Darwinian

According to the notes in Welsh Railways Research Circle, Rhymney Railway drawings ; the first 3 R class were built with Westinghouse brakes that were later removed. Many of the earlier K class were also Westinghouse fitted and are pictured on passenger trains despite having 3 link couplings. I guess the 4’6” 0-6-2T classes were considered mixed traffic locos although only a limited number were fitted for passenger work. There were not that many passenger locos after all.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and best wishes to all for 2021. I've completed the goods office interior and fitted an LED. Here are the views through the windows.

Smashing layout you are building here. Only just caught up with this thread and I’m very much enjoying it. I look forward to seeing it develop in 2021. Best wishes for the New Year.

Goods shed office interior today. Cereal packet and 2mm card. Scalescenes “interior elements” textures. Needs a desk under the bigger window plus a door with steps down from the loading platform in the right hand corner. Oh and a hearth for that fireplace.

I cannot finish the goods shed as I don’t have suitable rod for the down pipes so I will need to go to a local model shop. That can wait until new year. In the meantime the next rolling stock project is a C19 non-corridor clerestory 3rd from a Blacksmith models kit. I’m unconvinced by the instructions for the roof which suggest slotting the ends through the main roof to the clerestory. First job today was to clean up the sides etch with fibreglass sticks to get off the dried sellotape glue and tarnishing. Any tips for building this? I’ve only done the Milk van and Toplight slip of theirs and that was about 35 years ago!

That’s a high tech oven I think. It’s got two chambers and the flue on the front looks a later addition(?). I have researched bread ovens online and the simple ones don’t have any flue. The door and scorching around the opening on the St Fagans one suggest it is of that type. Handy As it’ll be easier to model.

Slight snag is that I cannot find any images taken from the back. Can anyone tell me if it has a flue/chimney and if so roughly what it looks like. I’d love to go to St. Fagans museum again, my only visit was when a student at Cardiff Uni in 1979 or 80, but it’s a bit far from Norfolk.

That bake house is perfect but a bit big perhaps. I had thought of Chapel , small shop but they have often been done before and are really too big for the space. I also thought a wash house would emphasise the period but the bake house is even better. However having used those links I found St. Fagans also have a community bread oven https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/georgetown_oven/ from Georgetown and built by an ironworks owner for a workers terrace. Now that’s tidy.

While working on the goods shed I’ve been mulling over how to arrange the terraced cottages at the front of the layout. There will be unmade road in front, gardens behind with privies, chickens, pigeon lofts etc. However that still leaves space to the side. I was thinking of building a laundry block but don’t know if that would be likely in the valleys in the late 20s. Although the cottages are assumed to be older, pre dating the railway. Any thoughts?

Regarding the mogul seizing. There is a report on here somewhere (sorry I cannot remember which area) where their’s was jamming because one of the leading crankpins had come loose and was hitting the back of the cross head. Hope you sort yours. Adrian.

A bit of quick stock upgrade while under coats on the shed doors dries. Hornby 57’ Collett corridor bow end composite being detailed mostly following MRJ 247 article by Gerry Beale. I removed the red “no smoking” triangles from the glazing with IPA but couldn’t shift the printed corridor handrails so they will have to do. Likewise I don’t have any t-cut and the cutting polish I have would not shift the lower lining. Will have to try glass fibre burnishing brush.

Good to see this back on the bench. I have just completed my Finney Aberdare. See my Cwmhir layout thread. I split two of the Gibson outside cranks so ended up using the Finney ones. I opened out the axle holes with a tapered broach and soldered 3 laminations together with 188 solder. Fettled from the back face with the broach until just fitting over the axle end at that side. A shallow countersink put on the front face. Crankpins added and then forced them onto the axles using a GW wheel press in a vice. I soldered into the countersink too but that was probably overkill and did result in a slight wobble of one wheel. Good luck with yours, at least you’re only doing 4 cranks. Adrian

I made a simple jig to drill some scratch built coach sides. Bit of 20thou brass wider than the door plus handles. Bent over at a right angle at one end. Cut to reach about half way up the door overlapping to either side. Hook this against the lower edge of the coach side and mark the door position (Small notches in top edge). Tape it to coach side and Carefully mark positions to be drilled. Once these have been drilled you can just slide it along the side from door to door. The brass will wear but should be good for several sides. Afraid I binned mine when the scratch builds failed for other reasons so I don’t have any pictures.

That’s a brilliant resource and indeed just what I was looking for. Many thanks.

Just found a topic on another forum that quotes... “According to A Livery Register of the Great Western Railway by H.M.R.S. ........” 1925 1st plain brown 3rd red, as I thought. Blue for 1st cited as 1935.

Thanks Miss P. I appreciate those are preservation era but assuming the corridor view is about right it would fit with the mahogany colour below waist level (Which would make sense as it will get dirtiest) and much lighter panels above than the Hornby plastic. Doors appear completely dark colour.

I am detailing a Hornby Collett 57’ bow ended composite, in Chocolate cream with crest livery, following Gerry Beale’s MRJ 247 article. My modelling period is 1928-1932. However he states that he picked out the corridor screen in “mahogany” and “walnut” but not which bits. I can see from Russel’s books that the panels either side of the compartment doors are light colour but what about the doors and below the waistline (not visible from ground level)? Also for a late 1920s coach would 1st class seats be chocolate rather than blue (Hornby)? Am I also right in thinking that the “no smoking” red triangles are not seen until mid/late 1930s? Just like to get it right if I can.

I’m no electrics guru but on your photo I don’t see any isolating fishplates next to the turnout frogs. If each end of one loop can be set independently you will get shorts when both ends don’t access the loop.

Yes. 0.3mm strip. One end squeezed around a 1mm drill bit for the hinge end, then cut to length and filed to a rounded end. Aligned with 0.7mm wire and glued in place with superglue. There will be boltheads (Achers river transfers) once undercoated. Not sure whether to put bolt heads/flitch plates on the outside too. The bottom doors are for the road access and will be suspended sliding doors.

Time to get back to layout work. It’s been too long since I got the bulk of the goods shed built. It only needs doors, windows, chimney and down pipes. So first up doors.

I used 5:2 Cam. Green 71.022 : Black for a match to precision enamel 1908-28 GWR green. It looked very close under daylight and cool white LEDs - until I varnished it too heavily. Not got the hang of spraying Vallejo acrylic varnishes yet.

I like the back story, always good to have a sense of place, even if like me you have to invent a whole valley that doesn't appear on any map. I will be following your progress with interest. Re Gopher's comment. I don't think there is any rule for modelling a GWR branch as most weren't built by the GWR!

Oops, quite right, I was thinking of “71.036 Mahogany”. Should have checked my paintbox before posting.

Aberdare is all done, except that I've noticed that one of the brake standards on the tender has come adrift. Quick dab of cyano should fix that. Oh and I need to make some fire irons for the tender rack. Here is the official photo. Just for comparison here are three variants of GWR green on my models (The weathering is a bit different on each too). R to L. 57xx Precision post 1928 green, light weathering, 52xx Precision pre 1927 green, moderate weathering, 26xx Vallejo mix Pre 1927 green, heavier weathering. The more blue/grey colour of the Aberdare comes from a combination of the increased grime and the overdone Vallejo satin varnish. In future I'd use a satin/gloss mix to get a glossier and make it easier to see where I had applied varnish whilst spraying. Photos taken on Pentax K-x DSLR, stock lens, Aperture priority and +1 stop. Natural daylight on an overcast day.

The advantage with Vallejo paints is that the dropper bottles make repeatable mixes much easier. I have reasonable matches for the interwar GWR colours all mixed from the “Air” base colours set plus Camo Green. If you try different mixes on the primer you intend to use and keep a record of the numbers of drops of each colour it’s not too hard. For a “lake” I’d start with “maroon”.