South Wales Valleys in the 50s

[The Johnster]

Just finished putting the Ratio Toad together.  Haven't we come a long way since this kit was first put on the market!  Perhaps not fair to compare this old stager to current production, but it is, let's be honest, awful, in the best (by which I mean worst) of Ratio tradition.  There just seems to be such a level of pointless complication to this thing; I built a few back in the day but had forgotten how easy it was to forgive their shortcomings against the concurrent Triang Hornby offering!

 

Why on earth is the floor, the most fundamental structural component at the basis of any wagon kit, moulded in two halves?  Why are there 3 peices to each side with no continuous structure to ensure that they are kept in line or even together?  Why do the cross members of the brake shoe components rest on the axles and prevent the wheels from rotating?  Why is there no plank detail inside the veranda or on the floor of it? Why do I bother with Ratio kits; I am never happy with them?

 

Well, the reason I bothered in this case is that the van is for a night coal working and is to feature permanently lit battery powered tail and side lamps on my DC layout, so I need a van that can have a removeable roof to change batteries.  But I'm really not happy with this miserable lump of 1960s crudity.  Anyone suggest a different toad that can be made with a removable roof?

 

Some problems might be solveable; better buffers, planking detail inserts for the veranda and it's floor, brake shoe parts from another kit or whatever's in the oddznendz box, separate handrails, sanding lever, but this thing is always going to be a poor relation, and the excuse is that I can get away with such crudity because it will only run in the dark.  I'm not even fooling myself with that one!  Even my ancient Airfix and Mainline Toads are a considerable improvement, and I may well resort to trying to cut the roof off one of these.  Or I'll use one of the Oxfords with the removeable body.  We'll see.

[MrWolf]

I can sympathise with you there. I bought a couple with the idea of chopping them about to make other variants. The split down the middle floor / frames just seems odd, especially as the rest of their venerable old kits virtually fall together and run well. It was the fact that I would have to assemble the floor / underframe unit and then start trying to cut a section out that put me off. That and the moulded handrails, which I could carve off,,,

 

I might build one up and try upgrading it. 

AFAIK, there's not another plastic kit for a Toad available, so like you I will probably stick with the Mainline and early Bachmann examples. 

So much for the myth of GWR modellers being spoilt for choice!

[Nick Holliday]

I wonder if an answer might be to track down an etched brass kit for a Toad from the Frogmore range, supplied by Dart Castings.  Various options, but, sadly, all currently listed as "Temporarily Out of Stock", but Roxey Mouldings also do etched kits for a four and six wheeled Toad, rather more expensive, but available.

[tomparryharry]

The answer might lie  in working with what you've got already. Assuming you're working with an Airfix/Mainline/Bachmann  Toad, then you have all of the parts ready-made to provide a working space within.  I'd suggest turning the body of your intended model upside down to keep the gizmos inside. You'll be removing the body only to change the battery, but I think you're already down that road.  

 

The Ratio (Parkside) Toad is fully capable of being knocked about to make a large number of specialist brake vans. They all carry the same basic dimensions in having 24' over stocks, with a 16' wheelbase.  Diagram AA22 springs to mind, and AA2to AA5/6 also.

[MrWolf]

I have been giving this a bit of thought and it might just be possible to secure the gubbins within the cabin and whilst the floor is in two halves cut out to create a battery box within the floor, fixing in a commercially available battery holder out of sight that is accessible by simply turning the model upside down.

It worked for the likes of Corgi in the early sixties to put much chunkier flashing lights into toy ambulances.

You wouldn't need a removable roof or body that might be hard to disguise and easy to break either.

[The Johnster]

Who wants to see some more foe toes wot I tuk?

 

 

New wagon, well new but not new new, 2h off the Bay of e, a Hornby BR liveried Macaw.  I've reamed the bogie pivot holes out and fitted a pair off my old and rather battered Mainline Macaw, as they are better detailed and I have fitted smaller couplings.  This one is shorter and easier to accommodate; Cwmdimbath's siding capacity is never going to challenge Tinsley...

 

 

2721 pannier 2761 sets sail from the goods loop with the pickup, the canvas weather dodger sheet being deployed; she is facing down the valley because she has been purloined from her Ogmore Jc yard pilot turn to cover the 8750 booked for the job, which has been roped in to deputise for a failed 44xx on the Porthcawl branch.

 

 

Here, 8497 is running in to the loop with the ecs for the morning Tremains ROF workman's, passing 6642 in the platform road for the ecs to clear with a loaded coal train.  There's a good bit of coal lying around and someone will be sent out with a bucket to collect it all in a while, otherwise have the village will be wandering around picking it up!

 

I've drawn up a new working timetable for the layout, as the previous one was a bit too busy to plausibly fit in to the workings on the Nantymoel and Blaengarw branches, in view of the single line section between Blackmill and Brynmenyn and the level of traffic.  There are still parts of the day that are quite busy, but also more pronounced slack periods.  The layout feels more relaxing to operate as a result, but I can still run all the sorts of trains and include all the moves I want.

[chesterfield]

New timetable ? Oh good - are you going to let us in on it?

[The Johnster]

Ok, as you've asked...

 

05.30 box opens

 

05.50 arr. miner's workmans ex Tondu (TDU)

 

06.10 dep.                "                ecs to TDU

 

06.50 arr. Auto 1 ex Bridgend (BGD)

 

07.00 arr. ebv ex Ogmore Jc yard (OGJ) (for 1st colliery clearance).  Shunts to NCB exchange road

 

07.10 dep. Auto 1 to BGD

 

07,50 arr. ecs for Tremains ROF workman's ex TDU, to loop.

 

07.55 dep. loaded (ld) mineral to OGJ

 

08.25 dep. Tremains ROF workman's to Tremains

 

09.30 arr. pickup ex TDU gds

 

10.50 arr. passenger ex BGD, tail traffic as required.

 

10.55 dep. pickup to TDU gds

 

11.25 arr empty (mt) mineral ex OGJ

 

11.30 dep pass. to BGD, tail traffic as required.

 

12.20 arr auto 2 ex TDU (summer only)

 

12.50 dep ld mineral to OGJ.  Auto 2 shunts to loop.

 

13.10 arr Auto 1 ex BGD, booked to take water.

 

13.30 dep Auto 1 to BGD

 

13.50 arr class C goods ex Cardiff (Newtown)

 

13,55 dep Auto 2 to Porthcawl (summer only)

 

15.00 arr mt mineral ex OGJ

 

15.05 dep class C gds to Cardiff Newtown

 

16.10 arr Auto 1 ex BGD, booked water.

 

16.15 dep ld mineral to OGJ

 

16.30 dep Auto 1 ex BGD

 

17.35 arr Tremains ROF workman's ex Tremains.  Shunt to loop

 

17.55 arr pass. ex BGD

 

18.00 dep ecs from ROF workman's to TDU

 

18.40 dep pass. to BGD

 

19.00 arr Auto 2 ex Porthcawl (summer only)

 

19.40 arr mt mineral ex OGJ

 

19.45 dep Auto 2 to TDU

 

20.35 arr empty stockcharter for Ogmore Forest Pigeon Fanciers Association as required.

 

21.00 dep ld mineral to OGJ

 

21.30 arr parcels train ex Cardiff (General)

 

21.35 dep ld charter OGPFA, destination varies.

 

22.00 arr ecs miner's workman's ex TDU

 

22..05 dep parcels to Glynogwr

 

22.15 dep miner's workman's to TDU

 

Box closes.

 

23.55 arr Auto 1 ex BGD

 

23.59 dep mt Auto 1 to TDU

 

 

Ogmore Junction Yard is part of the Tondu complex.  Glynogwr is on the Gilfach Goch route on which track was lifted after closure in 1930, but in my universe, since there is a mining village, colliery, and railway in the Dimbath valley that never existed in reality, I have imagined a stub left in postiion to serve a distribution centre for a large mail order company, which involves shunting from Dimbath Jc, a ground frame about a half mile east of Blackmill, into a short trailing siding.  The traffic must therefore come up to Cwmdimbath terminus to run around so that the loco is the right end for this shunt.  The outward traffic can run directly down the valley.  It is my Rule 1 way of running NPCCS stock, which I like.  This train is assumed to be part of a Barry loco diagram and is hauled by that shed's locos, which include BR standard class 3MT prairies, and possibly in the future TVR A class.

 

The pigeons are another Rule 1 excuse to run NPCCS and allow foreign locos to appear if I want, piloted from Tondu, or for loco changes at Tondu.  The train sometimes runs as class B and includes a coach for PFA officials, and this may at some time in the future be a gangwayed vehicle with toilet facilities for longer distance trips.  These might even feature tender locos...

 

I have assumed a 10 minute time allowance to clear the section to Brynmenyn, 15 for the minerals and pickup.  Thus a mineral departure means that a passenger cannot appear for at least 25 minutes, or 30 if it is another mineral or goods.  A passenger arrival can appear in 20 minutes afte this departure, and so on.  Longer gaps reflect traffic and that it has to fit in to the single line traffic on the Nantymoel branch between Blackmill and Brynmenyn, and the rest of the Tondu complex's traffic generally.  Loaded minerals must pin brakes down very shortly after leaving Cwmdimbath, accounting for slow running beneath the scenic break bridge.  Arrivals are a bit of a test of firing skill, as the driver needs steam to come up the bank, but shuts off as soon as he breasts the summit beneath the bridges, so it is a challenge to get him up the bank and at the same time prevent the loco from blowing off as he runs in to the station.

 

Real timetabling is, as anyone who has been connected with it will assert, a dark and eldritch art practiced by cloaked figures by the light of black candles in gothic crypts to creepy chanting and the screams of sacrificed virgins, mwah ha ha ha ha.  I have probably transgressed all the rules of it and my timetable is probably impossible to work in practice, but this is where Rule 1 comes in.  Where I live virgins for sacrificing are rare as rocking horse doodoo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by The Johnster

[chesterfield]

Brillig .I shall compare with the first version- Thanks

[The Johnster]

I like running to a timetable; after all it’s what real trains do, or try to… It imposes a railway-like discipline on to operating, amd if you run late, then on a single track branch you have to dig yourself out of the mess, very satisfying if you can do it!  
 

The timetable may look excessively busy for a single track branch to a terminus with rather limited facilities, but, evening NPCCS Rule 1 workings and the class C goods (serves a food processing and canning factory) apart, is about right for the Tondu branches, a system worked close to capacity in places.  The real ROF workman’s for Tremains ran from and to Abergwnfi, as did the late auto from Bridgend. 
 

Like my unmodelled off-scene colliery, many South Wales pits were situated in narrow valley bottoms or perched on mountainside shelves with little space for storing empties on sidings, and as the coal had to be cleared off the premises, having been screened, graded, and washed, to make room for more, as soon as possible to make room for more at the surface, so that the men underground could be kept working and the faces kept open.  One pit at Tylorstown in the Rhondda Fach had to be cleared every 30 minutes.  The real Cwmdimbath is a particularly steep and narrow defile; photos of the Glyncorrwg branch’s pits will give the general idea…

[The Johnster]

The actual operation takes place in real time, there being a battery operated analogue clock with a switch to indicate ‘Cwmdimbath Time’.  I do my best to run and shunt at reasonable scale speeds and time is allowed for real operations, such as reversing the gear, coupling up, brake continuity tests, and for ground staff to move about.  Filling loco tanks from the water column takes about 5 minutes, allowing for the fireman to climb up to the tank top from the cab and the driver to open the valve.  
 

There are rules.  Cwmdimbath time can be paused at will, but no running is allowed while it is paused.  I can reset CDB time forward to eliminate dead periods, but never back.  I thus have the choice to run to strict time or to condense periods between trains when nothing is happening for a while, or to suspend CDB and go off and do some modelling, dipping back in to the next part of the timetable while I am waiting for glue or paint to go off.  CDB time only applies to the scenic area of the layout and for as long as any moving train or part thereof is visible in the scenic area; time does not exist in the fiddle yard, which, as well as representing the rest of the model physical universe, also represents the rest of the temporal one…

  
 

 

 

 

 

[tomparryharry]

10 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I like running to a timetable; after all it’s what real trains do, or try to… It imposes a railway-like discipline on to operating, amd if you run late, then on a single track branch you have to dig yourself out of the mess, very satisfying if you can do it!  
 

The timetable may look excessively busy for a single track branch to a terminus with rather limited facilities, but, evening NPCCS Rule 1 workings and the class C goods (serves a food processing and canning factory) apart, is about right for the Tondu branches, a system worked close to capacity in places.  The real ROF workman’s for Tremains ran from and to Abergwnfi, as did the late auto from Bridgend. 
 

Like my unmodelled off-scene colliery, many South Wales pits were situated in narrow valley bottoms or perched on mountainside shelves with little space for storing empties on sidings, and as the coal had to be cleared off the premises, having been screened, graded, and washed, to make room for more, as soon as possible to make room for more at the surface, so that the men underground could be kept working and the faces kept open.  One pit at Tylorstown in the Rhondda Fach had to be cleared every 30 minutes.  The real Cwmdimbath is a particularly steep and narrow defile; photos of the Glyncorrwg branch’s pits will give the general idea…

 Quite correct. Lady Lewis Colliery at Ynyshir, Rhodda Fach.  IIRC there was capacity for 20 wagons,; 10 each empty & full.  Sorry, I mentioned Lady Margaret by mistake, but the colliery at Ynyshir  definitely existed as per. Johnsters post. Lady Margaret was in Treherbert , one valley over.

Edited August 11, 2021 by tomparryharry

[The Johnster]

My minerals are 11 wagons long; there are two trains, a loaded and an empty, all the loops and fy roads can handle with a toad and a 42xx.  The unmodelled and imagined bank on the approach to the station would have been pretty steep, but the real approach to Nantymoel in the next valley over was 1 in 27, so there is local prototype precedence and need for big engines, mostly 56xx, and short trains. 11 loaded with real coal, even with the space filled by cardboard formers beneath the coal, is about the limit for for a Hornby W4 Peckett, the colliery loco. 
 

A tramroad ran up the real Dimbath valley to a forge, the remains of which are marked on the OS map; this corresponds to the site of the station and is the basis of the supposed route of the branch, which would not have been the only South Wales tramroad converted to a railway.  The pub across the road from the station entrance is called ‘The Forge’ as a nod to reality.  The pit is a short distance to the south, off-scene stage right, and is located at a point where a tributary stream enters the real Nant Lechyd from the east, where the confluence of valleys gives a little more space for it, but the site would have been very restricted nonetheless. 

 

[ianathompson]

It is nice to see a properly thought out rationale underpinning a "might have been" layout.

Too many layouts show a desultory grasp of their setting.

 

Ian T

[MrWolf]

55 minutes ago, ianathompson said:

It is nice to see a properly thought out rationale underpinning a "might have been" layout.

Too many layouts show a desultory grasp of their setting.

 

Ian T

 

Agreed, I think that working out a rationale and studying the area in which your fictitious railway is set not only makes it more believable, it also helps to answer any number of questions that you might have during construction and acquisition of stock. Even basic information such as what colour to paint exposed rocks and earth is already decided.

[The Johnster]

Thank you for these kind comments, chaps.  6th form geology has enabled me to model outcrops of Pennant Sandstone dipping south at about the right angle; the whole thing adding, hopefully, to the general plausibility of the scene.  I was also able to site the layout in more or less the correct south-north orientation, so am able to use natural lighting when real time and CDB time coincide.  Modelling a real place, albeit one that never had a village, colliery, or railway and is about as remote and unvisited as any in Glamorgan, a remnant of the wooded valleys that existed before the coal destroyed everything in the 50 years from 1850 to 1900, has indeed made this easier to achieve, while imposing a discipline that has prevented me modelling the implausible.  For instance, anothe goods siding is badly needed, but there simply isn't room on the valley floor at this spot, and the extra operational challenge of the restricted site can be enjoyed.  The veiwing front of the layout is more or less at the bottom of the steep slope of the western side of the valley, and beyond the railway and the Nant Lechyd stream the mountainside on the eastern side rises precipitously.

[Northroader]

Knowledge of geology is always handy. I was on the phone in Cardiff talking to our chargehand at Rhymney (a former NCB electrician,) about how to get to somewhere up the top of the valleys, and he’d got me heading North from Caerphilly through Ystrad Mynach, “then”, he says, “when you reach the alluvial plateau.....”

 

[The Johnster]

A man very much after my own heart!

[Nevermakeit]

On 11/08/2021 at 15:20, The Johnster said:

Thank you for these kind comments, chaps.  6th form geology has enabled me to model outcrops of Pennant Sandstone dipping south at about the right angle; the whole thing adding, hopefully, to the general plausibility of the scene.  I was also able to site the layout in more or less the correct south-north orientation, so am able to use natural lighting when real time and CDB time coincide.  Modelling a real place, albeit one that never had a village, colliery, or railway and is about as remote and unvisited as any in Glamorgan, a remnant of the wooded valleys that existed before the coal destroyed everything in the 50 years from 1850 to 1900, has indeed made this easier to achieve, while imposing a discipline that has prevented me modelling the implausible.  For instance, anothe goods siding is badly needed, but there simply isn't room on the valley floor at this spot, and the extra operational challenge of the restricted site can be enjoyed.  The veiwing front of the layout is more or less at the bottom of the steep slope of the western side of the valley, and beyond the railway and the Nant Lechyd stream the mountainside on the eastern side rises precipitously.

I have just read through all 42 pages to date, and have been very impressed by the operating and rationale behind the layout. My question is how would someone without the background and experience find out this stuff? I would like to operate a layout in a similar way, but don't have a clue where to start! Thanks. 

[The Johnster]

Now, that, Nevermakeit, is a very good question, because I have never really considered it from someone else's point of view.  All my layouts, even the very many I have planned and never built, have had at least the basis of this sort of backstory, ever since my teenage effort 'Blackwater', inspired by Barnstaple with the addition of boat trains connecting to a steamer service to Rosslare. 

 

The thought process behind Cwmdimbath was informed by what I thought I would want from

a layout of this size and shape, and alternatives were the throat of a yard of coal storage sidings in northern Cardiff, based loosely on Crwys Sidings, a small wharf terminus somewhere on the Glamorgan coast, geographically inspired by Ogmore-by-Sea, and Cwmdimbath.  I visited this rather remote and forgotten valley as a teenager as part of a picnic day out with a chum and his parents in the mid 70s, and have sort of had it lurking away somewhere in the back of my mind ever since; unspoilt valleys not destroyed by the quest for more and more coal are rarer than rocking horse doodoo, and here was a blank slate!  The real valley is farmed but is wild forestry in it's upper reaches.  There's coal under it right enough, but it was literally undermined by pits in the neighbouring valleys, from Gilfach Goch, Clydach Vale (Tonypandy) and Ogmore Vale.  It sort of dovetailed into an idea for a single track roundyround with a branch junction, based on Hendreforgan, the real junction for Gilfach Goch, that I never built. 

 

Some features were givens, absolutely essential for my needs, notably a South Walian location, tank engines, and coal trains.  Amatuer 6th form geology shapes the landscape, and the layout has to fit in to the real industrial history of the area.  Tondu valleys are particularly amenable to this scenario, as few 'foreign' locos penetrated the hinterland beyond Tondu, so we have a defined and distinctive allocation of locos.  There is wobble room for 2 or 3 rule 1 locos that never appeared at Tondu, or did not do so within my timeframe. 

 

I chose 1948 to 1958 as the period because of the variety and interest of this transitional livery period.  I've identified a dozen different loco livery variations that might have appeared during the period, and have photographic evidence of them in some cases, and have painted some locos in liveries which may be incorrect, in which case I am prepared to repaint them if better knowledges becomes available.  Along with the changeover liveries for passenger and freight stock and the WR's pre-1950 habit of painting auto trailers in carmine and cream, there is plenty of variety!

 

Once I had decided on the location and period, the layout built itself.  The track was laid to requirements rather than a specific plan; I have never been able to lay track accurately to a plan.  The main thing is that there had to be a run around loop, and the headshunt for it had to be able to accommodate the largest loco on the layout (42xx/5101) with room to spare so that the thing did not look cramped.  In the event the panniers can clear 3 10' wheelbase wagons here if needed.  Having used that to determine where the engine release turnout was to go in relation to the actual buffer stop end of the branch, I simply laid what and where I wanted; a spur off the loop to service a goods platform, another at the other end to service a private factory siding, and one off the platform road back through the scenic break as the exchange road for the colliery.  The colliery loco shed is a spur off this at the station end

 

Scenery in reality in this spot is a very steep and narrow valley, all but a gorge. with heavily wooded mountainsides each side of the Nant Lechyd stream that runs through it, and of course on my layout the trees have all been cut down for pitprops ages ago, so the backscene is a mountainside rising precipitously behind the track, to the east of the stream.  The corresponding steep slope on the western, viewing, side, is imagined.  That, basically, is Cwmimbath. 

 

As for the trains, the locos are correct Tondu for the period but for one rule 1 example, not completely implausible, and the colliery W4. and we are making progress with coaches.  I am satisfied with the layout, which does everything I want it to and will provide modelling projects for probably the rest of my miserable existence.

 

I suppose I was influenced by the likes of Peter Denny's GCR opua, Frank Dyer's Borchester, Iain Rice's wonderful little oddities, and Ian Petherton or Pemberton (I can never get it right) with South Shields, all layouts that influenced me greatly and all layouts with well thought out and entirely plausible backstories; South Shields is of course a real place with a real well thought out and plausible backstory  I was involved with layouts depicting real places during my club days, but space considerations made it impossible for this layout (though I looked very closely at Abergwynfi).

 

So, how would someone else apply this sort of philosophy and backstory to a layout.  I think the givens are essential; area, type of operation (branch, roundyround, main line; this will be goverened by the space and resources you have available) and period need to be established and observed.  Also, consider what you want the layout to do for you; are you interested in operation, or other aspects of railway modelling.  If you are interested in operation, like me, there is little point in a roundyround where trains just pass through and don't do anything, and OTOH there is little point in a complex terminus like Borchester Town which requires several trained operators to get the best from it if you are a lone wolf operating at home.  The BLT is the obvious answer, but is often not very exciting.  For example, Wallingford; lovely looking bucolic backwater with lots of character, but once you've shuttled the 14xx and auto trailer back and forth a few times and run a pickup goods, you've done it all, and then you need to build another one to maintain your interest.  South Wales mining branches were a good compromise; restricted track layouts despite very busy working timetables and maximum utilisation of capacity, and Tondu was the hub of a network of single line branches.

 

I'm not young and this is my last layout, and it must provide me with entertainment for the rest of whatever time I have before I am withdrawn from service.  A younger modeller may be in a better position to consider being a serial layout builder, but not me; I'm done with all that.  I needed a layout I could get to a 'finished' (no such thing of course) and operational in a fairly short time with consideration to it being simple enough to not need much wiring; all turnouts are hand operated, though a later addition has been Dapol working signals.  Another alternative might have been industrial layout; lots of action and character in a small space, but I wanted a bit of ex GW action!

 

I think I can only describe the thought processes behind Cwmdimbath, Nevermakeit, and suggest generalised ideas for you rather than try to talk you through the process, because my needs and wants are going to be different to yours.  Establish the givens, study the area in terms of geology, landscape, vernacular architecture, even farming practices in order to evoke the general appearance and 'feel' of the thing.  Learn about the area to be modelled in the period to be modelled so that you can assess what the traffic would have probably been; the more thought you put in and the more you know about your area and your railways' operating practices in your period, the better your layout will be because you will automatically lay it out to cater to your railway's methods and automatically devise means of providing a plausible appearance. 

 

For steam era track plans, look at real examples on National Library of Scotland's OS datebase, free, and adapt the real plans to your purposes.  If your thing is post steam, then you are a bit more limited in your track plans, many of the smaller locations you may need to model will have been rationalised to the bone and operating interest will be limited.  How about a suburban/parcels section of a larger station, like KX suburban which is outsided of the overall roof, running local passenger trains during the day and berthing parcels traffic at night, can be done in minimal space and you can use big main line locos.  This could also be done as a steam era layout of course, if you like big tender locos and a restricted for space...

 

Sorry, that turned into one of my screeds a bit; hope some of my thoughts are of use to you!

Edited August 22, 2021 by The Johnster

[Nevermakeit]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

Now, that, Nevermakeit, is a very good question, because I have never really considered it from someone else's point of view.  All my layouts, even the very many I have planned and never built, have had at least the basis of this sort of backstory, ever since my teenage effort 'Blackwater', inspired by Barnstaple with the addition of boat trains connecting to a steamer service to Rosslare. 

Thank you very much for that. You seem very knowledgeable about how the railway of the time work, which is why your scenarios are so convincing. Is that personal knowledge or copious reading? Thanks. 

[The Johnster]

The Cwmdimbath Stock Acquistion Committee got a bit drunk at their last meeting in the upstairs room of The Forge, and have released funds for a Hornby Maunsell GLV, in crimson livery, and the vehicle has been ordered from Hornby.  Completely uneccessary and simply because I want one!   Should arrive over the next couple of weeks.

[The Johnster]

2 minutes ago, Nevermakeit said:

Thank you very much for that. You seem very knowledgeable about how the railway of the time work, which is why your scenarios are so convincing. Is that personal knowledge or copious reading? Thanks. 

I have some knowledge of real railway work from my career as a Canton freight guard in the 70s, and the rest being copious reading and remembering stories told by blokes who were really there.  Period working timetables are a help as well, but be warned; the detail is fascinating and will destroy anything you thought you were going to be doing that day...

[Nevermakeit]

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

I have some knowledge of real railway work from my career as a Canton freight guard in the 70s, and the rest being copious reading and remembering stories told by blokes who were really there.  Period working timetables are a help as well, but be warned; the detail is fascinating and will destroy anything you thought you were going to be doing that day...

Yes, that is part of the problem, isn't it - there are fewer and fewer blokes who were really there! 

[The Johnster]

Well, I wasn't really there, not in the sense of a steam railway anyway, but the loose coupled coal trains were still running in the valleys, behind 37s, and there was still a fair bit of 'traditional' railway work about with them.  But Canton did main line work, so the intricacies of shunting out washeries, going over weighbridges, and so on, were out of my remit.  If you want to know how to handle a brake van over the Hereford road on a class 8 in the dark, I'm your man, though...  The loose coupled coal trains and incline working were at Radyr, Llantrisant, and to a lesser extent Margam, Jersey Marine, Severn Tunnel, Ebbw Jc, and Llanelli.