Review Of The Year - Part 3

July

The early part of the summer was taken up with work on the housing estate scene.

The conservatory which I had to build for the back of the latest house was one of the more challenging bits of the estate I've had to make.

Himself had been doing some work on the gardens of the houses which are already in place on Bron Hebog.

He'd also been busy creating the cemetery above the crossing on the far left hand side of the layout.

August

I decided to take a break from house building and put together the castings for Superbarn 118 which I'd cast the previous year but kept stored.

Himself was also giving some attention to the scenery on the top of Goat Tunnel, planting a copse of trees.

We also made a start on the last major scenic challenge on Bron Hebog which is lining the Cutting Mawr at the back of the layout with rock.

Instead of using slabs of real rock, which is what we did on Dduallt, we've decided to try casting copies of sections in resin which will be lighter and make the layout slightly less heavy.

September

By this time I'd started work on the last two houses to complete the Oberon Woods estate scene, both of them are detached (mostly) bungalows.

Himself had a few models which needed priming and decided it was time to give our Welsh Pony a coat.

The photo was taken in black and white - if it was in colour you would see that the primer is actually red oxide.

We did use grey primer as the base coat of the new Superbarn 118 which was ready to start being painted.

It's seen here on the shelf in front of some of the Superbarn fleet including the service car 125 and the observation car 150.

Tombstoning

I like it when you get to the stage of adding those little details which really complete the scene.

One of them is the cemetery from which Cemetery Crossing gets its name which is shortly beyond the exit from Goat Tunnel, or shortly before, depending on which direction you're traveling in.

Himself has made a nice job of a batch of grave stones which he has set out in the enclosed area above the line.

I did offer to make some masters and cast them in resin, thinking it might speed up the process, but it turns out he's made them all from scratch.

Here's a shot he posed featuring our newest carriage, 150, and a Triple Fairlie combo.

Pic Of The Week 13

Unlucky in this case because its the last of this series of fabulous Chris Nevard shots of Dduallt.

Very appropriately its a departure shot.

Taken from a high angle - indeed higher than the level of the average pair of eyes when the layout is set up on its trestles - we see Taliesin leaving the Down platform while the rear of another train is heading off on its journey around the spiral.

From this angle you can see the way the loop line arcs around the trees in the middle of the station which I always felt made it one of the most distinctive and attractive locations on the FR, if not on any heritage railway.

The Down road is no longer connected to the main line at the top end but there is a small run round which is used as a turnback for works trains, slate trains and some short formations during gala events.

I hope you've enjoyed these series of pictures. I'll be bringing them together in a gallery soon so you can find them in one place.

Pic Of The Week 8

This is one of the pictures which was selected for use in Model Rail in December last year and no wonder because it's a cracker.

Once again Chris Nevard has lit the scene beautifully to really show off the fantastic paint jobs
Himself did on our Backwoods Miniatures 'Ladies' which are in themselves superb models, improved further by a lovely pair of bespoke brass domes turned for us by Chris Veitch.

Another Backwoods masterpiece, Taliesin, is crossing Rhoslyn Bridge heading for Blaenau in this shot.