, but could be The Sheward Arms, although looking at the picture above maybe The Two Gongs might be more fun.

Week ending 26th May Read More »

More Preparation

9 February 2024 / GBV, PBV, Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

The NDR brake van is just about finished and ready for duty on Sunday at the Monmouth show.

*Luke’s suggestion of a private siding behind the wall looks good.*

With the goods shed not yet available a quick mock-up was made to block the view of exit to the fiddle yard.

Meanwhile Wagonman has started on a NE 6 wheel brake.

By the end of the evening the Goods Shed had acquired a rough coat of paint and a wooden FPL cover was fitted (Andrew N also made a hinged metal cover which will be fitted after the exhibition.

And Luke finished building and painting the layout nameboard.

Further brake van progress

3 February 2024 / GBV, Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

The full brake gear can be seen with the pull rod running to the handbrake wheel. The folded up long footboards have had the brackets strengthened with wire, though if you look carefully some of the very delicate riveted fixings have broken off. After fixing they are quite strong though. there are short upper footboards too along with the hand brake column and safety loops which were bent up from wire as none were provided in the kit. with these components fitted the van is nearly ready for painting.

Further brake van progress Read More »

Another fine mess

30 January 2024 / GBV, Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

There seems to be a bit of a theme around glue developing. Back around the 12th LBH made a mess with PVA, ending up with what looked like a Christmas cake. My effort on Monday was smaller and easier to clean but much smellier. (I was attempting to stick some cassettes together)

NBR brake van kit, partially built — *The GBV has some wheels now but the bearings are so stiff it really is a **brake** van.*

*Here are the real brakes*. *The safety loops are needed next*.

Another fine mess Read More »

Brake Progress

25 January 2024 / GBV, Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

Away from the clubrooms Mr C pressed on with the ADR brake van, adding detail to the ends. Then the internal partitions were completed with doors and handles.

The two L shaped sections were the tried together to complete the box and the alignment was very good. After soldering together the partitions were slide down in place and fitted after a little trimming. The body is pretty rigid and square.

Brake Progress Read More »

Wednesday

24 January 2024 / GBV, Goods Shed, Ground frame, Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

LBH snuck into the clubrooms again and laid the short length of track into the Goods Shed and disda bit of ballasting.

He also completed assembling the ground frame (although he managed to break one of the levers). Need to paint one lever blue and one white now.

Progress with the ADR goods brakevan.

After a few failures it was possible to bend the handrails reasonably accurately and solder in place.

Later on the duckets were fitted and all handrails too. That leaves door handles on the sides and lamp brackets on the ends

Wednesday Read More »

Tuesday

23 January 2024 / GBV, Goods Shed, Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

A quiet night in terms of numbers attending but nevertheless good progress made. MrC worked on a Goods Brake Van in Scaleseven (really enjoying all those handrails) and our Wizard painted the sleepers and chairs on the new track for the Goods Shed. Fred uses a combination of four colours (in this instance) to get the variations in hue found in chairs – a tin of ‘track colour’ is not the same thing!

Elsewhere LBH worked on a ground frame for Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae and Andrew J on a signal box for Lyne Road

Tuesday Read More »