Tunnel Vision

I have another scenic update for you today.

Himself has been working on the other end of Goat Tunnel. This is the northern entrance, hidden out of view around the corner in the cutting at the bottom of Beddgelert station.



You can't really call it a tunnel portal in the traditional sense because the four tunnels on the WHR were left as raw holes through Mother Wales.

And if you're wondering what we use to model them the answer is genuine Welsh rock. No, not the minty, pink and white sticks tourists buy in the gift shops in Beddgelert, but thin bits of shale we collected from the Rhinogs behind the village where my Grandmother lived.

It's a repeat of the technique we used on Dduallt. It does, of course, add considerably to the weight of the layout boards, but as we built those out of 2 x 1 and are covering them with wire and plaster you are entitled to assume (correctly) that lightweight construction isn't a priority for us.

When this section of the railway was being relayed they had to take care with the alignment to ensure the larger modern rolling stock fitted through safely and Himself reports that he has done likewise on Bron Hebog, checking that the carriages with the biggest overhangs (the 2 Pullman carrs) can squeeze through OK.

At the moment it still does look rather like a collection of small lumps of rock but we will be adding lots of scenic material into the gaps to represent the foliage which is a feature of this cutting and that will help blend the pieces together to look more like one rockface

And anyway the tunnel mouth will be hidden out of sight of most people viewing the layout.

There's a picture of what the other end looks like in these previous posts here and here.