Anthony Ashley

Jamie, Yes I think you are right as Pen-y-clip is probably the road tunnel. but immediately below is the rail viaduct as shown in the cover of your book. I have started the construction of the rail viaduct on pages 28 and a single photo on page 35 experimenting with the arch area. The best photo I have of the arches is below; If you have any better detail on the viaduct construction layout I am very interested. You have an impressive library of books in your collection, particularly for the North Wales area. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Jamie, Good luck with the layout. OO Gauge has advantages by being less fiddly and much more versatile in terms of items available. If you have a link for your layout please attach it to your next post. All of your photos of the station and bridge will be of great assistance when I come to modelling those features. They are very detailed and provide a great basis for modelling. I have a number of books on the line including : From Chester to Holyhead: The Branch Lines Railways of North Wales: Bangor Lost Lines of Wales; Chester to Holyhead North Wales Steam (1927-1968) North Wales Steam Vol 2 London Midland Steam in North Wales Rhyl to Bangor Midland Main Lines Steam on the North Wales Coast Chester to Holhead Railway. This book has track plans of Conwy, Penmaenmawr and 2 of Bangor 1 of 1876 and one much later- it looks the same as the one you posted above. I would be interested if you think the other books have any good pictures of the 3 stations I am modelling. As I am about to model the Pen-y-clip Rail viaduct any photos of that would be useful. I do have quite a few from online. Thank you for your extensive contribution to date it is appreciated. In terms of Brisbane weather we had about 4 months of no rain but in the last two weeks about 200mls or possible more!! Forecast is for really heavy rain for the next week. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Jamie, I was aware that the Penmaenmwr station had been up for sale as the real estate adds occasionally cropped up in my internet searches. Thanks for the photos as they will be really useful when I come to model the station. I have been looking for the balastrading which fits on the rising stair cases on the Penmaenmawr track foot bridge. The picture below shows the design. Is anyone aware of an etch of this design in N gauge? I think the LMS arches on the station veranda are available in N gauge. I am very interested in all photos of the 3 stations I am modelling if you can post them. The rail sheds in Bangor were very large. The goods shed in N gauge is about 400 ml long!! I had some trouble working out the design of the engineering shed at Bangor, but now have at least a photo. It was an odd combination of about 2 different styles, partly saw tooth roof and then an elevated section for the coaches/wagons to fit underneath. I have one good photo of the structure shown below. If anyone else has any other photos of this building I a interested in getting a copy. The photos below are the final sections of the hidden track support apart from the run around loops and Chester storage yard. I have not completed any of this recently and last did some about 4 years ago! I need to finish one of the supports to go under both the board above and the Chester storage yard. I shall be focusing on the Rail viaduct at Pen-y-clip next. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Jamie and Simon, I appreciate all of the chatter about the area and the line in particular, and am not in the least concerned about the confusion on the layout building. Simon has contributed in a very important fashion over the years (longer than 5 years), although we have never met. His insightful and practical comments have always been greatly valued and have really assisted in refining the layout with some minor but also very significant improvements. The discussions on track plan, layout and scenery have assisted in changing and improving my planning. Of course this is my first layout the I have built so I am learning as I go. Jamie just to explain I am Australian and have never lived in Wales, although I have had 3 holidays the Britain. If you have a look at the very first post of this series I have explained the basis of the layout . I decided on the location by going to a train enthusiast house, talking to him and looking at his extensive train library. The Chester/Holyhead line had everything I wanted in a N Gauge layout. The volume of traffic for a day was manageable with 108 passenger. 54 goods and 8 parcel movements. This has required 220 coaches of various sizes. I have managed to get all of the coaches and ,most of the locos. The line had the spectacular Conwy castle at Conwy, a granite mine in a mountain, narrow gauge track, seaside resort and 2 fantastic viaducts at Penmaenmawr and the largest goods station at Bangor. These 3 station add different elements to the layout and are managable in N Gauge. Conwy and Penmaenmawr have quite a few buildings but Bangor only a few. One of the more interesting buildings in Bangor has been there for at least 100 years and is next to the underpass near the station. It is the grave maker, who has maintained the same house and advertises examples of his grave stones at the front garden of his house. I have seen photos from about 1920 and the same thing is still visible on google earth. Photo from Google Earth is below: An extract of the time table is below: The extract includes the Irish mail rake. the columns are in order: Time of departure, Departing Station and rake length including loco, Destination station, Time of arrival at scenic station, Time of departure at scenic stations (yellow in these boxes means stopping at the station), Rake composition, Number of coaches, Loco on rake and Layout designation number (recorded on Storage yard), I have all of the passenger, goods and parcel trains for a day in summer 1960. I shall post some photos of the hung hidden support boards later today. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Jamie, The layout is N Gauge so the area being modelled is quite large, incorporating part of Conwy, Penmaenmawr and Bangor. The layout is 36 feet by 16 feet with a small walkway in the middle y shed is about 40 feet by 19 feet, providing a narrow walkway around the layout. I will need to complete about 450 buildings for the layout ( with many of those being similar tenement houses. The hanging rods are a great idea as they allow the height to be adjusted if the gradient is too steep. I do not have more that 1% gradient (I hope) but on some curves this may be too much , particularly for the 17 coach rake. The rods will facilitate fine adjustment if required. The scenic and hidden rack plan is on the prior page. Simon. I agree the loops certainly will simplify the process. I sympathise with your connection problem. I have added many switches to try make problem solving much easier. Each switch has its own coloured coded wires to the track area from one of the 6 power sources I have. There may be up to 8 switches per power source. Even though the hidden yards are under the layout they are not difficult to access, as they are at least 500ml below the scenic track height with nothing else above them. This provides a very large space for problem solving. I hope to place all of the servos and switching electronics on top of the yard board for further ease of access, rather than underneath. In fact the bottom yard is under the mountain so even more height above it. I do not see access as any issue. Both comments have been greatly appreciated. Have fitted one hidden board and nearly done the second in between throwing a ball for Darcy the boreder collie!!!! Regards, Anthony Ashley

Rodney, My 3 scenic towns on the layout are from top anti clockwise are Conwy, Penmaenmawr and Bangor on the right as you look from the bottom. If you leave Bangor heading west or anti clock wise around the layout you would eventually arrive in the terminal at Holyhead, so the storage yard under the left side of the layout I have called Holyhead. Moving clockwise through Conwy the next station is Llandudno, but the most major station on the line is called Chester, hence the storage yard at the bottom of the layout has been called Chester. Plan below to picture my words. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I have listened to all of the comments about scraping the uncoupling and traverser. I have spent the day on Any rail seeing how I could fit in connection for all of the Holyhead storage yard direct to the run around loop. It has taken about 8 hours. I have achieved the aim and the plan below is the result. I can fit in the points to reconnect all of the 34 tracks in the Holy head yard. I am interested in your combined comments again, as it appears to be possible. Eliminating the loco uncoupling, running only the locos around the reversing the loop and then reversing them back may be beyond the technical expertise of me and the computer programme. (more likely me). The plan allows the rakes to continue in the same direction. To complete the plan I have measured all of the length of every rake and have tailored the yard line to match the rakes by at least 100ml but mor ein some cases. This process took the 8 hours. Your comments are very welcome. The run around loop is in light blue. The storage yard is in green, yellow, blue and pink. The colours relate to the power sectors. The rectangle square at the bottom is the position of the potentially unnecessary traverser. My minimum radius is 24". I have 7 spare tracks in the storage yard. The next 2 hidden track boards are both cut and painted. One has been hung and one still to be hung. Pictures of the boards tomorrow. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Rodney, Simon, John, Paul and John, Your comments are all very helpful and in interesting discussion. I was always intending to use DG couplers between the locos and the first and last coach/wagon for those rakes which go to the storage yards. With DGs there is no shuffle required. Some of the rakes will remain on the scenic layout in a goods yard at the end of the day. This is dependent on the time table. I understand that the DG couplers are the most reliable. I will be putting eletro-magnets under the yard to sit between the loco and first/last coach/wagon. The same rake will always occupy the same line in the storage yard layout so the positioning should be very accurate. I will also have eletro-magnets in relevant spots in the goods yards within the scenic areas but these will be operated electronically but visually as a part of any shunting activity. Once the uncoupling has occurred within the hidden yards all other locos will be at the other end of the rakes in the hidden yard, so the elecro magnets can be quite powerful to reduce the requirement for absolute accuracy. A significant number of the rakes are over seven feet and so there is not physically sufficient room to the rakes around on a run around loop. I do not think I can joint all the track work up with enough points to have them go onto the run around loop. There are 34 tracks on each hidden yard which would be a lot of points and real estate to join. I shall have a look though and see. Operation without the traverser and uncoupling would make life much easier and simplify the rakes. If the DG couplers do not work reliably then I am in trouble, but thought for a layout permanently anchored in one spot and with no transport of the vehicles they should be OK. If this does not work than I will need to think of alternatives, but currently have nothing in mind. The uncoupling points for the storage yards will all be in a line across the storage yard. I shall mark this for accuracy with a wire across the yard above the stock. I can not think of a better way of running the traversing section and the hidden storage yards. Accuracy of TC Gold will be critical in the location of the stops in the hidden track area. Next 2 hidden track support areas have been cut and painted and will be inserted tonight, using hanging rods. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, The photos below show the Chester end of the line at this stage. I am concerned that if I do any permanent wiring on Bangor it may not be possible to hang the support rods for the required hidden track still to be laid. There is not much left with only a U shape for double track and then the large storage yard. Below is the plan showing what is left for completion. I have completed up to about CU7 and CD6. The storage yard is comprised of yellow, green , pink and purple track. More track supports to be installed. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, The photos below show the Chester end of the line at this stage. I am concerned that if I do any permanent wiring on Bangor it may not be possible to hang the support rods for the required hidden track still to be laid. There is not much left with only a U shape for double track and then the large storage yard. Below is the plan showing what is left for completion. I have completed up to about CU7 and CD6. The storage yard is comprised of yellow, green , pink and purple track. More track supports to be installed. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear Simon and John, Thanks for the comments. I have looked for a laser cutting firm but so far it appears to be quite expensive for the small job I have in mind. I would need 26 75mm radius arches of 6 ml width with a brick pattern of about 1/2 ml by 1 ml. I am going to another N Gauge modellers house tonight so will ask what laser cutting options he is aware of within Brisbane. He is the fellow who has done the 3D printing for me of the tenement houses. I have come up with another viable option using scale scenes printed material. Their viaduct arches in OO gauge can be scaled down with printing to fit exactly into the radius of my arches. They have a curved brick pattern which follows the arch radius around. It has a depth of 4 rather than 6 bricks but would look good. I can then do the under arch area in the same dark red brick pattern using card and the printed paper sheets paper. I will see what options arise from laser printing tonight. The photo of the arch below is a print onto normal paper rather that card. I think card would give a better outcome, but the paper gives the visual effect. I think the colour matching of the print to the underneath arch area will be a better effect than my attempt at painting the bricks at such a small scale. Most of the face of the rail viaduct will be my resin dressed stone. This photo gives the visual effect of the multiple tenement houses in a row. I have many more to complete. The third from the left still has some brick work, arches and footings to be added. The other 2 on the right are under construction. I am not sure why the Welsh builders in Bangor are so slow in their construction!!!! I think 7 completed in a row will be impressive. I have a bout 10 streets of them to be built. More work on the rail viaduct, the tenement houses to be completed. I am also looking to finish the hidden track work leading to the 38 track storage yard at the bottom of the layout. I have taken out my old ply supplies and am starting to cut the required sections to support the hidden track. This will also require more steel rods to be cut and hung off the layout frame work. The section left is quite small, but it is work I have not done for 3 years. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Stubby, I shall need to expand my sound effects range to meet your request. No promises though!!!!! I finished off the quoins on the viaduct piers last night so have added a few more photos below. I shall need confirmation on the correct side of the road!! I have completed a second tenement house minus down pipes and guttering. The 2 look good together. The rail viaduct is a much more difficult modelling task as the arches are much tighter and the immediate arch area is brick rather than stone. I am still trying to work out how to get a circular brick pattern around the arch. My favoured means at this stage is to cut plain paper as I have done for the road viaduct and then over lay brick paper wedges to have the bricks curving around the arch. Each wedge would need to be individually cut with the bricks aligned across the wedge, with a tab underneath to fold under the arch. This may work I think but will be time consuming. I have resin brick work for the front and back sides. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, I apologise for not responding earlier. I did not see your response on the next page. I would be most appreciative if you approach the Penmaenmawr Historical society on my behalf and am very happy for you to share any of my photos. I appreciate your assistance and any thing more in terms of details would be really excellent. My 2 months in the US and Canada obviously impacted my severely with my driving recognition, although I have not driven on the wrong side of the road in Australia yet!!! I shall replace my vehicles and try again with some photos. I am so happy with the viaduct a few more will not go astray, although it took much longer to build than I expected. It seems that most train modelling jobs take a very long time to complete if you put a lot of detail into it. Howard thanks again for the offer please go ahead. I need to bed in the viaduct at its base as the piers are covered up with some rubble in the photos I have seen. The rubble starts about one third of the way yup on the back of the pier but is at ground level at the front of them. Thanks to John and Lez for the constructive advice. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I have virtually finished the road viaduct. Photos are below. I have also done a fair bit of work on the cliff faces. I shall post a few photos in the next day or so. Another tenement house has been completed minus gutters, down pipes and chimney. I need to fill in the gaps on the cliff face and then paint it. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, Your picture of the rail and road viaduct are the best I have seen to date and provide me with a much higher overall level of clarity on these structures in their place. Thanks again for your contribution I appreciate it. I had not seen that picture before. I am going to have to use a fair amount of guess work on the hotel, as Only have a few limited photos. I have progressed with the road surface on the road viaduct, although it is a slow process. I am using 3 ml strips of plasticard om the sides to give me 2 surfaces to scrape on. Then I lay the plaster of paris with black pigment to get grey tarmac. Sand back the surface. Pull up the side supports and re plaster to fill in the gaps. My batches of plaster have varied in colour, but that just creates a patchwork road effect which is fine. Plaster road surface nearly completed. I know it looks patchy but it is a well repaired road!! The edge strips have been removed in this shot, so another plaster run to fill the gaps! The strips are still in place in this photo, but plaster has been added. Plaster strips in place ready for a plaster pour. I need to finish the road and then add stone edges to the inside of the walls. Lastly a stone cap to the top on either side of the viaduct. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Howard, I am really excited to see the publications you have posted. They add a lot to my knowledge of the rail infrastructure at Penmaenmawr. A really excellent contribution, thank you very much for posting them on the site. If you have any other photos to post it would be really appreciated. I find that it is the less obvious nooks and cranies that cause difficulties when you come to model them, as the odd space of grass or wall may crop up in an unexpected place. A photo is worth a thousand words by providing an overview of an area. Thank you again I am really excited to see what you have added. My 2 favourites are the -photo immediately below the "Rails of granite", featuring the goods area and the photo of the Fairburn crossing the bridge over the under pass road. While I have seen photos of the other side of the underpass the bridge structure from the side you have shown is completely new to me. One of the other areas I only have limited photos of is the old picture theatre and the old hotel/mansion on the hill top at Penmaenmawr. It is a huge white building with bay windows. I only have photos of the front of it at this stage. A great contribution thank you Howard for the time taken to post these photos. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Lez, Thanks for the comment and encouragement. I had one sheet of stone wall left so I have covered 2 of the spans. I am really happy with the result. I need to add more quoins, but it is looking better than I expected. There is a 1 cm wall section between the spans which I will add tomorrow. This will cover the join between the spans . Photos are below. It is amazing how the colour of the stone work can change from photo to photo. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, I have completed the brick work under the arches. I manged to find a couple of photos of the area, showing very washed out bricks with darker bands between. Photos are below. It is quite difficult to get a good picture of the underneath section of the arches showing the real detail. The piers will straighten when I add them to the layout. This is the detail I have added to each arch. Next is to glue these section in place, trim them to size. After that I have to add the outside stone work above the piers, both external and internal. I shall need to cast some more resin stone sheets, as I have run out. One task I need to complete is to add a thin band of smooth stone directly above the arches. I have decided to use thick paper overlaying the basic stone work covering the arches. The underneath edges of the brick work are quoins. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Simon, I have pandered to your request for a doggy photo. Please see below. His name is Darcy and he is very cute. Lezz the stone work is slow to complete but looks OK with a number of dry brush colours. I have fitted the viaduct into place and am happy with the outcome. I still need to add the capping 1/3 of the way up the piers. Darcy at rest. An uncommon occurrence!!! Piers in place. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, Part 2 of my road viaduct piers. The piers have been painted with the mortar, light grey, dark grey and brown colour. Next I need to add the stone capping about 1/3 of the way up and attach the piers to the viaduct and ensure it fits in location. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Simon, I think I need a proof reader for my entries. Are you up for the job? Only joking!! I have continued progress on the stone piers for the rail viaduct in between baby sitting our new Border Collie puppy. Photos are below. The piers are larger than my purchased models so I have had to extend them. You can see the side supports for the resin stone surface below. I need to cover the gap top and bottom with the material at the bottom of the picture. The assembled pier with the commercial purchased top section and my addition at the bottom. The whole of the pier has been painted in a mortar colour More photos to follow in the next blog. Regards, Anthony ashley

Howard, I am very interested in your background, being from Penmaenmawr. Do you have any photos of the 50s to 60s of the town that you would be willing to share? I have found accessing such material is invaluable in being able to accurately recreate the towns and rain infrastructure in those towns. I have been working on the stone piers supporting the road viaduct. Photos to be posted today. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Richard, I appreciate your comment. I am never really sure how the modelling I produce will be viewed by the range of modellers who read these blogs. I thought I would show the 3D printed parts forming the basis for my tenement buildings, There will be three main designs which all use the same basic rectangular main house. Added to the back of the simple rectangle on some is an extension. There are 2 sizes of these extensions, larger and smaller. The photos below will help explain. The front view. There are 3 main components to the rectangle. The base, side walls and 2 interior walls are all printed in hte one print. I am surprised that the thin walls can be printed vertically. The front and back walls are both separate prints and super glued onto the base. The back view showing 4 thin windows. The rectangular piers on the back wall provide a positioning marker and support for the extension. Where I do not require an extension these will be absent and more doors and window inserted. The exstension pieces prior to gluing onto the back wall. The model nearly completed but minus guttering and down pipes. The roof is plasticard slate roof is not supported with an y other material. The 3D model is covered in scale scenes paper brick and other materials. The windows will be better in the next model as we had the slightly too small and I had to enlarge them once the pape rhad been added. Slate roof and roof capping, made from normal printed paper, pained grey. Rear view showing the extension. My next project is to complete the rock face and gully on the mountain, largely composed out of rock as well. The rest of the mountain is scree and loose rock so will be much easier. Once this is completed I need to add some vegetation, experimenting with my new static grass applicator. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Dear All, The crazy wall section is finished. There is more rock work to be done above but the area between the 2 roads is nearly complete bar some green vegetation and dirt in the area. Photos are below. I have recently had an N gauge modeller buy a 3D printer and asked him to create tebnement buildings off plans I supplied. My next post will be the 3 D printed elements and the finished building. Regards, Anthony Ashley

Lez, Thanks for the encouragement. I have a few more photos of recent work on the rock/embankment wall. Rock face on the mountain. Most of the mountain is scree slope but there is a very rocky area. I experimented in this area with a reasonable result. The plaster rocks were blended with brown red, grey and black water acrylics More to be done. The two roads are visible with the rail at the bottom of the mountain but out of view. The jumble of walls is very unusual but I have tried to replicate the actual area. I have used a pipette to fill in the gaps with plaster of paris. No paint has been applied to the walls. Next I need to clean the plaster out of the mortar lines, Paint the wall a mortar colour and then dry brush the stone in the walls a variety of colours Next series of photos will be the stone work having been painted and the walls finished. Regards, Anthony Ashley