Lundi/Montag

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Wagonman unveiled a Fulgurex HOm Aigle-Sépey-Diablerets Swiss railcar (if that’s an acceptable translation of Automotrice and Triebwagen). The prototypes were built in 1913 by SWS and AEG and the model, in brass and steel is an absolute delight and the flush glazing a tour-de-force.

LBH continued with the suspension units on one of the ADR two-plank wagons, fixing the bases with epoxy and using a Poppy Axle Spacing jig to get the axles parallel. He also managed to fix the wandering leaf springs before the glue cured.

Paul🥇called in on his way to work, Andrew N decided how to hide the visible turnout operating mechanisms on Frecclesham (see 26th Feb post) and Andrew J applied undercoat to the sides of the rails on Lyne Road.

Lundi/Montag Read More »

Monday Monday

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Four of us present, TAFKATYS managed to return from a skiing holiday with all limbs intact and worked with MrC preparing Frecclesham for Ally Pally. Rhobat continued work on a crane for TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae and LBH on the ADR two-plank wagons.

The conversion of Pol Sands to TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae made available a typical Southern Railway concrete line side hut, which became earmarked for use on Frecclesham to hide some point actuators after it was deemed that the World War II pillbox wasn’t quite up to scratch. However, given the relative sizes we shall need to be a bit inventive in order to make it work. Watch this space.

The Wainwright D class engines are very elegant and look good with the Birdcage set. These coaches have been improved by the addition of magnetic couplings which makes forming the set so much easier. Also the couplings have been shortened for a more realistic close-coupled appearance.

Monday Monday Read More »

Friday 23rd February

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A quietish Friday with cleaning underway on Frecclesham .

With the scenic side of TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae largely attended to and the baseboards disassembled while Frecclesham is readied for its trip to Ally Pally LBH reverted to type and went back to building wagons. This time he is trying the Prickley Pear wagon springing units for some ADR two-plank wagons. The solebars on the wagons will need to be eased slightly to allow the rocking units to move.

Another visitor to Frecclesham was Luke’s Dapol Terrier. This also ran successfully and tested the now adjusted turnouts. Luke also was busy removing accumulated dust from the surfaces with a trusty brush and vacuum. Hopefully you can see the difference it makes in the last picture where the darker area below the ground signal has been swept clean.

Friday 23rd February Read More »

Tuesday Update

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The third Tuesday of each month we split our forces, some of us meeting in the clubrooms, others on Zoom

At the club rooms we added Frecclesham’s fiddle yard to the other boards. Then it had a vacuum over and the trackwork cleaned. Testing was successful with just a few of the turnouts requiring adjustment next session.

A stranger to Frecclesham, Pannier 3603 rests after taking on water, following a testing session on the layout.

Those on zoom looked at Warwickshire Railways’ excellent coverage of Hockley Goods Depot and some of Jim Richards’ fascinating photos of wagons taken in the Barmouth and Penmaenpool areas around the time of the grouping (example). Chat meandered through WD WW1 GBVs (the Cambrian definitely bought some, did the B&MR too?) and commercially available Ocean coal wagons in OO.

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Friday 16th February

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Here is the Welsh Wizard’s latest acquisition – which amazingly he did not build himself. Having recently had a chip fitted it was with us to have a DCC address assigned and various features tested, such as the internal lighting which can be turned on as ceiling lights, or sconces on the window pillars, or both. As can be seen, the level of internal detail is excellent.

The Chairman’s 4248 is on the workbench as the gearbox has given trouble with excessive wear of the worm wheel. After carefully dismantling and extracting the gearbox alignment issues were found. The planning of a replacement has begun.

Friday 16th February Read More »

Back to DCC?

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The space available for a battery in a Manning Wardle Class K has proven to be too limited so it is reverting to DCC and thus pickups will be required. Unfortunately the perfectly good OEM ones were removed and have gone astray so some new ones will need to be fabricated.

Fitted with a DCC decoder and reunited with its body, it ran but not well and LBH will need to give a bit more attention to the pickups.

Back to DCC? Read More »

First outing.

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11 February saw TÅ·’n-y-Coedcae’s first exhibition at the Monmouth Rotary Club Exhibition.

Click the settings cog to pick the caption language. You may also view a similar video on YouTube here (mp4 file) or here (ogg file).

With a little help from my friends ..

Just in this view we have an ex-ADR loco and three wagons borrowed from Peter Drost, GBV and platelayers’ hut built and painted by MrC, backscene designed by Bernie, running-in board and chairs painted by Fred, old backscene removed by Paul 🏅, Andrew made the FPL cover.

So a bit more than just a little help!

A GWR Pontypridd to Newport service rattles through Rhyd-y-Gwern Halt.

First outing. Read More »

More Preparation

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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.
A hint of what might run at the show.

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.

More Preparation Read More »

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