retroman

Thanks Ian!! I've just caught up with your threads - good work! Now that my daughter lives in Hampshire, I may even get to the Brockenhurst show in May ... I confess, I do try to stay off the railway modelling Internet as it is a massive distraction from actually doing anything ... but as my layout is fixed and in my attic this is the only way other folk get to see it. MwEB is now in it's 17th year, I doubt if it would have survived if it had been anywhere else is the house, so I'm glad I took the plunge and headed for that dusty attic all those years ago! As I get older I'm looking for ways to make life easier. The layout was far too wide at one point, so I dismantled a section so that I could reach everything more easily. My new rule of thumb - 3' is the absolute working maximum width! Before: utter chaos. Now: vast improvement.

A recent diverionary project has been this Baguley-Drewry battery loco. The original worked an armaments depot on a secret underground network at RAF Chilmark, which I had never heard of until now! The kit came from eBay, running on a KATO chassis. Wasp stripes have yet to be added. The B-G was named ELVIS upon arrival at the Pen-y-Bryn. Here, the King of Rock 'n' Roll wannabe rattles over the mainlines whilst 1200 FALCON passes underneath, running light.

I should say that although the mainline railway is DCC, the Pen-y-Bryn is 12v DC. Several reasons for this, not least because I had a 3 track GAUGEMASTER controller gathering dust, plus DC gives me greater loco options, of which more anon. A few more photos of the layout in it's current state as we follow BLANCHE on her travels. 1. BLANCHE passes by the steelworks whilst an 03 shunts the complex. 2. BLANCHE has now reached the automatic level crossing. Excuse the random Landrover, broken fences and terracotta DAS embankments! I had to reach across the layout to work, causing some minor damage. 3. MARSHFIELD station with a DPU in the platform as BLANCHE continues around the circuit.

Hi Rob, Indeed yes. Retirement has many benefits!! As I'm sure you are aware .... The premise with the upper branch line circuit being that BR(W) decided that the whole project was now longer viable - as did I - so the trackbed was sold to a wealthy eccentric to convert to Narrow Gauge and operate as a tourist railway. Plus there is a handy slate quarry nearby, so this guy also saw a commercial oportunity ... Another view of BLANCHE, this time on the approach to Pen-y-Bryn station. A recent indulgence on my part passes by on the Up South Wales Pullman. There were houses in that far upper corner, but I have since installed an Esso refinery, serviced by the old ELY BRIDGE HIGH LEVEL STATION, recently re-opened for workers. The Pullman again, with a Class 22 on the left in the steelworks complex. PRINCE hauls a short frieght over ELY BRIDGE Viaduct. I'l post up a trackplan of the NG line in due course, but it's basically as follows: 1. A 45-foot single track loop incorporating Pen-y-Bryn Station, a passing loop across a second platform, and an engine shed for the steam engines. 2. A Station Avoiding line for frieght trains. And, er, that's it.

Hello again, only a three year absence this time ...🙄 However the rebuild is contiuning, albeit slowly, so it is timely to resurrect this thread. I have fallen into the 009 Vortex and being a loyal son of Cambria, I have decided to reinstate the (defunct) upper circuit as "The Pen-y-Bryn" Narrow Gauge Railway. A taster photo ... Hunslet 0-4-0 ST BLANCHE crosses the standard gauge mainlines enroute from Pen-y-Bryn station (under construction on the right), whilst 50007 passes by beneath with the daily 1V92 1320 Glasgow-Swansea. On the left, 0-4-0 ST PRINCE is held at Bute (Upper) Tunnel, awaiting the road onto a line that has yet to be built!

That's a superb job, very neat!

Thanks Richard. That sounds good (pardon the pun!).

That's great. Many thanks indeed

Good morning, I'm sure this has been asked before, I've done a search but nothing obvious appears. I have a Bachmann Class 25 with a worn motor/driver train which requires complete renewal. Rather than do that, I was thinking of removing the innards of the old loco and buying another Class 25 with DCC sound, with the intention of running them as a permanent close-coupled pair with a loudspeaker in the dummy. Is this possible? If so how do I wire the second speaker to the chip? Excuse the ignorance, I'm returning to the hobby after a five-year gap and DCC has always been something of a mystery to me. Many thanks in anticipation.

Hello and many thanks for the kind replies. MwEB will be undergoing a simplification and partial rebuild over the next few months. As I get older I am finding that crawling around under baseboards is not really an option, so I've brought a lot of electrical contacts and plug sockets to the surface where I can access them more easily. I've also cleared a whole area of sidings so that I can, at last, enjoy the use of a proper work station (pictured). There used to be an elevated circuit that looked good but was operationally useless, as the incline from the ground level tracks was hidden and the elevated section covered two of the mainlines. Although I built-in access hatches to clean the track and recover derailments, these were inadequate. So I 'bit the bullet' and removed 50% of the upper circuit. It will now be an out-and-back branch line for DMU operation. I intend to add two extra crossovers for the returning DMU on the ground-level mainlines to increase operating interest in due course. Yesterday I built a Mountain Section in one corner, you can just see the white ModRoc in the photo. I though I'd populate this with N gauge Spruce trees to give an impression of distance in the 'small/far away' theme of Fr Ted. It all looks a bit of a muddle but it's now a lot better than it was!

Just spent half an hour reading right through this thread. Congratulations Ian, the Helix and associated woodwork is a work of art. This layout is already a delight, well worth all the hundreds (?thousands!!) of hours it has already taken.

Hello again RMWeb, after a 5 year absence I have returned to the fold The layout has been mothballed for a few years due to work and family issues, but I've used the lockdown as an excuse to re-start where I left off, and it's true to say that my 'modellers mojo' has returned. A big issue for me was the failure of the Heljan Traverser. This was always a tempremental piece of kit which was great when it worked, but often stalled mid-operation and one day it ceased to work completely. So I took the decision to remove it, which left a huge hole in the baseboard and has required a total re-jigging of the depot. I have opted for a PECO Turntable with a LOCOMOTECH underslung motor. Attached are some comparison photos, I will update as work progresses.

259 sounds a beast, looking forward to 3 days behind this next month!!

Some quailty thrash on here, excellent camera work too.

Schwartz popped over today with his Roco model, which was given to him as a gift by a CZ driver. As Schwartz dosen't have a layout and isn't a modeller, he didn't know anything about it. I was very impressed with the detail and quality. Although its DC and no-sound I was able to give it a run on my DCC layout as my Lenz system allows address 0 to be used for this purpose. It did look rather odd amongst all of the filthy BR 1970s era locos on my layout!! The Grumpy rather dwarfed by the Peak (albeit the 45 is OO rather than HO) Amongst the dirt and grime of my depot!!