Joined-Up Thinking

Recently one of the followers on our Facebook page posted a comment asking if we'd ever considered connecting together our two Festiniog layouts Dduallt and Minffordd.

It's an interesting question, and the answer why we probably won't includes a number of hurdles we would have to overcome, so I thought it might make the basis of a decent blog piece.

I have to say it's a beguiling idea, and one I've often toyed with while daydreaming.

Long before we embarked on the Minffordd project I would often think wouldn't it be nice to have the space to set up Dduallt as a home layout, and instead of operating it end-to-end between fiddle yards - as we do at exhibitions - make it into a continuous run.

My daydream was always that we could have Dduallt on one side and Tan y Bwlch at the other, perhaps with an exit to a storage / fiddle yard as well, perhaps making use of the truncated route to the disused Moelwyn Tunnel behind the signal box.

That plan has never gone any further than a daydream, however.

So, now that we have two layouts, why not try to connect them now?

Here are the things you'd have to overcome.

HEIGHTS

As you would expect for model of Dduallt Spiral the layout is not flat!

Therefore the entry / exit points to the fiddle yards at each end of the run are at different levels.

Having never compared the measurements it’s also entirely possible that the height off the ground of the FR mainline on Minffordd is different yet again.

To connect them would inevitably involve some degree of ‘ski ramp’ at each end and the height that would have to be climbed by ascending trains would dictate how long these ramps have to be - which would have an impact on the viability of the idea.

CONTROL

As it stands the two layouts are using different systems.

Dduallt was built for plain old DC whereas Minffordd is all-singing DCC with sound.

It wouldn’t be impossible  to lash-up a way to make them work together on either control system, but, you couldn’t use both as once, nor would the stock be interchangeable.

And that’s an issue because Dduallt and its steep gradient was built assuming we would always use heavy white metal or brass locomotives with the traction to pull reasonable trains up the hill.

The latest ready to run locos - lovely as they are - really can’t cope with anything other than  flat layout with our stock.

ERAS

The other consideration - albeit the one that’s easiest to overlook - is that the layouts are set around 20 years apart.

Minffordd is depicted in the generic 1960s and Dduallt at the end of the 1980s with stock that’s anything up to the present day.

ORIENTATION 

The logical thing would be to have the layouts positioned back-to-back.

Unfortunately, that would see Up trains leaving Minffordd emerging on the Deviation on Dduallt as if they’d just left Tanygrisiau,  and the same in the opposite direction.

To be prototypical the connections would need a crossover at some point, making them much more complicated to build.

SPACE

Of course, the biggest obstacle is simply where we would ever find the room to put it all together to test and play with it.

Unless anyone wants to donate a large, secure, space somewhere on the west coast of Scotland to us? No, thought not…

Minffordd's First Show In England

I did mention a while back that there would be an exhibition date for Minffordd in England later this year, and that it would hopefully be convenient for the greatest number of people.

Now the embargo has been lifted we're at liberty to say where and when.

We're very pleased to have been invited to bring the layout along to this year's National Festival of British Railway Modelling at the NEC in Birmingham in November.

This show fills the time and place vacated by the legendary Warley show where we had many happy days exhibiting Dduallt and Bron Hebog over the years.

We hope this will please many of you who've wanted to see the layout but said it's been too far to come to our previous appearances in Scotland and Wales.

Minffordd Movie

Perhaps rather like an artist attempting a self-portrait, taking good pictures and videos of your own layout is surprisingly hard, in my experience.

I suspect a lot of that may because after years designing and constructing it you are simply too familiar with the subject.

Someone who is seeing it for the first time may find the viewpoints and angles which you have overlooked.

(They may also have better equipment or, quite simply, possess more talent and creativity...)

Therefore, I always welcome it when people watching our layout take photos and videos and are willing to spend the time to edit and share them.

Over the years FR volunteer Matthew Hall has produced some terrific videos of our former layouts Dduallt and Bron Hebog and I'm delighted that he has done it again for Minffordd following his visit to the show in Porthmadog at the weekend.

This is without a doubt the best footage I have yet seen of the layout.

It is a generous feature-length production of a full half-hour so grab yourself a drink, and maybe something to nibble on, then click, sit back and enjoy!

"My Grandfather Went To Work On That!"

The best part of exhibiting a layout a real place near that place is hearing the comments and stories from the people who have a connection with it.

That's one of the reasons we were so much looking forward to bringing Minffordd to Porthmadog this weekend, as well as the chance to catch up with old friends on the FR.

One of the people watching today pointed at the Wickham trolley and told us his us his grandfather from Talsarnau use to be a ganger on the Cambrian Coast Line in around the time we have modelled it and says he used to tell stories about travelling out to work sites on the trolley kept at Porthmadog.

Another visitor told us how he was once a loco fireman based at Pwllheli and recalled how tricky it was to re-start trains from Minffordd on a wet day with the tricky combination of a steep gradient and sharp curve on the line.

Someone very local, who lives right in a house right beside the FR there, was hugely complimentary about the layout, along with many current and former FR volunteers who came along, and it's comments like those which really make the years of dedication which go into to project like this worthwhile.

The second day was a lot more relaxing, with the crew well into the routine of running the layout, and we were grateful to have the assistance of some long-time acquaintances, one of whom was visiting from the other side of the world, and another who's day job is to run the real Cambrian Coast Line, so it was amusing to see if they could manage any better in model form....

Minffordd won't be on show again until the autumn, but there'll be plenty of modelling work to be getting on with, including, I hope, finally getting a DCC chip and speaker into Moelwyn once I finally discover the secrets of how it's been done before.

Keep an eye on our social media pages over the next week or so where we'll be sharing some video clips of the layout in action over the weekend.

"This Takes Me Right Back!"

That was perhaps the most gratifying compliment we heard on day 1 of the exhibition organised by the FR in Porthmadog today as we took Minffordd to the spiritual homeland for the first time, and facing its most knowledgeable audience yet.

The comment, if he will forgive me for revealing, came from the former FR track supremo Fred Howes, a man who's probably spent decades of his life in Minffordd Yard, starting in the 1960s, and if there was an acid test for whether we've captured the look and feel of the place it's his opinion which counts for most.

The show has been very well attended, so far, and there's been a terrific relaxed atmosphere.

That's probably just as well given that we are short-staffed on the operating front due to unforeseen circumstances this weekend.

The layout has performed as well as we could have hoped.  

The investment in 'frog juicers' seems to have cut back on many of the short circuit incidents which plagued the Cambrian side of the layout during the latter stages of the 3-day show in Glasgow.

The Simplex, Mary Ann, disgraced itself again, as it did in Falkirk, throwing a digital wobbly and refusing to move, while still making all the noises. (Much like the real thing, some might say.)

It had to stay parked in a siding until the end of the day when we were able to remove all the other narrow gauge locos as use the layout as a programming track to reset the chip.

The 'bulked-up' Dukedog was able to do some useful work on the Cambrian Coast Express set this time, which has given me the confidence to consider investing in a suitable headboard for future shows.

Yard shunting has not been entirely hands-free with some stubborn Kadees refusing to release or reconnect on demand at times, requiring some 'hand of God' intervention.

It would appear all the sidings at Porthmadog are full because the long road above the 'coal hole' was used to store empty gunpowder wagons for much for the day.

The 6 hours the show was open went by in a flash. 

By this time tomorrow, as I post, it'll be all packed-up again and ready to haul back up the road to Scotland.

Rolling Along

How you're going to get your layout in and out of a show venue is not always high on the list of considerations when its designed.

In our experience it's one of those thing you adapt and improvise as you go along.

Over the years we've progressed from purely manual handing, deploying a squad of operators to lift and carry boards over long distances, and even up and down flights of stairs, to investing in a heavy-duty barrow to wheel sections of layout into the venue.

But with Minffordd being transported by car, instead of a hired van, we've found it's a struggle to find space for the barrow in a situation where every square inch is prisoner.

As so often a potential solution emerged out of a chance conversation at the weekend.

Chewing over the logistics of getting the layout into the venue at Porthmadog next weekend we wondered whether it would be worth investing in a small skate trolley, which would be easier to fit in one of the cars.

Which is when Himself had another of his brainwaves.

About ten years ago he made a small folding 'train set' board for my son.

In typical Himself fashion it was built on a robust 2x1 frame and he had fitted casters so it could be easily slid into the space beneath his bed when it wasn't being played with.

What if - he wondered - we removed those casters and attached them directly to one of the boards which hold the two main sections of Minffordd together for transport?

It rolls around well enough in the garage at home, I'm told.

Now there are two big tests.

How well will it work to push it in and out of a venue, across a tarmac car pack and whatever steps and bumps there are in the way.

And with the whole package now being another 7cm longer will it still fit in the back of my car?

Packing For Porthmadog

We still have the best part of a fortnight to go but today the plan is to break down Minffordd  and get it all packed away ready for the trip to the show in Porthmadog.

Over the weekend we did a last bit of test running to check a few of the adjustments which have been made since Glasgow, one of which was an overdue reset of the decoder on the green 24 to cure its tendency to unpredictable rates of acceleration, which made attempting to shunt wagons into the yard a challenge.

The show, at Y Ganolfan, just across the harbour from the FR station, looks like it will be a terrific event.  Link here.

The organisers look to have pulled together a remarkable collection of layouts of locations along the FR, or ones which have been inspired by it.

There's a few I'm particularly looking forward to seeing, and I hope the owners won't mind that I've lifted some photos from their social media.

Tan y Bwlch by Nigel Smith has captured the feel of everyone's favourite FR station perfectly.

In a larger scale, Rhiw Goch, from James and Peter Hoyle, is another exquisitely faithful representation of a real life location on the line.

And Charles Insely's Bangor looks like it oozes atmosphere, and I've been watching his Bachmann Fairlie kit bashes with interest as he documented the project, so it will be fascinating to see them close up.

Proceeds from the show will be split between the fundraising appeals to overhaul Blanche and to build a replica of the Spooner bogie ballast wagon, so that's an extra incentive to come along to the show if you are able to.

Calm Before The Storm

I popped in at Himself's place the other day and couldn't resist taking a few phone snaps of Minffordd with the late afternoon sunshine creating an almost sunset-like effect over the layout.

All the adjustments and improvements made through the winter are complete and have been thoroughly tested, and now it's ready to be taken down, bolted to its travelling frames and taken for the short ride to the SEC in Glasgow for the Model Rail Scotland show which opens on Friday morning.

Before too long I would hope one of the magazines will arrange for a proper photographer to come and do a proper shoot which do it more justice than I can manage with an ageing iPhone.

This view, which is rather like the one you'd get standing on the roof of the down platform shelter at Minffordd, reminds me of one of the things which makes it such a different kind of narrow gauge model - the double track main line effect.

This is a very the public doesn't really get to see, and is one of those bonuses of being a layout operator. 

Unfortunately, those who are not familiar with the FR don't get to see what an attractive building the Weigh House is, only getting to see it's rather plain back wall.

For now it all looks very sleepy and abandoned, but in a couple of days the Simplex will be busily phut-phut-phutting around the yard, up and down the ramp to the 'coal hole' while mineral wagons and empty gunpowder vans are shunted along the long siding high above.

If you're able to come along to the show please say hello to the team.

For those who can't we'll do our best to share pictures and videos on our social media so if you don't already do so follow us on Facebook, Bluesky and X (the the continuation of an account does not indicate endorsement or otherwise of the proprietor....)

Small Can Be Beautiful

This weekend was a new experience for me, my first experience of an exhibition made up only of micro layouts, organised by one of our modeller friends here in the west of Scotland.

I have to confess that I've never been particularly sold on the concept of micro layouts, I've always thought I'd find them too limiting as a modeller - I like to be able to run a wide variety of trains and to have lots of operational options to stave off boredom - but being in a hall with nothing but micros I was impressed with how entertaining it all was.

What made this show a 'must attend' for me was the chance to see the N gauge version of a classic West Highland Extension scene, the Loch Nam Uamh viaduct, which is a magnificent piece of scenic modelling.

What I had not appreciated is that it is double-sided - effectively just an oval of track with a backscene in the middle and the opposite side is the girder bridge on the Oban line near Kilchurn Castle.

There was quite a bit of 009 interest as well, including a debut from a very promising young local modeller, Luca Jaconelli, who has branched out into narrow gauge inspired - so his Mum tells me - by our layouts, which is always lovely to hear.

There's a very Dinorwig feel about the multi-level gallery-style layout he was showing.

I was also very impressed by some of the visiting layouts from across the border, who showed a lot of commitment to come to Renfrewshire for one day, including this imagined west London scene at Greenford Broadway.

This show is clearly going from strength to strength, with ideas for expanding it next year, so if you have the opportunity to go along it comes with my recommendation.

Here We Go Again

I note it has been nearly two years since I posted in this blog, and my return here today is because I reminded myself that it's coming up to four years since I got so mightily pissed off that I began easing back on the content I was posting.

The trigger, you'll remember if you were reading back then, was the almost total disinterest shown in Bron Hebog when we took it to one of the largest shows in the UK on the first outing since the Covid lockdowns, and just days after the Russians launched their war against Ukraine.

So it was stressful time, it's fair to say.

Next month we return once again, this time with Minffordd.

In between we also returned with Dduallt, collecting one of the minor awards, which only served to confirm that my thoughts about Bron Hebog were probably correct, as least so far as tastes in model railway layouts in the northern half of this island go.

The concept behind Minffordd includes a lot of that learning. 

Here, the layouts which connect with the public need a lot of these aspects about them:

British outline standard gauge - not necessarily OO but it's obviously dominant.

Aspirational ready-to-run rolling stock - there aren't many visitors who know enough to coo over your kit-building or scratch building.

DDC and especially sound - people love a gadget.

Plenty of movement on the layout.

A quirky track plan doesn't hurt either.

Minffordd unashamedly ticks all those boxes, and more, but it also does so while being completely prototypical and providing enough of the wow factor for the vanishingly small number of exhibition-goers who know their narrow gauge and appreciate a painstaking recreation of the FR in the 1960s.

We have a few show-stopping curiosities, too, like the 'how did you get sound in that?' Simplex and Britomart, and our latest addition, a speaker-fitted Wickham p-way trolley for the Cambrian Coast.

We have also taken learnings from our first two exhibition outings and more than doubled the OO fiddle yard capacity with two auxiliary storage areas which give an end-to-end option for running more of the longer formations than the very short loops allowed for.

So despite still feeling pissed off about 2022 (I can't deny it) I am excited about going back next month with something I hope will float some boats a little more.

The Cream Of Manchester

Five months ago when I wrote the previous post on this blog - like the famous legend on the FR timetables  'Train Services Suspended' - I left open the possibility that I may post again.

As I wrote at the time, I had simply run out of things to say.

Well, after our experience at the Manchester MRS exhibition at the weekend, I've found I do, once again, have something to say, and it would be the right thing to say it here.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to spend time watching the layout, to share their thoughts on it (and the prototype) and to those who went on to put an X in the box on the voting form for the Best Layout.

We were beyond honoured to receive the shield for this on the Sunday afternoon, having on Saturday evening been judged the best in show by the members of MMRS - the first awards for Bron Hebog.

To receive these awards was incredibly humbling given the remarkable standard of all the layouts at the show.

There was not one on display which did show exceptional skill and dedication - with many of them being to EM or P4 standards (in 4mm) or finescale 2mm - and the four of us who travelled with the layout were astonished to hear its name being called out as the winner at the presentations.

(A shame we weren't allowed to take the cup and shield home with us for the next 12 months...)

I can't make any promises about how regular posts on this blog might be, but what I can say is that I found the whole weekend - surrounded by so many enthusiastic and appreciative people - to be restorative and cathartic.

Can't wait for Warley next year!

Warley, Baby!

I want to begin by thanking everyone who left supportive comments on our social media after the last post about Model Rail Scotland.

I appreciate your forbearance scrolling through while I let off some steam, but after effectively giving up five days (including some precious holiday allowance) and coming out of it feeling your efforts were unappreciated - by a few people you’d hoped would have paid more attention - I think a little strop can be forgiven.

Instead let’s move on with some more positive news, and we were all delighted when an offer that was intimated to us at the SEC was confirmed in writing: Bron Hebog will be going to Warley in 2023!

The Bron Hebog crew and FR volunteers at Warley 2004 with LT while exhibiting Ddaullt

This won’t be first visit to the NEC for Bron Hebog.

Back in 2009 we were asked by the FR to bring along the station boards which were still at a very early stage of development, to complement their display.

The start of the Cwm Cloch bend was there, and the northern entrance to Goat Tunnel was landscaped, but also  still just painted brown plaster.

At the time I recall lots of people commenting that they looked forward to seeing it when it’s finished.

14 years is a long time to wait...I hope they’re not disappointed.

Second Album Syndrome?

I've had a couple of days to digest our experience at Model Rail Scotland, which was the first time operating Bron Hebog at a show in over two years.

I very much enjoyed the camaraderie of our team over the three days, and it was lovely to receive so many appreciative comments from visitors, both for the layout and for this blog.

But ever since the doors closed, we packed up and came home, I've been left with the nagging feeling that for as many people who loved it - indeed told us it was their only reason for coming along - it seemed as if there were as many who were distinctly unmoved by it, some of them among the railway modelling fraternity.

It's not the first time I've noticed this since we began taking Bron Hebog out, and it's starting to feel like a band struggling to follow up on a chart-topping debut album. 

25 years ago it seemed like Dduallt was feted everywhere it went, but there was a big gap between it coming off the circuit and the follow up appearing.

And like that hit band who spent time locked away in the recording studio, we've gone back on the road and discovered it's just the hard core groupies who remain.

In the days since the SEC I've been chewing over why Bron Hebog doesn't seem to capture the imagination in the same way, and I've settled on a few theories.

It's too big

At 20ft across and 10ft deep it's pretty large for an exhibition layout, and a monster for 4mm narrow gauge, especially for what is, essentially, a single track line with a passing loop.

While the groupies might like looking at an unfolding Welsh upland landscape - and if you're reading this consider yourself part of the fan club! - I suspect many people seeing it afresh see just a dull, barren vastness before them.

Not enough action

This follows on from the previous point. 

Due to its size, the simplest of track layouts, and the tortoise-like nature of the narrow gauge, trains take a long time to traverse Bron Hebog.

It can take 2 minutes for a train to snake its way from the station into the upper fiddle yard, and as a long again for one to return, plus all the fiddle yard time.

In WHR terms we operate an absurdly intensive timetable on the layout, but compared others it must seem woefully pedestrian.

No USP

When it appeared Dduallt was quite a novelty, and it has one thing that make's it cute and memorable - the under / overbridge on the spiral.

Now, like me, you might rather like watching a Garratt and its prototypical long rake of carriages snaking through reverse curves and performing not one, but two, full 180s on a climb up a gradient, through a tunnel and disappearing into a deep cutting, but I'm starting to suspect many people don't share that simple pleasure.

The sound of silence

In the decades since we built Dduallt railway modelling has moved on, and digital tech is now mainstream, but we're still rooted in the silent dc past.

A layout which doesn't arouse your ears as well as your eyes is starting on the back foot.

A level playing field

Once upon a time it really stood out if you were operating a layout entirely stocked with kit built and scratch built stock, or if you'd worked on super-detailing ready to run stock.

Now even the most brilliant modellers - which we are not - will struggle to match what it is possible to buy in a box.

Location, location, location

And last, and by no means least, I suspect this is the effect of moving to the other end of the country.

I think it's fair to say there is much less interest in narrow gauge in Scotland.

We're probably going to have to get used to that feeling of leaving a lot of our audience underwhelmed.

Showtime Again!

A very exciting email arrived in my inbox at the weekend confirming not only the return of the Model Rail Scotland exhibition in Glasgow in February, but also an invitation to bring Bron Hebog.

Needless to say we jumped at the opportunity to show the layout for the first time in nearly two and a half years.

(I don't mind admitting that there have been times during this pandemic when I wondered whether we ever would again?)

On a personal level it seems quite weird to be thinking about returning to those giant SEC halls for something as frivolous as a model railway exhibition.

For most of 2020 the place had been transformed into an enormous emergency Covid-19 hospital, and right now the place is in the process of being turned into Fort Knox as the venue for the Cop26 climate change summit.

Come February, all being well, our Backwoods Garratts will spend three days coffee-grinding their way around the S-bends with what must be the longest and heaviest 009 trains you'll see running on any layout in the UK.

It's a great show, and Glasgow's a great city.  It will wonderful to get back to exhibiting, and we'd love to see you there!

Exhibition-Free Zone

2021 is only three weeks old, but sad to say, it already seems clear it's going to be a another write-off as far as model railway exhibitions are concerned.

Despite the accelerating vaccine programme, during the last week we've seen shows with dates as far away as November being cancelled, such is the crippling uncertainty around when lockdown restrictions will be lifted, and to what extent.

In so many ways the pandemic has been good for the hobby, with so many of us having more time on our hands.

Manufacturers, and suppliers who sell online, have seen very healthy sales as modellers take on new projects as a way to take our minds off what's going on.

But all of this is happening in the home.

Model railways have become a solitary activity once more as clubs have had their doors shut for the majority of the last year. 

What will it mean for model railway exhibitions and the layouts which are shown there?

For the last 25 years my only opportunity to 'play trains' has been at shows, mostly with our layouts Dduallt or Bron Hebog.

For the second year running the chances of either of them being run at a show are looking very slim.

For me this has coincided with my youngest reaching the stage where he's ready to start playing with 'proper' trains, and Himself has built him his first OO layout - a rather neat little set up with passing loop, sidings and isolating sections which folds up and can be stored under his bed on casters.

With his birthday coming up this week I spent many happy hours browsing the websites of the most well-known model stores in search of a bargain birthday present.

And now in idle moments I find myself daydreaming about how a permanent layout could be shoe-horned into the family home.

Is this going to be the legacy of Coronavirus?  That the best modelling is done on a small scale, in private, only to be shared with others online?

Who is planning the big, hopelessly impractical exhibition layouts any more?

I hope I'm wrong, but the longer this goes on you do begin to wonder....

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.....