Dukedog

This locomotive is amongst some of the oldest models I own. It's a Bachmann GWR/BR Manor class synonymous with the Cambrian section of BR Western region. I was looking round for some quick fix modelling jobs to do over the Chrismas/New year period so decided to do a bit of an upgrade on this.... I had already done some work to it 11 years ago when I bought it new, It's already had new name and number plates and a few other jobs done but, just look at that chimney! Absolutely terrible, looks nothing like a Manor chimney so out with the razor saw and files! Off came the chimney to be replaced with this turned brass item. Whilst I was on with the job I decided that the smoke box door dart had to go as well and that was replaced by a Mainly Trains item, also to go were the buffers to be replaced by some Slaters sprung items. Just a quick paint job and here it is ready for the road Just visible between the cab and tender can be seen a metal frame painted in red oxide. This was copied from a photo of the original locomotive at Cemmes Road in the early 60's. I believe it was to attach the weather sheet from cab to tender to. Others have argued that it was something to do with OHLE safety. As the Cambrian was never OHLE fitted I stick to my version of its use. It's unlikely to see any active service on Pen Y Bont, not with that headboard on anyway, but, it will be great on Morfa Bach with a rake of BR Blood & Custard Mk1's. Just looking around for a few more little jobies! Cheers for now Frank

Hello Joop, Thanks for posting this blog entry, your opening sentence is a carbon copy of my way into railway modelling, it could almost be me that wrote it! The only difference is my interest was British Railways steam. I suddenly lost interest once diesels started making the scene. The introduction of diesel traction killed all interest for me. Good luck with your planning and do keep us informed. All the best to you for 2012 Cheers! Frank

I look forward to it. You are welcome to have a play with my train set if you have the time. How's your skill with 3 link couplings??? Cheers! frank

Nothing wrong with an external blog as such. I just find it a bit of a PITA to keep "link Jumping" Could I suggest you do what Chris Nevard does and copy/paste the complete entry? Just an idea that's all. Other than that it's a good read. cheers! Frank

New year greetings to everyone! It is the last day of 2011 and to be truthful I'm glad to see the back of it!. I sincerely hope that 2012 will be a year of improvement over 2011 and enjoying my retirement. As far as resolutions are concerned, they are a waste of time because I can never stick to them anyway! But, I have tried to set a few goals to aim for such as.... : To finish model kits that need finishing; Get rid of stuff that's not worth keeping; just cluttering up my hectic life! Get my new layout sorted and do a lot more 'playing';trains! Make a good attempt .at getting out more to shows and meeting people. So there it is! chiselled out in "electronic stone" for all to see. It will be interesting to come back here next year and see what has actually been achieved or not achieved as the case my be. Finally I wish all who read my waffle the very best and a happy, prosperous new year. Cheers! Frank

Ladies & Gents, Thank you all for your responses and kind words. I am a little bit overwhelmed by the number of you who have taken time and trouble to leave comments and kind wishes. I am really lost for words to respond back if i was to be honest so I will just let my opening line to this message say it all. We are both looking forward in a positive manner to the new year and what ever it brings. It is thanks to people like you that has given us the motivation to keep going forward. I know I am not the only one who has had problems of one sort or another over the last 12 months and I hope that those of you who have also had a poor year also get a better deal in 2012. Thank you all once again, and yet again the power of RMWeb brings out the best in people. good luck Frank

Looks all very neat and tidy. The layout is coming along nicely, I do like the tracks at different levels It should give plenty of operating interest. Only one small criticism, and you may already have plans to address this anyway. The ballast etc looks TOO neat and TOO clean. I would suggest some good weathering when you get around to it. As I say you probably have this in mind anyway. Cheers! Frank

2011 has been a very much mixed up year for me, it has been a year of extreme highs and lows, more or less in equal measure. On the down side my personal life has been turned on its head and pulled though a hedge backwards, that’s the only way I can describe it. At the start of the year two events took place that will probably be two of the most significant events that will stay in my life for ever. In January my wife was diagnosed with bone cancer, and I was also told that I would be losing my job through redundancy in April. Just one of those events would be enough, but both together, I was devastated to say the least. Because of these events another great upheaval took place and that was a house move back to the Black Country from Telford so we could be nearer to our kids and family. The redundancy was really a blessing in disguise for me, at 60 years of age the prospects of getting another job was remote to say the least, so I signed on the “Dole” and took things as they came. At least I would not be working 12 hour night shifts anymore! In March there was a brief “high” point. My Model railway layout Pen-Y-Bont was featured in Model Rail magazine, It was a strange feeling actually seeing your work through the eyes of photographer Craig Tiley and words by Richard Foster but I really felt that I had got some where at last with my hobby. Pen-Y-Bont again featured when I took the layout to two exhibitions. Telford in October and Wolverhampton in November. I was also really chuffed when Andy York contacted me and wanted to feature Pen-Y-Bont in Modelling Inspiration, so that was another high note for me. After “signing on” for six months and getting nowhere with job searching I had had enough and have thrown in the towel. I now claim Pension Credit and class myself as retired so that is the blessing in disguise I was talking about earlier. My wife continues to receive treatment for her cancer and is still fairly well considering, so we hope we have some more quality time now I am at home 24/7. I was too late re-joining RMWeb to enter the 2011 challenge competition and I suppose to be fair the way things were going at the start of the year it would have been unlikely that I would have entered into anything that would take up much spare time. However I have found another internet forum MRG, which is a new group of around 100 members. One of their ideas is for each member to build some sort of diorama over the winter months, no competition, no prizes, just interchange of ideas and progress on the forum. I decided to take part because unlike the RMWeb 2011 contest there was no pressure to complete in a given time scale, Hence my new layout (or part of it) Morfa Bach was born. Towards the end of 2011 and my own health is now starting to go downhill. I have a few problems including COPD, Heart disease and angina and to top it off I have been told by an orthopaedic specialist that I have a partly fused spine which is not going to get any better. This almost put a full stop to me showing any layout at any exhibition but, since joining MRG and Cradley Heath MRC I have been amazed by the offers of help at shows,so, Pen –Y-Bont and hopefully Morfa Bach will be out and about again in 2012. So, as you can see it’s been a very mixed year for me. I don’t believe in wish lists but if I could just have a couple of things for Christmas it would be a cure for Cancer and a long happy retirement. I’m sorry if any of this has bored you to tears but, by telling others about such things makes it a lot easier for me to bear. Finally...................... Money is tight, times are hard, Here's your E Christmas card! Cheers everyone and happy new year! Frank

Thanks for the nice comments CK & Pete. Pete, I wish I could afford to pay Starbucks prices! Actually I bought a pack of 1000 coffee stirrers for a fiver from Amazon. Very useful in the modellers tool kit for mixing paint, epoxy and for building of course! Cheers! Frank

I haven't updated this blog for a couple of weeks because I didn't have much to show until now. I've been doing some work on the small halt for the layout the result of which can be seen below. The halt is based on the one that existed at Gogarth Halt, the first stop for a train heading north bound up the Cambrian coast line after leaving Dovey Junction. The platform is just long enough to accommodate one coach as per the prototytpe. The shelter is also based on the same location, although built by the GWR in the 1930's the shelter had a curved roof and not the GWR pagoda style that dominated most of their small halts and stations. The model is built from wooden coffee stirring sticks, match sticks and PVA! The shelter was scratch built from plasticard.. Computer printed name board and time table complete the structure. I just need a suitable oil lamp now to complete the scene. The second part of this update concerns the permanent way. The main line is protected from any runaways from the siding by a trap point. I have built this one using pcb sleepers and code 75 Bullhead rail. to make life awkward the trap is set on a 36inch radius curve, having no template I had to draw my own using a tracksetta gauge and sleeper spacing drawn in. I think it's a reasonable job. I have not yet added the tie bar to operate the blade as I'm still thinking about the method of operation. So, there it is the up to date progress another update in the new year Probably! Cheers Frank

Very nice indeed! I particularly like your rendition of the manor house/Hotel it looks just the part and should fit in well with the rest of your layout. Is that Will's sheets you have used for the main walls? The church scene is equally as good although I guess some would say it's a bit of a cliché, But who am I to say? I don't think there is anything wrong with that scene at all it's well done and it's your layout so it's good enough for me! I can't comment too much about the gas works though as I don't know if the technical detailing is correct, However it LOOKS right and again that's all that matters. Overall a good blog entry, certainly worth looking at and commenting upon. Cheers! Frank

Very nice indeed! Not that I know much about buses! The one with the black roof reminds me very much of the Midland Red (BMMO) motorway buses that existed when I was a youth! Cheers! Frank

I could think of a few but, I don't think they are suitable for posting here!

Those of you who have seen my last entry in this blog will have read that I am having some health problems which was going to restrict my exhibition activities with Pen Y Bont. I am happy to report that some of these problems have been overcome with a visit to the doctors and a change in medication. I have also rejoined the Cradley Heath Model Railway Club and have been assured of assistance at exhibitions by some of the club members. I was a member of this club up until about 8 years ago when a house move out of the area meant attending meetings was awkward if not practical. But, now I have returned to the area some 6 months ago I finally got round to paying them a visit. They have an American HO layout running DCC,a scenic test track in 00 gauge and a new 00 gauge end to end layout under construction. It will be nice to get down the club one or two nights a week instead of sitting at this lap top writing this twaddle! Now that I have some help I have started accepting exhibition invites again and have been booked for Reditch MRC expo in September 2012. More news as and when it happens. Cheers! Frank

Oh! What joy! just had a few minutes of pure entertainment reading this entry and the comments. What talented comics we have on RMWeb! Some of these examples would be even funnier if they weren't true! I'm rather dissapointed that "Blue Pullman" or "wish list" didn't make the top 60! Still there is time for an update in a week or two! Cheers! Frank

It's been a week or two since I published any progress on my latest winter project Morfa Bach. I was looking through my books on the Cambrian and Great Western lines in Wales and discovered that "Morfa" translated into English is "Salt Marsh" and "Bach" is Baby or small, so it transpires that the model will both be small and include a coastal section of salt marsh. Anyway, I digress and should be telling you about the layout's progress (or lack of it) so here we go... I have just finished building the old bridge keeper's cottage made from a Will's kit. Built more or less how Wills intended it to be apart from thinning down the window glazing bars with a file and using brass tube for the chimney pots as the kit supplied ones are pretty P*** poor TBH. I have also used 1mm brass rod and some split pins from some 3 link couplings for the rain water down pipe, again the supplied plastic ones being P*** poor. Here's the finished job...... And here it is with the dry stone wall round it ready to plonk on the west bank. The wall is made from Will's sheets and the coping stones were all cut individually from plain scrap bits plasticard of various thickness, the gate came from my odds and ends box.( It's .commonly know that I have some Scottish blood in me so don't throw anything away!) The paving around the building is Slaters brick plasticard, painted to look like the blue brick chequer pavers that were used by the GWR for a lot of their platforms and paving. Finally, the whole assembly fixed in place on the layout. As can be seen the head of nickel silver now extends to the East bank of the river with the trestle bridge now fixed in position. Next stages will be to complete the track laying, wiring, ballasting and some more wood butchery! More updates as soon as! Cheers! Frank

Now that's different! I would never have thought of that. A great use of what would normally be a boring piece of plain MDF, I like that idea a lot. Cheers! Frank

Hi Prodigy, I see you are slowly improving your blog entries. The inclusion of some pictures does help explain a lot more about what you are up to. As rcmacchpilot has stated above, you could improve things further by including some more written details such as where your layout is located. (After reading your last entry with your shopping list I would guess London-Midland region somewhere?) You could also tell us what track and what size and so on. All this kind of stuff would make you blog more interesting and get you more positive comments. please note that my comments are not to put down your work but, to help you along to better things. Talk again soon. Cheers! Frank

I do like that tunnel mouth, it is very convincing I can't believe it is just printed card. I would appreciate some more info on that item if you can find the time to explain further. cheers! Frank

Hi Prodigy, reading your blog entries gives me the idea that you are a fairly young person, (I stand to be corrected) and new to forums and blogging on RMWeb. Whilst I agree with all the previous comments that your entries are a little boring and not really what this section of RMWeb is about, I think that you need some encouragement and guidance with your blogging and modelling. Don't be put off by what you may think are negative comments, These comments are meant to be constructive and to help you make your blog more interesting to your readers. I look forward to seeing you improve your blog and show us some thing of your layout when you have something to show us. I will continue to read your blog in the hope that you take on board what Andy and Mikkel have said. Cheers and good luck Frank

Progress on Morfa Bach has been slow to stop just lately, I have realised that the original plan (not drawn to scale) was going to turn out a little bit too cramped, so, I am having a rethink on the buildings. The track plan is not going to change though in fact I am toying with the idea of introducing a narrow gauge (009) line to exchange with the standard gauge siding. (Nothing definite about that yet so it may or may not happen.) The bridge keepers cottage will be staying as will the short platform halt. The gangers house though will probably be consigned to the recycle bin! I found this old barn that I built some time ago from a Wills kit, and thought I might incorporate this instead. I built this kit for an old layout (llaffan) but never used it. So it has come out of the recycle bin to be used on Morfa Bach. Built more or less how Wills intended apart from the corrugated iron roof which still needs some work doing to tone down the glare of the artists acrylic paints I used for the rust base colour. I have pictures in books of a very similar structure on the Cambrian coast line being used as a permanent way hut, but I don't think it will be used as such on Morfa Bach. I hope to get some more work done on the baseboard this week and all being well will update again soon. Cheers for now. Frank

Looks good! I'm interested to find out how the PVA water experiment turns out, please keep us updated on progress. Cheers! Frank

Great stuff Will! I'm not a great fan of diesels or continental railways BUT, this layout has something that grabs my attention. I'm still not sure of what it is but it's got it in bucket loads! Absolutely fantastic workmanship and I'm jealous! Cheers! Frank