Irishrailwaymodeller

Llanuwchllyn is booked to make its exhibition debut at the Bala Lake Railway Great Little Trains of Wales Model Railway Exhibition Saturday 26th May to Monday 28th May 2018. See http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/110659-bala-exhibition-bala-gwynedd/page-2&do=findComment&comment=3114811 for more.

The attached appears on the Bala Lake Railway website for 2018: Great Little Trains Model Railway Show - 26th, 27th and 28th May Location: Ysgol Y Berwyn Secondary School, On the A4212, Bala, Ceredigion LL23 7RU Opening times: SAT 10am-5pm, SUN 10am-5pm, MON 10am-3.30pm Admission: Adults £5.00 Family £10.00 Welcome to the third Great Little trains Model Railway exhibition in the town of Bala in a new and re-furbished school. Located in three halls with easy access, free parking, full refreshments and a free vintage bus service linking the exhibition with the Bala Lake Railway. Additionally there is a vintage transport show taking place at the railway on Sunday and Monday. A number of the Great Little Trains of Wales are attending including the Ffestiniog, Welsh Highland, and Fairbourne as well as the 009 Society, who have all confirmed their attendance. Several others have also been invited, and we are awaiting their responses. To date 24 model railway layouts have confirmed, from the small Z, through 009, HOe, HOm, N, OO, O, SM32, to G scale. Confirmed layouts include: Dogfriol a 6 track 009/HOF/Hon3 Welsh mountain, featured in RM October 2015 Ffuglen a Ffestiniog 16mm NG,SM32 with action public buttons Cwmbach a 4mm P4 finescale detailed layout Brynllywdd a 16.5 narrow gauge layout Castlefinn a Irish 4mm/12mmtrack NG from Chester MRC Gorsaf Maes Y Gof a 4mm 009 Welsh NG Faugham Hill Pottery a 4mm from Chester MRC Playmobile Railway a G scale action layout from Walt Turner, always a hit with the kids Denby Moore a N gauge featured in the RM March 2018 Llanuwchllyn a brand new N Gauge layout coming all the way from Ireland and depicting our station in GWR and BR days Burf Mine a O-16.5 a lot of hot air bumf Die alte Muhle a N gauge German scenic layout, Continental Modeller April 2008 Merlin Liechil a Welsh slate mine in 16mm/SM32 a large layout 20 ft by 7ft Gilderdale Mine a 4mm/009 of the South Tynedale NG railway Bryn Tegid a 4mm/009 Welsh slate mine, featured in the March 009 News Isle of Stoner 009 layout from John Wooden the Ffestiniog Railway Kirbythorpe a 4mm/009 layout from Mike Hallett Dalton Le Dale a 4mm/OO layout by John Farrell of Colwyn Bay MRC Johnstown an N gauge layout from Norman E Beaumont of Colwyn Bay MRC Halland a OO large layout from Andy Miles Castle Caereinion a OO layout from Any miles Three NG Diorama's from Peter Hollin's Confirmed Trade stands include: John Sutton Models & Books, from 009 to g scale Country Park Models from Wales, a full range of spares in N& OO Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway, models, DVD’s, books Chris Mackenzie a range of SM32/G scale models & books ABC Model Railways a full range of new & pre-owned models 009 to G scale John Parkinson modelling books Park at Bala or Llanuwchllyn, ride the railway, with a vintage shuttle bus service serving the exhibition. Visit the Festival of Transport (vintage vehicles, tractors, etc) at the other (Llanuwchllyn) end of our line for two great family shows over the weekend. Of course the best way to get from one to the other is by our train. The railway will be operating our intensive Pink Timetable, using vintage Hunslet steam engines from the north Wales slate quarries. All the funds raised will go towards the new extension of the railway into Bala town. We will also be offering to either 'BUY A SLEEPER' or 'BUY A SPIKE' for the railway extension. Exhibition email: richardgwallace04@yahoo.co.uk

A short promo video to whet appetites for our upcoming exhibition at Easter. Wexford Town is a short drive from Rosslare Harbour which has direct ferry services from Fishguard and Pembroke. A good excuse to visit Ireland.

A couple of shots of Llanuwchllyn with 1960's BR rolling stock although GWR stock would be at home here also:

Llanuwchllyn has had its trees planted and numerous other details added. Note the unusual GWR Calling On signal lower on the Down Starter signal: Two guys have a chat by the Goods Shed while their colleague works on the lamp on the Advance Starter on the Up line: A couple of more views of the railway:

Some trees have been prepared for the layout using the Gaugemaster seafoam kit with a variety of scatters attached with diluted PVA glue. The trees vary in size, shape and texture as in nature and look well particularly for the N gauge scale.

Thank you! The track is Peco fine code 55 and, once laid with fine grey ballast, the sleepers were painted brown. The rail sides were given a few coats of rust/brown wash (Humbrol) - some of which washes down into the ballast. Finally, a wash of light grey over the track helps highlight the detail again. The backscene is from Gaugemaster selected as typical of the area being modelled in Wales. Most of the buildings were scratch-built with some kit-bashed.

Coming towards end-game now, some details added and trees and signals are in preparation.

A couple of shots of Ballybeg with trains in Steam, Black & tan and Supertrain era liveries:

True, a result of compromise, compression etc. The story could be that back off-stage there is a run-around allowing the shunting to happen or the leading engine could uncouple/back into the bay allowing another engine to do the shunting. Nothing is perfect I guess. If I was doing SY again I would certainly add 6 inches to the goods shed end to give more room for wagons. I would also consider how a run-around could be created but given the small space adopted this might be difficult. I plan to develop a short two-way fiddle-yard beyond the station area (once I have completed Llanuwchllyn in N) which would give me more scope off-stage at exhibitions. Thanks for your interest and good luck with your own project.

Moving swiftly along, the weathered buildings are now glued in place along with some detailing. The fencing and many other details are in development and will be fitted shortly also.

A layer of patchy Earth Undercoat with two shades of static grass applied with a Noch puffer bottle onto PVA glue adds to the scene. Additionally, some coarse sand sprinkled onto PVA provides a granular stony texture to the rougher ground:

A coating of Green Earth Undercoat and we can see the emergence of a model railway... Particularly when a number of model buildings are added to the scene...

We Fade to Grey for this phase! A good coat of Rustins grey primer/undercoat provides a hardened surface for the landscape.

Snowfall on Llanuwchllyn! Plaster bandage was wetted quickly in strips and and placed over the dried cardboard/newspaper base. Polyfilla was then added with wetted brushes to provide smooth surfaces and contours. This is left to dry overnight before adding further filler if needed and wiping off any unwanted splashes on the backscene/mirrors/tracks with a damp cloth etc. Next up, once plaster is dry, paint the base landscape with undercoat to harden the surface...

Layout is now at the "Blue Peter" stage with scrap card/wood, crumpled newspaper and PVA glue in use to form the basis for the landscaping around the platforms and buildings... A couple of shots showing the now weathered buildings in their approximate locations:

Llanuwchllyn has been ballasted with a fine grade grey ballast and a fascia board added. Track/points have been re-tested and working fine. Next up, fit two platforms and form the landscape around the buildings and rails... By contrast, a beige colour ballast was used on my Cynwyd layout but grey is probably closer to the prototype for the Llangollen line.

Usually the retailer is the first point of contact for any faulty goods. Did you remove any springs in the turnouts as slo-mo motors can find difficulty overcoming their resistance?

A friend did a nice video of my GWR Railcar on my Ballybeg layout this evening - sound courtesy of Mr Soundguy!

A really nice model. Here's mine on Shunters Yard. I have fitted DCC sound by Mr Soundguy and driver figures but must get some suitable HO passenger figures. A shot of the older razer-edge Lima railcar for comparison:

Shunters Yard has acquired a new Streamlined railcar from Dapol to augment it's passenger services! Thanks to Mr Soundguy it is fitted with a realistic soundchip also. Some early morning sun caught the model this am.

Love the lights in the buildings with the snow...

Another couple of shots of Santa on his way...

Track has been painted chocolate brown and a rust wash has been applied to the rail sides. Masking has been done to prepare for the application of fine grey dry ballast...