Minffordd Update - Carriages In Context

A weekly inspection visit to view progress on the Minffordd project gave me an opportunity to pass over the newly-completed body shells of the Barn carriages to Himself to keep safe until he has the time - and the courage - to attempt the 'teak' paint job.

It also allowed us to pose what is going to be one of our standard carriage rakes in position along the embankment where the FR trains run, which gives a little more visual context to the scene.

With just the bare plywood track beds in place it's hard to get a proper impression of how big - or small - the layout will look.

We have the advantage with the way Minffordd is laid out, with the smaller, narrow gauge trains at the back of the scene, that it creates a natural optical illusion, in the same way that some modellers put reduced-scale buildings towards the rear of their layouts to give a perception of greater depth.

It's also pleasing that there will be almost no straight track anywhere on the layout, with the FR line forming a subtle crescent shape.

Most of what Himself has been doing for the past week is finalising the FR branch down into the exchange yard with the Cambrian, which he's worked out is a precipitous 1:19 gradient into the 'coal hole'.

What I think is quite impressive - and explains why it took most of the week - is that most of it was cut from a single sheet of plywood resting on a network of risers.

Down In The Yard

You reach a moment with every layout build where you start to get a glimpse (with a bit of help from your imagination) of what it is going to look like when it is complete.

The Minffordd project seems to have taken a bit step forward in the last week or so.

The FR overbridge has been given a coat of primer which I think demonstrates that it's definitely going to look the part, and the standard gauge track has begun to be fixed down.

The photo of a 24 nosing its way into the exchange yard gives a hint of what's to come, I hope.

Now Himself has turned his attention to forming the trackbed on the other side of the layout which involves some very complex changes of level and gradient as the FR track spirals down to meet the Cambrian.

Even at this stage you can step back and get a sense of how the whole scene is going to work.

I hope those who know the location will be able to squint a little and recognise this as the view from the window of an FR train crossing the bridge.

Round The Bend

Himself is making some more progress on the tracklaying, concentrating on the entry to the fiddle yard at the Harlech side of the circle.

This requires a flange-squealingly tight curve after the line disappears under the FR bridge and a challenging mix 'n' match approach the track.

As detailed in previous posts we're using PECO's new Code 75 Bullhead track for the Cambrian line where the viewers can see it, but the range is still very limited in pointwork and we simply don't have the space to use medium radius straight points within the space we've given ourselves.

The same is true of the standard Code 75 range, so we're going radical and attempting to transition from Code 75 to 'bog standard' Code 100 Streamline in the fiddle yard, with the cheeky addition of a couple of Set Track curved points.

When we were first exploring this option Himself was upsold a small transition section, produced by PECO, for exactly this scenario, but in testing he's discovered anything but the very latest OO wheelsets don't like it very much.

What he's decided on, instead, is to simply connect the Bullhead direct to the Set Track point with some modified joiners.

You might also notice the overbridge has been given a coat of grey primer and is awaiting the attentions of the first person feeling brave enough to attempt to paint the stonework.

There's also a cardboard template for the platform so it can be cut out of plywood.

Focal Point

Every layout has a feature to which the eye is naturally drawn, and a lot of the time these seem to be bridges.

It was certainly the case with Dduallt and I have a feeling it's going to be the same on Minffordd, with the focus of attention being on the arched stone bridge which carries the FR on the top and has the Cambrian passing beneath.

This was our 'zero point' as we mapped out the layout and set the trackbed heights, and Himself has concentrated on building this feature first.

The underlying structure of the bridge was put together with thin plywood and it has been clad with Wills sheets to represent the dressed stone blocks.

Another Wills product, representing rough slate slab walling, is being used for the waist height wall at the far side which separates the FR from the road.

Roughly chopped styrene bits are then glued on top to represent the random slate capping.

Ever the pessimist (or pragmatist?) when it comes to his own engineering, Himself will keep the deck of the bridge as a removable unit in case he has to service his point-moving contraption, or any fault develops with the slow-action point motor which will be buried inside the embankment.

A feature which often goes unnoticed, except by passengers using the Cambrian trains, is the much smaller pedestrian underpass to the left which is the main way of accessing the standard gauge platform, the other being a public footpath which runs right beside the line for a short distance as it descends towards the Traeth.

Minffordd Progress

I've just arrived back from my almost-weekly inspection visits to see the progress Himself is making on the new mini-Minffordd project and thought I would share some images.

A lot of the time - and brain power - so far has been taken up with establishing where the track bed levels need to be set.

This gets quite complex in the yard area where we've got the standard gauge climbing up above the descending Cambrian line as it heads down the hill towards Porthmadog, and the FR tracks in the yard which at some places sit higher than the standard gauge sidings, and in others like the 'coal hole' dive down to the bottom of the baseboards.

Our FR mainline running along the back of the scene will also be built on a grade, and just the real line we've got ours on a 1:80.

So far work has been concentrated on the yard entrance area, and the bridge with the FR above.

Those of you who follow us on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter  (just search for Bron Hebog) will have seen a video showing the engineering solution he's come up with to power the narrow gauge crossover.

Because of the limitations of our design we've had to slightly relocate where the points go with the result that if we tried to put a motor beneath the northern turnout it would fill the pedestrian underpass!

Next he'll be focussing on extending the Cambrian line along the front edge of the layout where it will pass under a (slightly relocated) road bridge - disappearing out of sight beneath the FR branch helter-skeltering down into Minffordd Yard - and the fanning out into some hidden storage loops.

Yes, it will all be quite compressed, but we hope it will be amusing to watch and engaging to operate.

 

Bend It Like Bullhead

 

Since the last post announcing our intention to start a new project for a small-ish twin gauge layout based on Minffordd there is some solid progress to report.

One of the main reference points to establish early on (pun not intended, for once) was the position of the turnout from the Cambrian line into the exchange yard, because this also dictates where the FR overbridge goes.

For this project we've decided to use Peco's new Code 75 bullhead track for the standard gauge because it has a much more realistic look in terms of sleeper spacing. 

It's a premium product in terms of price, but as there won't be that much standard gauge track on show it won't ruin us, while in the storage sidings hidden out of sight we will transition to a more economical choice of Code 100!

However, the bullhead range is in its infancy and there is a very limited choice of points available so far.

As you probably already know, the Cambrian line through Minffordd is curved, and this included the point into the yard.

For now Peco only make straight points, but with a little scalpel surgery on the plastic sleepers, and some gentle manipulation, Himself has succeeded in persuading the point to take a subtle leftwards bend.

You can see that he's also cut out a basic wooden template for the FR overbridge and the subway tunnel leading to the narrow gauge station.

Change At Minffordd

I thought I might make an occasional dip back into this blog to explain some more about our new project, revealed to our followers on social media at the weekend.

We've decided to scratch the itch again and build another layout, although this time something of a slightly more manageable size.

What we're proposing is a layout showing the under / over interchange between the FR and the standard gauge Cambrian at Minffordd and a somewhat compressed representation of the exchange yard beside it.

©  John Evans

The period would be the second half of the 1960s, allowing a little modeller's licence because, of course, some details change daily on the FR.

It's been done before as a great diorama which you can see in the museum at the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway, but we want to have ours more animated.

There are many considerations in coming up with this plan.

Size

While we'll probably always think of Bron Hebog as our magnum opus it's quite an operation to take it out on the road. 

To transport it to a show requires a long wheelbase van we have to hire, and even collecting / returning it from the depot is a 40 mile round trip each time.   Also because Himself is no longer able to drive a hire vehicle on the grounds of heritage it makes it all that much more complicated.  He was keen on a layout we could load into one or two cars.

The lure of OO

Since my son has also picked up the model railway bug I've spent a lot more time looking at 4mm standard gauge models again.  

To start with this was playing with the comparatively ancient collection from the 70s and 80s which Himself kept hold of, but one or two contemporary RTR items have been added and you can't fail to be impressed with how detailed they are and how well they run.

Cambrian nostalgia

For both of us watching trains on the Cambrian is a treasured childhood memory, albeit from different eras  - 1950s / 60s for Himself  and the 1980s for me.

Last year he treated himself to a Bachmann class 24/0 as a birthday present and I can just about remember seeing small Sulzers plying the coast on freight workings before the worms got at Barmouth Bridge.

DCC sound

Ever since the Bachmann WW1 Baldwin appeared and Himself invested in a chip to make it chuff we've been gradually sucked into the world of DCC which we'd avoided for so long.

Then he chipped the class 24 and resistance was futile - I knew we needed outlet to play with these properly.

009 RTR

The final factor which led us to settling on Minffordd was the expanding range of FR preservation era models from Bachmann, along with the Small England from Peco / Kato.

It's the representation of Livingston Thompson / Earl of Merioneth it its final form which dictated that this model should be be set between 1967-71, and the recent arrival of a green, tendered Linda without a pony truck reinforces that.

We have both of these locos sound fitted and I'm already hatching plans for reconstructive surgery on a green Prince (when they appear) to show it in its rebuilt form with the straight framing beneath the saddle tank.

For the Cambrian we've acquired a second 24 in two-tone green and a green Met-Cam class 101 DMU - always the iconic Cambrian train for my era - and we'll look at a couple of other DMU options for variety.

Himself has been cracking on with the plan and has made up a baseboard, split down the centre, to form an area 6ft across by 5ft deep.

The plan is for a scenic area of around 6' x 4.

The standard gauge will form a continuous run with storage tracks to the rear behind a scenic break.

It will appear at the back left of the scene passing beneath the FR through the stone archway midway along Minffordd station.

There will be a point leading up into the yard while the main line will carry on in a gentle sweep around the front of the scene until it disappears beneath the bridge carrying a lane  (which we are relocating only slightly).

The FR will run along the back of the scene.

We won't show the FR's Minffordd station - at least not yet, that might be a future extension? - and the narrow gauge starts from the crossover at the Porthmadog end, across the bridge and past the weigh house (Fred's office) with both the main line and the mineral line shown.

Towards the right hand end there will be point where the line into the exchange yard dives down around a tight curve.

Our intention is to try to include (in compressed form) some of the features like the 'coal hole' chutes and the adjacent NG and SG trackwork.

If I was any good at drawing I'd have come up with a very pretty plan I could post at this point - but I'm not so I can't.

But hopefully you can follow progress on our social media - or some more occasional posts here - and I trust you'll start to get the idea.