Cwmhir - The camera never lies

[KingEdwardII]

2 hours ago, Darwinian said:

...I was thinking of building a laundry block but don’t know if that would be likely in the valleys in the late 20s...

 

Knowing something of the valleys in the era of my parents youth, I would say that the most likely building would be a chapel. You could hardly get away from them - there was one plonk in the middle of my grandparents' relatively small street. 

If not a chapel, then perhaps an establishment serving the alternative religion - a pub. They too were all over the place, often very simple "single room" affairs in buildings little bigger than a typical valleys house. 

Sadly, both kinds of place have by and large disappeared in modern times.

 

If you want something of a business, then a small engineering works would be appropriate.

 

Yours, Mike

[KingEdwardII]

St Fagan's museum outside Cardiff might give you some ideas for buildings, although the number of valleys buildings is limited.

 

They have a bakehouse:  https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/bakehouse/

A set of terraced houses:  https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/rhydycar/

A somewhat grand shop:  https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/gwalia/

A workmen's institute: https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/oakdale/

(the last kind of building could be very large - certainly the one I knew in Aberaman in the Cynon Valley was a very substantial building)

 

Perhaps something more like the Saddler's Workshop would be suitable: https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/saddlers_workshop/

 

Mike

[MrWolf]

I haven't been to the Welsh museum of rural life for a few years, a little off topic, but they have a wonderful prefab there. Apparently they have Raglan station in bits too, rescued from the side of the M50. Only the standard GWR evergreens now mark the spot.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by MrWolf
Attack of the grammar nazis

[Darwinian]

16 hours ago, KingEdwardII said:

St Fagan's museum outside Cardiff might give you some ideas for buildings, although the number of valleys buildings is limited.

 

They have a bakehouse:  https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/bakehouse/

 

Mike

That bake house is perfect but a bit big perhaps. I had thought of Chapel , small shop but they have often been done before and are really too big for the space. I also thought a wash house would emphasise the period but the bake house is even better.

However having used those links I found St. Fagans also have a community bread oven

https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/georgetown_oven/

 from Georgetown and built by an ironworks owner for a workers terrace.

Now that’s tidy.

[Darwinian]

Slight snag is that I cannot find any images taken from the back. Can anyone tell me if it has a flue/chimney and if so roughly what it looks like. 

I’d love to go to St. Fagans museum again, my only visit was when a student at Cardiff Uni in 1979 or 80, but it’s a bit far from Norfolk.

[KingEdwardII]

I can't find any more pictures of the Georgetown oven from St Fagans, but Beamish has a communal oven too with enough construction porn to enable you to build your own full size working version:

 

 

[Darwinian]

That’s a high tech oven I think. It’s got two chambers and the flue on the front looks a later addition(?).

I have researched bread ovens online and the simple ones don’t have any flue. The door and scorching around the opening on the St Fagans one suggest it is of that type.

Handy As it’ll be easier to model.

[Darwinian]

I cannot finish the goods shed as I don’t have suitable rod for the down pipes so I will need to go to a local model shop. That can wait until new year.

In the meantime the next rolling stock project is a C19 non-corridor clerestory 3rd from a Blacksmith models kit.

 

 

I’m unconvinced by the instructions for the roof which suggest slotting the ends through the main roof to the clerestory.

First job today was to clean up the sides etch with fibreglass sticks to get off the dried sellotape glue and tarnishing.

 

Any tips for building this? I’ve only done the Milk van and Toplight slip of theirs and that was about 35 years ago!

[Darwinian]

Goods shed office interior today. Cereal packet and 2mm card. Scalescenes “interior elements” textures.  Needs a desk under the bigger window plus a door with steps down from the loading platform in the right hand corner. Oh and a hearth for that fireplace.

[Darwinian]

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and best wishes to all for 2021.

 

I've completed the goods office interior and fitted an LED. Here are the views  through the windows.

 

[Darwinian]

A slightly belated happy 2021 to all.

I have been working on the goods shed. Interior of the shed is papered with Scalescenes “whitewashed stone “ held in place by acrylic Matt varnish. The varnish has caused a slight green staining in the corners especially, and a reddening in other areas. I’ve had this problem using PVA and inkjet prints before but had hoped the artists varnish wouldn’t do the same. 

I have also made a lighting tube to provide a dim light in the shed that hopefully looks like paraffin lamp light. 

 

White mounting Card tube 1cm square with two light openings and central warm white LED

[MrWolf]

Happy New Year, I see that you haven't spent much time sitting around watching rubbish TV either.

 

That is looking very good indeed. Can I ask what paints you are using for the light / dark stone?

[Darwinian]

14 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Happy New Year, I see that you haven't spent much time sitting around watching rubbish TV either.

 

That is looking very good indeed. Can I ask what paints you are using for the light / dark stone?

Never been a big TV watcher. 

The “GWR stone” colours are just the Precision paints ones.

[MrWolf]

Me neither, my other half has been known to describe me as "an outdoor cat". Hopefully that's a backhanded compliment...

The reason that I asked about the paint is because I have been using Railmatchs' version which compared to others now looks rather washed out and faded.

[Darwinian]

Back to the C19 Clerestory while I sort out some suitable rod to make downpipes for the goods shed.

 

I find painting droplight window frames a pain so I'm going to glue the droplights in after painting the sides. 

SO First up forming the tumblehome in my "GW models" rollers (never really happy with my hand rolled attempts). There is a piece of cereal box card against the detailed side of the etch to protect it from scratches and to help prevent the panels deformingning between the raised mouldings. The instructions say to first clamp the main sides to bend over the top and bottom fold-unders but I couldn't see how I could form the tumblehome if I did that.

 

I ignored the instructions and clamped the long fold-unders into the vice jaws (extended with aluminium angles, and then used another piece of aluminium angle to bend back the main side, making sure I pressed against the bottom moulding so that it went around. Then the ends need to be modified. I cut off the ends for the clerestory using repeated passes with a knife blade until it starts to part and then snap off. Great care needed here, if it' not cut through enough it will try to snap along the raised moulding edge instead (No prizes for guessing how I know).

 

The end spacer part is designed to fold up against the back but it needs filing back a bit. I didn't take enough off the first one and had to snap it off and solder it on as a separate piece. Important to leave clearance for the buffer beam tabs to come through. At this point I attached the solebars. I think these should have a bottom flange but they don't. Probably not visible below the footboard from most angles but I'll add one if it should be there. One end was attached per side using my trusty "jig"  ensuring it was on square and then the corner pushed tight against the backstop of the jig and soldered up.

The tabs for the solebar pieces were ground off  so that there will be a pretty flat base for the plasticard floor all the way across the body.

The two side/end combinations were then tack soldered and checked for squareness before soldering up the last corners.

[Darwinian]

Knocked up the bogie frames today. Straightforward fold ups but ....  I reamed out the holes for the bearings and fitted Gibson pinpoint bearings. Folding up the first one showed that the Gibson axles were about 1mm too long resulting in splayed out sideframes. I had some H&A models bearings in my stock of bits so tried those ... close. Made sure I'd removed all trace of the burr raised by using the tapered broach around the holes  ,,, perfect. Run very freely and at speed through the Cwmhir trackwork. 

 

 

Only problem now is that I have another Blacksmith clerestory to build and I only had 9 (how does that happen) bearings left. Will have to order some more for  that one.

[Darwinian]

More progress on the C19. All according to the instructions. Except that I am making the clerestory a separate unit and part of the roof structure.

 

 

 

[MrWolf]

That's a very neat piece of work, look forward to seeing it develop!

[Darwinian]

Modified bogie stepboards today. One variation on these is a single board the length of one   axle box spring, mounted over the outer end axlebox.

 

The etched stepboards look too thin so I split them in half and soldered the two halves together. A back upright section was added from scrap etch waste.  Here are the various stages with a completed board on the left.

 

 

I have since added the mounting brackets from more etch waste.

[Darwinian]

Now the diversion from the instructions. 

The end pieces for the clerestory are just the right height now they have been removed from the ends. If built as intended by slotting them through the lower roof they would have been too short. They were too wide however and had to be filed back about 0.5mm each side to fit between the clerestory sides. These sides are exactly the same length as the main sides so fitting the clerestory ends between them matches the body length. I blanked off the clerestory lights with some strip brass I had in stock.

 

 

Looking at other stock I have built I think the recessing of the windows is too little, especially given the lack of raised bolections. So I am thickening the sides with a plasticard liner.

A strip the depth of the side top to the bottom of the waist panels was cut. Held against the inside and marked around each window opening. These will be glued to the carriage body and very carefully trimmed back to the brass openings. I drilled each corner and then joined the holes try to insure I stayed inside the marked openings.

This has the added advantages of packing out the curve of the lower side and giving a better anchor for door furniture, which will be glued on after painting and lining.

[Darwinian]

A bit of train running this afternoon.

Well posing more than running as the Peckett still has its BtoB as it left the factory so it doesn't always follow the road set on my finescale pointwork. Also having some issues with current supply to fiddle yard cassettes and transitions therefrom.  Anyway it was a bit of fun.

Here comes a Peckett down the incline from the colliery with loaded coal wagons.

 

 

 

[Darwinian]

Our photographer has moved to the station platform. Having dropped off the full wagons in the exchange sidings the Peckett picks up empty Powell Duffryn wagons to take back to the colliery.

 

 

 

[Penrhos1920]

Is that an ex Rhymney Brake Van hiding at the back?  

[Darwinian]

15 hours ago, Penrhos1920 said:

Is that an ex Rhymney Brake Van hiding at the back?  

Sure is. Scratchbuilt in plasticard in case you were wondering.

[Darwinian]

OK I'll own up that the W4 Peckett wouldn't actually run through my 00 FS pointwork without taking the wrong road at times especially on the double slip. So today I took off the rods and took the wheelsets out. With the back of a wheel supported on a handy pair of small pliers jaws I placed a scriber in the middle dimple of the axle end and tapped gently. This was repeated for each wheel until I had drifted the back to back out to 14.8mm. It only needed about 0.5mm in total so great care was taken and on one axle I had to gently close up again a little.  Following reassembly and getting rid of excess grease (especially some that had become smeared over the pickup wipers) and it now runs smoothly through everything.

 

I have also made and painted the downpipes for the goods shed and station building. Pictures to follow once they are fitted.

 

Here's the next bit of my photo sequence. The Peckett returns from the colliery with another short raft of loaded wagons.The crew must have nipped into the station for a call of nature.  I should perhaps explain that the theory behind the Cwmhir layout is that there is a steep incline, only the foot of which is modelled, up to the pit limiting loaded wagons to short 4-5 wagon trips down. Similarly loaded trips up have to be propelled by the loco to minimise the risk of runaways. These short rafts are combined in the sidings and picked up by a main line loco (usually a 0-6-2T) to go down valley to the collecting sidings and onwards to the docks.

 

 

I have cheated a bit here as the Marchowell wagon has 3 link couplings whereas the Peckett has Dinghams. The Dingham loop did stay on the wagon hook down the incline but normally I plan to have Dingham's at the end of each raft of wagons.