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Jottings of a Cambrianophile

Entries in this blog

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? NO it's TABARD MAN!

It's slowly getting to the point where my railway modelling hobby is starting to get expensive!   No, not for the cost of the materials and tools but my clothing is wearing out fast, not a week goes by without some sort of clothing damage. Solder, Paint, Thinners, MEK, Fluxes and glues of one sort or another have all left their mark in one way or another over the years. It was getting to the point where I was struggling to get shirts laundered and ready to wear again before the next one got

Dukedog

Dukedog

Tanked up around Stourbridge! Make it a Double!

Just got back from a spot of gricing at Stourbridge Junction.   Not that I went to cop some smelly DMU's. No, today was in search of STEAM! The Vintage Trains tour "The Panier Rambler" was running today, Starting from Tyseley going out to Stratford on Avon, returning then to Birmingham to complete stage one of the tour. The second leg of the trip was from Birmingham to Worcester via Stourbridge and Kidderminster.   Stourbridge Junction is my local station so a quick trip down the road to w

Dukedog

Dukedog

Happy New Work station!

Needing a place indoors where it is reasonably warm and out of the way of Mad Milo (The Dog!) and rather than working in a cold shed outside during the winter meant some negotiating with SWMBO!   After much discussion it was agreed that we could dump the old kitchen table that I had used for my model work over the last 18 months since moving here, and get a new work station from those marvellous Swedish people at IKEA.   This is what we bought.     A Micke desk and an Alex drawer

Dukedog

Dukedog

Pedants & Odours or is it Odours& Pedants?

Last weekend saw us take my layout Pen Y Bont to the 45th Redditch MRC exhibition at their usual venue Trinity High School. All I can say is thank the lord for Satnavs! without my Tom Tom I would have never have found the place, Redditch town centre is like a maze to me, I thought Telford was bad but this place is something else. It was also a good job that I use our car to transport the layout because one bridge I had to pass under only has a 8ft clearance! You can actually see the skid marks

Dukedog

Dukedog

Sunday morning along the Severn Valley

Although the Severn Valley Railway is virtually on my door step I never seem to get down there as often as I should. It's been over 8 months since my last visit so, with the sun shining SWMBO and myself set off for a quick visit.   We wanted to visit the "Engine House" at Highley, as, believe it or not I have never been there since it opened a few years ago. So off we went and made our way to Highley via Bridgnorth. What a morning! Half way along Highley High Street the road was completely

Dukedog

Dukedog

Modular Model Railway Layout (MMRL)

Now that Morfa Bach is almost completed a start has been made on module 2 Penmaenpool MPD, based on the actual prototype that existed on the Cambrian coast line between Dolgelleau and Morfa Mawddach.   Each module will be a "mini" layout or diorama in it's own right. At exhibitions the exhibition manager will have the choice of which "modules" he wants at his show. The caveat is that the "basic layout" of Morfa Bach and Penmaenpool MPD must be included, modules 3&4 (yet to be decided) ar

Dukedog

Dukedog

Pen Y Bont seen in Railway Modeller!

I had a pleasant surprise this week when I found a picture of my layout Pen Y Bont in the April edition of Railway Modeller, No, not a feature or article by yours truly, but as part of an advertisement for my local model shop Modellers Mecca,   I had almost forgotten that I had given the shops proprietor Lucy Pitch permission to use some of my pictures on Modellers Mecca web site http://www.modellers-mecca.co.uk/ Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ModellersMecca and in some magazine

Dukedog

Dukedog

Pen Y Bont diary and exhibition appearances.(updated 29/02/12)

Just updating Pen-Y-Bont's exhibition appearances for 2012     Midland Railex Sat18th August & Sunday 19th August 2012     Reddich MRE Sat 14th September & Sunday 15th September 2012   Welshpool Sat 27th October 2012     Hope to meet some of you at one of the above exhibitions.     Cheers! Frank

Dukedog

Dukedog

A Day at the seaside in January! (Weston super mare MRE)

Sunday 15th January 2012.   Had to force my self out of my pit at 05:00 on a freezing cold Sunday morning to get myself, son in law and layout to Weston super mare, get set up and running before the show opened to the public at 10:00. Being early on a Sunday morning the M5 was very quiet and the trip from my home in Stourbridge took just over and hour and a half. No need for the sat-nav either as the venue was only half a mile from the motorway.   Working between us the layout was up and

Dukedog

Dukedog

And the wheels go round!

Having read comments about track cleaning on one of the forums I struck me that one thing that is often overlooked is that of keeping the wheels and pick ups clean.   getting my stock ready for tomorrows outing to Weston got me thinking that the wheels are often overlooked and poor running is not just down to track problems.   To clean my wheels I use this handy device.       Supplied by a certain Cornish emporium, it's not cheap at nearly £23, but, the time and trouble saved it's we

Dukedog

Dukedog

Location, Location, Location Where is Morfa Bach?

As people are starting to show interest in my latest project Morfa Bach, I thought it would be a good idea to let you know where my prototype inspiration came from.   So using Google maps I've posted a few links to the area my project is located.   First of all is this aerial view of Dovey bridge, the bridge keepers cottage still exists to day and can be seen on the left bank of the river in this shot. http://g.co/maps/5av2h If you pan out a bit the bridge I have modelled can be seen cross

Dukedog

Dukedog

Happy new Year (Here's hoping)

New year greetings to everyone!   It is the last day of 2011 and to be truthful I'm glad to see the back of it!. I sincerely hope that 2012 will be a year of improvement over 2011 and enjoying my retirement. As far as resolutions are concerned, they are a waste of time because I can never stick to them anyway!     But, I have tried to set a few goals to aim for such as.... : To finish model kits that need finishing; Get rid of stuff that's not worth keeping; just cluttering up my

Dukedog

Dukedog

2011, a year to remember or a year to forget?

2011 has been a very much mixed up year for me, it has been a year of extreme highs and lows, more or less in equal measure. On the down side my personal life has been turned on its head and pulled though a hedge backwards, that’s the only way I can describe it. At the start of the year two events took place that will probably be two of the most significant events that will stay in my life for ever. In January my wife was diagnosed with bone cancer, and I was also told that I would be losing

Dukedog

Dukedog

Is this the way forward (a possible solution?)

Those of you who have seen my last entry in this blog will have read that I am having some health problems which was going to restrict my exhibition activities with Pen Y Bont.   I am happy to report that some of these problems have been overcome with a visit to the doctors and a change in medication.   I have also rejoined the Cradley Heath Model Railway Club and have been assured of assistance at exhibitions by some of the club members.   I was a member of this club up until about 8 ye

Dukedog

Dukedog

Is this the way forward?

Hello again and welcome to the world of Dukdog's mutterings.   just getting over the weekends outing with Pen-Y-Bont at the Wolverhampton MRC exhibition. I got back last night feeling pretty well tired and knackered after lugging the layout in and out of the car.   Why the negative attitude? Well to be quite honest I am starting to feel my age (or more like twice my age!) and my general health is going the wrong way.   I have been diagnosed with Ashemic Heart Disease, COPD and a partly f

Dukedog

Dukedog

Happy new camera!

I have wanted to upgrade my digital camera for a while now, my old Fuji S7000 was, when I first bought it the dog's dangles but I have since realised it's limitations. What camera? Well I have owned several SLR cameras in my time from cheapo Zenith to the Olympus OM1 and was seriously considering going the digital SLR route. However, nice as that may be most of them are as bulky as my Fuji, making it awkward to carry round places like model railway exhibitions and use in confined spaces like

Dukedog

Dukedog

If the cap fits!

Having read and had a good chuckle at the recent blog entry by Tim (DesA) re: “The sheep dip” has inspired me to write this entry about traits found amongst the internet model railway community, namely the “Rivet Counter”, “Expert”, “Me Too!” and the “Troll” amongst others It’s hard sometimes to differentiate between some of these groups; there being some overlap between them. The real rivet counter on one hand is so pedantic ,some times to the point of great annoyance, usually quoting a serie

Dukedog

Dukedog

The RIGHT track?

Hi all Yes, it's me again rambling on as usual, this time I'm after your opinions on 00 gauge track and the choice thereof.   OK, I've just started building a new "small" layout ( Was "mini", but, as Mr Nevard as pointed out 4ftx1ft is HUGE!)   I am at the stage where the choice of track comes into play.   I am really close to using either SMP or C&L Finescale track but the turnout I need is a 3ft radius Wye, C&L don't list it as a kit or as far as I see a template. I could I sup

Dukedog

Dukedog

Ghost Train?

HI All, Just been sorting through a load of pictures for filing away after editing and cropping in Photoshop.   That was when I noticed this     I know Haloween comes soon but......?????     Creepy or what?   Cheers Frank

Dukedog

Dukedog

Pen Y Bont at Telford exhibition

I took my layout Pen Y Bont to the Telford Railway Modellers Group exhibition today.   The venue was only a small hall but there was a good atmosphere about the place, the Telford Group are a great friendly bunch of guys and we ( Son in law and myself) enjoyed our day out.     This was only the third outing for Pen Y Bont and again every thing worked and was mostly trouble free. I have a couple of wagons that need some adjustment and a few 3 link coupling were found to be broken but nothin

Dukedog

Dukedog

My Mogul has "Had it"

My old Bachmann Collett mogul has finally bit the dust!   One of the rear driving wheels has decided to fall to bits.   I'm a little bit upset because when it was running it was a good runner, and I spent quite a bit of effort in "tarting it up"     Now I have to decide what to do.   I have looked around for a replacement chassis without much success, so the way I see it I have three options.   1 scrap it   2 hold out for the chance to obtain a Bachmann chassis from some where.  

Dukedog

Dukedog

Steam on the Cambrian, (well almost!)

Just got home after a week spent at Barmouth. One of our days out consisted of a visit to the Fairbourne railway. Not much is ever seen about this delightful little 12.25 inch gauge line but, it has a charm all of it's own.   The driver is a lady! and a good job she made of things too! We were subject to a half hour delay due to the preceding train becoming derailed at the Barmouth Ferry end of the line. It was interesting to see the breakdown train hauled by this tiny Hunslet locom

Dukedog

Dukedog

Wood butchering day!

Spent a few enjoyable hours outside yesterday butchering some timber for the new extension board for Pen Y Bont.   Now, wood working was never my best subject at school, so, wood butchering is the appropriate title for today's entry. Yesterday's little exercise was quite successful by my standards, No cuts to fingers and thumbs from using the hand saw, No bruises or injuries through use of the Brummie screwdriver (Hammer) so I was most pleased, until this morning.   I have just discovered

Dukedog

Dukedog

Pen Y Bont diary and exhibition appearances.

An update on Pen Y Bont's appearance in public. I have a few expos lined up for Pen Y Bont but nothing until the Autumn. This has given me chance to make some important changes and upgrades to the layout before I build the new 4ft extension board. The layout has been completely rewired and new control panels built. This is to facilitate the planned extension, thus making the layout available in two formats depending upon exhibition managers space available. In it's present format the layout

Dukedog

Dukedog

Here we go!

Well this it, My first attempt at "Blogging" (If that is the correct term).   This bit is all new to me so please excuse if I make a few mistakes along the way. I am not adding much content yet until I see how this "Blogging" lark works. I'll just post some thing of an introduction for now and see what happens. Indeed I shall be surprised If anything does happen or I get any comment back saying "Yes I can read your blog"   If there is no feed back then I have obviously done something wrong

Dukedog

Dukedog

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