More Progress

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Starting on Monday and Andrew N delivered the turnout and track for the colliery built away from the clubrooms. It has suitably dirty sleepers and prototypical variations in the quality of the trackwork. This should be manageable as only 4 wheeled wagons and small shunting locos will operate here.

The two views are down from the screens to the exchange sidings, and in the reverse direction.

Also present on Monday was the Peak class diesel, just completed by the Welsh Wizard, Fred Lewis from a kit of ancient lineage.

Moving to Tuesday and Luke’s railcar re-appears, now with a tarpaulin fitted over the open goods compartment.

In the layout room the mock-up of the colliery has moved on with the level ground created and walling arranged. We are approaching the atmosphere of a narrow valley with river and railway crammed in the bottom.

Finally some adjustments to Ty’n-y-Coedcae have created the space for a crane in the goods yard, with a fence being moved and a plinth built for the crane.

At the end of Friday the turnout for Cwm Carno has progressed with the crossing in place and the curved stock rail too.

On Ty’n’Coedcae the plinth for the crane has a surface and first coat of paint and is seen roughly in the right position. Also the front of the layout has a fresh coat of paint ready for the NEWGOG show next Saturday.

More Progress Read More »

Back to the club

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The adventure to Ally Pally over we turned our attention back to Cwm Carno

TAFKATYS made a set of card mock-ups of the main colliery buildings to enable us to assess how they would fit into the layout topography and affect sight lines.

Meanwhile, back in the workroom, Luke has started on one of the points for Cwmcarno. The sleepers and timbers are cut to length and by the end of the session all were in place using double sided tape. Then there will be a bit of soldering to be done.

Continuing on Friday with the trackwork, more etched chairs were folded up by Mr C. After cutting off the fret they are folded with forceps, then finally shaped against the blocks with a screwdriver. Meanwhile Luke was soldering some into place.

For the control panel TAFKATYS tried out wiring and programming coloured LEDs to indicate the position of the points on the track diagram. This was successful so now the rest of the LEDs need wiring in.

Back to the club Read More »

Preparation for the Show

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With ABB featuring at Alexandra Palace over the coming weekend we are busy preparing.

A few of the locos on the layout are lacking a crew, which is most noticeable on the tender engines, but easy to fit as there is good access. However, for tank engines it is difficult to get small bodies inside without undoing lots of screws and then finding its still impossible. So why bother . . . . you can see where I did get someone inside 82030, can’t you? Other engines are more helpful, the space where the backhead should be proved useful on the 94xx.

By later Tuesday we had ABB packed and stacked ready for Friday’s trip up the M4.

After that was complete we had a chance to admire Luke’s Model T combination which has featured before. It just needs nameplates and crew, and maybe even passenger(s)?

Preparation for the Show 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 »

One pic Monday and many pics Tuesday

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Again very little to show Paul 🏅🏅finished the bracing on Cwm Carno’s trackbed, LBH tried and failed to get the BPRC for ADR No 14 working, Andrew J kept going on his signal box interior and here we see Mr Chairman fitting the gutters onto the terrace in ABB.

This Tuesday we meet on Zoom on the day that was the 58th anniversary of the last day of operation on the Cambrian Coast Express and Stephen B showed us a collection of images the day’s operation, Luke shared an idea for hand signals to assist in layout operation, Mr Chairman shared a collection of images with the emphasis on 9Fs (or should it Class 9s?) and LBH came to the end of his series of Welsh scenes.

One pic Monday and many pics Tuesday Read More »

No pic Friday

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Enough going on at the club this evening but nothing to precipitate the action of a camera shutter. There was a run through of the ABB timetable with a different combination of operators, TAFKATYS wired the control panel while Paul 🏅🏅 assembled the frame for the pelmet, both for Cwm Carno, the Wizard identified castings and LBH assembled a loom for the battery-power radio-control of ADR No 14.

Well, actually we did get one pic of how things were on Friday. This shows the progress TAFKATYS made on the Cwm Carno panel.

No pic Friday Read More »

Cwm Carno gets a night off.

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Attention went elsewhere this evening.

Mr Chairman exhumed his ex-GWR mogul from the vaults, and once our Wizard had sorted out a catching pick-up, it performed well enough be a back-up for the Hall and 2800 on ABB at Ally Pally. He then went about fitting Dingham couplings.

Wagonman fitted a few more bits-and-bobs onto his ex-CMDPLR pannier, which will now await fairer weather before she can be painted.

Also from Wagonman we had the latest view of progress on his ex-SR U Mogul

And LBH whiled the evening away assembling a TVR three-plank wagon from 3d-printolutions.

Cwm Carno wasn’t entirely ignored, Wagonman looked at some of the wagons he had built for LMJ and thought they might be suitable for Cwm Carno, though not all the same time obviously!

Cwm Carno gets a night off. Read More »

Mainly Cwm Carno and some homework

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After we fixed the trackbed on Cwm Carno it was apparent that it needed further support to prevent excessive flexing and ensure the it was in one plane throughout the areas supporting turnouts to give us the best chance of reliable running. Paul S added several braces to this end.

Sticking to Cwm Carno, Andrew N has produced what may prove to be the first items of stock specifically for the layout. They are all based on the Masokits whitemetal kits from the 1980s (when, coincidentally, LBH was involved in the enterprise).

And Wagonman looks like he has pretty well reached the finishing line with his ex-CMDPLR pannier.

Away from the clubrooms our members are busy:

Stephen B has created Locomotive no.7, aka “the brick”. It is being built for the mysteriously-titled Project Kevin and will be the test bed for battery powered radio control. He reckons that he should be able to get a small power station in there.

Mainly Cwm Carno and some homework Read More »

Preparations for Ally Pally etc.

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With Abergavenny Blackbrook‘s visit to the London Festival of Railway Modelling at Alexandra Palace, London, which is now only three weeks away much of the evening’s efforts was in practicing operation on ABB.

Other works progressed though, with Luke turning his attentions from the body of his 0-4-0T to its chassis. A write-up of Luke’s build can be found in the Scaleseven Group website here.

Friday also saw TAFKATYS arrive with the planned control panel for Cwm Carno. After discussion the uncoupling magnet positions are settled and by Sunday it’s been completed.

Preparations for Ally Pally etc. Read More »

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