Traeth Mawr -Building Mr Price's house , (mostly)

[Winslow Boy]

12 hours ago, ChrisN said:

 

Mike,

No, this is a different Sir Jon.  He comes from Groombridge.  If Blanche did try and paint the town red, well at least some painting would get done, but more likely, Sgt Roberts would intervene first, then your Sir Jon would have to bail her out of the lock up.

Looks like Sir Jon has already been snowballed as his top hat has a deposit on it already. May be that's Blanche's second shot.

[Nick Gough]

Merry Christmas, Chris, to you and the inhabitants of Traeth Mawr and its visitors.

Also thanks for your support and advice during the last few months.

[MikeOxon]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Looks like Sir Jon has already been snowballed as his top hat has a deposit on it already. May be that's Blanche's second shot.

You could be right - she does nothing by halves!  Seems that Sgt Roberts has a lucky escape 🤪

[ChrisN]

15 hours ago, Mikkel said:

Mr Price, kindly pass my appreciation to the contractor. We are indebted to him for maintaining this inspiring chronicle.

 

As for yourself I am worried and a little puzzled that your father remains locked in the cabinet. It is almost as if you do not seem to want him back out!

 

 

Dear Mr Mikkel,

I passed on your comments to the contractor, he seemed genuinely pleased that you found it inspiring.

 

As for my father, well, I understand that it is the contractor's wife that likes having him locked in the display cabinet, along with the down shelter and a Twll Du train.  Says they look 'nice'.  I think he does not argue about it as it keeps dad from moaning to him about the lack of a station, or a house, or, well, just about everything really.  He tells me that he is not far off from starting our house.  About time to as I am fed up of sleeping in the goods shed.  The platform is not going as well as he hoped so it might just get done when he feels like it, and he will not wait to finish it before starting something else.

 

He tells me that it is likely over Christmas that he will he tackling the 3rd Class Saloon, as it is small and he needs to wait for his Christmas presents before he can start our house as he gave all his mounting board away to his grandson to build a bowling alley, whatever that it.  Is it like skittles?  I know he has the drawings for a GWR coach, but has not sent them to the workshop yet to get cut, and is getting a GWR saloon ready as well.  Well, GWR.  I despair sometimes, but he says, well foreign passengers bring in money.

 

Anyway, I have to go, clocks to wind, tickets to sell, lamps to polish, he has locked away a lot of the staff as well.

 

Yours,

 

Master O. Price.

 

P.S. Happy Christmas

[ChrisN]

4 hours ago, Northroader said:

No, I’m just totally enamelled, just to put a gloss on it.

 

Hi,

Glad you are enamelled with it, I was told though to always use a satin finish.  I can just about make one train of 4 wheelers, but eventually I should only run four or six wheelers, with the occasional bogie, but they will be GWR, so I am not sure there is much I can do about that.

[corneliuslundie]

Nadolig Llawen i bawb ar y Traeth Mawr

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, Nick Gough said:

Merry Christmas, Chris, to you and the inhabitants of Traeth Mawr and its visitors.

Also thanks for your support and advice during the last few months.

 

Nick,

Merry Christmas to you as well, and I hope everything goes well for you in the New Year.  Give me a shout if you need anything.

[ChrisN]

1 hour ago, MikeOxon said:

You could be right - she does nothing by halves!  Seems that Sgt Roberts has a lucky escape 🤪

 

Mike,

Sgt Roberts might be the only policeman in Traeth Mawr, but if he blows his whistle, then two [porters from the station come running, two more from the Twll Du, and a couple of fisherman.  I think they could probably handle Blanche.😬

[Northroader]

You can’t trust a “special” like an old time copper.

[Edwardian]

39 minutes ago, Northroader said:

You can’t trust a “special” like an old time copper.

 

Assuming Blanche can't find her own way home

[Edwardian]

Here's an old time copper for you, Chris, though I assume that you will have come across this picture yourself by now.

 

He's a member of Merionethshire Constabulary pictured in 1894. As I assume from its proximity to Barmouth that Traeth Mawr lies Merionethshire, and IIRC your setting is 1895, this fellow would seem to be pretty spot on. 

 

 

It is to be hoped, however, that your Sergeant Roberts enjoys a happier home life and kinder fate than that of PC Ashton. I've always felt too much poetry has a deleterious effect: Link

 

 

 

[Simond]

Ye gods, what a way to go!  Very messy.

[Edwardian]

14 minutes ago, Simond said:

Ye gods, what a way to go!  Very messy.

 

It is hard to imagine that such a deep cut could be self-inflicted, so I have my doubts.

 

Hell hath no fury, on the other hand.

 

The timely presence of at least one other policeman is also interesting.

 

I cannot help but wonder whether Mrs Ashton had sought solace for her husband's long absences at Cardiff library and, perhaps, had not expected him to return home in the middle of them. 

 

But, hey, we're killing the mood, so apologies.

[ChrisN]

8 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Here's an old time copper for you, Chris, though I assume that you will have come across this picture yourself by now.

 

He's a member of Merionethshire Constabulary pictured in 1894. As I assume from its proximity to Barmouth that Traeth Mawr lies Merionethshire, and IIRC your setting is 1895, this fellow would seem to be pretty spot on. 

 

 

It is to be hoped, however, that your Sergeant Roberts enjoys a happier home life and kinder fate than that of PC Ashton. I've always felt too much poetry has a deleterious effect: Link

 

 

 

 

James,

Thank you.  Yes Traeth Mawr was at the time in Merionethshire.  I think Police uniforms did not change much until after WW2, although this one has slight differences to the ones I have seen.  When, Sergeant Roberts appears, probably not until I do the next layout and the market scene, he will be resplendent, probably, in a 'Peelers; uniform complete with top hat and tails, next to the mayor.  Reason?  The Mayor put on his chains and he dressed up as there was going to be the recruting parade of the Volunteers, and because I had an Andrew Stadden figure that fitted the bill and i thought, 'Why not'?

[Dana Ashdown]

On 28/12/2023 at 09:35, Edwardian said:

It is hard to imagine that such a deep cut could be self-inflicted

I'm not too surprised, especially if the razor is sharp. I suppose its why they call them cut-throat razors.

 

I bleed enough with a regular razor to ever try one of those!

[ChrisN]

Well, it is that time of the year again, when I do my annual review of my modelling, or to put it another way, a look at how little I have done.  First, my list from this time last year.

 

 

Now this year's list, you will be forgiven for thinking that nothing has changed.

 

You may wonder what is the difference between 'Finished' and 'Done'.  'Finished' means it is finished, that there is no more to do on the model.  No seriously, finished.  'Done' means it is as done as far as it goes.  The Tin Tabernacle may at some point get a pipe to carry hot water, a model pipe carrying pretend hot water, but that will take lots of time for no scenic effect on the outside.  The coaches need passengers, and checks to make sure they run well.  The carriage truck needs chains and chocks.  What is most amazing is that the Kiosk and the Tin Tabernacle where not even on a list last year so they have been completed in one year.  Is this a record?

 

In the 'Current' section I am still trying to get some brass blacking for the 645, and the GWR Saloon is waiting for painting.  The 'Traeth Mawr People'  is an ongoing project and some have been done this year but there are lots in the pipeline.

 

You may notice that this list has grown.  The Cambrian Third is a short side project, (cough, cough), the G41 I am making the file for cutting as I sit next to my wife while we watch Christmas TV.  The Dean Bogie is going to go under the E25, which may or may not be cut this year.

 

The point motors I tried to finish last year, but will take a concerted effort of a number of hours in one go to fix the fact that they are not working.  I am not sure that will happen.

 

So stay tuned for, 'Will he finish the station building this year?', 'Will Mr Price's House get built this year?', 'Will Station Road get made?', 'Will Mr Price get released from the display cabinet?', 'Will watching paint dry be more interesting?'

 

If you have been, thatnks for looking, and a Happy New Year with lots of modelling.

[Donw]

Wishing you all a great new year.

 

Don

[ChrisN]

Well, in lieu of me posting any proper modelling here is another side project.

 

Now you may wonder why a side project.  I have nearly finished the flashing on the station chimneys and then it is the guttering, but I really need to sit at my table to do that.  I have also got the sides of the Cambrian Third Saloon together and now as Dart Castings have sent me some W irons to hold the wheels I can progress with that.  So why this project?  Well, I would like to start on Mr Price's house, (shh!  He may hear and get excited), but I have given away my mounting card and have decided to go to foam board and have yet to buy some.

 

So, as I want to do something while my wife is busy, and also to be in the same room as her, I have progressed another coach on the Silhouette, and brought it to the point of cutting.  The coach is a G41, a 4 wheel saloon.

 

At one point I did not like saloons, as I prefer compartment coaches, and a saloon reminded me of the Mk1 Tourist Opens, and all modern coaches.  (Sorry for the bad language.)  I then realised that these coaches were different and could be hired.  I looked for coaches that I had heard about, as I wanted a coach with a saloon, a smoking compartment and a servants compartment.  This has those plus a toilet and servants quarters.  I had started with a G35 but found this was used exclusively by the Prince of Wales, Edward that is, the future Edward VII.  Here it is.

 

 

I had hoped my Cambrian Third would fit onto a ratio chassis, but of course I was kidding myself, hence the parts from Dart Castings but this one will fit on a ratio chassis and I have the right one, and it has the correct wheel base.  So it is likely to get built, as I want to see if my Silhouette Program on a Windows 11 computer still talks to my machine, while I still have an older one that does.  It will however languish in the 'to do' pile waiting to be painted.

 

If you have been, thanks for looking.

[Mikkel]

An interesting Saloon Chris, I didn't realize that there were variants with servant's compartments (typical middle class ignoramus).

 

 

9 hours ago, ChrisN said:

Well, I would like to start on Mr Price's house, (shh!  He may hear and get excited), but I have given away my mounting card

 

Edited January 14 by Mikkel

[corneliuslundie]

Yes, and a compartment for those nasty smokers. 5 ft 6 in. between compartments for the lower orders, 6 ft 5 in. for the smokers, and a couple of nice basket chairs in the saloon. Plus luggage space and a lavatory of course. Ideal for taking the family yo Traeth Mawr, with the Brougham on a flat wagon at the end of the train of course.

Jonathan

 

[MikeOxon]

3 hours ago, Mikkel said:

An interesting Saloon Chris, I didn't realize that there were variants with servant's compartments (typical middle class ignoramus).

The class divisions between servants in pre-WW2 British society were almost more marked than those between their masters!  There's a flavour of it in Eveleyn Waugh's 'Brdeshead Revisited',  when Lord Marchmain returns from Italy and his retinue of servants have to be amalgamated with those already at the English estate: "Plender and Wilcox became Joint Grooms of the Chambers, like Blues and Life Guards with equal precedence, ... the senior footman was given a black coat and promoted butler, the nondescript Swiss, on arrival, was to have full valet’s status; there was a general increase in wages to meet the new dignities, and all were content." 

 

When Lord Wilcote ordered his special train then, in addition to the Family Saloon, he required a tri-composite, to ensure that the divisions could be carefully maintained.  In my blog post, I commented that "I expect the greatest fun was enjoyed in the 3rd class section, where the young maids would be making their first trip to London."

 

Mike

[ChrisN]

6 hours ago, Mikkel said:

An interesting Saloon Chris, I didn't realize that there were variants with servant's compartments (typical middle class ignoramus).

 

 

 

 

Mikkel,

Yes, there are several of them, although this one is one of a kind.  There are other diagrams that are similar but with a different configuration.  I only need someone to tell me it was only used by the Duke of Clarence on wet Tuesdays when there was an 'r' in the month.  

 

8am Monday morning.

Now look Guv, it's a supply problem.  'Aving difficulties wiv gettin the stuff.  No probs though.  Once it comes we're away.  Well, when we have put up the guttering on the station, and given it a lick of paint.  Archetecs done all the drawins.  It will be a doddle, you'll luv it.  Nice little bit of garden as well, close to work, so you won't 'ave to walk far. 

What's this?  You hav'nt got a desk. Cor, luv a duck, you must be jokin.  Do you want your house built or not?

All right, all right.  I see what I can do.  Look you can always go and sit in the refreshment room. 

Okay, okay, I'm goin.  I will do your room right after the refreshment rooms.  What is the problem with that?  Customers to sit at the tables, and painting them.  Can't do that 'till spring.

Why?  Technical reasons.  Right must go.  This talkin won't make the baby a new bonnit.  See ya.

[ChrisN]

9 hours ago, corneliuslundie said:

Yes, and a compartment for those nasty smokers. 5 ft 6 in. between compartments for the lower orders, 6 ft 5 in. for the smokers, and a couple of nice basket chairs in the saloon. Plus luggage space and a lavatory of course. Ideal for taking the family to Traeth Mawr, with the Brougham on a flat wagon at the end of the train of course.

Jonathan

 

 

Jonathan,

Yes, I had not thought about a carriage as well., and a horse.  Unless they came to stay in a hotel, but then why bring your servants?  I suppose they could rent a house.

 

Sir Jon who is coming from Oak Hill has a Brougham, so perhaps I shall have to see if there is another suitable vehicle.  Would it need a CCT or an open truck?  A GWR horse box will be needed as well.

 

Gary, @BlueLightning. has just put into his shop an LSWR horse box and carruage wagon, perhaps I will need a LSWR saloon as well.  Salmon pink though.😑

Edited January 14 by ChrisN

[corneliuslundie]

At that period probably an open carriage truck. The Cambrian had two but of course you would want one from the other end, GWR or LBSCR.

Jonathan

[Compound2632]

33 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

At that period probably an open carriage truck.

 

Not that covered carriage trucks weren't available - just 4/- extra!