Getting Closer

This is not a groundbreaking development in the world of model railways, but it is a classic case of us being late adopters.

Himself is experimenting with magnetic couplings for the intermediate connections on our carriage sets.

We use Kadees for the primary coupling to the locomotives but had kept tension locks on stock which is intended to run in fixed formations.

On a layout with a small element of gradient, there can be obvious fore and aft movement as the passenger trains move through the dip on the Cambrian line at the front of the layout, at the bottom of the photo here.

We designed it this way to help emphasise the embankment carrying the long siding in the yard, and also because in reality Minffordd is a summit and there is a steep descent towards Porthmadog.

A fixed magnetic link will eliminate this distracting movement of the carriages, and should also shorten the space the carriage sets take up in the fiddle yards by a few mm's.

It doesn't sound a lot but there is only 'fag paper' clearance sometimes when you have a full three-car rake and a locomotive on each end.

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!