Morfa - Hwyl fawr

[PhilJ W]

That standpipe was probably the only water supply, you will need a 'thunder box' out the back.

[Neil]

Now now chaps!   I COULD be on my lunch hour!

 

Just how many lunch hours per day is it reasonable to have?

[MartinWales]

Do you really want an answer!?

[Neil]

Morfa played host to a nautical gentleman from the south west this weekend. In preparation dust was rearranged, the spiders moved on, stock got out from storage boxes and a thorough testing session undertaken. I sorted out a spot where a previous running session had turned up a tight to gauge section of ply sleepered, plastic chaired track. The Park Royal DMU then decided to drop off the rails at one particular spot on some recycled SMP flexitrack. Initial thoughts turned to the bogies which have always been a little reluctant to articulate smoothly, are light and have wheels with finer flanges than the usual Bachmann/Hornby/Romford jobbies. Back to backs were rigorously checked, extra weight added to the bogies and the bogies freed up a touch, but still the problem remained. Close inspection of the track followed, the rail had climbed out of the chairs over a short length on the inside of the curve, and was resting atop them. The quick and simple solution of cutting off the chairs so the rail could sit back down on the sleepers was taken. Result. I will at some stage apply individual plastic chairs to the four or five sleepers concerned, just to ensure that there are no gauging issues in the future.

Moral; don't skimp on the basics.

 

Still gives me an excuse for a couple of snaps. Here my 4mm scale workforce apply a bit of finesse to get the rail back in position .....

 

 

..... while the engineers special waits completion of the works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Neil]

Seen earlier on the Pwllheli portion on the York - Aberystwyth mails was a van tripped down from Aberdeenshire to York the day before.

 

 

Despatched from the rail connected premises of Caledonian Recovered Meat Products (Kinmundy) it contained surplus haggises resulting from overproduction, itself the result of optimistic sales forecasts and a disastrous advertising campaign in the antipodes. 'Enjoy New Zealand lamb ....  then you'll love the insides of our Scottish sheep too'. 

 

Local rumour had it the whole consignment was bought by a shadowy Mr Big with connections to the north Wales meat pie trade. His intention being to repackage the haggises as faggots, to be sold by van round the coastal caravan parks, to holidaymakers from the black country desperate for a taste of home.

 

 

Unfortunately the plan came to naught. A hot box on the van led to it being shunted out at Morfa, and with no road access for off loading, the cargo festered in the summer sun.

 

 

With one less van in tow, the remaining vehicles of the Pwllheli mails rattled away, half an hour down, on the final leg of their journey up the coast. Mr Big furious on the other end of the phone, having been told of the fate of his meat, was left to cast around for other sales solutions. With the pet food industry giving the haggises the thumbs down the only option was to take a loss and accept the offer of disposal from a maggot farm.

[Neil]

Work on Morfa has been confined of late to the unseen, underside bits as I make reliability mods to the point operating mechanisms and upgrade the wiring to allow more than one engine in whirr/growl/prod.

 

 

In essence the work has entailed taking out the lever frame and replacing the wire in tube with bike spoke rodding  to the baseboard edge. After some time searching for suitable balls to finish off the spokes and provide a handle I remembered that I had a set of knobs from a harmonium left over from converting it to a bed headboard. As the layout is housed in a chapel I thought it highly appropriate to use them.

 

 

The missing off scene trackwork has also been attended to, laid but not as yet wired up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mullie]

Be great if the harmonium was built into the layout, that would be a different type of layout sound, you wouldn't get that with DCC!

[Neil]

I'm very, very pleased to report that work on the functional parts of Morfa (phase 1) have finally come to an end. The last piece of wire went in earlier this week, a push button to operate section of track just before the buffers on the off scene siding. It allows trains to be driven off stage with confidence. Once the wires were in place all the sidings off stage, those representing Pwllheli, Machynlleth and Dolgellau, were edged with low hardboard strips to catch any wayward derailments heading towards the floor.

 

 

Here the relationship between the Dolgellau off scene siding and the rest of the layout should be apparent. Zooming in we can see an engineers train halted by the isolating section behind the scenes, the beefy buffer-stop and the edging strips.

 

 

Next stop, all the pretty bits and some new toys.

 

 

 

[Barry Ten]

Morfa played host to a nautical gentleman from the south west this weekend. In preparation dust was rearranged, the spiders moved on, stock got out from storage boxes and a thorough testing session undertaken. I sorted out a spot where a previous running session had turned up a tight to gauge section of ply sleepered, plastic chaired track. The Park Royal DMU then decided to drop off the rails at one particular spot on some recycled SMP flexitrack. Initial thoughts turned to the bogies which have always been a little reluctant to articulate smoothly, are light and have wheels with finer flanges than the usual Bachmann/Hornby/Romford jobbies. Back to backs were rigorously checked, extra weight added to the bogies and the bogies freed up a touch, but still the problem remained. Close inspection of the track followed, the rail had climbed out of the chairs over a short length on the inside of the curve, and was resting atop them. The quick and simple solution of cutting off the chairs so the rail could sit back down on the sleepers was taken. Result. I will at some stage apply individual plastic chairs to the four or five sleepers concerned, just to ensure that there are no gauging issues in the future.

Moral; don't skimp on the basics.

 

That one's caught me out a surprising number of times with the new layout - the track in question being C+L but presumably just as prone to the same problem. It's never where it's easy to see, either, in my experience or else you'd notice it sooner. I also spent a lot of time tweaking rolling stock before realising that it was the track at fault.

 

Lovely to see progress on Morfa, anyway.

[Donw]

The PW gang have been a bit lax on knocking the keys in I suspect.

Don

[westerner]

"the rail had climbed out of the chairs"

 

 

Done that, been there and got the T shirt.

[Neil]

That one's caught me out a surprising number of times with the new layout - the track in question being C+L but presumably just as prone to the same problem. It's never where it's easy to see, either, in my experience or else you'd notice it sooner. I also spent a lot of time tweaking rolling stock before realising that it was the track at fault.

 

Lovely to see progress on Morfa, anyway.

 

Thanks Al, but I'm afraid I can't deploy the hard to see excuse, the section of line is within a foot of the baseboard edge with no obstructions in front. I think that I spent so long looking at items of stock because most has the forgiving flanges of Hornby and Bachmann wheelsets, which coped with the deficiencies of this particular section of track. Only the picky few with finer flanges caused problems which set me looking in the wrong place for a solution. However a valuable lesson has been learned and hopefully I'll be less blinkered in the future.

[Neil]

The PW gang have been a bit lax on knocking the keys in I suspect.

Don

 

They've been a bit lax in all sorts of places I'm afraid; a dreadful set set of bodgers.

[Neil]

Earlier this week a parcel arrived for me. I had been warned that it was something for Morfa and the only stipulation was that I do something with it before letting it loose on my trainset. here's what postie delivered.

 

 

Impressive the right way up, once inverted it becomes even more so. There's a plethora of dangly parts, and if that wasn't enough, a bag of extra parts is supplied.

 

 

For my purposes something would have to be done about wheels and couplings. The tension locks were prised out of their mountings which in were unscrewed.

 

 

 

 

The wheels were pushed out to EM gauge, and after a bit of careful relieving of the rear of the brake shoes, refitted followed by deployment of the bag of bits.

 

 

Up till now it had been a very swift job, putting together a pair of Smiths couplings slowed matters down considerably. Their installation was easy enough, the Bachmann hooks pulled away leaving a stub in the buffer beam which could be winkled out with drill and craft knife ro allow the substitution of the Smiths items.

 

So far all the work was that necessary to make the van compatible with Morfa's chosen standards. Now for the elective surgery.

 

 

If I've squinted at snaps and read the texts correctly it seems as though vac piped vans (like this example) should only have the external body side pipe on one side. The redundant one was prised out of its holes and wriggled out from behind the handrails.

 

 

Also to go were the pairs of lamp brackets on the veranda screen to be replaced by a single central example fashioned from brass strip and plasticard.

 

 

The holes left by the removal of the body side vac pipe were plugged with micro-rod, trimmed when set and filler smeared around the join.

 

 

 

After drying overnight files and sanding sticks smoothed everything down round the filled areas. The planking joins were reinstated by marking the line first by craft knife then opening out with a scraper board tool.

 

last job before weathering was to touch up the paintwork with a mix of green, grey, brown and black Humbrol enamels.

 

 

 

 

 

[Neil]

As hinted at earlier the brake van was a generous gift from a friend. I have an idea that it was chosen because Simon had seen what lay on my to do pile during his last visit. Remember the Triang crane shown earlier on? Well once the paint was on the van, I cast about for another project to tackle whilst said paint really hardened off. The crane had the original Triang wheelsets prised off and was resting on a set of EM replacements. I'd also removed the tension lock couplings and cut slots for the replacement three links in the buffer beam. Time to pick up the craft knife, paint and glue.

 

 

The operating 'handles' were cut off the winch, plasticard added to the rear of the balance weight which was then shaped into an arc.

 

 

Meantime three links were fitted and the wheels kept captive with cubes of 40thou plasticard force fitted into the bottom of the axle slots, secured with superglue.

 

 

Though only the very basics had been attended to I couldn't resist seeing what it looked like with a unifying coat of primer.

 

 

So good I decided to pose the crane with it's companions on the workbench for a group photo.

 

 

It took some time for the penny to drop that although far complete the whole train was in a state where it could trundle round Morfa. Here it's crossing the less than mighty Mawddach Bach.

 

 

 

 

[Fat Controller]

I believe Jon Hall may do a set of etches for this crane, including a counterweight with 'Cowans Sheldon' on it.

Should it be 'Mawddach Fach'?

[Neil]

I believe Jon Hall may do a set of etches for this crane, including a counterweight with 'Cowans Sheldon' on it.

Should it be 'Mawddach Fach'?

 

Thanks Brian, I've seen some etches for a six and a half ton conversion of the Triang crane on the net, I wonder if these would be them. However I fancy doing something low (much lower) tech using just plastic.

 

Bach or Fach? You may well be right, mutations have always caught me out. My knowledge of Welsh only extends to the most basic of pleasantries.

[46444]

Nice work Neil.

 

Not sure if you're aware but John at Cambridge Custom Transfers does a comprehensive set of decals for the Triang/Hornby Cowans Sheldon crane.  It's sheet BL36.  Here's the link:

 

http://www.cctrans.freeserve.co.uk/products.htm

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

[Neil]

Thank you Mark, I have a set of the Cambridge Custom Transfers ready and waiting for that phase of the build. I'm impressed by both the instructions which came with the transfers and the response time to my order; impressive for what I believe to be a one man operation.

[jonhall]

Thanks Brian, I've seen some etches for a six and a half ton conversion of the Triang crane on the net, I wonder if these would be them. However I fancy doing something low (much lower) tech using just plastic.

 

 

Yes, probably mine - however these days the kit is a resin counterweight block and etched pullys as either 6.5 or 10t versions- I hope Neil will excuse the blatant plug but I'll be demo'ing resin at Scaleforum at the weekend if anyone wants to pick up a set I'll have a few on me, but you will need to ask as they will be under the table.

.

 

Jon

[MartinWales]

Thanks Brian, I've seen some etches for a six and a half ton conversion of the Triang crane on the net, I wonder if these would be them. However I fancy doing something low (much lower) tech using just plastic.

 

Bach or Fach? You may well be right, mutations have always caught me out. My knowledge of Welsh only extends to the most basic of pleasantries.

It would be using the diminutive mutation so it would be more like Bychan Or Fechan (male/female gender). 

 

And Mr Neil I do beleive that you are better at Welsh than you let on.......

[Neil]

Thanks Martin, there are some other Welsh language issues I'd like to check through with you when we next speak (if you could remind me please).

 

Coincidently, several of my friends who are more diligent in learning Welsh than I, have said that their faltering attempts to use the language have often been scuppered by the innate politeness of the fluent speaker. When they start to strike up a conversation in Welsh their difficulties/hesitancy is noted and the native Welsh speaker will helpfully swap straight to English. It's a far cry from the stereotype of the pub/shop/bus conversation swapping from English to Welsh as soon as an incomer enters the scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Replace strait with straight. Doh!

[sub39h]

what a wonderful atmosphere. lovely layout, keep up the good work!

[Donw]

Nicely modelled Neil. I cannot help much with the nuances of the Welsh language or the pronounciation. My welsh friends seem to differ slightly in the way they say things but there again there is some difference between cockney and geordie. It always seems to me that there are three varieties of welsh north south and west.

Don

[BG John]

Nicely modelled Neil. I cannot help much with the nuances of the Welsh language or the pronounciation. My welsh friends seem to differ slightly in the way they say things but there again there is some difference between cockney and geordie. It always seems to me that there are three varieties of welsh north south and west.

Don

I gave up trying to learn after a few lessons, for now anyway, but the teacher wasn't teaching us West Wales Welsh. She said she would teach us Newcastle Emlyn Welsh, as opposed to the variety spoken in other local towns!