Welsh Signaller

Thank you, I’m looking at long time Newport shunter 09105/107/203.

Would the Departmental 09 have high level pipes front and back, so would be suitable (externally) for a Class 09/1 & Class 09/2 ? Cheers

I recall when the South Wales ore came off at Cardiff, the other rake was stabled in my old mans yard (East Usk) for a few days, he managed to collect a sample of ore from the wagons, I remember the pelts being small balls brown in colour. The wagons seemed only half loaded as I understand it’s very heavy stuff. Anyone recall how much they weighted loaded roughly, 2000t ish if not more ?

He reckons they weren’t even uncoupled, the rotary coupler allowing them to turn 360 !

My old man was a shunter at Llanwern when the ore ran in there, before the heavy end was closed - he said the whole wagon was literally rolled upside down to unload each wagon? It would be interesting to see this in action, does anyone have any pictures or videos perhaps ?

I’ve just been doing some calculations before I order next week, 25 wagons will cost £26 per wagon ! That’s quite extraordinary considering the models are bespoke to a degree, can you even buy a bogie wagon for less than £30 least days ?!

I just want to check, payment it taken once the models are ready to deliver not upon ordering? The Mrs is going to go spare if £700 came out next week lol

I’ve messaged you guys regards a pack of inner wagons to go with the outers. Cheers

My mistake thanks lads. will do McC

I’m looking to build up a 20 or 25 take Iron ore rake, as has been said the orange ends are outers so only two per rake - what’s the best way to do this please ?

Virgin Cross Country operated a single HST to Swansea from Scotland, which returned to the North East. Central Trains operated a hourly service to and from Cardiff to Nottingham using Class 156s, later 170s operated via Worcester until W&W got cut in 2003 to Cheltenham, the Central service then missed out Worcester. Wales and West operated to Birmingham New Street until mid 2003 when they got cut back to Cheltenham.

The next instalment of physical work will include marking out and cutting the second series of curved boards, and starting the back racing straight boads - this will be in approximately two weeks.

As the layout will run along the garden fence I don’t really want the fence slats as a background to I plan to fix ply backboards to the offside, again painting and capping to prevent water damage over time - an idea of what I plan is this...

I’ve also been thinking about how to support the baseboards, again my initial plan was to use circular aluminium poles concreted into the ground with adaptor plates on top fo secure them to underside of the baseboards. The plan remains similar to the original, but I’m going to use square poles now vice circular ones, and use two per support column instead of one set a few inches apart to ensure maximum strength and resistance to movement.

Good Evening, no physical progress on the garden railway since the last update but work has been progressing behind the scenes. I need the baseboards to remain in tip top condition for years to come, so keeping the edges/gain watertight is essential. My initial plan was to firstly paint the baseboard with outdoor water resistant paint, I’d also apply this to a wooden edging strip which would then be secured to the grain side of the baseboard. However, I think I’m going to source and fit a 12mm wide PVC plastic edging to the gain sides of the baseboard, then seal the top and bottom edges where the plastic meets the wood with water proof sealant to make certain no water can over time access the gains and destroy from within the wood. This is the strip I think I’m going to use for all the outside baseboards.

I would need to know this as well before ordering one or two..no rush if the early bird discount runs until November.

The Royal Portbury Dock (Bristol) to Mossend used to go via Newport AD Junction yard, it was to long for the loop at AD so would be drawn right forward onto the mainline so another loco could attach to the rear go drag it back via Courtybella Curve. X-Ray headcode as it had a number of special speed and route restrictions on the two routes it could take going north from South Wales.

I must say a huge thank you HH for your invaluable help so far ! Shaming idea about keeping the track a nice distance a part definitely going to have a crack at that, I hate uneven’ness I reckon I might have a mild OCD !

I’ve taken advantage of the wife going out for coffee with her colleagues, and the kids being in school to lay out roughly the next instalment. Ive used the waste wood from stage one to allow me to measure out with track the required widths and lengths. I’m going to need two more 8ft x 4ft 12mm sheets, one as a whole for the second curve, and the second sheet cut in half to allow two 8ft x 2ft lengths that will run across the back fence, which section will have loops either side of the single lines. I’m not happy with the set track curves for both lines round the corner, so I’m going to use them for the inner only to get the required radius then flexi for the other line so I can have a nice even gap around the curve.

A bit of experimentation is required I reckon.... How do you secure a plastic drain pipe to the underside of your baseboard, whether it be wood or plastic ?

Peco set track sections on the return loops due to space limitations, I’ll only be using short wheel base locos like Class 08, Class 14, Panniers etc.

Another thing I wasn’t sure about, I was looking a gravel, but a patio slab makes much more sense - I could even secure the leg onto the slab to make absolutely sure it didn’t move.

Thanks HH for offering your advice, it’s really appreciated! ive an eye on the future as well regards working height, after service with the police my back is knackered already hence the minimum height of 4ft off the ground. If needs be I can sit on a chair to work as the years push on. I plan on DCC operation, with an eye on battery in the future - I didn’t actually think about dropper wires going through the boards and the issues that’ll cause - so thank you for flagging that up. Potentially a solution would be to seal the wires into the hole to form a water tight bond, or have the bus and droppers neatly on top of the board to the back perhaps save any holes, my points will be hand operated (initially anyway) so maybe if I juice them up later on top mounted and wired might be the way to go as well.

I think we should be okay environment wise, so hopefully they should last long after I’m gone.

Next step is to repeat the process for the first double/single line curve which will run into the back straight section. Watch this space...