narrowman

Although I usually stick to the CRM's 0n30 modules, I decided to construct a section for the OO gauge modules, for a change. It will (not surprisingly! be based on a scrapyard/metal reclaimation yard and will comprise of a through line, loop, headshunt and sidings. As it will sometimes be used as part of the OO modules and sometimes, by itself, the electrics will have to be arranged so that through running for the modules is not affected by shunting in the yard. As it isn't narrow gauge, I've added to my website www.modern-image-modelling.co.uk - so that anyone interested can follow progress. Tony

I've had a busy day today working on various layouts, but mainly "Tramway de Gare Tigre", which I've renamed from Chemin to Tramway. Apparently, 'tramway' in French can mean 'tramway' or ''light railway'. I hopefully french speakers amongst us will either confirm or correct! More details on my Tram Modelling website: www.trammodelling.co.uk or www.narrowgaugemodelling.com

As some of you know, I'm caretaker for a couple of the modules which make up the 0n30 "Ferrocarril Internacional" - a set of modules by some members of CRM - Connected Railway Modellers (http://c-r-m.webs.com/), who get together quite regularily to exhibit said modules. The two I'm responsible for are "Calle de la Coronacion" - a layout based somewhere in Mexico in the late 1960s and "The Shed" - a locomotive depot, again based in 1960s Mexico. In between my other projects, I have been progressing the detailing on these layouts, in particular, "Calle de la Coronacion" and have added a platform/goods depot building and some appropriate vehicles and figures. Also, I have just received a stationary engine kit from USA, which will be built to power a pump (based on a full size one I own), to enable the water tower to be filled up from the stream, which will need some more water and pipework... more details as usual on my website www.narrowgaugemodelling.com

In fact, I'll publish it here...

Managed to do a bit more on McHale's (a lot less than intended!), but I've now got the track fnished and gunged, so I'll be starting on the replacement buildings soon. Latest pic on my website (www.narrowgaugemodelling.com)

Apparently, Cascamite is now called "Resintite" - as I asked my wife to pick some up when she went to town this morning. I haven't used it since the early 1980s, as I usually use the usual diluted PVA/washing up liquid mix, but that hasn't been working too well of late (probably lower quality PVA?) on my Gn15 layout "McHale's Yard". So I asked her to see if it was still available - it's gone up in price somewhat though! - I just hope it works as well as it used to! Keep up the good work! Tony

Owing to getting the Xmas flu bug (after having an anti-flu jab before), there was no modelling over the Xmas/new Year period. I did, however, catch up on my reading and DVD watching! I've just commenced the rebuild of McHale's Yard, which is something I've been considering for a while now. A decision which was brought to a conclusion on Saturday 22nd January, when I was unloading it out of the car for the C-R-M members meeting in Sandbach. Unfortunately, or fortunately - depending which way you look at it! - the wiring caught on the trestle table and some of it was ripped out. As I'd bodged it with all sorts of different coloured wires during construction, it was impossible to sort out where each wire went and I made the decision to undertake the alterations the following day and rewire it properly at the same time. The new track layout will incorporate a circular track, so that "roundy-round" operations can be undertaken, which can be helpful at exhibitions, as constant movement can attract viewers and allows operators to have a break! I will also fit a right hand point at the back, so that it can be extended to another board (quite likely) in the future... I will also rebuild the buildings to something more substantial, as I like the idea of storing bodyshells on top of the office buildings (as in the picture of the Ford Escort Mk1 on my website: www.narrowgaugemodelling.com), so it will need to be of reinforced concrete and breeze block or concrete section walls. Perhaps, I'll just have the rarer/more interesting bodyshells stored there. I have kits for an Austin 7 and a MGTC.

My Gn15 layout, McHale's Yard has been accepted as a replacement for the unfinished Crewe Corner, which now may return to its mini-layout format, or something near... Although it won't be featuring a cut up G scale Class 37 (Do they do one?), it will have some Class 37 representation... Think miniature railway.... Anyhow, why not pop along and see for yourself! Tony

Unfortunately, the adverse weather destroyed our rear conservatory and caused my shed to leak gallons of rainwater (well, it seemed like that amount!) on my models (luckily, "McHale's Yard" was covered by a tarp - no, I don't know why I covered it that night - I just had bought the tarp at a £1 shop and thought I'd put it to use (luckily!). The amount of time taken to effect a repair, combined with a new position working as a consultant with a wildlife charity means that I won't have time to complete the layout in time for the exhibition, but I have offered my Gn15 layout, "McHale's Yard" as a replacement, as that's ready to exhibit. So, I may see you at Crewe Heritage, or not! So much for plans... Tony

As some of you know, I acquired the micro layout, 'Crewe Corner' from Tom Davidson a few months ago and I have been trying different ways of extending it. I originally thought of adding the diesel shed from 'The Berwyn Railway', my preserved railway set in North East Wales, which was dismantled after its appearance at GWR175 (which I still haven't received my 'token' expenses for!), at Winchcombe on the G&WR, back in July. After trying it with a centre fiddle yard, I decided it would be better to start from scratch and rebuild the extended Crewe Corner on a new 5' x 2' baseboard, with the fiddle yard at one end, allowing me to add another four or five foot board adjoining the fiddle yard at a later date, if I so desired. As Crewe Heritage was looking for Diesel layouts for their 50 years of the Class 37 celebrations and I have around 10 or so 37s, along with some contemporary locos, I offered this and had it accepted, giving me a month (from now) to complete it. However, I love deadlines, having working in advertising/publishing/exhibitions for most of my working life! The baseboard has been built and painted and the track laid, after changing the trackplan quite a few times! Tomorrow, I will start on the overbridge and commence painting the track. Trackwork should be completed by Saturday and the scenics (the buildings have been selected from the remains of previous layouts) started on Tuesday, as it's the Rawtenstall show for me on Sunday. Hopefully, I'll make this deadline without any problems...

Hunstanton Models was up for sale as a going concern when I called last week. I can recommend NNR for good discounts on RTR 00 & N, plus a good miniature railway! Auto-Loco was closed when I got there in the evening, but there looked a fair amount of secondhand through the window, especially Dinkies and Scalextric. Can't really recommend Norfolk for good weather though, as it rained more than it does in North Wales most of the week... Tony

I spent the last week or so in Norfolk, which turned out to be a lot wetter than North Wales is. Anyhow, I managed to spend some time visiting miniature railways, which have given me some more ideas. Also, I found time to visit the Broads and took loads of reference pics for the Wetlands Light Railway. Finding time to turn the ideas into a decent model will be the difficult bit!

Now I've eventually been told the Hagley/Stourbridge exhibition has been cancelled, I've decided not to finish off the extension, but progress further on Wetlands Light Railway. Unfortunately, from a modelling point of view, there's Rallyday at Castle Combe on Saturday, followed by The Moseley Railway Trust's 2'0" gauge Apedale Valley Light Railway's Grand Opening Gala on Sunday 19th (also on Saturday 18th). So there won't be much modelling done in the next few days, but I hope to take a fair few reference pictures at both events! After both shows, I'll be completing the odd jobs needed on McHale's Yard, then it will be ready for exhibiting (possibly at short notice, providing the shows do not clash with rallying events). Secondly, I'll be progressing with Wetlands - putting down some track and finishing some stock, at least (I hope!)... Tony

Whilst looking through a box of my old slides for some I had taken of Horwich station, before it was demolished, I came across one I had taken of Caia Road Goods yard looking from the yard towards Hightown Halt and another with a two tone green Class 47 and four ball clay wagons looking towards Wrexham Central. Unfortunately, neither of them include the goods shed. My slide/neg copier is with my son in Epson, so I'll dig out the old projector (I thinks it's still around!) and take some digital pics off the projected images. Well, that's the theory, anyhow. It's a busy weekend, Promenade Stages Rally, New Brighton; Llangollen's 35/GWR 175; Malpas Yesteryear Show and a towbar to fit (if the courier can find us on his second attempt)... Tony

In between the motorsport on ITV4 and Dave, I managed to complete the frame for the first of the two baseboards for Caia Road Goods. I'm not sure when I'll have time to complete the secound though! At least I have purchased the wood for it!

I've now acquired Rally Magazine (www.rallymagazine.co.uk), which means most of my time will be tied up producing that. Bearing in mind most rallies are at weekends, my exhibiting/visiting exhibitions will be heavily reduced. I'd still like to build Caia Road Goods in EM, but as I now have an "Endurance Rally" Peugeot 106 to fund, most spending will have to be thrown in that direction. I also have the extension to Crewe Corner to complete, along with my 09 layout, Wetlands Light Railway, which I'm still slowly progressing. So, at the moment, it's a rethink/replan in the modelling zone... If any of you run a diesel, whilst following the PendoDrag back along the North Wales Coast in Saturday, I called in for fuel at a Chevron garage by Bagillt, which supplies a Biodiesel blend st £1.04 per litre, a considerable saving on the usual £1.18 - £1.22 in the area. Regards, Tony

There's a scrapyard alongside the station at Welshpool that should be visible from the platform, but the wall may obscure too much. I noticed it from a coach (and took the attached pic - at the wrong time!) and I've been meaning to call back and have a closer look, but haven't been in the area since. Tony

If it's still there next time I'm in the area, I'll pop in and ask how much he wants for it. He did have a damaged 60s Mini there a few years back - that was on top of one of the containers! Tony

Hi, Richard, Yes, it's a two door, without a sunroof, just like my old stage rally car. As you can see from the front view, it's in pretty good condition, but it does have the usual rear offside quarter damage, where you hang out the rear and collect a tree! At least you can now get decent modesl of a Mk1 in 00 and 0, but not in 1/24, which is one of the scales I model in. There is a Mk2 available with Group B arches though... a couple are due to appear on the extension section of McHale's Yard... Regards, Tony

Currently, I'm sorting out the loco fleet which now comprises of four locos pictured below: Front left: 'Mordred' - A Pepper7 Centre Cab Diesel 9mm gauge, the design based on the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railways home built internal combustion locos. Built in the 1920's these locos featured Lanchester or Model T Ford engines. It is fitted with the recommended N gauge Bachmann Brill Trolley. Pepper7 can be found at www.pepper7.co.uk Front Right: 4 wheel diesel, based on a prototype loco (which might have been a Ruhrtaler) which ran on the Senussi Cave Railway in Libya during WW2, with a modified cab. It runs on a Kato chassis. Rear: Two Avalon Freelance diesels with their cabs removed, both at present running on Dapol 0-4-2T chassis. They still need a lot more fettling/detailing. Must now concentrate on the goods wagons/coaching stock...

I've added a (rather rough) picture to my website: www.narrowgaugemodelling.com to give an idea of the overall size. It's still in the planning stage and will - no doubt - have some changes before the track is laid!

A quick update - I was in the area again today, so I took some more pictures. The 'primed' Escort Mk1 was on top of the office, not a container and the telephone box, dumper truck, Capri and vans had gone. It's surprising how quickly things change in scrapyards! I aslo took another shot of the vans, which show the sort of damage one can expect to find.

The whole area is quite fascinating railways wise - even today! Class 60, 66, 57, 67, etc! Don't forget the ex-LNER class locos that used Rhosddu sheds and visited Wrexham Central (the clock in the waiting room was ex-LNER!) Croes Newydd was an impressive shed to visit (and be chased off by the shedmaster - although he was fine if you asked permission). Lovely mix of engines in the early 1960s (including Dukedogs) and later they stored Class 24/25/40s in the old steam shed and around the triangle. I was born in Bertie Road, Wrexham and the railway was visible from our front window. The walk to town was along Caia Road, passing the yard and there was usually a 14xx and autocoach around somwhere. Freight was usually by Pannier tank, as was the Saturday morning train, which was usually a B set or two coaches. The period I intend to model is the early 1960s, pre 8th September 1962 when passenger traffic finished (I was on the last run!) up to 1981 when the line closed in its entirety. This means I can operate Class 24/25 and 47s on ball clay trains to Abenbury Sidings and oil trains to Wrexham Industrial Estate 9Fs and Class 40s - if the fiddle yard is big enough! Kind regards, Tony

I've been trawling the internet to try and find some pictures of Caia Road Goods, without any success, but I did find a series of books by Bridge Books who have a series of pictures books of the Wrexham area. Volume 3 has a c1900 picture of a Cambrian Railways 0-4-4T with some wagons in "Cambrian Leather Works Sidings", which I assume is Caia Road Goods Yard, as the works were situated in Rivulet Road which ran parallel alongside the railway. It sates that the siding awas to facilitate the loading and unloading of raw materials and finished skins. Also, on the opposite page part of the bridge is shown, along with the part of the Leather Works which was on Salop Road and below that, a picture of the Leather Works Yard - the works closed in the 1960s, probably around the time passenger traffic stopped on the Wrexham-Ellesmere line. In Volume 5, there is an aerial picture of Wrexham (c1960) which shows the layout of the yard (not in any great detail, but useful anyway) in relation to the rest of the town. There is also another picture taken in 1910 from the Parish Church tower which shows Mount Street, with Caia Road behind. I reaaly need to find a good photo of the goods shed or - ideally - a plan! Next week, I should have some time to work out what can be compacted into a sensible size exhibition layout...

OK. Martin Wales has convinced me that EM gauge is the correct way to go and, having looked at the EMGS, I must agree with him. As only a couple of steam engines are required for the period modelled - 14xx, Pannier and possibly a 73xx Mogul, then the conversion outlay will not be too great. Combined with the fact I have all the coaches (B set and Autocoaches) needed, along with most of the wagons seen on the line, it's only a matter of converting the coaches and wagons to 18mm gauge. Research of the area is a bit more difficult, as most of it doesen't exist these days. As I said before, the houses in Caia Road are still there, but modernised, but that's not a problem, it's just a matter of building them with the old style sash windows and 'proper' roofs. The goods yard is now sheltered accommodation, the wood yard on the other side has been cleared. The abutments to the bridge have been removed and the access to the old trackbed has been landscaped/smoothed out. Viewing the area from Newton Street, at the top of 'the bank' as we knew it, the railway embankment can no longer be seen as it's obscured by large trees and McDermott's scrapyard now has a few flats on it. McDermott's house is still there though. As the light was fading, I didn't bother to investigate further, but I'm sure some detective work along Rivulet Road may unearth some of the original 'steam period' buildings along there. So, I'll return in daytime next week to record things properly. And we have three days to do it! (Sorry, but it's getting more like Time Team the more I research!). I've promised a colleague that I'd build a 009 layout for him (based on a scrapyard!!!), so I may well utilise the track plan of Caia Road Goods, then I can see the full exhibition potential of that plan (or not!).