Leon

Just a bit of maintenance this evening. 37898 Cwmbargoed DP has its wheels cleaned on Conrad Electronic Wheel Cleaner. Should get some more progress this week on the scenary. Still got the hills to finish and a few bridges to build and place.

Some neat Depot signs, they also do National Coal Board.

Thanks Scott, Hopefully not a next time for a while....lol Committed now to get this one complete. I agree with needing a name, I came across a seller on eBay yesterday that produces cool NCB signs. I need to get some for the coal site, I’m thinking Nelson bog ? It was a real location used as a disposal point, it’s not based on that but I like the name...lol

Well I never thought I would have ever see a Rail freight Distribution Livery class 37 in the Welsh Valleys on coal ! Fantastic Video

Thanks Richard. Yes the old layout was not wired up well, I just had the point blades to make contact so trains never ran, Ive now had everything wired up so It "works" Made it a lot simpler to, away with all the sidings, left the depot as it fills a corner, just a simple coal loading/washing facility now but still got end to end fiddle yards so i can run what i want, going to use it as a diversion line when engineering works are going on. I think I want to go early sector rather than late to be honest, will have to get rid of the EWS 66 if thats the case..... Thanks for taking time to comment

Had an hour in the attic this evening, added some more formers to the hills in each corner of the layout and also re aligned the track work passing the coal facility to the fiddle yard to allow room for a signal and tunnel/bridge to hide the track leaving the layout and into the fiddle yard. Progress going well, looking to complete by Christmas, I think I'm on track as they say. Now that the points are all wired up and working, not relaying on just the blades making contact as before its really spurred me on. Unfortunatly the last two photos show just how much the ID back scenes are out of scale.

Hi all, All back scene fitted, just need to fill the gaps in the corners now with hills which I've been in the process of doing. I had some underfloor heating foam left over, ideal, easy to cut, lightweight and cheaper than a wooden frame. Once the formers are made, will fill with paper and paper mâché the top. Some "dodgy" area's of back scene will have some trees in front to hide and bubbles, creases & join etc. One of the hills will be part coal tip for the nearby mine/washery.

37800 "Glo Cymru" sporting trainload Coal livery leaves the valley with a short train of household coal in Railfreight HEA's.

Attempted to fit ID Backscenes this evening, Went for the PVA option for the area adjacent to the depot, this was a fail and I now have bubbles, on the back wall I used double sided tape, worked a lot better, you only get one chance to line it up but no bubbles to contend with. One more section to go now, the area along the coal disposal point. Not great photos sorry, a bit rushed. 1st few are the Depot fuel TTA's, I don't think the back scene is really to scale here. In the 2nd picture the grass in the foreground is huge, I will blend the corner in with trees. The mountains Im happier with, look pretty Welsh to me. I used double sided tape here. 37800 Glo Cymru given the opportunity to shine for the photo shoot. In the foreground will be coal heaps. Still a lot of tidying up to do but once I start to hide bits it should look better....lol

Good point Scott, No I had not thought of a name, Thats something I will need to do... Something Welsh, hard to pronounce....lol

Nothing too exciting to look at but progress has been made, I actually ran trains without hip cups for the first time in years. All working well, a few loco's need a good clean, trix wheel cleaner on the way. I think a few more days of testing then we can get on with the scenery, back scenes are at the post office waiting. Few more locos still to test. The class 158 is in the depot area, the only part of the original layout I kept, the rest will be rolling hills and a coal loading point.

Hi all, Apologies for the rushed photo's Finally got the points all wired up yesterday, 1st time I have had point motors and switches... About 13 in total wired up to 3 panels around the layout, 1 panel is for the main visible section including the depot area and the Coal facility, the other two are for the fiddle yard at each end. All the track work is wired up and live, locos and track needs a really good clean and a bit of adjustment on one of the points, but trains are running at last ! Work can move on soon with scenery and signals. Thanks to Steven, in the photo from his company GLR for carrying out the work. A Railfright 56 can be seen testing the depot area and a Class 60 pulling its train off the layout towards the fiddle yard.

Hi all, Looking for some advice regarding back scenes, I have seen some fantastic ones by ID, they have hill/mountains which will represent the area in the South Wales Valley's Im looking for, however i was thinking about painting some greys and whites onto the boards in place and not really have a back scene, The are is based in the Valley's with lots of coal tips, Im not an artist so not really looking at painting all the hills etc hence the idea of just a grey/white wash. I could have a mix of both I guess, maybe the hills back scene on the curve where I can then build up the coal tips in front. Any thoughts ? Many thanks

Hi Scott. Celsa from the air. Send me your email I can Dropbox a load of pic over including the nearby Tidal Sidings. In the 1st picture you can see the site has 4 08 shunters, there are also 3 Gbrf class 66's stabled on site most of the time. The scrap yard over the road has rail access also but long out of use now. Celsa has its own scrap bay.

Looking Good Scott, Looks like Celsa for sure, i work just by it and pass every day. I have a number of contacts in the area that have a lot of photos I can see if I can get for you. It already looks good and has that Allied Steel & Wire / Celsa look about it... You also have Tidal sidings close by which holds a variety of wagons, you could have this near your layout also to give you the option of other traffic. All the best Leon.

Thank you David, Im sure having someone wire the track work up for me will spur me on to get it completed, having dodgy point work not allowing me to run trains put a halt to any progress. They seem good collection of signals, few bit of detailing to add from the packets, should all look good once in place with all the scenery and dirty coal trains waiting to leave

Looks great, I started off with everything Primer Grey, then over time added more colour, makes a big improvement.

Good morning all, Exciting Saturday as the last of my signals have arrived. I went with Train Tech for the two route indicators, one for the spur to the depot and the other for the route to the coal loading facility. These are DCC controlled. However for the other 3 aspect signals i went for Berko as they looked nice, these are on DC, maybe I should have went all Train Tech for complete DCC control, Time will tell. I also have a GPS Ground Shunt Signal for the depot area. This is from CR Signals. Lastly a ground mounted signal to exit the Depot area, this is also a DC Berko. Hopefully we can get these wired up on Thursday also. I am no expert on Railway signalling so thank you for all the advice I have received. Im sure they may not be all 100% correct signal/locations, any further advice is more than welcome.

Hi Scott, Not been about for a while but just seen this, looks fantastic, good to see your still involved. All the best.

Hi all, Some progress, like I said, track due to be wired in next week, also some signals on order ready for the wiring. Once I get the electrics done the fun can start. Covering the whole area in Coal !

Bit of an update, I have booked the 20th Sept for the track to be wired in, hopefully running trains this month......

Thanks Rich, I have someone wiring the layout for me as that was the stumbling block as I know nothing about it and all the research has taken time, just getting a date in the diary.. I will see if he can wire them in for me. I also saw on Hattons, Traintronics and Train Tech, they both look pretty good, can any tell me anything about them please? Not bothered if they are DCC or not, I'm happy to flick a switch if needed... Thanks guys...

Yes I think they look good also. Happy wife....Happy life my friend....

Thanks Ian, I have CR items already, I will check them out. Many thanks.