Hogwash and Balony

Week ending 3 August

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This Monday we packed up ABB to create space for Frecclesham. We are due at the Stafford show at the end of September and Frecclesham hasn’t been operated for a while and does need some refreshing, so that goes up next.

Paul W has been working on his 78xxx kit in 7mm for some time. There were updates back in June. The tender is nearly complete and work has moved to the locomotive.

As supplied the kit has some inaccuracies and to correct them Paul W had to form a new spacer at the front of the chassis from a fresh piece of brass. This had to be measured, marked up and bent to avoid the fixing positions for pickups, yet form support for the cylinder blocks. (which need thinning down) Five folds were required which were achieved with the help of The Wizard at the first attempt.

Tuesday and more Hogwash and Baloney. This evening Mike E started to scratchbuild some girders for his short-line. This is for a modern addition to the scenario, so plate girders are in order, contrasting nicely with the wooden trestles seen previously. All parts were cut from 40 thou Plastikard.

Wagonman’s riding van now has a companion, a Tool Van, which is really a mobile workshop. These were normally paired this way in breakdown trains.

On Cwmcarno the pair of turnouts for the exchange sidings have come on well, been removed from the template and given a good clean with Viakal. The first pic shows them in place in the distance with all the remaining turnouts there too. So with plenty of bits of flexitrack available we ‘laid’ the rest of the formation as seen in the second pic. This shot is taken from the other end of the layout.

Friday was a quiet evening with only a select three present. The last part of the main line through the main platform was laid in as seen in the pic. Hopefully you can’t see the join. Also Wagonman Has been making girders for the river bridge which were tried in place and looked good, but no pic.

Then we moved on to trying to get the position of the next turnout correct, we think successfully. It was not stuck down as it needed the inside chairs to be installed. While Mr. C got on with that, Wagonman continued with his breakdown van and Paul🏅🏅tidied up some laser cut wood parts.

Week ending 3 August Read More »

Two’s company

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With the holiday season in full swing and other commitments only two of us made it the the clubrooms tonight.

Mike E has replaced the capping on the Depot roof with Tomato Purée tube foil, which is easier to form into the cap shape.

And LBH started the ballasting in the on the CoT (Chair on Timber 3d printed) turnout.

Friday was not exactly busy either. Andrew J decided on using card for the coping stones for Lyne Road’s bridge wall, our Wizard did more work on the 4-wheel tender before leaving for his third job as Dad’s Taxis. Robert cleaned the wheels on a Warship and Cl 37 whilst Wagonman got on with his project. Also he brought along some spare vehicle bits, so Mr C. cleaned them up and started to mock up the work/junk area for outside the workshop on ABB.

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Hot Tuesday Evening

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So hot that only three of us made it to the club this evening …

Mike E brought along his depot from Hogwash and Baloney, now sporting a corrugated iron roof and interior detail.

Our resident Wizard has completed the ever-awkward curves on the tender for Usk and set the running level close to where its needs to be with facility for further adjustments if needed.

LBH decided he didn’t like the original stretcher bars on his turnout which used a 3d-printed base, so has replaced them with a new set using brass lace pins (bought from the late lamented Eileen’s Emporium) and added power droppers. The ‘chocolate block’ pieces have since been fitted under the board to provide a traction power busbar.

But a good productive time was had by all.

Away from the heat of the clubrooms Andrew N has been working on another Sharp, Stewart four-wheeled tender, this time in 4mm/ft to P4 standards.

Springs, buffers and couplings to be added after painting and lining.

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Peco200 mania, etc.

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The Peco200 bug hasn’t affected everyone, but both Luke and LBH have decided to have a go. Both are being built to a scale of 7mm/ft and the available footprint is footprint is 750mm x 305mm.

Luke plan makes great use of the very limited space available combining both narrow gauge (16.5mm) and standard gauge (33mm) sections.

The design has its basis in the transfer facility at Tywyn on the Talyllyn Railway and rejoices in the name of Queen’s Wharf.

LBH’s use of the baseboard is much more modest as he is using his board as a test bed for 3d-printed COT (Chairs On Timber) track work. So far no more has been done than obtain the printed base.

The plan is to add some of the ScaleSeven Ready-to-Lay track when it becomes available.

Elsewhere, Mr Chairman was working on the turnouts for Cwm-Carno and Andrew J on scenery for Lyne Road.

Wagonman has made good progress on his GWR GBV side we saw it last month. The roof is loose and yet to be attached to the body.

Little construction work remains beyond adding the whitemetal fittings.

Mike E continues with the Depot for his Hogwash and Balony short line.

Discussions covered the colouring for the walls and the most likely prototype roofing material.

A delayed update on the Hogwash and Balony follows;

At the start of June Mike E confessed to a tracklaying error that led to the destruction seen in the 1st pic. The sweeping curves of the replacements show a great improvement.

Elsewhere on the line the tracks span the hog-wash on a typical wooden trestle structure seen in the later photos.

This is all built from basswood sections.

Peco200 mania, etc. Read More »

Week ending June 8

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After a slight break in continuity, hopefully full service will be resumed.

Its now Monday 2nd of June and there’s not much to report from the previous week. Today work continued around the workshop with planking applied to the inside of the door and more paint. Behind the workshop site the hedging was looking a little thin so more was stuck on. Some autumn colour now needs to be added.

Tuesday was the Zoom session for June and we had an update on the Hogwash and Baloney short line from Mike E. This was followed by pictures from Steve B of railway installations found on the French MOD archive website featuring WW1 photos of very good quality from behind the front lines. Lots of temporary track and lashed up stock. We ended with a collection of pics selected by Rod from around Wales, including some B&M stock of course. (but no photos of Machen)

Friday saw LBH replace a broken plasticard drawbar on his newly-acquired ScaleSeven ex-GWR mogul with a more resilient one in brass, only to discover that he had installed a short circuit. Further investigation, assisted by Mr Chairman and our Wizard, revealed that pick-up was by a form of the American system where loco and chassis are each live to the track on opposite sides. The pick-up was unusual in that the loco could run independently. A piece of paxolin has been set aside to form a new insulated drawbar.

Elsewhere on Friday Mr C continued working on the garage for ABB, Mike E in his Hogwash and Balony DepĂ´t, our Wizard on a Coal Tank and Luke on Cwm Carno trackwork.


Saturday saw a rare outing for LBH’s Crindau Pill as a photographic backdrop at the Welsh Railway Research Circle’s AGM. Here seen with a variety of pre-grouping rolling stock.

Lost and Found – one cap

Week ending June 8 Read More »

Week ending May 25

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Monday was very lightly attended with quite a few people gallivanting around the country.

The garage / workshop as had some colour applied to the side and roof, and the fence stuck in place. We now need some debris and junk to go in the corner around where the tree will go.

On Tuesday the workshop had more paint applied and it was turned around with the doors at the correct end.

The good looking 82xxx from Lionheart is having some attention from the Welsh Wizard. The handrails are very fragile so will be removed and replaced with nickel silver wire.

The station building for Mike E’s Hogwash and Balony short line continues to take shape with the windows going in today.

For Cwmcarno the second turnout is nearing completion and is being tried in place on the layout with the one made previously. The first shot looks down the valley with the mainline curving to the right. The second one looks out from the exchange sidings.

Friday was extremely lightly attended – just myself and Robert making his second visit to the club. He came with some electrical questions that I was unfortunately unable to answer.

Having decided to have one of the doors on the workshop in the open position, I tried to carefully cut it out. However, it broke at the weak point where the windows were, so I made a replacement out of plastikard. To make the doors into a pair I later removed the window bars from the other one.

Week ending May 25 Read More »

Friday 7 March

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Having bought some very cheap 7mm point work Mike E launched into a short line project titled the Hogwash and Balony Railroad. The station building is in progress and three very nice boxvan kits have arrived. They’ve probably cancelled out any savings made on the pointwork.

Away from the clubroom Andrew N has started to produce some track work for Cwm Carno – to be precise the colliery sidings and in flat-bottom to boot.

Friday 7 March Read More »

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