Coffinhammer

A bit of a running day after some servicing and cleaning of the locos. There was a reason for the sudden outburst of energy. I had received a tentative invite to my first exhibition! Okay, it isn't pencilled in until 2022 and is local but it'll be my first. Just a little nervous - especially as I now have a deadline to get it finished! Time to pull my finger out, I guess! Anyway, the pics. 1) 47035 (CF) arrives on shed having worked a cement service from Westbury. 2) 56040 (CF) rests between duties on the stops. 3) 37180 (LE) arrives after working in from Onllwyn. 37187 (LE) awaits its next call in the background. 4) 08322 (CF) heads under the bridge with a single HEA whilst engaged in shunting the yard.

Absolutely flying with the remodelling, Steve. Looking really impressive! I just need a little of your impetus to rub off on me!! Cheers Gareth

Hi Wayne, Glad you like it. I didn't realise you were the Wayne of 'Dragon Steels' and 'Trevanna Dries'! Two layouts that I have fond memories of spending hours watching at a variety of shows and perusing the pictures on here!! I was very tempted to offer to purchase 'Dragon Steels' when you had it up for sale but I'd already agreed to buy what would become the start of Llantisilliant. My other half wouldn't let me have a second layout at the time! Gareth

Hi Steve, Sorry to hear that, mate. Sadly, its a common theme that I see everyday in my line of work. Its frightening just how many people have lost their livelihoods through all this. However, its amazing how resilient people have been. I hope you are able to bounce back pretty quickly. On a better note.....WOW!! Oystermouth looks fantastic - very much the late 1980's look after too much work on the Llanwern - Port Talbots!!! Is there a new project on the off-ing or enhancing the existing ones? Gareth

Looking good. Makes a nice comparison to my ex-works version!

Thank you, Kevin. It is from a company called Serious-Play Scenics ( https://www.serious-play.co.uk/), A mate of mine had it on his wargaming board and I thought it looked a bit like buddleia so asked him where he got it from. The purple one is called 'Purple Berry Bushes'. It is incredibly fiddly but, when it falls off, it looks natural in a way....you still end up cursing it when you are trying to place it and bits keep falling off!

Thanks for the comment, TechnicArrow. To be honest, they were just taken with my trusty Samsung S8 phone and then edited in the standard Microsoft Photo viewer. I haven't got the patience or technical know how to do anything more than that!

Updates have been very much non-existent for the last few months - Covid has, sadly, wrecked its havoc on work and my finances. I'm sure I am not alone. However, things are on the up and, new job, better finances and more impetus should see a bit of work restarting in the next few weeks! Hurrah! First on the agenda is to finally get the fiddle yard board completed and to get that sat in place. Going to be quite basic to start but will evolve over time, I am sure. When that is done, the back scene will be completed/extended to run the whole length of the layout. The new one will be suitably grey (it is South Wales, after all!) and will be slightly higher, too. In the meantime during an extended lunch break, I had a bit of a play... 47035 (CF) lingers in the foreground as 37187 (LE) and 37270 (CF) are readied for the days' trip workings. 37187 (LE) stands on the blocks as it awaits its' crew. 37270 (CF) ticks over as it awaits off time. The P'way Landie sits in the car park as a rake of 16T minerals loiters in the background. The changing faces of coal transport in South Wales. The 16T vacuum braked mineral wagons sit alongside a 'modern' air braked HEA. 37270 (CF) heads off into the yard to find its wagons for a trip working to a local colliery. 37270 (CF) heads under the footbridge to start work. 47035 (CF) idles as 37187 (LE) is fired up. A Tamper heads in for stabling. Tamper 73297 waits for its call to work. Yard pilot, 08322 (CF) rumbles in for it's crews' PNB. 08322 (CF) stabled up awaiting the return of its' crew.

Looking fantastic, Ian.

Typical summer's evening in South Wales, Ian!

Atmosphere - that was the name of the game. The grime, the smell, the noise! Love it!

That's awesome, much appreciated. I was a bit too young to bunk sheds in the 1980s - I could do Bristol Bath Road as my Grandad was a Driver there and we had a friend of his, another Driver, living next door. We did have a Police Summer Holiday initiative that ran in the late 80s where BTP used to organise tours to various shed throughout the UK. However, the 1990s were a bit different - I was old enough and 'confident' enough! I need more 37s, too. Need more of everything! The Heljan Peaks are looking good so I'll have to get one. A bit of variety from 45036 with its domino headcode. Gareth

Sunday's were always a good day to try and bunk loosely guarded sheds and stabling points across the rail network in the 1980s (I never did, Guv! Honest! ). So with the yard quiet, I had a 'bunk' of Llantisilliant to get some phots! In reality I just wanted to try some new filters downloaded on to the PC! 1) From the footbridge after arrival at Llantisilliant shows 37270 (CF) nearest the camera. 2) 37187 (LE). 3) 37270 (CF) showing that it has had a heavy week on the coal. 4) View from the buffer stops - 37187 with 37270 behind. 5) 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed' (LE), recently adorned with the Welsh Dragon on each nose. 6) 37306 (LE) rests after its exertions of the week. 7) For the short period that 37270 was allocated in South Wales it was adorned with a Welsh Dragon sticker under the Drivers droplights at each end. 8) The weather has started to turn and has fogged up the lens! 37270 (left) and 37306 head the two sidings. 9) 37187, again. 10) One of the only services to Llantisilliant yard during the day on a Sunday is an ABS service from Exeter Riverside, usually conveying scrap metal and, occasionally, cement. Today it was in the hands of an ex-works 56040 'Oystermouth' (CF). 11 & 12) 56040 'Oystermouth' rests under the bridge after arriving from Exeter. 13) The nameplates fitted to 56040.

I might have to look into that. I just used the bog standard editor in Windows. Gareth

If only, Ian. Dirty lense on my Samsung S8! You get the same effect! The Samsung has some great filters too, but I tend to upload them up onto my PC and then mess around with a couple of editing programs on Windows. Do you just use filters on an iPhone for your pics? Yours seem to capture the environment really well. I did a vid of 45036 moving off shed with just its headlights blazing through the dark, plonked it on my PC and messed around with it....looks like it could have been recorded on VHS in the mid 80s on a dark, dank evening!