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!

Had a bit of running tonight in the fading light (and rapidly diminishing battery on my mobile). 1) Evoking the old Fujifilm 110 photos of the 1980s! 37306 and 45036 await their next turns. 2) Having been prepped for a service to Gwaun-cae-Gurwen, the headlights of 37306 pierce the gloom of the yard. 3) 37187 arrives back in the yard after working a local speedlink trip from Severn Tunnel. 4) 45036 patiently waits for prepping to work the ABS service from Llantisilliant to Toton.

There's an offer I wouldn't refuse! Very kind! Beyond that, I hope you do get a chance to take it out this year. They shouldn't be cooped up in a garage for too long, it does them no good. I loved the classic. It was only a UK2000 but was running at 280bhp with very little in the way of extravagance. Sadly, the previous owner had had it in a garage for a long time and the sills and wheelarches had rotted on the insides. Me being naive, as it was my first, didn't notice until too late. Got it repaired and it was like a new car - 2 years later the gearbox went! Found the newage at garage in Stourbridge - one of these backstreet places that wouldn't look out of place on Eastenders! Took it for a test, impressed me. Really tidy, low mileage but the bloke knew nothing about them. He'd bought it through trade on a whim. However, the Mrs had gone in to the Morrisons next door and got chatting to this woman in the queue who said that this chap was brilliant and her husband would vouch for his trustworthyness and had always bought his cars from him. She was bloody right! The car is in great nick - usual cosmetic things but, other than the engine rebuild, its been brilliant. Not a hint of rust! I've been very lucky with it when I compare it to others of the same age!! But, yes, back to the trains! Might get kicked off otherwise! That is a great looking layout and, as another parallel, it is exactly the kind of thing I would like to do if I expand 'Llantisilliant', hence why the little segment of sidings at the front. Also, as you have put in the background on the first post, I will eventually look at getting locos that woudl also allow me to operate the stabling point in the early sectorisation period as well. There is some fantastic weathering on it as well! Will need to give it a much more detailed look when I finish work!

That is one awesome piece of kit. I believe I have seen it in a couple of mags over time. I would love an all out track car but I would never get the chance to use it. I did drive the Pro R WRX STi around Castle Combe and thats probably as close as I will get! My Aunt used to race (Sierra Cosworth) and I would have loved to have done it myself. I do miss my Classic, it was nowhere to that level, but the newage is a little too refined at times. You don't get the same 'feel'. The classics are just something else. If I didn't have other such expensive hobbies then I would probably treat myself to another classic!! Really kind of you on the parts offer. I'm very lucky to have a couple of guys local to me that know them inside out (you may have heard of one, Nik @ Car and Custom Garage in Bristol?) but they are always struggling to get decent second hand parts. I find that there are always little parallels in this hobby, as in the larger railway community. The number of people I have got to know through music or cars that I suddenly find out are rail enthusiasts and/or modellers! Its just one of those hobbies! If the weather conditions are a little better tomorrow I will see about getting some more shots of 56040 to show off the very minor weathering that was done. That's how she will stay.....the proper South Wales way. 37s utterly filthy, 56s ex works! A couple of pics of mine - one of the old classic and the other is a really bad photo of my current one.

What progress, mate. Looking superb. The new 'fuelling/servicing' point reminds me a little of the shed at Leicester. Every layout needs a demic HEA!!

Hi Marc, Sorry for late replying, also. I'm sure that isn't true on the modelling front! No way will I be stopping it. It is a project I have wanted to do for so long. It is frustrating, especially as I am on furlough and could be doing so much on it, but other priorities exist and we all know that certain things are much more important sometimes. The worst thing is I keep up coming up with more things I want to do!! Regards Gareth

Hi SouthernBlue80s, Apologies for the very late reply....I rarely come on here at the moment and never seem to get the notifications! I spent my first 3 years (and subsequent family revisits) in South Wales in the 1980s and it was always BR Blue. I wanted to replicate what I could remember from that period, but also have something where I could easily change the time frame to something a little more 'modern', when money allows! 56040 was a purchase that had to be made to add a splash of colour. Its the only loco on the layout that is not too heavily weathered. As for the Subaru, I have a 2005 WRX that has had upgrading and been remapped. I use it daily so all the upgrades have been with that in mind. No point having it rated at 500bhp if I'm using it on clogged suburban roads! It currently runs 324bhp with a 2.1l forged shortmotor, vf34 turbo, Blitz straight through exhaust and the 330mm injectors etc. It hasn't an ounce of rust on it, either. The bodywork is fantastic for a 15 year old car. It still drinks like a fish, though!! I love it, even after all the money spent on it. It is why I had the engine fully rebuilt last year rather than get a new one. What have you got? Regards Gareth (Coffinhammer)

It is!! It's been back on the road for about 8 months now. Just about to go back to the garage for its stage 3 remap! I'm bored with 300bhp already!! Got some minor body work to get done as well. Glad to hear all is well with you...and it is good to see Caerbannog return to the railway map! The new one looks mightily impressive, as you would expect!

Absolutely fantastic, Ian. I was hoping that Caerbannog would be resurrected at some stage. Can't keep a good name down!

I can't believe it is nearly a whole year since my last post! Sadly, a lot has happened that has seen the layout pushed well and truly to the back burner. However, there has been little pockets of activity as cash flow has allowed although it is nowhere near where I had envisaged it would be! Still, I managed to complete the scenery at the front of the layout with the thin strip outside the 'yard office' now having foliage laid instead of just a strip of black paint! I have also managed to get the track at the rear of the retaining wall fully ballasted, a third siding as well as some discarded rail, and other lineside detritus. I have also managed to get the remainder of the locos fitted with Legomanbiffo sound decoders which adds a whole different dimension to things - its quite a sound having all four Class 37s on the board all ticking over in my living room! That's before even firing up the Class 56! There has also been a new loco addition with the arrival of a 'Peak'. I purchased a Class 45 from a well known online auction site for a very good price. Pre-owned but nothing wrong with it. 'Peaks' of Classes 45 and 46 were very common visitiors into South Wales throughout their lives and could be seen on a myriad of freight, parcels and passenger workings - some were even allocated to Cardiff Canton for a period. Even during the 1980s, the two classes were regular visitors on booked workings right up until their withdrawal from BR service. Say 'hello' to 45036 - a loco that worked into South Wales frequently and was a bit of a celebrity as it retained its split, centre headcode box until 1986. I weathered the loco myself, based on a friend's photo of it at Severn Tunnel Junction in 1985. It is also fitted with a Legomanbiffo sound chip. We're getting there.....even if very slowly!!

Thank you, David. Although, the previous owner, Ian (Crisis Rail on this thread), should have a lot of the credit as he did the main board....I've just 'developed' it a little! Gareth