The right hand side of the layout. The colliery is over the sharp 2nd radius curves. The 94XX is a Lima Body on a Bachmann DCC Chassis which I picked upon Ebay when the uber-pricey Bachmann 94xx was released. The chap who did the conversion did an amazing job and it runs so smoothly too. It's a shame the the lovely green livery will be giving way to plain black.

And this is the left hand end of the layout with the village of Gwynraven just appearing over the bridge.  Barclay "Joan"is approaching the weighbridge. The weighbridge house is super modern, well for 1960!

Gwynraven village.  It sits on a hillside that was bisected by the railway in a cutting.  The pub was recycled from my old layout as was the terrace of houses.  The "Alma" was named after a road that I used to live on as a child.  I'm not sure if the Rhymney Brewery's reach spread as far west as Monmouthshire but I love the logo, which I hand drew with a fine ink pen.  The bridge is on a steep slope.  This area still needs alot of work with a footbridge,brickwork, a road, signals and the platform.

Bank Holiday progress at Gwynraven. It's been a great bank holiday for me, lots of time and few distractions including my wife who is on a virtual photography course.  So I spent the day in the shed. Mostly I was detailing the Gwynraven village module which followers will recall forms a scenic break for the curve on to the viaduct. Then......in a moment of madness, I allowed myself a distraction and mocked up the viaduct section.  Before you know it, I was cutting timber.  This was Phase 2 started so see the Viaduct Blog  for details............  in the meantime, here is the village section.  The steep path to the cottages is in place with landscaping.  The GWR bridge now has girder sides applied using old Peco Code 100 rail & plasticard.  The road surface and pavements are also in place.  The 87xx is ontheleadtothe viaduct.  It sits on a 2nd Radius Curve which the road bridge helps to disguise.