South Wales Valleys in the 50s

[br2975]

  The only other temptation will be NPCCS; I like a parcels van, me...  A Gresley or Thompson BG, or an LMS or LNER BZ 6 wheeler at the right price might be tough to resist, and so might a Fruit D, especially in post war GW livery... 

 

 

What about a van for the Cwmdinbath  "North Road Federation"  ?

 

A Siphon G or an LNER bogie van supplied for occasional racing pigeon traffic.

 

In later years the WTT made reference to a Siphon G used for racing pigeon traffic being attached to the rear of Bridgend - Treherbert DMU sets; only if the train comprised three power cars, with all engines working, which around 1966 limited the pigeon traffic to Saturday mornings when a 3-car Derby Suburban set (Cl.116) and a Pressed Steel SPC (Cl.121) ran from Bridgend through to Pontypridd ( who remembers 'Ponty Market' ?) ; or the school contract services when an SPC was occasionally added.

.

Brian R

 

 

 

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/8027-pigeon-traffic/

[Coryton]

Using the stop blocks to make a physical separation was 'off its time' - nowadays a couple of noticeboards a coach length apart or thereabouts might well be accepted.

 

Did the use of the buffers here prevent a train from having to be 'called in' if there was already a train in the platform?

[The Johnster]

Did the use of the buffers here prevent a train from having to be 'called in' if there was already a train in the platform?

 

If the train already in the platform was on the other bit of railway, and at the other set of buffers, yes, but if the train in question occupied any bit of track between you and the buffers, then you had to be 'called in' with the appropriate calling on signal, under caution and prepared to stop before the obstruction.  It is the track that is important in this respect, not the platform.  So, under that system at Penarth, you could conceivably have had a dmu from the Cardiff direction and the bubble car from the Cadoxton direction approaching the same platform in opposite directions and only prevented from overrunning and colliding with each other by the buffer stops.  In practice the approach speeds were low and the system was pretty safe!

 

I remember complaining when the Swansea MAS scheme was commissioned that the last aspect before you entered the platform at Swansea High Street was green. on a 2 aspect signal head that could only show green or red (or a calling on signal to an already occupied platform road), as the next 'signal' was in effect the red light on the buffers, which meant in my view that the previous signal should have showed yellow.  I was told not to worry about it, but still do; it's the principle of the thing...

 

To be fair, nobody's yet run through the blocks at Swansea High Street in the belief that they had a clear road.

[Coryton]

If the train already in the platform was on the other bit of railway, and at the other set of buffers, yes, but if the train in question occupied any bit of track between you and the buffers, then you had to be 'called in' with the appropriate calling on signal, under caution and prepared to stop before the obstruction.  It is the track that is important in this respect, not the platform.  So, under that system at Penarth, you could conceivably have had a dmu from the Cardiff direction and the bubble car from the Cadoxton direction approaching the same platform in opposite directions and only prevented from overrunning and colliding with each other by the buffer stops.  In practice the approach speeds were low and the system was pretty safe!

 

Right, so by installing the back-to-back buffers it avoided having to provide calling-on signals (or splitting the platform into two blocks with a suitable overlap distance in between)

 

Of course the effect is the same in both cases - the train has to come in slowly prepared to stop in the right place, so in principle they could have been 'virtual buffers' if such a thing were allowed and it would presumably not have been much less safe. 

 

II remember complaining when the Swansea MAS scheme was commissioned that the last aspect before you entered the platform at Swansea High Street was green. on a 2 aspect signal head that could only show green or red (or a calling on signal to an already occupied platform road), as the next 'signal' was in effect the red light on the buffers, which meant in my view that the previous signal should have showed yellow.  I was told not to worry about it, but still do; it's the principle of the thing...

 

To be fair, nobody's yet run through the blocks at Swansea High Street in the belief that they had a clear road.

 

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that originally green aspects were used for a clear line on the approach to terminus stations on the grounds that the driver knew the route and didn't need a caution signal to remind him that he was getting to the end, but that this has now been changed to treat the end of a line as a red signal so that it's preceded by a yellow aspect (or red, of course).

 

Ah yes - according to this it was a response to the Moorgate crash, leading also to the use of fixed distance boards where there are no handy signals to show a yellow aspect.

[The Johnster]

What about a van for the Cwmdinbath  "North Road Federation"  ?

 

A Siphon G or an LNER bogie van supplied for occasional racing pigeon traffic.

 

In later years the WTT made reference to a Siphon G used for racing pigeon traffic being attached to the rear of Bridgend - Treherbert DMU sets; only if the train comprised three power cars, with all engines working, which around 1966 limited the pigeon traffic to Saturday mornings when a 3-car Derby Suburban set (Cl.116) and a Pressed Steel SPC (Cl.121) ran from Bridgend through to Pontypridd ( who remembers 'Ponty Market' ?) ; or the school contract services when an SPC was occasionally added.

.

Brian R

 

 

 

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/8027-pigeon-traffic/

I've considered pigeon specials as an excuse for NPCCS traffic, Brian, but to be honest don't know all that much about them in the 50s.  I had no idea they featured in WTTs and always assumed that they were special workings.  I remember them as being composed of all bogie stock, but did that mean BGs to the preclusion of GUVs; you have just mentioned Siphon Gs but they had corridor connections.  Or can I use any old van for them?  It is certainly a good reason to occasionally run 64 foot bogie vehicles on a layout that is really too small for them; in, run around, and out without blocking siding space!  I already have a Hawkworth 64 foot BG because I like Hawksworth main line coaches, but it is a bit of a beast in my short sidings, where even my 57' BR mk1 BG is a bit bulky and anything bigger than a 50' Stanier looks overpowering.  The new Remploy siding, which disappears under the bridge, hides this to some extent.

 

NPCCS could be used for unexpected cargo on occasion; coming back from a volunteering holiday on the Ffestiniog in 1969 and changing at Shrewsbury, I found a rake of 3 GUVs newly painted in rail blue livery in one of the bays full of live pigs, who judging from the noise were not impressed with them at all, and from the smell had expressed this opinion in ways other than vocally.   It was a warm day too, and everybody positioned themselves upwind of this cavalcade...

 

I remember Ponty market very well, and once bought a sheepskin rug there to go in my first bachelor pad in the 70s along with the lava lamp, Chinese paper lantern shading a red bulb, Che Guevara poster, and the peacock feather that everybody had. to escape uniformity... a woman in the queue ahead of me asked if they were real, which brought the brilliant response 'of course they are. luv, look, you can still see the tyre marks on this one'.  Classic.

 

Cwmdimbath would not have had a North Road to be federated; it is a blind end valley, with steep sides and ends.  I would have had one road in and the same one out, not even gong around a loop like the one at Gilfach Goch in the next valley does. This is visible on the OS as a footpath from the bridge where Cwmdimbath Lane crosses the little river; a very pleasant walk if you're ever in the area, and a glimpse of what all the valleys must have been like before the coal rush.  A farm track just southwest of this bridge has an intriguing railway-like curve...

[br2975]

My apologies ...the reference to the pigeon specials on the Bridgend - Cymmer - Treherbert line was in ther Sectional Appendix NOT the WTT.

.

Brian R

[The Johnster]

Right, so by installing the back-to-back buffers it avoided having to provide calling-on signals (or splitting the platform into two blocks with a suitable overlap distance in between)

 

Of course the effect is the same in both cases - the train has to come in slowly prepared to stop in the right place, so in principle they could have been 'virtual buffers' if such a thing were allowed and it would presumably not have been much less safe. 

 

 

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that originally green aspects were used for a clear line on the approach to terminus stations on the grounds that the driver knew the route and didn't need a caution signal to remind him that he was getting to the end, but that this has now been changed to treat the end of a line as a red signal so that it's preceded by a yellow aspect (or red, of course).

 

Ah yes - according to this it was a response to the Moorgate crash, leading also to the use of fixed distance boards where there are no handy signals to show a yellow aspect.

I cannot say for certain what arrangements were provided at the Cadoxton end of the approach to Penarth, but approaching from Cardiff your last aspect is at Cogan Junction, and this has a calling on signal which is used occasionally to allow entry to the occupied branch section for locos rescuing failed units, or steam specials; 80080 failed on the bank some years back (1995?) with 4 on and had to be assisted by a 37.  Your comment about green signals at termini is in line with the response to my complaint; I did not know that the situation has now been amended in line with my suggestion.  The complaint was, of course, pre-Moorgate, though I would doubt that any signalling system could have prevented that tragedy.

[chrisf]

Most vans used for carrying pigeons would have been fitted with shelves on which to place the baskets.  Siphons G and LNER BGs were both suitable in this respect but I would not swear to it in thee case of BR build stock.

 

Chris

[The Stationmaster]

Right, so by installing the back-to-back buffers it avoided having to provide calling-on signals (or splitting the platform into two blocks with a suitable overlap distance in between)

 

Of course the effect is the same in both cases - the train has to come in slowly prepared to stop in the right place, so in principle they could have been 'virtual buffers' if such a thing were allowed and it would presumably not have been much less safe. 

 

 

My understanding (which might be wrong) is that originally green aspects were used for a clear line on the approach to terminus stations on the grounds that the driver knew the route and didn't need a caution signal to remind him that he was getting to the end, but that this has now been changed to treat the end of a line as a red signal so that it's preceded by a yellow aspect (or red, of course).

 

Ah yes - according to this it was a response to the Moorgate crash, leading also to the use of fixed distance boards where there are no handy signals to show a yellow aspect.

 

You are correct.  

 

As I said the whole point of the stop blocks was to create two completely different pieces of railway - so yes, if there was no other train on one of these pieces of railway an arriving train would run in under clear signals.  The singling from Cogan Jcn to Penarth was done under the Cardiff resignalling scheme and I think the stop blocks thing at Penarth was installed at the same time which no doubt saved a considerable sum of money as the siding connection via the centre road at Penarth effectively had a long term future so there was minimal work at the Cardiff end of Penarth.  At the same time it was no doubt clearly realised that Penarth - Cadoxton would be going so it was pointless to do anything extensive to the signalling at Penarth itself - turning it into two separate stretches of railway made considerable sense when seen against the (not very much) longer term.

 

WR colour light signalling practice in the 1950s/ early - mid 1960s used a single yellow to read into a clear terminus or dead end platform.  However around about 1966 WR practice was brought into line with standard BR practice and henceforth (e.g Paddington 1967) a green was used instead.  However, as you have instanced, post Moorgate the standard was changed and a single yellow became the standard to read into an unoccupied platform with all existing installations altered to conform.  Our local branch terminus went through the lot - when colour light signalling was installed in 1961 the 'Home' signal displayed a single yellow to read to an unoccupied platform but later in the 1960s it was altered to green and when the standard changed again post Moorgate it was altered back to single yellow - it was a very good job they'd used a 3 aspect signal head on what was in reality always only going to be a two aspect signal as all they had to do was change the position of the lamp and wiring.

 

Incidentally part if teh advantage of changing to single yellow meant that the AWS would give a caution warning so a further reminder that the train was approaching a dead end

[The Johnster]

Most vans used for carrying pigeons would have been fitted with shelves on which to place the baskets.  Siphons G and LNER BGs were both suitable in this respect but I would not swear to it in thee case of BR build stock.

 

Chris

 

Shelves make sense, obvious now you've pointed it out.  IIRC BGs had drop down shelves on chains that would have been suitable, as did Siphon Gs, one of the reasons they were useful for the newspaper traffic, along with their corridor connections.  These drop down shelves were made of slatted wood, and were found on BR mk1 BGs (and in the van spaces all other mk1 brake vehicles as well), and LMS Stanier ones I assume; one of these featured on the first Rhymney as tail traffic for newspapers in the 70s.  I am less sure about Southern gangwayed utitity bogie vans/ bogie Bs or LMS/LNER 6 wheeled BZ, or other types of Siphon (I have an old Airfix H in service).  I do not remember them in BR GUV or CCT vehicles.  But I reckon I'd be on pretty safe ground running the odd pigeon special with BR/GW/LMS/LNER BGs and Siphon Gs.  Any old van will not cut the mustard!

 

An excuse to buy more bogie NPCCS much too long for my layout; yay!  Priority must be to get proper numberplates to assign my locos to Tondu first, though...

Edited June 13, 2017 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

The aforementioned flurry of cardboard activity (shades of Bluebottle, you deaded me, you rotten...) at the scenic break has indeed spurred me into further action in that vicinity.  Remploy's has in the last 2 days acquired a canopy, originally intended to be an Airfix/Dapol construction kit one but none of the local emporia have them, so a Wills has appeared.  It just fits between the Airfix/Dapol water tower which overhangs the retaining wall, more Wills and stone, and where the front face of the bridge will eventually be.  I have almost finished it; paint is going off and once I've weathered it down a bit it can be fixed to the platform, which will be a relief as it's a bit delicate at the moment with all those spindly daddy longlegs columns wanting to snap off...  That'll be done after I finish writing this.

 

I was determined not to paint it in any railway colour, though it'd look nice in one, and, in deference to the idea that paint was hard to obtain post-war and the Barry Bucknall generation had to make do with army, navy, or RAF surplus  khaki, grey, or blue/grey, it's in all over khaki.  I'm also experimenting with the idea of this siding not being Remploy, but the railhead of a small industrial estate of various sorts of concerns, perhaps including a Remploy but maybe a printer's, electroplating factory, a place that makes wooden drums for cables, a small components factory serving the car industry, that sort of thing.  This means that freight vehicles, vans and opens, use it and, unless I run two separate pickups, the shunting involving that and the BR goods siding becomes a lot more complicated, especially as there is a vicious bank just out of sight beyond the bridge (1 in 36; of course it doesn't really exist beyond my imagination but a look at the place on an OS map will show that it very certainly would have existed had my imagined railway been a reality); I had enough frights in my real railway existence to be reluctant to shunt unfitted wagons out of the scenic area and leave them standing on this bank, and suspect the Section Appnedix would have forbidden it without a brake van at the downhill end at least.

 

Remploy or something buildings need to be at least suggested in the angle between the backscene and the bridge, and as I think of this area as postwar development, current thinking is something cobbled up out of Airfix'Dapol construction kit 'modern shop with flat above', the flat roof stucco one, bits and pieces.  It sounds like a bit of a reversion to the sort of modelling I was doing in the early 60s, and perhaps I am entering a second childhood (most people reckon I haven't finished my first one yet, and I've no intention of doing so), but these have exactly the look I want, with metal framed windows and lots of pipes and things stuck on everywhere; it is the backs I am particularly interested in, perhaps painted green and cream like a Newport Bus...

 

Back at the other end, the Peco telephone kiosk has been binned and replaced by a much better Bachmann one, sadly with an out of period and much too modern STD aluminium phone, but you've got to look around a bit of a corner to see it, and Sophie, who comes and cleans once a week, is well impressed with it!  However...

 

Taliesin the cat continues to be unimpressed.

Edited July 1, 2017 by The Johnster

[The Johnster]

Do I remember mentioning I'd bought too many locos and wasn't going to buy any more for a while?

 

A privately sourced 4575 has turned up, 4585 in 1956 unicycling lion lined green, recent DCC ready Baccy chassis and very nicely and subtly weathered by her previous owner.  I have no idea if any Tondu loco ever carried this livery, never mind any of it's auto-fitted 4575s did, or if any auto-fitted 4575s did for that matter, or if 4585 was auto-fitted...

 

All of which has caused some thinking.  It was always my intention to represent on Cwmdimbath as many varieties of livery as could be managed in my prescribed time period of 1948-60, even if this leads to anomalies such as 2761 appearing at the same time as lined green locos with ferret and dartboard totems hauling 1958 lined maroon stock; sometimes you've got to live with things and invoke Rule 1.  But I am very suspicious of Rule 1, or Modeller's Licence, or any such, as they can very easily be the route to an undisciplined sort of modelling which, while I accept has a place and a role to play in the hobby, I need to protect myself from.  But the thought occurred...

 

Tondu shed was allocated a number of locomotives that was determined, presumably, by it's requirements, so that there were enough locos of each type to cover the work with a reasonable number of spares (though I doubt the shed foreman would have seen it that way) to cover failures and locos away for overhaul.  That is, in my period and according to Rail UK (brilliant site, btw) around 50 engines of varying types, all pannier or side tanks and varying a little in general composition through the period, particularly in regard to auto work.  These were (again, I would not have actually claimed this to the shed foreman if he'd had a bad day) enough to cover the passenger, freight, and mineral work of the Abergwynfi, Blaengarw, Ogmore Vale, Gilfach Goch, and Porthcawl branches plus presumably some main line transfer jobs.  But I have introduced a sixth branch, an increase of perhaps up to 20% in the traffic requirements that the shed had to cater to.  That is, without pushing it too much, another 8 to 10 locomotives overall on top of the shed's existing roster, perhaps divided up as 2 x auto fitted, 2 x 57xx/8750, 2 x 42xx, a 2721, a 94xx, a 5101 and a 56xx.  As I say, my attitude to Rule 1 is that it needs a very circumspect approach to it's application, but this releases my from some of my previous self imposed restrictions.  While the majority of my locos have to be Tondu residents in the correct livery for the period (and some locos must have carried several versions during their 1948-60 career at the shed), I can justify some outsider that were never actually allocated to 86F, and arbitrarily transfer them from wherever they actually were shedded.  

 

I can now at least semi-legitimately operate locos that never saw the sky over Tondu, and this might increase the scope of my livery variations.  We are talking about another 10 locos allocated to Tondu, not 10 locos to specifically work the Cwmdimabath branch, as they'd have all been just as likely to be used on the other branches (let's discount the 44xx and 31xx which were particularly associated with Porthcawl).  My locos still need to mostly represent Tondu allocated engines from the period prescribed, but there is wobble room for 2 or 3 out-of-town strange here.

 

I may leave 4585 as she is.

 

Comments, especially critical ones, will be appreciated, folks!

 

Taliesin the cat continues to be unimpressed.

Edited July 25, 2017 by The Johnster

[chrisf]

The simple solution is to find out which auto fitted 4575s were allocated to Tondu and check out etched numberplates.

 

Chris

[Ian Smeeton]

There is a site (shedbashuk.blogspot.com) which covers all sorts of areas and dates.

 

It might be worth a look to see what MIGHT have appeared at Tondu (or at least in the general area) in terms of 'Foreign' locos.

 

Be careful, very careful, as it easy to lose entire chunks of one's available time on this site.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[The Johnster]

The simple solution is to find out which auto fitted 4575s were allocated to Tondu and check out etched numberplates.

 

Chris

But I want a lined green loco with a unicycling lion on Cwmdimbath, and that makes it complicated.  Strictly speacking, I can't have one so hard cheese, but a Rule 1 arbitrary transfer as suggested above opens up the possibility.

 

4581 (30/4/1958) and 5574 (31/12/58) were both withdrawn from Tondu, and I imagine, given that shed's work, auto-fitted.  There is a photo of 5555 at Abergwynfi  in Wikipedia's 'images' for that station, but it is taken from the road bridge as are all photos of Abergwynfi that I've seen.  The loco has auto gear, and is in unlined black unicycling lion livery with what appears to be 2 compartment auto-trailers, but as the lamps have not been changed around and the loco is showing a single headlamp as correct for an ordinary passenger train, it is impossible to assert definitively whether the train is in 'auto' mode, especially as there are also photos of auto trailers at this station hauled by 57xx, which would have had to run around.  The coaches are in unlined maroon or crimson, hard to say, and dating can only be asserted as post 1950 (I think that's when they stopped putting red backgrounds to the number plates); I suspect mid 50s however from the compartment trailers..  Rail UK has 5555 at Bath Road in 1948, and withdrawn form Exeter 31/7/63, cut up Cashmore's Newport late '64 so I may have seen her, or bits of her, there; locos at Cashmores didn't last long.

 

If I am to keep 4585's lined green unicycling lion livery, which I want to, I have to find out if any 4575 in that livery were ever allocated to Tondu (photos all show unlined black engines with unicycling lions), and then source etched plates for it; etched plates are a scheduled improvement for all my engines anyway.  But, as Baccy are usually pretty good on this point, it is safe to assume that 4585 carried that livery, and a way around the impasse is to arbitrarily transfer her to Tondu by the authority of Rule 1 from wherever she was in reality when she received this livery between 1956 and 1958.  

 

To sum up; what I know is that 4581 and 5574 were withdrawn from Tondu on the dates given, but were not there in 1948, though 5556 was, though it could not have been auto-fitted at that date (I have checked and the photo clearly shows 5555, not 5556 which was withdrawn from Machynlleth 31/12/59; New Year's Eve sounds like a bad time to be a steam engine), and that 4585, which probably never saw the sky over Tondu, carried the specified livery at some time, and that it must have been applied between 1956 and 1958.  What I don't know is, other than the engines already identifed; what 4575 were allocated to Tondu in the period 1948-60, or when any such locos were allocated to Tondu, when or if they were auto-fitted, and what liveries they carried at what dates. as 5555 suggests that locos were transferred to Tondu after 1948 (obviously) and transferred to other sheds before they were withdrawn.  What I assume is that other locos were transferred to Tondu to replace 4581 and 5574, as these were withdrawn quite early, but I cannot state that to be a fact!

 

But I will be checking out Ian's suggested site; just not this evening!

Edited July 5, 2017 by The Johnster

[chrisf]

We have not had the full list of auto-fitted 4575s on here for a while.  "Standard 2-cylinder classes" by the RCTS gives the following: 4578, 4580, 4581, 4589, 5511, 5524, 5527, 5529, 5534, 5545, 5555, 5560, 5568, 5572 and 5574.  One or two of the preserved examples appear to have had the auto gear added in preservation, just to confuse.

 

Chris 

[The Johnster]

Again, my thanks for this very useful information Chris; I am a little further along the learning curve!  It is nice to have my assumptions about those engines I know were at Tondu confirmed as well,  IIRC 5572 was modelled by Lima in BR mixed traffic LNWR lined black, another livery I want to 'bag' on Cwmdimbath.  These very useful engines seem to have got themselves transferred around quite a lot as branches closed or were dieselised, and many fetched up at Woodham's in Barry.  They were familiar to me as a child from the Coryton service in Cardiff, all in BR unlined unicycling black IIRC.  But I ought to stop buying locos for a while; 4585's purchase should remove the temptation of a new Baccy 4575, and I have no intention of buying any more until the 94xx emerges from it's blue box cocoon as a beautiful butterfly...

[The Johnster]

Ok, bit of an update although not much has happened. There is now a Will's canopy on the Remploy loading dock, so that you can work there out of the rain; at least in theory, as in this part of the world the difference between a good day and a bad day is that the rain comes at you sideways on a good day and upwards on a bad day...  it has been painted a sort of army olive green, on the basis that it is not a railway building and shouldn't look like one and that there was a lot of army surplus paint around in the 50s.  4585 has settled in nicely as reserve for the auto and default loco for the Tremains ROF workman's.  I am playing around with bits of cardboard to shape up the skew scenic break double bridge, but have not settled on anything that 'looks right' yet.

 

I've bought a lovely new Hornby brake van for the coal train, and a secondhand but current production BR insulated van, Baccy in white livery; list price is £16.95 and I had it for £7.50, which is not bad.  I'm doing some painting tonight and am writing while the first coat is going off on an Airfix B set, which has never had a particularly convincing colour as 1956 unlined maroon and is being repainted in 1949/56 crimson.  I painted the seats when I first bought it 35 years ago, but have done the floors and am going to do the inside walls cream.  I'm also fitting new glazing, as the Airfix 'prism' glazing, a creditable attempt to get the correct window depth, has always bothered me and I think makes the windows look too narrow.  I can always re-fit it if I don't like my new glazing, but it should now be easier to fit no smoking and first class transfers to the insides of the windows.  I'm also going to have a shot at modelling some of the windows open, and there'll be a few passengers as well.  You should be able to see inside it better.  There is also a pack of PD signs; 'Beware of Trains' 'SW' (proper GW style), 'Engines Must Not Pass This Board' and 'Passengers Are Requested Not To Cross The Line', which will appear at suitable locations in the next few days when I get the drill out and makes some holes for them.

 

I need to get to grips with the scenic break bridge and stop faffing about, but the creative muse fairy hasn't visited for a few weeks and I'm waiting...

 

I'm really liking my new brake van, and will be buying more.  Once the other one, a Mainline one from the Silurian era, is retired I will be able to boast that all of my stock has brake blocks in line with the wheels, something it's only taken me 30 years to achieve, but my aim is to eliminate chassis with solidly moulded brake levers, and that may take a little longer.  I'm really intending to stick to my 'no more locos til the Baccy 94xx comes out policy, which should mean money for other projects.  Head, tail, and side lamps are on order from Modelu, so some progress on the detachable lamp scheme might be in the pipeline!  Locos are settling into links, 42xx and 56xx for the mineral and goods, large prairie with small prairie reserve for Remploy parcels or pigeon specials, 64xx for auto, and 2761 and the 57xx for anything else.  2761 is running well enough, but not as good as the Baccys and is still banned from freight work.

 

I need to get a wriggle on with some permanent lighting as well; current thought is for a hanging light grey canvas (or similar; old sheets might do) sky that can be folded up to get behind the layout for cleaning, set at a 45 degree angle about 30 inches above baseboard level, possibly backlight to aid with diffusion and convey the impression of a dull, cloudy day.  One or two dimly lit buildings might re-inforce the impression

Edited July 20, 2017 by The Johnster

[westerner]

I t would be lovely to SEE this layout develop. Pictures please. We do like pictures and a picture is better than a thousand words.

[The Johnster]

I think I might have successfully attached a picture, which I think might be of 4287.  Here goes; somebody please let me know if I've been successful!

[kandc_au]

You have but it is a Tiff file and NOT inline in the message.

 

Khris

BTW it is a beach scene! 

[The Johnster]

No, that's the beach at Ynyslas looking towards Borth, if it has been posted at all.

 

Work in progress!

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, try that.  It should be a shot of 2761 leaving for Bridgend with a B set, passing the Remploy loading dock before I'd put up the canopy, taken from the position now occupied by the cardboard former for the scenic break bridge.  Have I cracked it?

[kandc_au]

Yeah!! (Y) 

[The Johnster]

Think I've cracked it.  That location has now changed, the scenery and ballasting starts by the loco's centre driving wheel, and the new bridge former comes across at an angle just the other side of the turnout, which is the first one in the fiddle yard hence the rails are not painted.  The bracket signal has been moved level with it so that only the tops of the dolls and the actual boards can be seen from the scenic area, and Remploy's has a stone retaining wall behind it with a Dapol water tower kit behind it.

 

Ok, let's try some more!  

 

 

Ok, now we're cooking. 0817 is an auto basking in the sunhine; haven't even bought the Baccy A38 yet and the bell is now painted cream.  0244 is 2761 after her new chimney, dome and safety valve cover from the dead Westward 64xx were fitted and in her black austerity coat, 0233 is a bird's eye of the station before the rebuilding, but not much has altered up this end, 0212 is a station cameo featuring Taliesin, who is unimpressed (the pile of stuff he sits on has now moved to the goods depot, and 0204 is an overview of said goods depot; the office is now moved to a position where it blocks the view of 6422 and has been replaced by a Will's pagoda doing service as a storage shed.

 

Plenty tidying up work to do, plenty of faults, and I'm clearly not a genius at scenery, but I'm happy with the general 1950s gloomy, run down, Valleys atmosphere.  Cooler lighting has been provided since the first shot was taken, and a bit less of an August afternoon feeling pervades!

Edited July 21, 2017 by The Johnster

[kandc_au]

No holding you back now!