Week ending 26th May

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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.

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Week ending 19th May

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It has been a quiet week with little of photographic interest. So it’s thanks to Wagonman for providing the pictures this week. The BLS railway electric loco is in HO scale, produced by Roco. Built in the late 50s by Brown Bovery the prototype lasted in service until relatively recently. And not content with the one Hawksworth push-pull coach that runs on Pavilion End, Al is now starting a second one. This one will be in a slightly different livery.

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Week ending 12th May

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Some people just can’t resist a purchase. The Wickham trolley and trailer from Ellis Clark in 7mm scale certainly looks tempting and Wagonman did succumb. Its finely detailed and surprisingly, very fast. Its definitely not DCC controlled – where would you put the chip?

Well, there really is a version sold that does have DCC and sound!

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Thornbury Two Trips

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Taking Bwthyn y Rhosod (TLFKAByR) to the Thornbury Show went well, though the start was a bit eventful. After assembly we couldn’t find the cassettes for the fiddle yard – and yes, we’d left them behind. So LBH volunteered to go back to get them. Preparations continued until we found that there were more items we didn’t have. By this time we calculated that LBH would be on his way back with few chance to turn around so SteveN set of on another trip to collect items.

With nothing else missing Bwthyn y Rhosod was ready to go and was soon attracting plenty of attention.

The view the visitors don’t get to see is the one from the fiddle yard through onto the layout. We didn’t have any major problems, though Paul W had to tie the hook back onto the crane.

We were over-staffed on Saturday with about 10 of us present. Could it have been because no show is complete without a meal on at least one evening? We patronized the Wheatsheaf on the town.

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Preparations

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Modern technology has played a part in railway modelling at the Newport club for quite some time, going back to things like diode matrixes to control movements. The trend continues with Templot being used for layout design and resin parts being used to provide the required result. Here Rhobat is converting a L&Y 2-4-2 tank into a Barry Railway class J, which was very similar. There is also a different cab needed, to come later.

Preparations for moving Bwthyn y Rhosod over to Thornbury for the show were largely completed on Tuesday. Here the gang are separating the boards and packing them together ready to transport.

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Week ending 28th April

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This week we have been preparing Bwthyn y Rhosod for its trip to the Thornbury Show. It is successfully erected, connected up and tested. The stock is now being trialled and coupling settings adjusted.

Also Morgan has been putting together some 4mm Dingham couplings for his 00 stock.

Luke’s Mainline and City stock converted to P4 has been put together as a rake and decisions made on couplings and the right gap between the coaches. Unfortunately the rather neat magnetic couplings provided too big a gap. We settled on the medium gap.

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Week ending 21st April

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Monday TAFKATYS came with a loco under repair for Luke. It is now running better and needs pick-ups. This provided a lot of online discussion about suitable pickup material and we even wandered as far as harpsichord strings.

After a couple of fruitless searches the running in boards for ABB have finally been found. They were inside one of the villas which had been packed away. Obvious when you think about it !!?

Wagonman has now completed the Birdcage brake coach. It is finished as in departmental use.

On Friday more coaching stock from Wagonman appeared. The first is not a model of Australian stock but a Slaters Midland coach pose to show the fiddly brake blocks so far fitted to only one axle. Earlier thoughts of producing the fully lined MR livery have been abandoned and this coach will appear in Departmental colours. Below are two shots of the nice handrails on the GN full brake last seen 7th April – more fiddly work.

The roof of the GN full brake also provided challenges. The brass had to be cut out for the lights to be fitted, then filed individually to size to take the castings which were not quite identical.

Luke’s shunting puzzle layout was brought to the club as it needed to fiddle yard attaching, Resident wood guru Paul🥇 provided the necessary skills.

The fiddle yard is a sector plate with a traverser at the end for running the loco around.

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NEWGOG update

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Pavilion End made its third appearance at NEWGOG but improved by additions to give more of a South Wales feel since its first outing. The coal train is headed by 4248, shedded at Ebbw Jct, the mixed freight is behind 666, and ex-ADR Victory tank, and the workman’s train now has three 4-wheeled coaches with real (or dubious) stories.

Ty’n-y-Coedcae was also at the show and also sported a Victory tank from an earlier era (and dubious colour). There is plenty of stock to make the yard look busy. What is stored in the fiddle yard is always of interest, particularly the Cambrian brake van – a very nice model.

A little damage to the fiddle yard track was repaired quickly before the exhibition opened.
Since its last outing the halt has gained a lamp.
The two B&MR dropside wagons in the Engineering train are Luke’s first essays in Scaleseven.
TAFKATYS’s Cambrian stock looked and ran well

And the surprise event of the day was the 1200 mm free-fall plummet.

The Ty’n-y-Coedcae entry was a Minerva Victory tank, which despite the fall, the most serious damage was this dent to one buffer. It says volumes for Minerva’s build quality.

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Are you sitting comfortably . . .

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Reports this week might well be minimal as layouts are prepared for the NEWGOG show on Saturday. And what is more typical of preparations than grovelling under the baseboard trying to find out why it’s not working properly. This was Tuesday and the drive to the point blades was eventually fixed by careful adjustment.

By the end of Wednesday the electromagnets for uncoupling were operational too.

Friday before the show and some last minute preparations. The GWR autocoach is without a bogie as it is being fitted with Scaleseven wheels. The other bogie has already been done but work has stopped on the second as one of the wheel bearings is missing. A search of the floor and clothing, by a couple of people found nothing. The bearing is a special shape so TAFKATYS started to bodge one out of brass tubing and a Dremel. On asking ‘Show me what the wheel looks like’ the missing bearing was revealed. The coach from Dapol is a cracking model.

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Week ending 7th April

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This week the trackwork challenge was more conventional with plastic sleepers and chairs being glued in place. More gluing took place on Lyne Road as the platform surfaces were being fixed down. (cue – joke about a long weight) The NE 6 wheel brake progresses for Wagonman with footboards now in place and handrails added. And Mr Chairman started to re-vamp more shrubs for ABB by removing the old foliage and adding bark colour and texture to the trunks.

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