Cwm Prysor - 'The Bala Branch'

[Tom F]

The Extension

 

I know I said I'd decided to keep quiet for the moment, but the more I think about it, it seems the perfect way to continue the branch and make Cwm Prysor something more that what it currently is.

 

Now I know a few months ago I'd talked about a new model, Askrigg, a local station to my home in the Yorkshire Dales. However I have to be practical. The nature of my work (a peripatetic music teacher) my income fluctuates and I do not have Dad to support me anymore. I need to be practical and an all new layout means all new stock, locos, coaches and ultimately more money.

 

Now I can finally enjoy this wonderful part of former Merionethshire....it's logical to extend and continue to depict an area Dad and I loved greatly.

 

I had long wanted to model Trawsfynydd, but due to it's curved nature, it's not ideal in joining Cwm Prysor, so I've made the decision to extend from Bala Portal (Cwm Prysor now will form one end of the extended layout). The next station should be Arenig, but in truth I can't fit it in the shed and the final station I wish to model. So....the decision was made to go from Cwm Pryor across the shed on a 11ft board on a fully scenic section..... before curving back around to depict the final and main station of the layout.

This 11ft scenic board will therefore depict

 

CAPEL CELYN HALT

 

There have been lots of nice comments about the layout in the landscape that I have tried to recreate, it therefore seems logical to continue that theme.....it also feels special as the landscape beyond has changed greatly since the Tryweryn Valley was flooded in 1964/1965....part of me thinking it's my way respecting what happened there.

Now granted, I really need to carry on with the scenic work on Cwm Prysor, but it doesn't do any harm to get the boards ordered (which will be from Tim Horn who made the superb Cwm Prysor boards). The first stage in this development, will be to move Cwm Prysor across my shed so it's on the other wall (this means the Capel Celyn board doesn't require a lifting section to get to the door). I intend to do this in the next month.

 

Anyhow that's enough rambling for now! I however felt it was worth posting my thoughts on this new development as it continues to inspire and increase my modelling interest.

Edited September 21, 2018 by 9793

[KeithHC]

I like it will be watching it evolve over the up coming months. The concept of a railway in the landscape for these locations works well.

 

Keith  

[Tom F]

I like it will be watching it evolve over the up coming months. The concept of a railway in the landscape for these locations works well.

 

Keith  

 

 

Cheers Keith

 

I'm really looking forward to the first part of the extension. At least I can run trans a bit further until the 'next' station. Sort of obvious where we are heading isn't it!

[Northmoor]

CAPEL CELYN HALT

Capel-Celyn-Halt-21st-Jan-1961 (1).jpg

 

I feel cold and damp just looking at that photograph.

[Tom F]

I feel cold and damp just looking at that photograph.

 

 

Totally agree....it's what I love about this part of the world.

 

Here is a photo I've got framed of Capel Celyn, taken from the bridge in the previous photo. January 3rd 1960 and the last regular service train.

[AdeMoore]

Last night I made up two screwlinks for 5774 which I intend to do further work on tonight.

7427F96F-4EAA-49D6-B2DE-F2E5852D0BEE.jpeg..

Tom are those one of the part numbers you gave me from Ambis or all your own work?

Cheers

Ade

[Tom F]

Tom are those one of the part numbers you gave me from Ambis or all your own work?

Cheers

Ade

Ade, these are the Masokits Screwlinks.

[brack]

Was it like this?

https://www.micromark.com/Hold-It-Easy_2

I use the tube from the middle of toilet or kitchen roll for a similar purpose - fold one end in a bit so it fits the body and hold the other end. I then have a few bamboo skewers stuck into a bit of foam on the workbench that I can stand the model/tube on afterwards to leave it to dry.

[AdeMoore]

Ade, these are the Masokits Screwlinks.

Ah whoops sorry I should’ve gone back and read your post properly! I remember you did say. I had forgotten that bit!

Cheers

[Tom F]

Ah whoops sorry I should’ve gone back and read your post properly! I remember you did say. I had forgotten that bit!

Cheers

 

 

No worries Ade!  Easy to miss!

 

Back to the Capel Celyn extension, I went down to the site nearly two years ago with author Derek Lowe (who is co writing the new book on the Branch). We photographed the over bridge, at the time as reference for the one I've used on Cwm Prysor.

 

 

 

 

and the reminder of how it all was!

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by 9793

[TrevorP1]

Sympathies on the loss of your Dad Tom. I lost my Dad about 25 years ago and never a day goes by when I don't think of him in some way.

 

Really enjoying reading about your rekindled efforts. I like the idea of modelling somewhere lonely - the absolute antithesis of what most of us do.

 

I will be round about Bala and Trawsfyndd in two weeks time on my way to the Ffestiniog victorian weekend, I can feel a distraction coming along!

 

Keep up the good work!

[Tom F]

Sympathies on the loss of your Dad Tom. I lost my Dad about 25 years ago and never a day goes by when I don't think of him in some way.

 

Really enjoying reading about your rekindled efforts. I like the idea of modelling somewhere lonely - the absolute antithesis of what most of us do.

 

I will be round about Bala and Trawsfyndd in two weeks time on my way to the Ffestiniog victorian weekend, I can feel a distraction coming along!

 

Keep up the good work!

 

 

Thanks Trevor for your kind words.

 

Oh enjoy your time up that way, a detour is certainly recommended!

 

Cwm Prysor is on the move!!!!

Not far mind, just to the other side of the shed.... It needs to be rotated 180 degrees, so the extension across the shed, isn't across the doors. A friend is coming to do it tomorrow. We will get the fiddle yards off, and then hopefully can turn the layout without having to separate it into two.

 

Also gives me the opportunity to clear the junk that's accumulated in there.

[Regularity]

That’s a nice overall shot of the scene - it shows off the composition very well.

 

Whither (or wither?) the grass... ?

[Tom F]

That’s a nice overall shot of the scene - it shows off the composition very well.

 

Whither (or wither?) the grass... ?

 

 

Ha, well I figured there was no point until the layout was moved alongside the opposite wall, I figured it was best to hang fire. 

 

Tonight I've taken both fiddle yards off the ends. This was relatively straight forward, ready to turn the old girl round tomorrow!

Edited September 22, 2018 by 9793

[KeithHC]

Mind you from that lighting it looks like a winter scene.

 

Keith

[Tom F]

Mind you from that lighting it looks like a winter scene.

Keith

Well I’m not far off, the scenery depicted will be autumn....not that I need many trees, other than Scotch Pines! They seem to have been used like a marker along the line in small groups every quarter of a mile or so. Was this a GWR thing?

 

 

[Brinkly]

I know it isn't, but you could be photographing parts of the Princetown line on Dartmoor! I do love rural railway lines. 

 

Best wishes,

Nick.

[Regularity]

I do love rural railway lines. 

 

Although technically speaking, rural means “not urban”, I wonder if “remote” might be a more (moor?) fitting description?

But mountains are holy places,

And beauty is free.

[Brinkly]

Although technically speaking, rural means “not urban”, I wonder if “remote” might be a more (moor?) fitting description?

 

This is true Simon! 

[Ramrig]

But mountains are holy places, and beauty is free

Excellent lyrics by Callum and Rory MacDonald Edited September 23, 2018 by Ramrig

[Tom F]

Well we’ve done it!

 

The main layout didn’t need splitting and we were able to turn it 180 degrees.....just...the dowel for the lighting rig had about 0.5mm clearance!

 

 

Now she is in her final position. Without the Bala board in place there is 6ft for the first Capel Celyn board. Plenty of room for more welsh scenery!

 

[Tom F]

Rather pleased tonight.

 

Mike's Models used to produce the GWR station hut like that seen on Capel Celyn Halt. One came up on eBay, and I won it for the grand total of £13! Last one went for £20 something.

 

 

[Pteremy]

Well done.

 

I think that your layout is a perfect example of how sometimes 'less is more'. Very few of us have the space to model landscape to scale - but we can model the interaction of a railway line and the landscape, which you are doing to perfection.

[Regularity]

Well done.

 

I think that your layout is a perfect example of how sometimes 'less is more'. Very few of us have the space to model landscape to scale - but we can model the interaction of a railway line and the landscape, which you are doing to perfection.

There’s a lot more of less in this layout!

[The Johnster]

Well I’m not far off, the scenery depicted will be autumn....not that I need many trees, other than Scotch Pines! They seem to have been used like a marker along the line in small groups every quarter of a mile or so. Was this a GWR thing?

 

36C88571-EB82-437B-A223-5D4C2D34E091.jpeg

 

AE9431A1-1789-4FB5-BB7D-C23936E4A03C.jpeg

 

Scotch Pines were and still are a feature of rural Welsh landscapes, though not in connection with railways so I cannot say much about the ones in the photos.  They could be seen from miles away and indicated farms or other locations that were willing to accommodate the cattle drives that were common in pre-railway days and for some time after to the railheads.  Cattle were taken to market, which meant the industrial towns or London, fattened on the hoof, by Drovers, a tough breed who were the progenitors of the Wild West's cowboys.  The big London drives were like moving towns, with women doing the catering and hoping to gain employment in London's hiring fairs as servants and such.  Hatfield was for many centuries the destination of the London drives, the beasts being sold at a hopeful profit and taken on the hoof to the big London slaughterhouses and Smithfield.

 

These enterprises must have been replicated in Scotland and the north of England, but I am only aware of the Welsh ones.  The drives needed overnight accommodation, though they may have camped out in good conditions; fodder and water in enclosed fields for the beasts, victuals and beer for the Drovers (the water would kill in those days).  Scotch Pines also indicated Drover's inns, which were by all accounts a bit hairy...

 

Many of the old routes survive, some as modern roads or trackways, and can be followed on maps.  The most famous is Sarn Helen, which traverses the country from Caernarfon to Neath, and passes not far from Cwm Prysor IIRC; this has connections with the Maginogion and Welsh folklore, and may be very ancient indeed.