Blogiversary

I realised the other day that it is coming up to the anniversary of when I first started this blog.

That was back in April 2010 and I've been keeping it up for 16 years, if you are generous and include the recent period where I was in a bit of a huff and there was something of a pause in posting.

Looking back at some of the first images its remarkable how much progress has been made.

Back then we were still in the early days of building Bron Hebog - hence the title of the blog - and one of the places we'd taken this work-in-progress to was a show at Y Ganolfan in Porthmadog, where we'll be going in a few weeks with Minffordd.

An even earlier outing was to the Warley club show at the NEC in Birmingham, when we were asked to form part of the FR's display, because obviously something as crude an unfinished as this would never normally be seen at what was one of the UK's premier exhibitions.

At the time it seemed like such a gargantuan undertaking to build a layout that bit with so little track bed and so much scenery, and I suppose it was, but we did it, although it was the best part of a decade before it was properly completed, and then Covid happened...

For those who're interested the 2000+ posts on this blog can be browsed as a record of how the project progressed, and there are lots of pictures in the galleries of it at the shows we attended.

Given how long it took to build it's odd how short its time on the exhibition circuit was, but there you go...

Knowing that this was going to be a slow burn was the main motivation for starting the blog.

Aware that it would be many years before we'd be regularly showing our models in a face-to-face pubic forum I figured the next best thing was to put it out their virtually - and as this blog approaches nearly 2 million pageviews (for what that stat is worth) it's fair to say it's certainly achieved that!

Social media has played a big part in spreading the word about our modelling, of course.

Many of you may have clicked to read this page through a link on Facebook,  the site formerly known as Twitter, or the upstart Bluesky.

That one's been a bit of a slow burn, although follower numbers recently hit 300.

If you're on any of those sites and haven't followed us yet just search for Bron Hebog and Minffordd and you'll find us.

The one promotional where we probably should have put more effort in is You Tube.

There are quite a number of videos we've uploaded to our channel over the years, although I've always left it for the models to do the talking rather than put myself in the picture, which is probably one of the things which held it back....

If you've never come across them yet please take a look at the footage, and, as they all say, like and subscribe!

It would be lovely for those figures to look a little less pathetic....

Where This Train Terminates

You may have noticed that posts on here have become rather infrequent, of late.

I think I may have a chronic case of Blogger's Block - I have simply run out of things to say.

There is modelling going on, but mostly it's for personal enjoyment and not necessarily for public show.

As I posted a few weeks ago, the layout is essentially complete now, and the locomotive and rolling stock collection has reached a certain maturity.

And anyway, the stats would suggest that interest in this blog, at least, is waning. 

The pageviews stats reached a plateau have been in steady decline over the last couple of years. 

I did think that the pandemic might have reversed this decline, as people spent a lot of the extra time they suddenly found themselves with building layouts.

Or, alternatively, that the return to exhibitions might boost readership and awareness again, but neither has proved to be the case.

In fact views now are back to where they were 10 years ago.

Strangely enough, this has come just at a time when the profile of 009 - and FR modelling - has never been higher with the emergence of some terrific RTR products.

Is this coincidence or somehow connected? I have no way of knowing.

I don't want this blog to become something that withers away, where people wonder what's happened to it?

Better, I think, to properly draw a line under it and explain why posts have stopped.

It's not going to vanish - well, not for as long as the Blogger servers stay online - and everything that's been posted will still be here to read.

I shall keep updating the exhibition diary if any new dates come in, and there are other pages with galleries of the layout, features on the rolling stock and video footage.

It might be something I come back to, or I might not, we'll see how it goes.

2001: A Narrow Gauge Odessy

I noticed by chance the other day that this blog has reached the 2000 post milestone - in fact this is number 2001 - which seems like something worth marking.

Having never been a diary-keeper I'm quite chuffed at being able to maintained a regular stream of updates over the last 10 years and more.

It thought it might be amusing to have a look at the stats and see which of the posts have proved the most read over the years.

By part the most popular single post is one that's relatively humdrum about our indecisiveness on a colour for WHR Garratt 143 which has received more than two and a half thousand hits.

The figures are far higher for the pages and advice articles - boosted, no doubt, by the number of photographs in each piece.

The most-read section here is the Model Of The Week Archive, which was something I was doing for quite a while where I wrote a post explaining the background of an individual model, and collected them in one monster thread.

That section along is responsible for more than 10 thousand page views.

The other one which has done really well is a 'how to' I wrote describing my technique for making carriage sides using styrene strip and sheet.

This piece is also getting close to five figures for page views.

It seems a lot of people have read it, but so far as I can tell very few seem to have been tempted to try the technique for themselves.

Oh well, as long as you all enjoy the read, anyway.

10th Anniversary

We’ve reached a milestone!

I realised the other day that it’s now a decade since I began writing this blog, and for someone who’s never managed to keep any sort of journal going that seems like quite an achievement.

These were some of the first images of the layout I posted in 2010 when we were still in the foothills of an epic project.

I believe they were taken at a narrow gauge show at Sparsholt College but my memory may be playing tricks.

At the time we only had the station and its immediate approaches built, with just the most rudimentary landscaping, so it was just a shuttle service in operation.

We’ve come a long way in the last 10 years - quite literally in Himself’s case! - and it’s very satisfying to know the layout is now effectively complete and that the process has been documented here in thousands of posts.

Ironically, the very reason I began blogging was the realisation that it would be many years before we were taking a layout to exhibitions again - with Dduallt retired - and going online seemed the logical way to still be able to share our modelling and make sure we weren’t forgotten about.

Now here we are in 2020 with all exhibitions for the foreseeable future cancelled.....

Half A Million Milestone

I know these things must be taken with a pinch of salt, but I was very please last night to notice that the pageview counter on this blog has passed the figure of half a million.

According to the statistics provided by Blogger May 2017 has also set a new record for the number of views.

Whether that is really an increase in the number of you coming here to take a look at what we're up to, or just attracting more attention from the bots, I have no way of knowing.

I notice also that it's now just over seven years since I began blogging.

I've never managed to establish the habit of keeping a diary of my daily life but it occurred to me the other day how, by accident almost, this has developed into a comprehensive archive of our modelling since he beginning of the decade.

Seven years ago I was working on our first Superbarn carriage so in many ways very little has changed.

The layout still isn't finished, but it is complete enough to have been shown a couple of times at exhibitions.

The last time was back in the autumn of 2015 but as I write this now I regret that there are no shows confirmed for the future.

That's no reflection of any unwillingness on our part so if there are any exhibition managers reading this who would be interested in having Bron Hebog at your show please do get in touch.

Mileniwm

So, at last, our 1000th post!

It was more than five and a half years ago that I started this blog.

I've never been one for keeping a diary so it feels like quite an achievement to have kept it going.

In more recent times I have tried to keep the discipline of posting every other day.

That hasn't always been easy, especially when there hasn't been that much actual modelling going on, but fortunately I am able to call upon the skills developed in the day job to make a little sound like a lot more than it actually is.

Waffle would be another word for it.

One of the challenges of blogging is to be able to illustrate your posts which sometimes requires a little lateral thinking - hence the pictures of 138 in its rather lurid livery during a spell when its identity was being prostituted to please one of the major sponsors of the WHR rebuilding.

Apologies if you'd forgotten all about this and I have traumatised you anew.

Before writing this post I took a look at what I was working on when I wrote the first few entries.

In some ways a lot has changed and in so many others it hasn't.

Back in 2010 the layout was not even one third built.

We had the station area and that was about it.

Anyone who's been with us from the start will have followed the periodic spasms of construction leading to the the completion of the layout - in trackplan terms at least - last year.

Other things do not seem to have changed that much.

In the early posts I was building my first Super Barn,a model of 103, and we're still knocking them out - the new 117 and 118 are on the agenda for 2016.

I notice that at the time I started blogging I had already built the collection of farmyard buildings at Cwm Cloch and it was something of a jolt to realise that it's taken best part of 6 years to get round to doing the farm house itself.

It's been pleasing to watch the page view counter clicking up - we should easily pass 400,000 next year - although you have to be careful not to become too obsessed with these things.

By my reckoning it'll be another 3 years before we reach 2000 posts. I wonder if I can keep it up?

5 Years Later

The Bron Hebog blog is celebrating its half decade and what better way than by showing off a few of the snaps we took of the layout during the exhibition at Crawley at the weekend.

It was only a couple of days ago that I realised the anniversary was approaching and I wouldn't have guessed it was five years already - time really does fly.

It's been very rewarding to see the blog getting thousands of page views every month so thank you very much for coming by here and taking a look at what we're up to, it makes the effort worthwhile.

If you've not already done so you can also follow us on Twitter @BronHebog and like our Bron Hebog Facebook page.

I've never managed to keep any other kind of diary going before so I will admit to a sense of achievement at having the discipline to post here at least every other day.

At times I will admit that the tail has been wagging the dog, as they say, and I've been compelled to get some modelling done to ensure that I have something to write about, while on many other occasions I've been on the phone nagging Himself to sent me some snaps and demanding to know what he's been up to.

I wasn't able to make it to Crawley but I'm told the crew had a very enjoyable weekend.

The show saw a couple of debuts on Bron Hebog including a first run for the latest WHR saloon 2046.

And the latest house in Oberon Wood, number 23 took its place as a work-in-progress.

The next outing will be in September when we take Bron Hebog 'home' to the Welsh Highland Railway. You can find all the details on our Exhibition Diary page.

Woking - Day 1

A few snatched snaps from the first day of the first show for the final-size Bron Hebog for you to enjoy.

If you'd like to see some others then may I suggest you 'like' our Bron Hebog page on Facebook where people who came along to the show are sharing some of their pictures.

Bron Hebog Review Of The Year Part 2

July

The second half of our review of the year finds us in high summer with Himself continuing to make progress with the Mercian Models Welsh Pony kit.

The shortcomings of its origins as a 7mm kit scaled down to 4mm were becoming all-too-obvious with a rather complicated sequence of construction as can be seen above.

Having built the first two houses for the Oberon Wood estate on the layout I was called upon to build a scaled-down version of the double garage I built from a guesstimated design a number of years back which was now very obviously too big when sat beside its new neighbours.

August

We were in print again in the summer when Model Rail magazine brought out this special glossy edition featuring some of the best layouts to have appeared in the magazine including Bron Hebog's sister layout Dduallt.

Himself had also been busy painting the WHR tool van which I had scratch built. It needed more weathering but was beginning to look the part.

September

Himself now turned his attention onto the chassis for Welsh Pony, and this was when the problems really began!

It transpired that the motor and gearbox - which the kit instructions say should be fitted in a transverse arrangement - is impossible to fit.  Not only does it not fit within the confines of the saddle tank but the gears foul the motor casing and will not mesh.

We sought advice from the manufacturer who put us in touch with a modeller who had devised an alternative gearbox arrangement (seen above).

September was a big month for us because we got to take the layout out on the road for the first time in 18 months to the WHR's Superpower weekend where it was displayed as part of a model railway exhibition in the goods shed at Dinas.

During the weekend the FR's John Wooden shot this lovely video footage of the layout which included a sequence filmed by placing a miniature camera onto a flat wagon and towing it around the layout.

October

Whilst at Superpower Himself decided to splash out on an RT Models kit for the Harrogate Peckett which was making a guest appearance at the gala.

It didn't take him very look to put it together, and very purposeful it looks too..

He also began work with another push to complete the layout laying the trackbed on the middle section of the big Cwm Cloch S bend.

November

Having had reasonable success with my wagon kits I took my resin casting experiment to the next level with a project to produce a batch of FR Super Barn carriages for a client.

I scratch built the main sections in styrene in my usual fashion and used them as the masters to create mould sand cast a run of  resin copies.

Here you can see the first of the carriages in the early stages of being glued together. So far so good....

At the other end of the country Himself was making rapid progress with landscaping the new section of the layout, seen here with Mod Roc spread over chicken wire in a most traditional fashion...

December

We ended the year with Himself completing an improvised gearbox for Welsh Pony.  

The Large Englands may only have had an extra 6 inch wheelbase compared to the original batch but it looks very obviously longer in this side-on snap.

My efforts to cast a run of Super Barn carriages had got so far as having three body shells completed by the turn of the year.

Thanks for all your visits to the blog during 2013 and even more so if you left a comment or interacted with us on our Twitter or Facebook feeds.

We look forward to sharing our modelling efforts with you in 2014.

Bron Hebog Review Of The Year Part 1

There were no complaints about our following the media fashion at this time of the year for a look back over the preceding twelve months so I shall repeat the exercise with a look back at the Bron Hebog modelling year.

January

I began with a burst of activity on a long term project to make a 2nd model of the WHR KMX tamper for a client - one of the designers of the conversion of the real machine in fact - and gave my finger tips some heat treatment soldering up these hydraulic looms from offcuts of brass and untwisted picture hanging wire.

This project has taken so long that when the model was commissioned the client was living in Australia but has since moved back to Yorkshire. Oops!

In January I also completed the first of my B wagon kits - in this snap you can see one completed as a WHR bike carrying wagon posed next to an example of the 2nd generation DZ wagon rivet details added to the master.

We also made some progress on our model of Super Barn 121 with Himself getting round to putting a brass roof on it.

February

The early months of the year saw us finally delivering on another long term outside contract - a pair of 7mm scale WHR Pullmans which I scratchbuilt in styrene and Himself painted and lined out with Fox's transfers.

They are a stunning pair of carriages, even if I do say so myself, and it was hard to let them go.

March

I caught up with another of my 7mm carriages at the Model Rail Scotland on the layout Rhyd which was on show at the SECC.   It is a model of the original FR Barn Observation Carr 100.

I also began work on the first of the models of the houses in the modern estate which is a feature at the south end of Beddgelert station, working on designs drawn up by the Artistic Director.

April

Having spent many months casting kits to sell and making carriages for clients I had to submit to the urge to make something for myself and started work on a model of the WHR tool van.

The real van was built up on the chassis from a DZ wagon and I used one of the chassis castings from my DZ kits as the base for the model, scratch building the van body from styrene.

I also paid a visit south to Bron Hebog HQ to observe progress on the layout and took this snap of our set of DZ wagons - all of them slightly different - which Himself had painted and lettered.

May

I was making steady progress on the build of the first two houses.  

By May this one was almost complete with the roof in place and just awaiting some finishing touches such as the guttering and the ridge tiles.

Having got accustomed to the nature of the complicated design of the buildings the second house came together quite rapidly.  Here they are posed together.

June

I was thrilled in June when the news I'd waited a lifetime for was confirmed - a decision to go ahead with the restoration to steam of FR Large England Welsh Pony.

I have very fond memories of playing on the engine as a child in its days perched on a plinth outside Harbour Station dreaming that one day I would see it steam again.

I immediately announced a pledge that a proportion of turnover of sales from my WHR wagon kits would be donated to the appeal fund.  The total donated is into three figures already.

Inspired by the restoration announcement Himself recommenced work on our model of Welsh Pony which he is building from a rather flawed Mercian Models kit. It has been rather a saga as regular readers of the blog will know...

I was also able to finally sign off on the NGY ballast wagon kit with the arrival of the test etches for the brass parts of the kit and it was able to go into production.