Penrhos1920

I usually find that I do not need to mention the hobby or the fact that I'm addicted to Ebay, RMWeb and other anorak websites if I make contact through the RMWeb Personnal Ads section first.

PENGUINS II A man drives to a gas station and has his tank filled up. While doing this the clerk spots two penguins sitting on the back seat of the car. He asks the driver, "What's up with the penguins in the back seat?" The man in the car says, "I found them. I asked myself what to do with them but, I haven't a clue." The clerk ponders a bit then says, "You should take them to the zoo." "Yeah, that's a good idea," says the man in the car and drives away. The next day the man with the car is back at the same gas station. The clerk sees the penguins are still in the back seat of the car. "Hey, they're still here! I thought you were going to take them to the zoo!" "Oh, I did," says the driver, "and we had a great time. Today I'm taking them to the beach."

PENGUINS I Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica ? Where do they go? Well, wonder no more ! ! ! It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintain a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life. If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into, and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing: "Freeze a jolly good fellow." "Freeze a jolly good fellow." Did you really believe that I knew anything about penguins? It's so easy to fool OLD people.

Sex therapy online, in a catalogue or at a branch near you - Screwfix

I can't believe the price a pair of Andersley JSA Covered Telescopic hoods have just gone for. This one was £51: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Andersley-JSA-Covered-Telescopic-Steel-Carrying-Wagon-Kit-New-Unopened-/321006343129?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&nma=true&si=qDIZ0bqiOnIz5C%2FySdG8BIoOPBQ%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc and the second one went for £50. Now that's what I call madness.

I have used a detached brick garage for my model railway for a two or more years now. To solve the cold winter problem i had a wood burner installed in the middle of the garage. It takes 30 - 60 minutes to heat up the garage enough to be able to build the layout. The main issue with the cold was that we not only got cold, but that we also made serious mistakes when installing track and points, so our brains were also effected. My garage didn't have an up and over door, but a sliding door. However I think the main issues would be the same. It is a serious security risk and the gaps around the edges only makes the cold worse. It didn't cost a lot to get a uPVC side door installed so I could seal the main door shut. The main issue left to resolve with the garage is now dirt. Half of the garage has a ceiling and the layout under that half stays reasonably clean; just like in a spare room. The half without a ceiling gets very dirty. It appears that most of the dirt comes from the roof tiles, but there is also some mortar dust from the gable end wall. To sort this out I've decided that I'm going to buy some of this modern bubble wrap type insulation to create a ceiling with. Unless your spare room is bigger than you garage. Put your layout in the garage and set up a modelling desk in the spare room for building stock etc. The proper thing to do with the garage would be to insulate and plaster the walls and ceiling, but I would just start using it and see what you need to in 6-9 months time once you know how dirty it is and how cold it gets.

I drew the artwork in Autocad 2002 which I've learnt over the years courtesy of work; unfortunately only 2D. About 10 years ago I got to Nartgarw to measure up number 3 which was stored there. Fortunately the wrought iron railings still exist and I was able to do a rubbing of them. It was then a matter of tracing that in autocad. I’m currently struggling with do a 3D drawing of the roof so I can get it 3d printed. I’ve given up on getting it 100% correct as no matter which profiles I use I always get a dip somewhere. So I’m going with what I’ve got and I will be sending something to Shapeways this week. Once the roof and wrought iron are finished I think the rest should be plain sailing, although there are a lot of windows on number 1.

Many years ago I decided that my model railway would have to meet the following criteria: a junction that was on different levels GWR influence no big engines hopefully some 4 or 6 wheel coaches. Those criteria narrowed the possibilities down and I ended up modelling Penrhos junctions -see my website link below. The ANDR ran through Penrhos junctions. They provided half of the passenger services through the junctions. They only had 5 coaches, so it’s difficult not to model them. I've been putting off making them for several years, ever since I got to Nantgarw to measure up number 3.

The etches for the wrought iron on the verandas arrived this morning. They are very fragile, I'm going to laminate pairs of gates and letters together to make them a lot stronger - that's once I've plucked up the courage to touch the etch! Also on the etch are the destination boards and lamp irons Masokits style.

My neighbours have just returned from holiday and spent a fare amount of time travelling around Scotland in Mk1s with steam haulage. Now my preferred coach for a railtour or preserved railway would be something a bit older, say a pre-grouping 4 or 6 wheeler or a GWR toplight. Given that most of us probably would prefer to travel in something that evokes youthful nostalgia what would you like to be travelling in on a railtour in 40 years time? Will the youth of today be wanting Pacers and Sprinters?

I've decided that it is time for me to throw my hat into the ring. A combination of this challenge and the Scaleforum scratch building challenge, which is for 2 P4 coaches from scratch by a novice builder, have got me off the sofa and tools in my hand. I've never scratch built anything. I've plenty experience of building kits and bashing RTR but the only scratch built projects stopped after a days effort. I'm going to try and build, by mid September, 2 or 3 of the Alexandra (Newport and South Wales) Docks & Railway (ANDR for short) coaches. In 1910 they bought 3 coaches that had been touring the UK and Europe for the Barnum and Bailwy circus trains. See MRC 1986 for a series of articles and Backtrack July 2005. The coaches were American design built to the UK loading gauge over here. When the ANDR bought them they fitted buffer beams and screw couplings in place of the buckeyes, rebuilt the verandas and changed the windows. Inside they fitted longitudinal seats in place of the beds and toilets. All three coaches were different. Fortunately the body of number 3 still exists at Nantgarw and I was able to spend a day measuring it a few years ago. Number 1 is almost the same as 3 except it has end windows. Number 2 is a bit of a mystery. It had 16 side windows and I have only found one photo plus the GWR diagram which cannot be relyed upon as the GWR diagram is wrong for number 3. The big hurdles as far as building them have been getting reliable information and trying to decide how to make the roofs, the wrought iron, and where to get the wheels (28" diameter) and buffers from.

I think the plan is to start in the middle at the mine, keeping that part to scale, and then extend side ways as the project moves on.

P4, at least that is what I'm drawing out the track plan as. Richard Not a member of CMRC but helping out with Templot

Since my last blog entry it has been one step forward and 3 backwards on several occasions. But now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel - or is it a headlamp of an oncoming train? The double glazing was installing in the garage on budget and schedule. But the roof, wood burner and main door were not. I couldn't find a roofer who would touch the roof for less than £2000; all I wanted was the ridge re-pointed and about a quarter of the eaves tiles replaced. I couldn't find a water proof garage door that would fit in the current opening without taking up too much layout space inside, and could I find a wood burner installer who would do the job for sensible money? So for the main door I've added 2"x2"s either side to fill the big gaps and used that wonderful spray foam to fill the small cracks that were left. For the roof I have slid in plastic support trays for roof under lay from Screwfix instead of the missing eaves tiles and added more spray foam to stop the drafts. I also spent yesterday morning sitting on the ridge, chipping out the loose mortar and re-pointing it - I now have a very sore bottom. Fortunately my wife found a wood burner installer who not only gave us a good quote, but fitted it only 8 days later. Plus it was £700 cheaper than the cheapest quote and it did not cost £75 to get them to come and quote!! So the garage is now in a state where we can work in it whatever the weather and the layout stays dry, mostly dust free and no spiders yet. Similarly it has been much the same with the layout. Back in October and November we though we were going great guns. Track was being laid in the fiddle yard, the viaduct board arrived from Rob's and we connected up and we thought we were on schedule for a show this April, even though the scenery would not be complete. Then it got cold (actually it was very cold in the garage) and we had a couple of disastrous modelling sessions. Track was laid, but the glue was forgotten; track was glued in place; but the wrong place; point motors were fitted and working; but stopped working the next session; and so it went on. We pulled out of the show with almost 5 months notice and put everything on hold until last weekend. March 17th. We decided that the top priority was to lay 2 tracks all around and get them running. To do that the last but one corner baseboard was needed; the last baseboard on has sidings and sits inside the oval. So we got everything ready to build it in place and what do we find? We are only 12mm out on the level. The rest of the day was spent working out what was level and what wasn't. It turned out that we need to rebuild the right hand end of the viaduct board. At least we would be able to get everything ready to start the final board next weekend. March 24th. We finished off the viaduct board rebuild and reset the whole scenic side as it had been moved to allow access for the wood burner installation. What do we find? Again we are out by 11mm. The laser level shows that it was all along the fiddle yard which was level last week and hadn't been touched since. So the fiddle yard was re-leveled and everything double checked and finally the gap for the last baseboard is level. Double glazing, no holes in the roof, viaduct board rebuilt. Tracking laying here we come.....

I've used these, yes some look a bit old but just place them away from the windows. http://www.ebay.co.u...=item483f3c5b02 They were on £4.99 for 60 when I bought a couple of months ago.

Yes. Two of the scenic boards have curved fronts so I need to make curved ply beams. I've just been out and added a brick to one to encourage the curve even more.

The garage spiders are the bane of my life. In the long term the plan is to fully insulate, board out and plaster the garage, but only after we have confirmed that the wall ties have done their job and stopped further wall movement. The short term plan is to use dust sheets to cover the layout whilst not being operated (useful for when we are making lots of dust or over night at exhibitions as well).

Today Dave and I have made a massive leap forward. Over the last few months I have first cleared loads of rubbish out of the garage and have then been making five fiddle yard boards with help form Dave and Rob. Today Fiona has helped Dave and myself completely clean the garage of 100 years of spiders, cobwebs and general dirt. We virtually emptied the last remaining items and have put up the new multi-purpose fiddle yard that will serve 3 layouts: 26'6 long for Awrhyllgwami Quarry and Penrhos (ADR) 36' long for Picton (2 extra 5'6 boards are required) In a couple of weeks time the doors and windows will be replaced with 21st century double glazing and the main door with a well insulated water tight door.

Guess where I ended up instead: Oh and the story is that Sir Lamiel nearly ran out of coal!

Rovex, What Diagrams are the 70' coaches? I don't think you mentioned them. Richard

Bargain. Looks like the wallet will be severely dented when 143s arrive in Arriva Trains Wales and Valleys Lines liveries. Are you taking deposits? Or do we just need to keep an eye on this topic?

Well I'm not sure about that as I think I spotted Frome WR, Hartlepool NE & Stratford GE brandings on those wagons. You're welcome. It's really great to see my wagons out and about. I didn't build them to get stored in a box. I hope they all behaved themselves.

Ah, but Gods Wonderful engines don't have outside valve gear to detract from their beautiful coaches.......

That sounds a big bonus. Can you post the link for where you saw it please; I'd like to see how it is done. Thanks Richard

It looks as the Hawksworth has had its gangways removed? Wasn't it also the first to be withdrawn despite being young than the others?