Penlan

I believe I saw recently LRM are going to/or have a new website, but I can't find any details of the 'Small Cattle Wagon'. I shall only look to adding one to my fleet...... A link would be appreciated - Yes I could contact John directly, but hopefully others will be seeking kits too 😎

Loads of popular places are not what they use to be. I first visited Mousehole (where I now live) in 1963, visited loads of times since, including my honeymoon in 1969 and been resident for ever it seems. It started to change it's character in the late 70's, slowly, but changed, mind you a lot of that were locals selling up rickity premises that needed loads of ££,£££'s spending on them to unsuspecting incomers etc., the locals buying very nice places not that far away, but outside the Village. My wife and I popped over to St. Ives recently, never again she said, it's changed that much in the last 5+ years. We still have around 450 people on the electoral register in the Village, but they are seldom seen as they are working etc., Mind you when there's a local event (not carnivals etc.,) then there's a good crowd of locals attending, though complaints from AirB&B's about the late night noises 😎 And.... Yes I remember the railway bookshop in Padstow, but oh, I had forgotten that one. Padstein is it's current name. A couple of Village places have advance, refundable deposits too, don't blame them at all, my wife and I attended a social dinner in one of the fully booked restraunts one evening, we wondered why the place was only around a 1/3 full, no shows - they then introduced the refundable deposit a couple of weeks later.

Don't remember that restaraunt, though not saying there wasn't one. However there have been many/plenty of name changes to individual properties over the years in the Village. There's a Copper Kettle in St. Just.

Careful, I live in Mousehole :-)

There was a wide range of Markits fittings, wheels etc., on stand 43A, H&A Models, if I've remembered the right stand correctly. I was able to buy some Markits fittings I needed from there, there where other suppliers ranges available too....

Agreed, even with my 400 mile round trip from Penzance. 'A Grand Day Out'. (And both places, Bristol & Penzance, are deemed to be in the West Country).

I'm not sure, but it looks as if Coal Tank hasn't soldered the second layer of springs to the back of these ones, yet. They are on the fret(s)

That is how I've heard it.

Thank you 👍

Is there a list of traders attending?

I think any of the relevant South Wales Drawings I found, and had A1 or A2 copies printed off* are now with the WRRC. * These were printed at the Archive office whist I waited, that's of course long ago. The prints had a very shiny surface, not photo-copies.

I have mentioned this before, though probably some time ago. Back in the early 1980's I did a bit of searching around the Archives for various drawings, mainly South Wales Companies , Joseph Wright etc., and at the time which had been micro-fiched. I was made aware by staff that there was plenty more drawings in a wharehouse/store somewhere which hadn't been copied and were unlikely to be due to more important things for the staff to attend to. This of course was the era when lay people were assumed to have no knowledge etc., of archive records and any cataloguing could only be done by qualified staff, I seem to remember I advised them of at least 30 drawings available were wrongly attributed, that didn't go down well. So, it is probable that not all the drawings in the 'archive' at Birmingham are available, or catalogued.

I was under the impression that the painting of letters was two stage, there was a person who did/marked the outline (accurately) and then a lesser grade filled in the rest of the letter. Templates seem to be a sensible suggestion too.

Be careful, you could be accused of Ageism. Sandy (79+)

Oh, that looks like I can be rid of my GWR Hydra (Transport from PZ) and (eventually) have the furniture van going home from The LNWR's Swansea Area on a Premier wagon 😎 ..... and more scale like chains etc., PS - this is in the fiddle yard, I need all the help I can get putting on/taking off things on the track.

Just finished on Ebay, an ordinary, not very rare D&S kit: 'Rare (?) D&S LNWR/LMS 8T 'Roof Door' Van whitemetal kit 4mm Finecale OO/EM/P4' https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204232577272 Sold for £69, I couldn't get that for a well assembled, painted with wheels, couplings etc., kit. It was actually the 'Ventilated' version, but just a couple of slabs either side needed.

If only life was so simple .... 😇

Age related? 🤐

I'm working my way through the very useful replies and can see how, if I want to operate in something that vaguely represents prototype practice, how I need to operate my layout. The first thing that also springs to my attention is that the signal H2 on the plan is only a Home signal, and that really should have a distant under the Home arm too, or an assumption that also has prior distant off scene. In respect of H1, I think probably a Distant some 440 yds in front of that might be deemed appropriate, however the reality on my 4mm scale layout is the scenic area is not that long, indeed the distance between H1 and H2 is more or less equal to a 1:1 scale of 470yds. I do have two quarter mile posts set 17' 4" apart, useful for judging train speeds etc., Again, may I say thank you for your input, I appreciate it.

Thank you, I was going in the right direction for running my layout, but you have clarified some of the operational points.

When one thinks of the tremendous amount of industry there was around that area, it's surprising just how little pictorial evidence remains. . Ok, I can't resist it... "Even my missus who is an archaeologist and knows the area extremely well, cannot find anything". And I bet she's dug deep into this.... . I just have a small backscene area to give a nod to that industry, I have a few more trees in that area now, it's the start of the fiddle yard to the left. Oh and the Horse's in the foreground? Well there was a programme on BBC last year called 'City of Horses', which to me and my friends in the Swansea area where surpised to find it's Swansea. Further the main characters in the series are from the Penlan Estate. .

Semaphore Signaling procedures. From watching many layouts in operation, on Youtube recently, and at Exhibitions in the past, I’ve been wondering about what should we be seeing visually as the trains pass by, the sequence of signals etc., In particular I’ve noticed that a lot of layouts change the ‘Home’ signal to ON sometimes before the last vehicle has passed. My specific query is to do with up and down lines line merging into a by-directional line. Because of the need in this case of two into one, there would also be (on the prototype) single line tokens involved. One piece of advise I was given many years ago by Bob Essery was that (using the attached diagram) if a down train was coming from ‘3’ towards ‘1’ and the entire train had not left the by-directional line and presumably handed over the single line token to the signalman, a train from ‘2’ would be held at the UP Home signal (H2) until such time as the complete down train (the signalman having checked the last vehicle displays a tail lamp) had passed the signal box AND presumably placed the Token in the 'Token Instrument Box' and changed the block instruments to show the Signalman in the far box (3?) that the line was clear. Presumably at that point, only then could the signalman change the H2 Home signal to OFF to allow the train into the section up to S2 (Starter 2), and subject to the signalman at 3, line clear, etc., collect the single line token and be on his way to 3…. . If the first train is in the other direction – Up, presumably it runs through the OFF H2 up to S2 which will be ON, and the train is held there. Once brought to a standstill, the down train from 3 that would have been held at the Home signal H1, is only then given the H1 OFF signal to proceed past the signal box. It was put to me that this was to prevent a crash, should the UP train overrun the S2 (Starter signal). . But back to the opening observation, how quickly after the last vehicle has passed a signal, would that signal be returned to the ON position, being mindful there’s also line tokens involved (in this particular query).

This loco is the small boiler 'C' class, converted from the 'A' class.

Not sure how big the Goods Shed at Gorseinon was, it seems to have avoided most/all photographers. The ground plan - for 1909 - seems to show a series of sheds along side it. Most photographs seem to include the massive amount of industry to the west of the station. If there was a photograph taken from the footbridge of the signal box, then that might include part of the Goods shed, but I doubt it was as big as the one at Abersychan and Talywain.

If your looking for the wooden panels, then Peco now handle the ex 'Grand Junct' products LNWR Grand Junction Station Building Components: https://peco-uk.com/products/london-and-north-western-railway-grand-junction-station-building-components-4-window-panels Most of the Stations on the CWL that had the wooden buildings were constructed using these standard modules.