The Johnster

In the sense that her intelligence is infinitessimal.

Agility, stamia; athleticism, and your wits kept about you. I used to assemble a train at Swansea High St. Goods, 19.35 Swansea Goods-Lawrence Hill, Hymek job, vans and wagons gravity fed from Hafod whizzing around the corner of the NCL building in failing light and GW-period yard lighting. It was, frankly, terrifying, and I was only dealing with one road; the shunters had to change points as well! Shunting is dangerous at the best of times, but add conditions like these and the ante is definitely upped. Nerves of steel we 'ad, boyo, nerves of steel, wills of iron, hearts of ice, and knobs of butter. For the sandwiches of course...

Shwt is one of the best I've seen, and captures the semi-dereliction of places at the end of their working lives in the late 60s magnificently; it'll be missed. The pile of bricks that used to be the station building is phenomenally well modelled and highly expressive of the period. I like to light my trains from the side, something not always done on show layouts where the overhead retina-burners blind you with white GW roofs. I prefer subdued cool lighting to suggest an overcast or rainy day (I model the South Wales Valleys), but even if you model high summer as many do, if your layout is set in the UK the highest the currant bun gets even at midsummer day astronomical noon even at Penzance (don't think there was much railway south of this in Britain, Helston by a couple of yards perhaps) will still cast direct sunlight on the sides of trains and buildings. This may cause problems for operators at the back of show layouts, but the answer to this was devised by yours truly at a show in the 80s, when the spots were getting in our eyes. I purchased half a dozen kiddies' clear coloured plastic visors, from the Dean Forest Rly. stand IIRC, and handed them out. After a few comments about overgrown kids with train sets, we developed the response that these visors were not kids' toys at all, but highly sophisticated designer AGDs, as worn by hardened newspaper editors. 'What's an AGD?'; it's an Anti Glare Device, so there! Some punters looked abashed and impressed, and several other exhibitors copied us... It's a seriously good idea, reduces eye strain and doesn't affect your view of the models, The Johnster commends it to you. Even on an overcast day, daylight is much stronger than even quite powerful indoor lighting, and bright sunlight obviously much more so. But we mostly use our layouts indoors under lamps designed for reading or working, stronger than the main lighting but nowhere near daylight on all but the gloomiest days (yes, even in Manchester or Blaenau Ffestiniog). Much of the endless debating on sites like this about the actual colour of certain liveries takes place without taking this into account; if we want to view our models properly we have to replicate daylight, and most people would find that very uncomfortable in a domestic environment, and unacceptable to other members of the household. I am aware that my own layout lighting, led anglepoises that deliver three levels and three tones, is nowhere near bright enough but one compromises, perhaps by painting models and laying scenery that is a bit too bright (then weathering it; this is really sensible hobby, isn't it?). It is a subject not well researched within the hobby, but I suspect the manufacturers are aware of it when applying liveries and colours. Shwt, Rob's ovine offerings, and Alastair's Middleton top are inspirational, but I doubt anyone will object if I single out two exceptionally lit layouts; Arun Quay, which gets drizzly misty dreich & drear/poor visibility over the Sussex coastal marshes spot on, and Beijao, Chinese industrial yellowed-out polluted bleakness with it's backdrop of brutalitarianist concrete buildings and bright neon signs; I've never been to northern China, but this is exactly how I imagine it, nailed it, I almost want to wipe the grit out of my eyes after one of those lorries bowls past... Both of these are probably a bit washed out for most peoples' taste. Rod Stewart's late afternoon cityscape is not to my taste, but very effective nonetheless; my problem is that this cast of lighting does not usually last for more than about half an hour. I can reproduce something like it at Cwmdimbath, but I believe Rod has deliberately chosen complimentary hues for his many buildings to enhance the effect, but I'd want the sun to go down and twilight to supercede it after about half an hour.

Taken to see Bambi, a much hyped-up treat, in 1956 when I was four. Cinema was a wonder palace, expectation building exponentially. Sat down, expectation turning into full-on excitement now. The lights went down, oh, be still my beating heart. The curtains opened; I could hardly contain myself. There were some adverts (Pearl & Dean); this was pre-ITV in Cardiff and I'd never seen anything like them before! There was an expectant hush. The film started, the culmination of everything my life had been building up to at that time. ...And, within minutes, SOME TW*T SHOT BAMBI'S MUM!!! HIS MUM, ffs!!! I had to be carried out of the Cinema screaming in distress, mentally scarred for life, I can recall the incident in horrible clarity even now 68 year later. How could anyone ever think that this slaughterfest was suitable for young children; the most terrifiying part was that you only saw the gun, not the hunter, a shadow killer; fear of the unknown is the worst fear. It was another eight years before I could be persuaded back into the cinema again, for Swiss Family Robinson, but I rapidly graduated to to Clint and the Dollars series, where corpse-counting was par for the course; death didn't worry me by that time. Mind, nobody's mum got shot...

Which is fine until the large dog wants it back...🙁

Started cutting the bogie footboards out of coffee stirrers (tx, 'spoons Tim), and will probably have them on the bogies by tomoz night. I've had a bit of wobble with the bogies, because of a post in another topic (same thread as this) with worked-up Triang clerestories on Hornby 10' Dean bogies. I'd have been a bit more certain of myself had I taken proper notice of this coach's bogies in the first place, but I have now assured myself that the Glyncorrwgs had 8'6" Dean bogies. One of them didn't have footboards, on at least one side, though. AFAICT, there were three coaches, and the 'top' and 'bottom' ones had the end compartments fitted out for the guard to ride in, though I am not aware of the train ever having been propelled in the downhill direction. Normal practice (in as far as anything about the Glyncorrwg branch can be desribed as 'normal') was for the loco to haul the train down from Glyncorrwg ecs in the usual way to Cwmmer Corrwg, run around and haul it back up to Glyncorrwg with passengers, then run around again and propel the coaches up the rest of the branch because there was no facility for running round up there. The return journey had the loco hauling the coaches from North Pit to Cwmmer Corrwg, running around and hauling them ecs back to Glycorrwg where they were stabled until next time while the loco handled the coal traffic. I can understand why nobody has made an exhibition model of this fascinating operation hidden in the mountain fastnesses; nobody would ever believe it... Photo on p.341 of Hodges/Davies shows the 'bottom' coach at Glyncorrwg on the bay headshunt with damage to the third compartment door and windows, dated 5/9/57, and on p.349 a two-coach train leaving South Pit Halt downhill on the same day; I have no idea if the 'bottom' coach was ever repaired, but the damage is fairly severe, door off it's hinges and the pillar between the door and window reveal broken; despite this, Hodges/Davies do not comment on the situation. Something rigid and solid like a crane jib has attacked the coach at about door handle level from the side; it doesn't look like converging road shunting sideswipe damage. As the numbers are indicernable beneath the filth my conversion will serve as 'top' or 'bottom' coach facing either direction for working at Cwmdimbath, as I have no qualms about propelling downhill, and the middle coach without the footboards and (TTBOMK) no cab will not be modelled. The coaches were actually rostered to Port Talbot, not Tondu. Withdrawn in 1958 replaced by a 3-coach Mainline & City set which lasted until 1962. The brake ends of these were similarly modified, but with a central droplight window let in. I'm rather hoping Dapol will produce these, but if not I'll do my own from a Dapol. Not correct for Tondu, but the Cwmdimbath line never actually existed except as a tramroad, and I feel justified in these rule 1 nods to the Glyncorrwg operation.

And schizophrenic?

One of my favourite places is Aberystwyth, a town full of friendly nutters and an individualistic attitude to things, plus anywhere with steam trains and a cliff railway can’t be all bad. The area is predominantly Welsh-speaking and the town has a marvellous approach to bilingual signage; for example, from about 20 years ago, dividing the beach into areas where dogs were or were not allowed, <Dogs/Dim Dogs>. Wenglish at it’s best, do dogs have to pass an intelligence test to use part of the beach, or are they to be divided on the basis of how well illuminated they are? ‘WE DEMAND THE TRUTH. NOW!!!’. ‘YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!’. Another lovely bit of tranlation, pure Aber, is ‘Stryd Fawr’. Anywhere else in Wales this translates as ‘High Street’, but not here; ‘Great Darkgate Street’, a bit Dungeons & Dragons, Welsh dragons of course. ‘Stryd Porth Ddu Fawr’, perhaps? Check out Malcolm Pryce’s Aber-set pseudo-noir ‘Louie Knight’ detective books for the vibe; well written, with druid mafia, rugby club enforcers, mad scientists, gelato addiction, Red Gwenno, Patagonian war vets living rough in the dunes at Ynyslas (‘Ew wusn’t there, mun’), illegal knitting sessions in dark basements, much more realistic than the real town, or perhaps not that much; the darkness is there all right, not far below the surface… Place is weird. An’ I luvs a bit of weird, I duz.

Valid point, alastairb. I find myself much the same, at which rate a ‘Cwmdimbath Day’ takes 3 or 4 sessions, not far off a week in real time, to complete but I do not find that to be a problem. But, according to situation and my mood, there are different modes of operating, and of modelling. I can have a ‘sit down and drive the trains session as described, or a sort of operating-with clock-stopped breaks in which modelling, maintenance, tidying up, &c is done, or watching tv and making a movement or performing a modelling task while the ads are on, comvenient in a two-room flat where the layout os on the bedroom next to the loving room but Idoubt it would work with stairs, loft ladders, or garden paths intervening. It is surprising what can be achieved in ad breaks; my current project, the Glyncorrwg clerestory (see ‘A clerestory for Cwmdimbath’ in ‘modifying & detailing RTR/Modelling Skills & Knowledge), has been carried on in much this way, and, unless you are in a hurry to complete the job which is never good modelling practice anyway, it is surprising how the work, or the timetable, progresses!

Preservation beyond Leek presumably carried out under the policy of Manifold Destiny... Sorry, it's that sort of silly Saturday avo. Out on the patio with the firepit later.

An interesting concept, SM42. It sort of ties in with the Ironbridge industrial heritage stuff, and the main line connection would have presumably been at the power station, which would be a connection to the Horsehay people. Not likely to have ever happened, of course, given that the track was already gone north of Bridgnorth Tunnel and still in good condition all the way down to Kiddy when the preservationists moved in; in fact it was still in use as far as the colliery and there were still passenger services to Bewdley via Kidderminster in those days. Ironbridge gorge is attractive scenically and of course the bridge itself is a major attraction. The current SVR is a well-run and competent organisation that would be well capable of restoring the Bridgnorth-Ironbridge section, but it would not have been as capable of doing that in the early days. Under Gerald Nabarro (it has not always been best served by it's chairmen) it seems to not have been quite as well-run, and did not have the resources anyway. Incidents like the Sterns washout would have sunk it.

It does seem to have slipped back a bit, doesn't it. CNY is well over and any delays caused by Houthis in the Red Sea and disturbance to the container supply because of the extra 5 days passage round the Cape should be factored out fairly soon. Predicting the arrival of the N is a bit of a lottery, though, as we do not know what stage of production they have reached; assembly and packing would suggest sooner rather than later, but the sea voyage is 6 weeks via the Cape, the ship may call at other ports before it comes to it's UK berth, which could be another week or so, and they then have to be sorted and distributed in the UK. And we don't even know if the project has reached the assembly plant in China yet! I'm keen to see this coach in my sweaty little paws, but as the 94xx saga taught me, there is little point in worrying about it. It'll get here when it gets here, and when it gets here it'll be here, the philosophical approach, interspersed by occasional howling at the moon in blind rage and scream therapy, seems to work for me... The delay has at least allowed me to defer my 'work up a Keyser A31 to represent an approximate A10 to run with the N as happened at Tondu 1953-7' project and concentrate on cut'n'shutting a couple of old Triang clerestories to make a Glyncorrwg miners' coach, a project well in hand that will probably be complete by the time we have news of the N and I will need to start on the A31/A10 conversion.

Sounds like a keeper, Phil.

Which funnily enough I was offered in broad daylight yesterday on Clifton Street, our local shops, by a much younger lady. This happens fairly often; I look like a punter I suppose, it’s crack addicts mostly. This one is new, and was pleasant enough in terms of social skills but irritatingly persistent, and followed me around until she found another victim. Poor cow.

Sadly, no; the auto work at Tondu did not begin until the big timetable revision of 1953 and the locos allox were newly auto-fitted 4575s, replaced by 64xx after the track alterations at Cwmmer Afan in 1961 and the ise of Blaengwnfi rather than Abergwnfi as the terminus for that branch. 1471 came within a few miles of Tondu territory at Hendreforgan on it’s Penygraig work, but the Bridgend-Gilfach Goch service closed in the thirties. As it involved a reversal and run-around at Hendreforgan, it would have been an ideal candidate for an auto service and might have survived longer had this happened. There are some pretty extreme gradients on the Tondu branches, and with the traffic demanding two trailers, three on Saturdays when everybody wanted to go shopping in Bridgend, 0-4-2s would have been out of their depth. The final pitch to Nantymoel was half a mile at 1 in 27! 1422 was used from 1957 as a stationary boiler at Tondu, and was in fact the last engine to leave the depot when it closed in 1964.

Thought you were supposed to have a bus on a bridge... Though to be fair on the MSC you can see a boat on a bridge, and the next minute the bridge is somewhere else. Genius!

212 is to Diagram A31, and is the prototype of a whitemetal Keyser kit. A consequence of it's SRM origins is that the bogie pivot is further 'in' from the end of the coach at this brake end than at the cab end. As the rebuilds employed three types of bogies, 9' 'Fishbelly' as shown here, 'American', as supplied with the K's kit, and Collett 7', this rather odd look looked even odder with the Collett bogies. There were two lots of the original SRMs, one built at Swindon and one outsourced up the road to Gloucester RC&W. This is a Swindon vehicle, with what had by then become the standard central vestibule passenger door; the Gloucesters had twin inward-opening doors. The kit has these, and as none of the Gloucester rebuilds were given American bogies, is incorrect in this respect. I have two of them at Cwmdimbath, both 'out of service' at present. One is W 207 W in crimson livery, and toplights plated in as per a photo in the Lewis book at Monmouth (Troy), a very different look. They are a bit basic, with no floor or interiors, but can of course be worked up, fun modelling. They are also very heavy, and as a pair are beyond the capacity of a (fully run in) Bachmann 4575. The other is none other than this one, W 212 W, with the door modified. This has been earmarked for a conversion and improvment to the best of my ability to represent the fairly similar-looking Diagram A10 W 28 W, which ran 1953-1956 at Tondu coupled to Diagram N W 37 W, on order from Rails when Dapol produce it. Working it up to a standard good enough to run with the Dapol N will be quite a challenge!!! It runs on the correct 9' Fishbellies from Stafford Road Works at Shapeways, superb runners.

Same here, only in my case we are talking about the Diagram N auto-trailer, and there is no requirement for a 48xx or 517 at Cwmimbath. Whilst I do not have any particular brand allegiance or loyalty, in the past it has been simply the situation as was that Bachmann made the bulk of the locos I need for my layout; excluding industrials I have ten Bachmanns and two Hornbys because Bachman made more GW tank engines than Hornby. This is changing, with Accurascale's panniers and Rapido's small prairies in the mix, along with this very sensible release from Dapol. My view (other views are available and may be better informed) is that Bachmann are a dead duck as far as new models of steam prototypes are concerned, have been for a while, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. They have to toe the Kader line, which for the present appears to be to pull up the drawbridge and hunker down until the recession goes away. Costs seem to be difficult for them to control, comparing with Accurascale, Dapol, and Rapido introductions. Two completely new models that have never been attempted in RTR form before are in the offing, the Rapido 44xx and Dap's 517, and Accurascale are offering 57xx and 8750s without top feeds, again something not available previously in RTR form since the Gaeity 57xx, which can hardly be included as a serious model in the present-day situation. And all these new models, and others from the companies mentioned,have been announced since the last completely new steam offering from Bachmann was belatedly made available, the 94xx. They have brought out a completely retooled J72 in the meantime, but this is a retool, not a new model. Even Hornby have introduced new prototypes, big LNER ones and the Turbo. Wind the clock back a decade and I would have predicted that RTR manufacturers' interest in steam-outline and 'traditional railway' prototypes would be declining as my generation, the last with clear memories of steam in service, begins to shuffle off it's mortal coil. Bachmann have behaved pretty much in accordance with that prediction but the rise of new players and the expansion of others into the main game category is very much not! I was wrong, and couldn't be happier about it!

Ok, time for a pictorial sitrep. 5766 propels the coach in to Cwmdimbath on a clearance test run from Tondu on a Sunday when nothing else is running. Nowhere near finished but this gives a fair impression of the form the coach will eventually take. Work needs to be done on the fit of the roof and of course the bogies, and plenty of handrail and vacuum and steam hose detail. Despite work on the bogie mounts, the coach is still betraying it’s Triang heritage by riding a mm or so too high at the buffers. All that work in filing the buffers down to represent the odd small oval buffers fitted to these coaches (must’ve been a reason for this but I’ve no idea what it was), and the result is barely noticeable in this shot! But I’m not unhappy with it at this stage; it is beginning to look a lot like a Glyncorrwg miner’s coach!

We’re Welsh, we’ve been doing it for the last 5,000 years at least. We sent kids, like about 5 or 6 years old, in for copper at Parys Mountain cos they were the only poor little sods could fit in the entrances and work the galleries, and from the remains found in the 20th century not all of the ones we sent in came back out. It’s always been hellish, and where there are still underground workings, it still is.

One of the 'street ladies' (meaning a rough sleeper, not on the game though she's done her share of that) of my area looks remarkably like this. Caroline is a bit tragic, usual story, hubby battered her then left, and she went on the game to put her son through school and college, then became a heroin and crack cocaine addict to cope with it. The lad, who owes her everthing, got a doctorate but has severed all connections with his mother, who was given a flat after a prison sentence but couldn't cope with it, no support, and eventually lost it, so she's back on the streets. She's in her 50s but looks as old as the Neandertal woman. I feel quite sorry for her, but won't give her money because she'll spend it on killing herself with drugs or booze, but she knows I'm good for a bag of chips or a Tesco sandwich... Kieth was killed years ago, but is so out of it he hasn't realised yet...

Along with a batch of 28xx, 1946-7 IIRC, response to a national coal shortage. The converted 28xx were renumbered into the 48xx series and the 48xx 0-4-2Ts into the 14xx series, the only long-lasting effect of the experiment. On conversion back to coal-firing, the 28xx resumed their previous identities, as did the Halls which were renumbered into 39xx.

Looking good, Rosie's Boss, shows how these old stagers respond to a bit of working up, and an inspiration for my current Glyncorrwg coach. I had a bit of a wobble when I saw 10' Deans under your C10 and C10, but checking the photo in the Hodge/Davies Tondu Valleys book, which is what I'm working from, I'm fairly happy that my coach should have 8'6" bogies. These will be 3D prints ordered from Stafford Road Works on Shapeways, and not the best detailed prints in the world, no rivets, but they'll have to do. For now, I'm proceeding with the original Triang B1s, correct wheelbase and not a million miles off a Dean once you've cut the tiebar off and added footboards. I'm currently glazing this coach. The livery is interesting, especially when you compare it to your beautifully lined out masterpieces; Glyncorrwg clerestories were in wartime all-over brown when they were converted and, working as miners' stock in a coal-mining environment, the livery was soon modified by a beautiful protective layer of filth. Photos show that the numbers were indiscernable under this, and I have gone for very heavy weathering of the coach, then grey painted the roof and have very heavily weathered that. It's actually quite entertaining to be let loose with the weathering brush in this way, the result still showing remnants of the brown but you've got to know where to look. This is correct for the Glyncorrwg stock in the mid 50s!

15mph is the norm for all and any shunting movements including those on running lines, all movements into and within sidings and yards, and any movement controlled by secondary signals or handsignals. This would apply to an unfitted train being set back into a goods yard. In addition, any movement into a goods shed or on to roads where staff are working must take place under caution, defined as being able to stop the train within the distance you can see is clear ahead of the leading vehicle. These sorts of moves are usually carried out under 'green light' handsignal or handlamp instructions, requiring very slow speed (counterintuitively, a white lamp handsignal at night is for normal shunting speed to be used, and a green one is for a slower speed to be used). This is part of the frequently raised debate about realistic running speeds on layouts, a matter which is not always fully appreciated by enthusiasts who have not actually worked on the railway. One sees show layouts operated at far too high a speed, then the next one will be snailracing. In reality on a traditonal railway the shunting game was to finish the job as quickly as possible without killing anyone and remaining on the rails so that you could get to the next cuppa or go home early, and there are yards then there are yards. Shunting at a small station goods yard, the most common situation for modellers, will generally proceed at around walking pace, because that is the speed that the staff, usually just the trip guard, on the ground who are doing the coupling/uncoupling and changing the points moves at and there's no point in going faster, but movements into sheds will be snailracing speed. At marshalling yards, wagons are knocked about with a bit more enthusiasm, as there are staff at the yard throat to deal with the points and more further out to do the uncoupling. Marshalling and especially hump yard shunting is a young man's game, for the quick or the dead... I can remember 'walking' trains into sidings, finely and precisely controlling the speed with my finger, driver 40 wagons away with 2,700 or so horses, feeling like A GOD! The control, the awesome POWER!!! And they paid me to do this, shame to take the money really. Not that I ever felt the compulsion to give any of it back...

Certainly as far as the WR was concerned, it was not until road improvements carried fast dual carriageways into Darkest Dyfed, Devon beyond Exeter, and Cornwall, that long distance road haulage became viable to replace the rail service. I imagine similar conditions existed elsewhere.