Weather Update

We've tried a lot of new things as part of the Minffordd project, such as moving to DCC control and sound, and smaller code track.

It's also the first time we've tried weathering on any of our rolling stock, having always kept anything we bought - or made - looking 'box fresh'.

But like with any new skill you have to practice and develop, but that's a scary prospect when you're dealing with the very latest high-spec models (at high-spec prices!)

So just like with the more ambitious DCC projects I decided it would be best to invest in paying an expert to do it, and having been enormously impressed by the images I saw on his Facebook page I asked Tom Foster to quote for the job.

This morning I was very excited to receive the studio portraits of the what he's done with the locos, and I'm absolutely delighted!

What's great about Tom's service is you can specify precisely how you'd like the model to look.

For the locos I sent away I asked for our Dapol 'Bradley Manor' to look as if the lads at Aberystwyth shed had given it a really thorough going over with some oily rags.

Yes, I know when they did this the locos weren't working the 'coast section' to Pwllheli, but I'm citing Rule 1!

The others I said I wanted to look a lot more like they'd been worked hard without much attention from the cleaners.

The Collett Goods is Himself's favourite - and in nearly every picture I've seen of them at work on the Cambrian they look a lot like this.

This is now getting a very old tooling, dating from the Mainline days at the start of the 1980s, but I remember it being pretty cutting edge back then.

And in my opinion when it's given a really proper finish like this I still think it holds up really well, and the re-engineered Bachmann version we have runs as well as anything else on DCC.

The other two models are bang up to date.

The Dapol 43XX Mogul runs like a peach  (I know, fruit doesn't run...) but it did look unnaturally spotless and shiny out of the box.

I think the dirty look here really shows off the quality of the model so much better.

The same goes for the Hornby Standard 2 2-6-0 MT which is a terrific performer on the layout, but again was too clean for you to suspend your disbelief.

I'm so looking forward to being able to run these on Minffordd at our exhibitions in the autumn, I really do believe they'll lift the whole layout.

Thanks Tom!

Regional Identity

I recently added a page explaining more about the background to the decisions we made designing the Minffordd project - 10 Reasons Why - and one of them was about setting it in the period of the 1960s.

Mostly this was dictated by the historic availability of the locomotive fleet on the FR, but there was the happy coincidence that the decade also marked a very colourful period on the Cambrian Coast Line.

At the start of the 1960s the line was still under the control of the Western Region which, in common with others, still seemed to be a bit in denial about nationalisation.

It had conspired to bring back its beloved chocolate and cream carriage livery, at least on its headline named trains, such as the Cambrian Coast Express.

Now we've expanded the fiddle yard capacity we have the happy problem of needing more trains to fill the sidings, so we're exploiting that to justify the investment in a short rake of Bachmann Mk1 carriages which can be found for very reasonable prices on the second hand market.

It makes for quite a rainbow of train formations with other sets featuring grouping-period carriages in all-over maroon and crimson and cream livery, while the DMUs are in their classic green livery.

The chocolate and cream era didn't last long as the WR fell into line and went all-maroon after 1962, followed by the London Midland Region taking control of the Cambrian in 1963.

And, yes, we do know that Manors were only usually seen on the Aberystwyth portion of the CCE, leaving the Pwllheli section to something more mundane, but they did make appearances further up the coast from time to time, sometimes even on freight!

More to the point it's a lovely model - the Dapol version if you were curious - and I've always loved the white paint embellishments applied by Aberystwyth loco crews and cleaners.

And most importantly it's our train set!

Adap(ol)tations

There are a few things in the railway modelling scene which defy their age, and some of them are in the old Kitmaster range of injection moulded plastic kits.

Despite its longevity I reckon the footbridge kit is still up there as one of the user-friendly and adaptable you can get.

I first knew it when it was branded as part of the Airfix range, and these days it's under the Dapol banner, and we had one on our large OO gauge layout in the loft.

It was the obvious choice for me to use at the station on the 'test track' because I needed something that wasn't standard sized and could be kit-bashed to link platforms at different heights on the standard and narrow gauge.

As luck would have it I found one in a bargain bucket at the Kyle MRC show in Troon on Saturday where the Greenock club were exhibiting their small Banffshire terminus layout Inverboyndie.

The first change I made was to cut out one of the sections on the upper set of stairs, because if you mount it on a platform the deck of the bridge is so high it would give the passengers vertigo!

The second, more involved, alteration, was to insert an extra segment into the deck to stretch it to the length I needed.

This classic kit has always come with the option of a plain sheet section in the middle, which could be used as an advertising hoarding, but I've never been convinced that it looks very prototypical (although  I'm sure somebody will prove me wrong) so I prefer to have another cross-brace section.

With no spare parts available in the kit I rooted about in my diminishing stock of Evergreen strip and found some stuff that was roughly the same dimensions, and knocked up something that could be used as a master to cast pieces to be inserted between the two halves.

Being slightly impatient, and keen to get the job finished in a day, I made up some RTV rubber with a generous dosage of catalyst which meant the mould was set within a couple of hours and I could quickly cast my two copies with the last dregs of resin I have available.

With that done the first section of the bridge is complete.  Now I need to buy a second kit (probably at full price on the web) to complete the second half stretching across to the NG tracks.