Castell y Bwrdd

[47137]

Castell y Bwrdd is a compact, 1:87 scale model of an imaginary narrow gauge railway, supposed to exist in the north-west of Shropshire near the Welsh border. I started the layout in November 2011 and I have put up a web page to describe its construction at www.castellybwrdd.myzen.co.uk.



I am using the web page to record some of the techniques I have used while building the layout, which I have not seen documented elsewhere. There are some photos too, about 60 at the moment. The layout may be of particular interest to people contemplating using the Modratec lever frame, or using extruded polystyrene (XPS) for a baseboard. The track plan uses a point on a sector plate, which gives the the layout two modes of operation, with and without an external fiddle yard.



This is my first posting to the forum, and is simply an attempt to bring the web page to a potential audience. I have been adding to the page every week or two as I fix new parts down onto the layout, and hope to continue it.

Edited for external link.

[MartinWales]

Some excellent techniques there and what looks to be an above average quality layout.

 

Interestingly name 'Table Castle'-any thoughts on it's provenance?

[47137]

Hi Martin,

The name was inspired by that of ‘Castell y Bere’, which I visited with my parents on family holidays in the 1970s, and was encouraged by the existence of Welsh place names like Porth y Waen on the English side of the border. There is also an aesthetic appeal of words written with Welsh vowels and no English ones. I tried ‘Castell y Hobi’ (from ‘hobby table’) but 'Castell y Bwrdd' seemed more ‘believable’. There is a vague double meaning in that the hill has a flat top like a table, as well as the layout being built on a table. This explanation is something to add to the web page, and also one day a fictional history – but I need to finish the model and know for sure what I have built before I can write this.

[cornelius]

Interesting that you are modelling an English setting in 1:87 scale - of course HOe is meant for 750 / 760mm gauge prototypes which is near enough 2'6", so accurate for the likes of the nearby Welshpool & Llanfair.

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

[BernardTPM]

I've occasionally advocated H0e for 2' 6" guage British outline for some time, so it's nice to see someone actually doing it! If you want British outline rolling stock that's already produced in 4mm by Worsley Works they would reduce it down to H0 if you asked.

[47137]

Hi Bernard,

I started with HOe because I could not resist a pair of Lilliput coaches in the local model shop. A week or two later I was at an exhibition and asked someone 'in HOe, what does the 'e' stand for?' A reply from over my shoulder was 'expensive!' Looking at some of the Swiss RTR equipment out there, how very true. My two coaches sat in their boxes for a few years and the layout only got underway last autumn, when I found a Roco 0-4-0 steam locomotive. At the moment I have two coaches, a luggage van, an open wagon and the locomotive. These can support these possible workings:

- passenger service – period Continental stock

- passenger service – modern Continental stock

- enhanced passenger service for hikers (bikes and camping gear in luggage van)

- ballast train (movement of ballast)

- engineer's train (full possession)

- photographer's evening

- film unit hire for the day

 

If I had one more wagon, perhaps a tank wagon, I could play a shunting game to arrange vehicles into a sequence in the long siding (below the castle), perhaps call it a railway society end of season day.

 

If the layout is ever exhibited (I hope it is one day) then I will really need a second locomotive and a LYd2 diesel from Worsley Works would be a believable option – it could be a loan from the WHR. I need to ask whether it is viable as a one-off (for 1:87 scale), but as a model of a European loco perhaps it might be. Conversely, there is an appeal in ‘designing’ a freelance locomotive to run on a fictional railway.

 

The line has capacity for six or seven vehicles in all (including engines), and I would like to run a shoulder-season railcar service too. The turntable constrains the wheelbase of locomotives (but not their overall length – it moves as a sector table), but a railcar could be longer. It must have a cab at each end though. I fancy a heavily butchered Dapol railbus.

[The Nth Degree]

This is very interesting - I really like compact layouts. I like the turntable idea and I'll need two small turntables for my proposed layout. How do you overcome the height difference in the thread when you turn it?

[47137]

I initially thought the height difference would not matter (the layout is to ordinary wheel and track standards) and I laid both the main line and the run-round loop directly onto the XPS. When I did the first test runs with the turntable, the loop line was a touch too high; the loco ran across the gap but I watched it go over a bit of a step. So I pressed the track gently down into the XPS. Since then, the XPS has not shown any desire to come back up again, but next time I would put a shim under the end of the higher track.

 

The diameter of the deck is 70 mm, so the periphery is about 220 mm (Pi x diameter). The centre lines of the two entry tracks are 14 mm apart, so the table is turning about ( 14 / 220 ) x 360 = 23 degrees (sorry to get to this the hard way, no protractor!). The lid and its tub use a triple-start thread which is by its nature pretty steep – I suppose it lifts the table about 4 mm per full turn. This suggests that over the 23 degrees of movement on the model, the deck drops about ( 23 / 360 ) x 4 = 0,25 mm which sounds about right.

 

My original track plan had a spur running off the turntable to a loco shed and a watering and coaling facility. It would have been nice to model a track at right angles to the main line (running back towards the folly) but I could not think of a reasonable prototype and it looked cramped in the space available. When I came to commission the turntable, I realised the movement to this spur would have used up virtually all of the support available from the thread. (It would have made the control mechanism for the turntable difficult too).

 

I could have had extra track beside the loop, on the site of the standard gauge track; this would mean a total rotation of about 70 degrees. My turntable is resting ‘backed off’ about half a turn from the fully ‘locked down’ position. This minimises the amount of friction in the movement of the thread, but it has used up some potential rotation. I think 70 degrees would be about the maximum this sort of arrangement with such a coarse screw thread would support. Perhaps the thread could be shaved off, and the turntable allowed to turn round and round ... this would need a different approach to control and wiring up.

[47137]

Interesting that you are modelling an English setting in 1:87 scale - of course HOe is meant for 750 / 760mm gauge prototypes which is near enough 2'6", so accurate for the likes of the nearby Welshpool & Llanfair.

 

Looking forward to seeing more!

Hi Cornelius,

After I finished laying the track I hesitated about the scale for a while. Both the folly and the castle are undersize for 1:87 (they are marketed as ‘HO/TT’), and I thought of presenting it as a 1:100 scale model of a 3 ft gauge line. Some of my favourite layouts at exhibitions have been the ones built to obscure scales, and a small layout like this would be the place to try. I built a ‘working diorama’ of a UK urban setting in the early 1980s (before I heard of micro layouts), this was a mostly HO scale layout with 4mm scale models of physically small subjects like the Mainline J72 ... whilst clearly not a ‘scale model’, it looked right. So for Castell y Bwrdd I could have stayed with my Roco 0-4-0 steam loco, which is tiny in HO and therefore merely ‘compact’ in 1:100, found some suitable 1:100 scale people and scratch built the station. However, by the time I had got this far I had already made the station platform and converted the building to 1:87 (and laid most of the paving slabs too) and, well, I thought I had better use them. I also had a pair of Liliput HOe coaches, and they after all were the reason for buying the loco, and starting the layout in the first place. I suppose I quite ‘like’ HO as a scale to work in ... it is as easy to make things as in 4 mm, but a layout built the same size ends up looking a bit more spacious. It is also easier to stretch some rules and incorporate models marketed for TT and N, which would be just ‘too small’ in 4 mm.

[47137]

I have started painting the layout. Here are two photos to show some of the potential of extruded polystyrene foam for making a landscape. The hill with the castle is carved from two pieces of foam, the slope in front of the station is from four shallow wedges side by side. I have finished the 'green' areas in several coats of emulsion paint, finishing with layers of grey-brown and then green, this is applied directly onto the foam. There is no hard shell of plaster, so the result is very light weight. (The rock faces are from Milliput and the other details are styrene, the viewpoint is the Dapol / Airfix war memorial). My intention is to use the emulsion paint as a prototype to try out different colours and shading before adding some scenic dressings. The green is Wilko 'Organic Green'.

 

[MartinWales]

Do like the keenly observed subdued greens that you've landscaped there!

[HSB]

Hi,

Nice to see someone else having a go at British HOn2 1/2. I built a small freelance layout back in the early 80s using second-hand Tri-ang TT3 bodies on PECO N gauge chassis' for some of the wagons. Below are a couple of the slides I took at the time. I remember the ROCO diesel in the pictures was a very poor runner but I believe they have changed the mechanism since.

[47137]

Hi,

Nice to see someone else having a go at British HOn2 1/2. I built a small freelance layout back in the early 80s using second-hand Tri-ang TT3 bodies on PECO N gauge chassis' for some of the wagons. Below are a couple of the slides I took at the time. I remember the ROCO diesel in the pictures was a very poor runner but I believe they have changed the mechanism since.

 

My Roco steam loco (their part no. 33241) is brand new and is currently running in on a circle of track on my modelling table. It freed up a lot (doubled its speed) after about five minutes of continuous running. At the moment it manages to run smoothly down to a scale 5 mph or so, this is on my old H&M Minipack (circa 1970). I would like 2 or 3 mph, maybe it will free up a bit more. I have put tiny drops of oil on the outside motion, but the internals seem to have plenty of factory grease. Thanks for the tip on Tri-ang TT3, I will keep a look out at for old models at exhibitions, maybe I could make some wagons of my own.

[47137]

Wow! The layout has survived its first exhibition, and this was my first layout at an exhibition too. The South West Model and Hobby Show at the Royal Bath and West showground near Shepton Mallet. The layout endured the trip along the M25/M4 and indeed the gentle vibration of the Mazda seems to have shaken most of the remaining polythene swarf out of the hobby table sub-base, so the model does not rattle any more.

 

I have now added fences to the layout, and also some signs and notices and the first ten model people. Here is a photo of the layout as it looked a few days before the show, and some smaller photos of my fresh details.

 

 

Toilet carved from a block of wood with styrene details glued on

 

I have never encountered this word outside a railway environment, and never heard it said

 

Guard rail from Markits extra long handrail knobs

 

I put a shelf below the window to show this is the booking office

 

A visitor finds mobile phone coverage on the higher ground

 

The statue is an Airfix railwayman on the bottom part of an Dapol/Airfix war memorial

 

 

(edited to simplify and add photos on 3rd April and 15th 2012)

[BernardTPM]

Like the details and the half-built structure. Some ingenious use of parts too. Just one minor thing

The statue is an Airfix railwayman on the bottom part of an Dapol/Airfix war memorial

The War Memorial was never Airfix, but was part of the old Tri-ang Model Land range. Shame they don't do any of their other buildings any more.

[47137]

Yes Bernard - my mistake - thank you. The memorial first appeared in a pack of accessories 'RML-8' marketed by Tri-ang under their 'Real Estate' brand. Also in the pack were a stile (with a finger post), a trough and inn sign, and stocks .. these items are now sold individually by Dapol. The Real Estate range also contained many buildings, which I remember admiring in the Tri-ang catalogues in the early 1970s. By then the range had been rebranded as 'Model Land'.

 

My particular memorial was a gift from the Dapol shop in Chirk after a lengthy discussion there at the end of last year. We discussed Airfix and Kitmaster, but not Tri-ang. The gist of the conversation as I remember it was that Dapol run production runs using all of the moulds they have in their possession ... this implied that the other moulds had been lost or destroyed. Looking at http://www.tri-angrailways.com/buildings.htm this evening, there is also a suggestion that some of the buildings and models listed in the Model Land range were never actually produced.

 

I was rather pleased with the statute. These figures seem to be moulded from un-stickable plastic, and this one is fixed by trimming its base to be a tight fit into the base of the memorial, and pressing it into place :-)

[BernardTPM]

That's a good way of fixing the 'statue'.

There were quite a few additonal buildings and accessories announced in the 1964 catalogue of which only a few were actually produced and even then, not necessarily as first planned. I wonder of Hornby might still have some of the tools of other RE/ML kits? After all, the pylons and church have both been available in recent years. The figures were good too - the industrial workmen set even had a couple of miners. I guess now they could join up with the Bachmann ones, jump in an EFE bus and do some flying picketing together! Throw in some Subbuteo police and it could be a riot. (My apologies for going WAY off topic now...).

[47137]

(My apologies for going WAY off topic now...).

 

Nah ... given this is a forum to do with 'railway modelling', and my post has so far failed to offer even one item of rolling stock for the layout, it would be difficult to grumble about going off topic.

 

However, as the OP I should point out the layout is 'modern' - set probably in the summer of 2011 ... by which time the riot act had been repealed, and flying pickets were long gone ;-)

[47137]

Do like the keenly observed subdued greens that you've landscaped there!

Hi Martin,

Thank you - and sorry for this delayed response - it has taken me a while to start trying to 'do' the grass. This will be short grass: mown lawn and sheep-mown hillside. I can manage nicely muted colours with paint, but I get into trouble when I start playing with packets of scenic grass - they always seem to be a bit intense and too blue. At the moment I have a loose mix of Woodland Scenics 'fine turf': 3 parts yellow grass to 1 part burnt grass. This is making a reasonable colour, but too strong for normal viewing distances ... it as as though it wants a shot of 'pale cream' in the same texture. I have added about half a part of sieved sawdust, which could give the sheep-mown hill part a bit of relief, but is there a granular 'creamy / off white' material out there which I could stir into the mix to wash it down a bit? At the moment I am thinking along the lines of a pale silver sand or wholemeal flour.

[47137]

I ended up with talcum powder to flatten the colours of the granular scenic materials. This has left the layout pretty much finished - at least for the fixed parts, without the trains themselves - so perhaps it is appropriate to jot down half a dozen lessons learned here ...

• Redecorating the room in white (white ceiling, coving, walls and woodwork) made it much easier to assess the colours of the model as its construction progressed. It was only by doing this that I realised just how much of a colour is cast by the apparently innocuous pastel shades like Gardenia which are so popular for domestic decor.
• Carving a landscape from a solid chunk of material (the slab of XPS) was for me much more satisfying than trying to build something up from the baseboard.
• Models marketed for different scales can work well together, especially if you have the freedom of a freelance subject. The layout has models sold for 4mm scale, HO, "00/HO", British and Continental TT and Continental N gauge; some are modified, while some are used as found.
• I am happy to leave the controls for the layout and the fiddle yard on show, this seems more satisfactory to me than forcing the location of scenic breaks to suit the track plan ... although hiding these would be easier on a larger layout.
• Thinking back to my first attempts with Copydex and flock powder 30 years ago, scenic materials have probably improved more than anything else over the intervening period. Although some models, like the Peco/Merit BR railway container, seem pretty timeless.
• If you can achieve a reasonably consistent level of detail across a layout (I like to think I have), it helps to make for a better model.

I have now put a hundred plus photos onto the web page ( http://www.castellybwrdd.myzen.co.uk ), it seems a bit daft to duplicate them here but if someone finds something useful out of this lot, good! This is my eighth layout (my first in narrow gauge) and my favourite so far.

 

Edited to update external link.

- Richard.

[47137]

The stock has been conspicuous by its absence from this topic, but I now have most of what the line needs and I have started to convert it to Kadee couplers. The NMRA specify a height of 9/32 in (7.1 mm) for couplers for HOn30, but this seems to be unworkable for my fleet of HOe / HOn2.5. The railway is a self-contained affair and I am happy with manual uncoupling, and I have settled on a nominal height of 6.0 mm above rail level, with the trip pins cut off. This looks right to me. Kadee do offer a reduced-size coupler for narrow gauge applications (their no.714), but I am using standard HO couplers so I have commonality with the parts I need for 4mm scale, and a much wider range of designs to choose from. Here is a modified no.20 fitted to a Kato N gauge tram chassis, and a no.143 (short centre set) on a Liliput van. Most Liliput stock is going to need an underset coupler ... I will post more pictures if there is interest in this, when I do the conversions.

 

- Richard.