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Llanglydwen on the Cardi Bach line


Harlequin
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I was really taken by three new images of Llanglydwen station posted on disused-stations.org.uk recently: http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/llanglydwen/index.shtml

 

It is thought that they were taken between 1923 and 1926 and are full of atmosphere, showing a wealth of detail packed into a small space. The photos were taken from the other side of the valley and so the shots have some distance and take in almost the whole station from slightly elevated viewpoints - just like photos of a model.

 

This tiny station and it's immediate surroundings have many "modelable" features:

  • Level crossing
  • Station building
  • Two platforms
  • Passing loop
  • Goods siding
  • Signal box
  • River in foreground
  • Stone bridge
  • Huge tree overhanging road
  • Quirky buildings in background
  • Pen-y-bont Inn in the background
  • Natural amphitheatre setting with rural countryside backdrop

It occurred to me that this wonderfully compact little scene could possibly be modelled accurately to scale without having to compress anything. So I have traced the maps and tried to reconcile old info with newer map info and with the photos. This is what I have got so far:

post-32492-0-41234200-1521930938_thumb.png

Llanglydwen 6.pdf

 

It is just under 4 metres across at 4mm scale and would have to be very deep to capture both the Inn and the bridge over the river. So, it seems that a feasible model would have to be compressed after all, which is a shame.

 

Since I'm already deeply into the planning for a different layout entirely, I'm not sure what to do with this now! Maybe inspiration will strike me if I leave it alone for a while. Maybe someone here on RMWeb will have an interesting idea...

Edited by Harlequin
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Ah the Cardi Bach. On my list of models to do I have been looking at Cardigan Town Station we just need a good RTR 16xx. The Whitland and Cardigan does make an interesting project. I took a series of Colour slides of Cardigan's buildings in the mid 70's just in case a model will be made.

 

Keith 

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Ah the Cardi Bach. On my list of models to do I have been looking at Cardigan Town Station we just need a good RTR 16xx. The Whitland and Cardigan does make an interesting project. I took a series of Colour slides of Cardigan's buildings in the mid 70's just in case a model will be made.

 

Keith

See the blog Chuffers Duffers for an (I think) 3mm version of Cardigan, Boncath, Killgeran and others.

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I have been reading "Great Western Branch Line Modelling Part 3" by Stephen Williams and he says that even the smallest locations almost always need compression into model form.

 

So, I bit the bullet and got on with it. The width was not so difficult a problem but even so I have moved things slightly - in particular the Home signals are brought in much closer and the passing loop has been shortened and rendered using Peco Streamline standard geometry items. Obviously it's no longer as smooth as the prototype but I think it would look perfectly acceptable.

 

The depth was the real problem. To tackle that I have foreshortened the hillside behind the station, played perspective tricks with the road up past the Pen-y-bont inn and moved the foreground river and the bridge up closer to the station. The river scene in front of the station would be built on separate baseboards that could be removed to ease access to the back of the scene.

post-32492-0-33730800-1522425577_thumb.png

[Click to enlarge]

 

Llanglydwen 12.pdf

[More info including labels and layers]

 

Operation would be something along these lines:

  • A full day's operation compressed to, say, 3 or 4 hours
  • Around 7 passenger trains a day + tail traffic
  • Two freight trains a day (coal, minerals, timber, agricultural supplies and machinery). (Edit: Maybe that should be four freights a day - two up and two down.)
  • Occasional specials such as Livestock trains for market day at Crymmych 
  • The roundy-round design would be used to represent the full length of the branch line:
    • As a trains runs around the circuit each pass through the station would represent one of the stations on the line in correct sequence.
    • When the trains passes through Llanglydwen-proper, then full operations for the station would be carried out. I.e. stopping at the platforms, shunting, waiting for passing trains in the other direction, etc.
    • Thus the viewer and operators see more running time, less down time.
The intention is that, although the prototype branch line was probably very quiet, the model should be busy enough to be interesting.
 
The two end curves are 610mm radius and would be on lightweight, open-frame baseboards with surface ply only where the trackbed runs.
At the back the main running line passes behind the fiddle yard so that trains can run past without impeding any manual fiddling that might be going on. The running line crosses just two points in the fiddle yard for reliability.
Edited by Harlequin
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Very interesting scene, but I agree difficult to try and fit into a model.

 

My feeling, if I were to build it I would sacrifice most of the river.  While the idea of a removable river does allow it to be kept I can't help but feel it would be an annoyance over time and eventually just left off.

 

Moving the river even closer I think would be a mistake, changing the atmosphere of the station to something it wasn't.

 

Instead I would (using the lower left of the scenic section as (0, 0)) run the front of the layout from (0, 0) to somewhere around (2, 0) (maybe ((2.5, 0)) and then cut into (5.5, 2) - playing around with curves if ambitious - and ending up at (11, 1.5).

 

By keeping the road, river, and bridge you still have the most "scenic" part of the scene while allow the viewer to use their imagination to place the river in its place.  If your lucky the road bridge might even allow some photo opportunities.

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Very interesting  looking station and environment. :)

 

Looks like it would be a natural for N or 2FS to fit in the bridge and the Inn; I make it out to fit an area of about 6 foot by 3 at its widest point, narrowing down away from the bridge end.

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The layout design above looked a bit unbalanced to me because most of the interest is on the left.

 

You could argue that that's fair enough because it's a reasonably faithful representation of the real Llanglydwen and you could argue that the sheer mass of countryside on the right balances the hamlet buildings.

 

But I still felt it needed something stronger on the right hand side to improve the composition and ideally something to provide interest in the intervals between train movements.

 

So I hit upon the idea of a water mill. I'm sure there would have been many along the Afon Taf at one time.

 

[Edit: Designs that incorrectly assumed the river flowed right to left have been removed! ARGH!]

 

P.S. If you know how to pronounce "Llanglydwen" I'd be interested to hear from you. I know the "Ll" sound and so my best guess is Llan - glud - oo - en...?

Edited by Harlequin
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Good idea but you need a slight 180 the river flows left to right.

 

Keith

Thanks Keith!

 

Very embarrassing - I made a huge mistake in the direction of flow of the river.

 

Some rethinking will be needed...!

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