Coffinhammer

Hi Ian, Its getting there. I'm firmly in the zone of 'what else could I do with it?' Too many things on the wanted list but no money to get them at the minute. Sorry to hear of your dilemma. Hopefully only a temporary set back for you and the trestles can be used in anger sooner rather than later. Sadly, the Subaru is still in the garage....been 4 and a half months now. But, on the plus side, it'll be all new under the bonnet AND will have more power!! Just have to put up with driving the other half's Renault for a little longer! Gareth

A long overdue update to proceedings..........! It seems that long ago since the last one that I had to read back to see where I had left off! Well, it appears that I have actually done more than I thought over the last few months, despite circumstances not being too favourable. But that's life! So, after completing the sidings and ballasting them I then looked at starting the concreting and setting out the car park. I also set the position of the container under the footbridge with the associated concreting. The standing base was completed using a scrap piece of card wrapped in printed concrete paper. Leading to the door I used Metcalfe PO210 Paving Slabs which would also be used around the car park area as the pavement. They do look particularly effective! I then carried on laying ballast and ground scatter to cover the non-concrete areas. Once the ballast and scatter had dried I then made a start on laying the slabs for the pavement around the car park area and around the office/mess. The tarmac for the car park was done using the Metcalfe Tarmac sheets and, with the slightly raised lip of the concrete paving, it gives a reasonably good feeling of depth to the car park area. The Land Rover Road/Railer just tops off the scene! To finish off the look I had purchased a pack of Gaugemaster Crash Barriers (GM381) to fit around the perimeter of the car park. I did look at other options, such as a low concrete wall, but my memories of yards always kept bringing me back to the crash barriers. I painted them black with white stripes before leaving them to dry. They were then weathered and fitted to the board. With all the paving and concrete down the only bit remaining free of any scenery is just infront of the cabin. Not sure what to put there.....maybe a shrubbery! After completing the scenery at the front of the layout, perusing the secondhand columns, I decided to expand the rolling stock section - just to give more variety to the wagons I could have sitting around and that could be shunted. Two Bachmann 'CLAM' ballast wagons were followed by a trio of MXV/MMV 16T Mineral wagons. These mineral wagons were part of the everyday railway fabric in South Wales right up until the 1990s and no layout based in the Principality could do without them. They even came from the seller with a real coal load! Both sets of wagons were then fitted with realistic couplings using photos as a guide. The 'CLAM' were fitted with screw couplings and the 16T with 3-link - both coming from Smiths by W & T. They were also suitably weathered. One of the 16T mineral wagons. Three link couplings fitted to the 16T wagons. Canton based 08322 shunts the 'CLAM' wagons. Also amongst the purchased wagons were a 12T ShocHop (Bachmann), an SPA Steel Wagon (FTG Models), a YGB 'SEACOW' (Hornby), a 'Shark' Brake Van (Hornby) and a 20T Brake Van (Bachmann). Again, all wagons that would have been commonplace in South Wales during the Speedlink era. They were fitted with realistic couplings and weathered. 08322 continues to marshal a rake of ballast wagons for a weekend possession. There was also another arrival in the motive power department. Another Bachmann Class 37 had appeared on a well-known auction site that provided another nose end type to what I already had. Although I have 37270 as a domino headcode, vallance fitted example this one provided an example of one with the HoW headlamp brackets above the headcode box. Too much of an opportunity to miss and it was duly purchased. Again, it had been numbered outside of the number range it depicted so it was hastily renumbered to one of Landore's boilered examples...37187, complete with mini ploughs and Selwyn Sheep TOPS panel. Landore's 37187 arrives 'on shed' after working in from Carmarthen. Although fitted with a DCC decoder it doesn't have sound so this has been added to the list along with 08322, 33004 and 47035. We also had a brief look at a the possible future. How would Llantisilliant look in more recent times? A friend of mine has, since I restarted modelling, has had his motivation increased to kick start his layout aspirations. Although he is looking at doing a more 'modern image' layout he needed to test a recent acquisition.......DRS liveried 37425 'Sir Robert McAlpine/Concrete Bob. What if..........? Llantisilliant 2019 - 37425 sits in the yard. Perhaps on driver re-familiarisation for the mooted return of the Rhymney loco hauled services??? So, as it stands the layout looks like this......... Much thinking has gone in to the backscene and the possibility of adding a separate fiddle yard. If you have followed the threadsfrom the beginning my original plan was to have the fiddle yard behind the 'stone' wall to the right of the footbridge. However, with operatiing at home, more and more thought has been given to having a separate board to act as a fiddle yard. I decided to buy one of the laser cut, self assembly diorama baseboards from Scale Model Scenery. At just over 300mm in width it allows it to be fitted 'end on' providing a scenic backboard as well as a break to the rest of the layout and will fit longer locos with enough spare. It will require some adaptations and modifications but should provide an adequate fiddle yard. Just some logistics over how it will be supported. It will also mean that the backscene that was originally fitted by its previous owner will be removed and a new, slightly higher' backscene will be fitted around the whole layout. Sadly, that, as well as the sound decoders, track and more locos, will have to wait until I have secured a new job!!

Thanks for your positive comments Jerry1975 and Clover. Much appreciated.

Happy New Year to you all and a bit of an update on the layout. Sadly, due to my car packing up, illness and Xmas, progress has been a little slower than I would have liked. That being said it has meant that some thought can go into the larger aspects of the layout - backscene, scenic break and so on. One problem was overcome in the meantime. My decorating table was showing the strain so an alternative elevation mechanism was investigated. When I bought the layout previous owner, Ian, had mentioned about DIY trestles being a good option so I had a look at possibilities. My local B&Q had a deal on with a pair of trestles for 30 quid and they had one left! Cue much better working environment and more stable support. Most of the work has centred around setting the additional sidings and finishing the ballasting and weathering of the sidings. I had laid the cut pieces of PECO Code 75 track to the board and, once I had found the desired layout, they were secured to the baseboard using acrylic adhesive. I decided to go with the short siding 'behind' the fiddle sidings and the two sidings (one short, one long) at the front of the layout. The overview of the extension with the two short sidings and one long. I wanted to make it look at work worn and deshevelled as I could. As we all know, yards were filthy places and it is something that will always be further enhanced. Once the adhesive had dried I ballasted all three using a mix of fine and coarse black cinders courtesy of Woodland Scenics and securing using the time honoured method of PVA mixed with water and a dash of washing up liquid. The excess was brushed off when the PVA was dry. The sidings were capped with bullhead buffer stops from PECO before the track was weathered using Railmatch Sleeper and Rail Grime and Tamia Weathering Powder. Finally, grasses and buddleia was added to further detail the area. A close up of the shorter siding with the bullhead buffer stop and assorted foliage. The buddleia was bought from a wargaming website and, although fiddly, looks the business. Landore celebrity Class 37, 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed' sits on the long siding awaiting its next duty. Whilst I was doing this I also managed to get behind the layout to further ballast the fiddle yard and work out where the scenic break would sit. The rear siding and fiddle yard from the 'operators' perspective. Looking down the layout with the placement of the 'yard' in view with the stabling yard behind the bridge. As you can see it was a quiet day with just the tamper in residence. Foliage and weathering has now also been added to the overbridge and abutements - again using buddleia and a variety of adhesive grass tufts. These are really good for added vegetation and are quite realistic. I have even used them in my 'crippled' HEA wagon reminding me of a short rake seen at East Usk Yard in Newport in 1980s. One of them even had a sycamore tree growing out of it! The overbridge showing its graffiti and plant life. It was obviously a busy day with 33004, 37180, 37270, 37308 and 56040 all stabled along with the Tamper. A common view amongst yards up and down the network - wagons and weeds! The next stages will focus on the front of the layout. I purchased some Metcalfe paving sections as I felt the original idea of using paper sheets didn't give the depth I wanted around the site office or for the car park area. I also bought some metal crash barriers from Gaugemaster to separate the small car park area. A small concrete area has been allocated under the bridge for the siting of a container. I did use the papaer paving for this as it seemed to offer the lower concreted area that I wanted next to the ballast from the yard. It gave it a slightly rushed and last minute application which I was after. I bought a multipurpose container/shed kit from Wills, painted it black and weathered it prior to fitting it under the bridge. More ballast and ground scatter will go down as well and then it'll be on to the bigger jobs! Finally, a look down the whole of the layout.

So, a little update as we are almost at the end of November. The purchases keep coming much to my other half's disapproval as apparently its nearly Christmas (Christ only knows where she gets that idea.....still ages away!!! ). However, money has been spent on the scenic side of the extension rather than on more locos. After trying the shed under the bridge to see if it looked okay I decided that the overbridge should really have 3 supports rather than the planned 2 so ordered a custom set made from modelling ceramic via a well known online auction site. Whilst waiting for these to turn up I turned my attention to other scenic matters. I purchased a Bachmann Scenecraft articulated office (44-081) as I wanted something that was reminiscent of the Movements Office at St Phillips Marsh Depot in Bristol. When it had arrived it was weathered heavily using our Diesel Mess cabin at the GWsR as a template. It was then a case of looking at where best to place it. Ideally, I want to hide the sidings going into the scenic board at the end of the layout so it was a case of where would be most effective. I'd ordered a pair of Gaugemaster GM31 retaining walls that I wanted to use to partially act as a barrier between the scenic area and the scenic board that will make up the fiddle yard. This was weathered and positioned along the line where the scenic board will go. On top of this, my mate, Ian, had given me a OO Gauge Road/Rail BR Land Rover. He had orginally bought it for his 'Hollow Hills' layout but, in it's bright BR yellow, it wasn't suitable for the 1960s transition era that he was going for. It sits much more readily with South Wales in the early 1980s. It was then time to look at the placement of the additional sidings and to start thinking about what stock was going to be present. As I had one length of PECO Code 75 left I decided to split it into three lengths - one long and two short - with a view to having 3 sidings at the front. When placed it appeared quite cluttered and unnatural so I returned to the idea of 2 sidings at the front. These will have some wagons placed on them in various states to replicate a cripple siding just to add some visual interest. At this point I stumbled across someone selling an unmotorised Bachmann Tamper unit and hit upon the idea of perhaps having this sat on a siding beyond the bridge (in the fiddle yard) to give the illusion that the yard continues beyond. It was purchased for the reasonable sum of £20 and suitably weathered.....although I was quite surprised with how small it appears! Especially when sat next to my Class 08! With the bridge supports in my possession, weathered and placed, it was a good test to see if it all worked together before making things more permanent. I'm pretty happy with how it is coming along now...it is certainly surpassing what I thought it would turn out like! Next on the cards is starting to get the next lot of ground cover/scatter/ballast and plant life down before looking at areas of hardstanding and additional buildings and paraphernalia. Its then on to the backscenes and, after Xmas, getting sound decoders for 08322, 33004 and 47035.

Hi JDW, Thanks for the comments and I am glad you approve of the extension. I'd placed the hut there to see if something similar would fit under the bridge and, crucially, look okay. Originally, I wasn't going to have a support at the bridge join but, as you point out, it would collapse in real life so a slight change in plan was taken to go with three supports instead of two. It actually looks much better with three than two! Regards Gareth

The decoder for 56040 arrived from DC Kits today, so I have spent this evening fitting it. It certainly took a bit of messing about and research to actually get it fitted but I was lucky to find an older thread from 2016 that gave a couple of ways that it could be done (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112320-Hornby-class-56-sound-installation/). I had ordered a decoder with the Bass Reflex 20x40 mm speaker and, with the longer circuit board in the loco body I couldn't get any part of the decoder/speaker/wiring to sit easily within the body. However, within the topic thread, one of the replies (MRDBLUE17) mentioned removing the fan assembly. This is sat above the main drive shaft and the fans are powered by a separate sprocket and elastic band from the main shaft. To remove, the band is cut and then 4 fixing screws are removed and the assembly lifts away. This leaves a significant amount of space for the speaker to sit and allows the decoder and wiring to sit reasonably snuggly along the circuitboard. The down side is that there would be a large void between the speaker and fan grilles. It did look a bit odd without the fans! The reply in the thread mentioned, after siting the speaker and removing the fan assembly, to actually remove the fans and place on a rectangular piece of card (painted black) which could then be placed in the roof void under the grilles. The fan assembly is removed from the body before the fans are removed from the mechanism. Everything pulls apart quite neatly. With the fan mechanism removed from the chassis the speaker can sit quite nicely above the main drive shaft. A couple of small, thin strips of plastic sit under the speaker to prevent it falling onto the shaft. I took a scrap piece of card and painted it black matt. Whilst waiting for the paint to dry I weathered the fans and, once the paint was dry, they were glued to the card. The card was then fixed into the roof cavity using some dabs of superglue. The painted card with the fan blades glued on is affixed in the roof. Despite being a bit fiddly the process worked well. I think I am getting the hang of this! The 'finished' article!

More work and idea forming on the extension this weekend. The bridge section, that will act as the 'scenic barrier' between the two sections, has been put together. The girder panels were weathered using Tamiya Weathering Powders and then, using a Tip-Ex pen, some graffiti tags added. For this I used a couple of examples that I remember from the Newport's Somerton Road bridge (a local vantage point as a kid - I had to screen out some of the obscenities!) plus some of the tags that adorn the local railway infrastructure that I see everyday on the way into work in Bristol. The 'roadway' was created using some recycled 3mm carboard from work cut in to strips 380mm wide. The same was done for the surface with Metcalfe M0056 Tarmacadam sheets. These were glued to the deck and the base painted matt black. Once this was dry everything was put together and placed on temporary supports to get an idea of appearance. A homage to Newport County FC - 'The Ironsides'. Two of the local 'tags' seen regularly in Bristol. 'CK1' and 'Beko' are two of the more infamous 'street artists', as they call themselves! Overlooking the sidings. The 'Lliswerry Crew' have been a bit busy overnight. A new arrival has appeared, as well! Feeling a bit more confident over the siting and appearance of the bridge I made a start on ballasting the new sections of track. This is something I have never done and, with my mentor busy moving house, I had no option to give it a go myself. I had purchased some Railmatch 2406 Sleeper Grime and had weathered the track using this and the Weathering Powders. I had also purchased a few bags of different ballast and ground cover. Ian (the original builder) had used small ballast in a very sparing manner and this was something I wanted to try and replicate. Having tacked the track in place using small amounts of diluted PVA I then used a ballast spreader to layer down an initial covering of Jarvis Dark Earth scatter. This was then topped with a covering of Woodland Scenics Course Ballast Cinders. The initial covering appeared a little too heavy for what I wanted but, after sleeping on it, brushing away some of the excess, I was pretty happy that it would provide a nice contrast. Therefore, I proceeded with setting it using 50/50 PVA glue and water mix. My first go at ballasting. Doesn't look too bad, although I needed to apply a little more glue in places. Prior to weathering, the transition doesn't look too bad. I then turned my attention to a few ideas for the rest of the new scenic area. With the fiddle yard essentially only taking up a small proportion of the board I want to have the back board as much a part of the scenic extension as I can possibly get. One potential idea is to have the loco sidings running behind a retaining wall (the remains of a larger goods shed, perhaps, or similar to the old wall at Perth SP) that will act as a screen, rather than just a decorated piece of board. I also had a go at thinking about what could go under the bridge to 'hide' the gap from Ian's original scenery. I had originally planned to have a large plinth for the bridge to sit on but, the more I thought about it, the less I liked it! The lightbulb moment came after looking at a picture on the web. Why not use the retainig wall idea and have a stores room or something similar under the bridge and only have a smaller bridge support? The small fuel point office building on the original board had not been fixed down, so I had a look..... I think we have a winner! It actually looks pretty good, although I would probably use a different type of building. Also gives scope for plenty of clutter. Finally, the new arrival. On an earlier post I mentioned that I wanted the era I was modelling to see locos in BR Blue and possibly Revised Blue liveries.....very much 1984/5 in timeframe. However, I had always had a plan of having at least one loco in the Railfreight Large Logo livery to add a little more colour. South Wales depots were pretty slow on using the new livery on their locomotive allocation, the LM had locos in Railfreight LL Grey by 1983! I had toyed with having 37180 in its Railfreight guise but much preferred it in the condition it was in prior to its repaint. That meant that it was left to Cardiff Canton's Class 56 allocation. One of the first of the class to receive the RF livery was 56040 'Oystermouth' and Hornby already had this as one of their (now discontinued) models. One became available in the online marketplace and the rest, as they say, is history! A Legomanbiffo Class 56 DCC chip has also been purchased for it! Canton's 56040 'Oystermouth' sits alonside Landore's 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed' at Llantisiliant. A close up of 56040. This model is the original Hornby version although the previous owner has detailed it with etched nameplates and full buffer beam detail. The loco will stay in this condition as, in reality, it would have not long been repainted. Lunchtime shift change. 37180 sits behind 08322 and it's brake van as, adjacent, 37306 and 56040 wait for thier next turns.

Hi Ian, I thought I best make a start! Once past the bridge I am going to have a couple of sidings to the front with some knackered, condemned wagons on. The track will be unnpowered for now. Hopefully, this will hide the little gap between the bridge and the scenic break for the fiddle yard. Going to use a Bachmann office kit (44-081) as well, just to make a start on the 'yard' feel. Still working on the finer details. I didn't just want a bridge and fiddle yard. Just a little too cliched! G

Wow!! The mists of time had fogged out the fact that it ran with the TPO portion! Thanks for sharing!

A bit of a tinkering with the layout this weekend. A visit to the local DIY store to get some bits to start work on the little 2'x2' extension. Fistly, I had to get some new rubber feet so that the baseboards would sit level. My mate, Mike, did such a good job on the new board that it was a dream to fit and level out. Once it was all laid out on the table it was time to look at fitting the track that would take the stabling lines into the fiddle yard. This was also marked out in pencil to show where the backscene will come across the board to shield the fiddle yard. I initially marked out the fiddle yard to be just over 12 inches long - long enough to take the Class 47 with room to spare - however, on reflection, I though better of it and it will now extend to 16 inches so that there is very little 'dead' space between the footbridge scenic break and the fiddle yard 'screen'. I didn't want to go the whole hog and have the bridge up against the backscene but, at the same time, I didn't want to have a gaping hole that would need a lot of scenic detailing. Next up I laid the track down in a rough manner, fixing it to the board temporarily with blu-tac. I had bought two lenghts of Peco Code 75 finescale track which fits nicely with the C & L that Ian (the original builder) had used, but also reflects the fact that any old track would have been used in yards - particularly during the later BR days. One little problem I had was that, given Ian's original plan of the layout just being a photo plank, the lines leading off the board get a little too close and won't allow locos to be side by side so the flexibility of the Code 75 allowed the spacing to be widened as the new track passes into the fiddle yard. After checking the clearances and making adjustments, the track was resettled and checked for continuity of DCC signal and to ensure no dead spots. Surprisingly, everything worked well! Next up will be weathering the track before fixing to the baseboard and ballasting. Landore celebrity 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed' sits on the new 'fiddle yard' track as it tests out the continuity of the DCC signal. All locos were tested and worked without issue. I also took the opportunity of having an extra pair of hands over the weekend (my 'willing' girlfriend!) to have a mess around with the idea of the footbridge scenic break between the boards. A little cliched, perhaps, but why mess with a classic!? I initially tested the clearance required using 37270 and two girder bridge sections to see what it looked line in different places. I favoured having it on a slight incline and having the girdered section running straight from the front of the layout tight across to the back. My 'better half' took the pics. A little earlier tonight I had another mess around, this time blu-tacing the girder sections in place. It seems to work quite well and gives a lot of scope for what to do with the rest of the new board that will sit in front of the fiddle yard.

If it was anything like coming out of the Severn Tunnel on a heavily laden freight then it would have been just fantastic!!

HI Northmoor, Thanks for the comment. I did look at having '180' in RF Grey, too, just to add a splash of colour to the grimy BR Blue scene. It was always the missing ploughs and Welsh Dragon emblems that won me over, though! 56040 will have to fill the Railfreight colour void, when I get it! I grew up at the other end of South Wales, overlooking Llanwern and East Usk in Newport. Class 33's were a regular staple on parcels, passenger and, on the odd occasion, freight. Like you say, though, where else would you get a Type 4 on a 2 or 3 coach train! I always remember a Camarthen or Milford Haven - Bristol parcels that would run TThFO and always throw up a Bath Road '47' with one or two parcel vans at most! Things like that wouldn't run now! Gareth

I think an update is long overdue. Family holiday and end of the academic year have conspired to take up a lot of my time! However, the layout hasn't suffered from neglect. Quite the opposite! Plans have been made for a little extension that, for the time being, will include a small scenic break leading into the fiddle yard. Various ideas had been banded about and the favourite/easiest would seem to be to have a footbridge across the layout with the fiddle yard screened off behind. This idea came from the very iconic footbridge at Severn Tunnel Junction that spanned the whole site that vanished into history when the yards closed and the M4 was re-routed. A square baseboard (2' by 2') has been built by a good friend, Mike, using a sheet of MDF with a basic frame. This will be attached and locked in place. Just have to wait for my C & L order to arrive to start marking everything out. On the loco front, after the relative success of weathering 08322, I turned my attention to 37306. The photos I used as a template were taken in 1985 and showed the locomotive in a reasonably clean state. Therefore light weathering was applied, again using a light spray of Acrylic Varnish before using Tamiya Weathering Powders. 37306 post weathering. 37270 was next up. From the pictures I had used this loco had always been in a very 'well used' condition and, particularly those from the mid 1980's, showed it to be in need of a good clean. This was attempted using the same methods. As '270 is an earlier Bachmann model, the BR Blue is darker than on the current model. This seems to make the body side look even more filthy! 37270 post weathering. I was very pleased with this, especially as it was just my 3rd attempt. In between the weathering I had bought a ViTrains Class 37, 37131. One of the locos I was desperate to have was Landore's 'celebrity' 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed'. I had chosen the ViTrains model for this loco as it is more accurate for the loco number than all the Bachmann models in that the ViTrains model has the headlamp brackets on the nose above the headcode box. I ordered the name plates from Fox Transfers and prepped them for fitting. The ViTrains model is a very different beast to the Bachmann one and it was a challenge to fit all the bits from the detail pack - especially as the multiple working jumpers are the wrong way round. I secured a couple of Bachmann Detailing Kits and fitted the Blue Star cables from them. A surprisingly good fit! Another reason for having the loco was the fact it had two large 'Red Dragon' emblems on the noses and was easily identified by the fact that it had snowploughs missing! This were all fitted in a prototypical fashion. Frost grilles were also fitted secured from the Bachmann detail packs. The new numbers were added by initially painting over the '31' with Humbrol BR Blue paint and then adding the '80' from Fox Transfers. The Welsh Dragons were also from Fox Transfers. The loco now awaits weathering and sound. 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed' post renumbering. Whilst doing all of this I had ordered three Legomanbiffo decoders from DC Kits for the Class 37s. Hopefully these will arrive soon and won't need too much jiggery pokery to fit and reprofile. Sadly the Hornby Decoder in 37270 has not really lived up to expectation and, even with playing around with CV values, does not give suitable sound or running at slow speed. Elsewhere, my mate and Mentor, Ian, is having to sell off a number of his vast collection of locomotives in both OO and N as he is moving and is a little short of space in his new abode. Ian tends to specialise in the transition era for his layouts and, therefore, doesn't really have a need for any of his BR Blue locomotives. Two locos from his OO gauge collection I have had my eye on have been a Heljan Class 33 (33004) and a Bachmann Class 47 (47035). He very kindly offered me both and these have now joined the menagerie! 47035 rests on Llantisilliant after working in from Swansea Burrows Sidings. This Cardiff Canton based loco became 47594 in 1983 but a little modellers licence will be used to allow it to remain as 47035 into 1984. Eastleigh based 'Crompton' 33004 rests on Llantisilliant after working in from the Westbury area. Class 33s were common visitors to South Wales although primarily on passenger services. They did occasionally work freights into the larger yards from the Southern Region as well as the southern area of the Western Region. Notice that the loco has the DCE flashes beneath the cabside windows that were added to locos allocated to the Departmental sectors post sectorisation in 1988. As the loco has already been weathered and detailed I am loathe to get out the toothpicks and try and remove them so, these will stay put despite not being accurate.

Another couple of weeks passed and I finally plucked up the courage to have a go at my first spot of loco weathering. I decided that 08322 would be my guinea pig, first I had to fit the brass steps I had bought from PHD. Pretty fiddly but they work a treat and look pretty good when painted up. Many thanks, again, to my mate, Ian for the assistance. Brass steps from PH Designs prior to painting. Very fiddly but spot on as replacement steps. The hole in the roof was also patched over and repainted using a rogue piece of brass! So, onto weathering. I had never weathered a loco. I had done an old Airfix Tiger Tank when I was a kid...but that was LONG time ago! So with a little trepidation I started it. Beginning with the roof I sprayed a light coat of Humbrol Acrylic Varnish over the roof, left it for a minute, then added the weathering using Tamiya Powders. All Class 08's always ended up with a lot of heavy, dark weathering across the roof however, from photos, 08322 was always a little lighter than others. My drum throne makes an amazing modelling table! I then repeated the process with each side and the nose ends blanking off below the running board with a piece of card so as not to get any varnish on the running gear. I purposefully left one side slightly less weathered than the other. I always seem to remember that 08's would always be dirtier on one side! After completing I gave it another light coating of Varnish. As a comparison, I then headed over to Ian's to see how it stood up against his Bachmann Class 08 on his 'Hollow Hills' layout. 08322 compared to Ian's Bachmann 08762 on his 'Hollow Hills' layout. Whilst there I took the opportunity to get a couple of other photos of 322 on Ian's fantastic layout. You can see 'Hollow Hills' in October 2017's edition of Railway Modeller. 08322 sits outside the shed on its visit to Hollow HIlls TMD. 08322 heads onto the turntable before heading back off shed and returning to Llantisilliant. After my family holiday I should be making a start on the sector plate design and making a more rigid scenic board, as well as weather my two Class 37s. I have a couple of ideas for the sector plate transition floating around in my head, the current front runner is using the idea of a footbridge, akin to the one that used to stand at Severn Tunnel Junction that stretched across the yards - another piece of well known railway architecture now consigned to history.

Hi Ian, I hope you are well? Thanks for the feedback. Its had to take a bit of a back seat for the last couple of weeks. I had thought about one of the 37/4s, but it is a bit late for the era I am modelling. 37427 was employed on caol traffic for a while but didn't hit Cardiff Canton until 1987. However, there are couple more 37s that had the Welsh Dragon and/or Selwyn the Sheep on the cabsides that I am looking at modelling. 37180 'Sir Dyfed/County of Dyfed' is a definite! But, first, I have to get my head around building a set of PHD Etched Class 08 steps! Sadly, I didn't make it to the ELR. Had a bit of car trouble which curtailed me being able to go. Spent the Saturday in the garage instead! How did it go? I did get to sample one ELR based loco this weekend.....we had D832 'Onslaught' for our Gala at the GWR. It is some machine!! Gareth

A couple of weeks have passed and things certainly haven't been idle. As well as taking delivery of 37238, I also purchased another Class 37 (a later Bachmann version) that was DCC Fitted and had partially been renumbered by its previous owner as well as a slightly damaged Hornby Class 08 that was DCC Ready. Another purchase also saw me take delivery of a Bachmann EZ Command Dynamis console, second hand. This allowed everything to be tested on my own rails. My mate, Ian, had given me a couple of 8 Pin blanking cards for the 08 and the DCC Ready 37. The handset was in need of a bit of a clean and a little soldering but allowed for things to be tested....it was starting to look like a proper project! Although, as things grow, I may need to look at buying another handset as some of the function buttons remain a little temperamental. A proper Welsh scene.....a Class 37 EBV. Although both locos await renumbering, this could be a typical Welsh 1980's scene. I had already decided to renumber 37238 to 37270. With the next arrivals I had decided that the later Bachmann 37 would become 37306 and the 08 would become 08322. I am lucky that one of my colleagues at the GWSR has a website that showcases photographs across the Class 37 fleet as well as other notable South Wales classes and, he had agreed for me to use it for reference, making it easy to get good quality photos of all locomotives I wish to show. Armed with this reference material, I ordered transfers from Railtec and Fox and set about, initially, renumbering all three locos. I wasn't particularly confident over doing this and, looking back on my efforts, I was quite pleased that I managed it without breaking anything! 37254 becomes 37306 08402 becomes 08322 37238 becomes 37270, complete with body side Welsh Dragon A Hornby TTS Decoder has also been ordered for 37270. Once this is fitted I will start to weather all three locos. 08322 is in need of a small repair to its cab roof and replacement of three sets of steps, 37306 needs buffer beam detailing. then it will be time to test my weathering skills!

Thanks for the comments and the likes. Much appreciated and has given my confidence a bit of a boost! Today, I took delivery of the first loco for the layout. Trying to find a Class 37 in BR Blue with the buffer vallances and domino headcode is like trying to find the perverbial needle! However, I managed to find this.....Bachmann's, DCC Ready, 37238 in BR Blue with vallances and domino headcode. 37238 arrives at Llantisilliant after working in from Severn Tunnel Junction. 37238 heads for the fuelling and sanding point. Taking a well earned breather. Sadly, 37238 was based at Thornaby in 1984/85 so the loco will be renumbered to 37270, which was based at Cardiff Canton during that period. The loco will be weathered/detailed prior to a decoder being fitted. I am a big fan of Legomanbiffo's Class 37 decoder so am erring towards purchasing one of those. But that will have to wait a while!

Welcome to my first attempt at modelling since my childhood, something I hope will be a steep learning curve but also a very worthwhile start to a larger idea. Due to space constraints at home the idea of having a huge layout running scale length freights was never going to fly, so I had always wanted to build a small stabling point/depot layout based in South Wales, reminding me of growing up in Newport and spending weekends 'exploring' stabling points such as Severn Tunnel Junction, Barry, Godfrey Road and Radyr. I always had memories of rows of filthy, grimy and abused Class 37s all ticking over and this is something that I wanted to replicate. My lack of overall knowledge, and confidence, with modelling also prevented me from starting something. However, the opportunity to purchase something came around earlier this year when a splendid chap called Ian ('Crisis Rail' of this parish) decided to sell a diarama known as 'Caerbannog' via a well known auction site. It fitted all details I wanted, was DCC and would be something that I could add to, and expand, as I gained confidence in my abilities. By this time I had also moved into a larger house giving me much more space to play with but, more importantly, bringing me closer to a good friend of mine (also called Ian) who is a very proficient and prolific modeller - check out his layout 'Elvinley', which can be found in RMweb - and was willing to guide me. You can also find the original thread for 'Caerbannog' here - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/123527-caerbannog/&do=findComment&comment=3153930 This is how the layout looked after picking it up. So, Llantisilliant was now a reality. I decided not to stick with the 'Caerbannog' name as, although I am a big Monty Python fan, it didn't sit well with the geographical location for its new incarnation. However, in a continued nod to legendary comedy, Llantisilliant itself is taken from the late, great Ronnie Barker and his Plantagenet Evans character who lived in the imaginary village of this name. It just sounded more in keeping with South Wales. Next up was looking at rolling stock. Class 37s are ingrained in the fabric of South Wales railways so they are earmarked to be the most populous of motive power on show along with a couple of Class 08s, a 56 and 47. Anything else will be seen as a bonus however, giving the time it will take to build up (and detail) the fleet, work on the layout itself has started in earnest. Firstly, the warehouse relief was removed as I didn't think it sat well with the background overall but the low relief warehousing was crying out for weathering. To add a bit more depth I decided to add exposed and weathered RSJs to the roof structure to make it look as though the warehouse was being demolished. I used plastic RSJs by Bachmann, cut down and weathered in burnt sienna and black that were then super glued beneath the roof structure. The vents were weathered and rust added in patches. Additional plant life and foliage has also been added as well as a couple of weathered wagons. One, an old GWR/BR Toad brake van, is being used as the signing on/rest room for loco crew (similarly to the vanfit used at Pantyffynon). It was weathered by my mate, Ian. He has also weathered an old TTA fuel tanker that will be used for replenishing the refuelling point, although it needs new couplings added to allow shunting on and off. Some elements of graffiti have also been included. The electrics were checked using one of Ian's ER Class 37s from his current OO Gauge layout 'Hollow Hills'. Although not a 'Welsh Deltic', a class 37 lends itself to the layout very well. Wrong region and wrong era but looks good. D6707 ticks over on the fuelling point. Next up is to carry on building the fleet and doing bits and pieces to the surrounds and acquiring a bit more C & L Finescale track. The first big job will be to build a sector plate before looking at future plans.