Cantrefygwaelod

[melmoth]

I suppose it's as good a time as any to throw the proverbial hat into the ring, so this it:

 

 

Cantrefygwaelod

 

(a.k.a. “Remote Lane”)

 

Subject

 

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  West/Mid/Legendary Wales in the early 1970s (pre-TOPS) at the point where the WR and the LMR (and, arguably, the mid 19^th Century) meet, somewhere in the mythical land of the Welsh Lyonesse/Atlantis, on the imaginary loop line across the fertile plain of Cantrefygwaelod ('The Lowland Hundred') somewhere between Cardigan and Aberystwyth.

  
  
  
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  If you want the 'high concept' in one phrase then: “A standard gauge Welshpool and Llanfair with Blue Diesels. Possibly underwater.” is the closest I can manage.

  
  
  

 

Scale

 

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  2mm/N gauge

  
  
  

 

Standards

 

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  Hamfistedness permitting, track will be FiNetrax Code 40. Otherwise Peco Code 55.

  
  
  
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  Buildings scratchbuilt and/or kitbashed (the running-in boards will be a minor work of genius in themselves). Station building and goods shed based on William Clarke designs, signal box McKenzie and Holland from Severn Models kit

  
  
  
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  Rolling stock mainly RTR with kitbuilt/bashed wagons and, if I can deal with the metal origami, a

  
  
  
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  Worsley Works Park Royal DMU.

  
  
  

 

Size

 

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  4'x16” 'stage' with two 'wings'

  
  
  

 

Design ideas

 

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  Small, passing loop station that was expanded from a small, wayside station by the addition of a running line to the rear of the original platform, and then further expanded by a siding to a private, as yet unspecified, works. Works could be a creamery, small mine, gravel/shingle extraction, explosives works a la Penrhyndeudraeth. More thought required.

  
  
  
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  Track on two levels, descending via the headshunt to the industrial siding at front of stage

  
  
  
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  'Floating' trackbase. Track built/laid on thin obeche wood on 20mm Depron

  
  
  
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  Main baseboard either leftover 6mm ply on 2”x1” softwood frame (already to hand) or on 6mm MDF sheet

  
  
  
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  Automatic coupling using Dapol's finest and concealed permanent magnets. Loose coupled, pick up goods trains should feature fairly strongly

  
  
  
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  Point and signal operation by hand from front of layout

  
  
  
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  Control either handheld Gaugemaster DC or Dynamis DCC. Layout wired for both, again, control from front of layout

  
  
  
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  Layout set in high summer, which by tradition, is usually a Thursday afternoon in We(s)t Wales,

  
  
  
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  Geographically, it is assumed the layout is being viewed from the south and hopefully lighting can be installed to give a sense of the east-west passage of the sun through the sky.

  
  
  

 

The attached file shows one of the drafts of the plan as sketched out in AnyRail. Hope I've uploaded it correctly.

 

 

 

But is it (art) finescale?

 

Arguably not if I have to go with the Peco track option, but I'm using the competition as a kick up the backside to get something done, and something done differently. It'll have to physically work, which will be an operational step forward after some of my efforts, and to vaguely misquote Peter Denny, I'll be aiming for a consistent standard of incompetence across all aspects of the layout.

[DavidLong]

Well done, Jon. Nice idea. Do stick with the FiNetrax as once you've built your first turnout you'll never want to look at another Peco point again! If I was being totally honest I'd tell you to use the 2FS versions but the FiNetrax will be fine as an alternative.

And don't forget the DG couplings. Be a shame to lumber the effort with the standard N type or the Dapol version.

Excellent choice of the early 1970s; you just need to bulk buy some lovely Class 24s!

 

David

[melmoth]

Well done, Jon. Nice idea. Do stick with the FiNetrax as once you've built your first turnout you'll never want to look at another Peco point again! If I was being totally honest I'd tell you to use the 2FS versions but the FiNetrax will be fine as an alternative.

And don't forget the DG couplings. Be a shame to lumber the effort with the standard N type or the Dapol version.

Excellent choice of the early 1970s; you just need to bulk buy some lovely Class 24s!

 

David

 

Hi David, the first turnout is 75% complete and has proved simple so far - just got to get it to work reliably when completed. I've been practising with the plain track and probably already have enough for the layout, certainly got enough for a really ropey looking siding. DG couplings might be a step too far at the moment, but I do have a couple of 24s on hand as well as several Hymeks - I reckon the boundary between the LMR and WR would be at Cantrefygwaelod, the next (WR) station south has a creamery siding and the tanks have to be brought north to run round. 

[sammyboy]

When I saw the layout plan, it looked much more like the West Highland Line in Scotland with its single track line and island platform station than of any prototype in Wales.

 

Sam

[melmoth]

Hi Sam, 

 

Yes, you're right, it does look rather West Highland. The rationale, though, is this: 

 

This imaginary bit of railway (on a very imaginary bit of land) was assumed to have been built as a small wayside station in a cramped location between two roads and a river (as per plan), on a straight section of line. A goods loop was provided with a small goods shed (as at top of plan). It is then assumed that an increase in traffic led to a need for a passing loop at this location. Although it's not obvious from the plan, the land in the area modelled slopes down towards the front (bottom) of the plan. Therefore, it is assumed that the only was to accommodate a passing loop was to run it behind the existing platform. The provision of the kickback siding is a later development in this fictitious history. In this way, the arrangement of the track becomes a function of the imaginary history of the location, i.e. it's like that because that's how the imaginary railway fits into the imaginary location (rather than vice versa). I've worked out most of the back story in my mind, and I might get round to writing it down at some stage, but Tim Maddocks I am not, so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for it.

 

To be honest, I can't think of any island platform stations like this in mid-Wales, but it's going to be a model of a truly imaginary location anyway (i.e. about 5 miles out into Cardigan Bay), so perhaps there's a little more leeway for me there. The trick, obviously, is going to be to make it all look convincingly mid-Wales Welsh through the scenics and structures...

[westerner]

How's it going?

[melmoth]

How's it going?

 

I was rather hoping no one would ask. So far as the dog-ate-my-homework goes, I broke up with my girlfriend at the end of March and am currently sofa surfing, which is not the ideal situation for the construction of a layout, be it finescale, cameo, knitted from blancmange, or any other combination of scales, gauges and materials. If I actually had an ironing board, I'd probably be sleeping on it.

 

So far as progress up to March, I'd constructed all the track work and points (fiNetrax Code40) - which all went together quite easily and far better than I thought I could manage - I normally bodge things together in EM. So the track work, in yet another unwarranted display of hope over experience, has been set aside for a later date, but as far as the Cameo Competition goes, I withdrew when Simon asked for updates last month.

 

I did get the track work laid out on a temporary board to see if the track plan worked, which it did, but doing this also proved that I'd really need to construct a board specifically for the layout if I was to be able to get the scenic work done as I'd imagined it. Something will eventually happen, as I have everything I need to complete the layout except a space to put it in, but when that'll happen is anybody's guess.