Cwm Bach - A South Wales Branch Line

[Barnaby]

I've never taken to white-metal mouldings and those ones look particularly poor and distorted.   I notice the bracket you extended is longer on one edge so could it have been fitted the other way up?  Not sure if the 2 spigots are meant for locating in the post or are moulding sprue runs.

 

Anyway it's a little bit more for you to model 

 

Have a great Christmas break and an enjoyable new year.

[81A Oldoak]

I had to return one of my daughters to Cardiff today. As I was alone for the return journey to Hampshire and the weather was fine, I decided to take a short detour and do some field-work for Cwm Bach, in particular to search for some terraced houses that could be photographed and, hopefully, worked up to form a backscene for the layout. I slipped off the M4 at junction 28 and headed for the Western Valleys along the A467. The first stop was Newbridge where I took a few shots including the new railway station built for the reinstatement of the service to Ebbw Vale in 2008. The passenger service had been withdrawn in 1962. Needless to say, it is a single platform and a pale shadow of the original station, but any railway is better than no railway.

 

I continued the short distance north to Crumlin. The narrow valley is dominated by Lewis Street high up on the eastern side. The eastern abutment of the erstwhile Crumlin Viaduct is still visible. From Crumlin, I drove up the A472 to Hafodyrynys where I found some suitable subjects for my project. From the village of Hafodyrynys - thank goodness for copy and paste - the A472 follows the path of the old Pontypool-Neath line that closed in June 1964. The road passes through a narrow defile over the site of the former Hafodyrynys colliery. There are still signs of the colliery. On the south side of the valley, landscaped slag is clearly visible. The 1950s concrete washery settling tank has also been left in place as a reminder of the site's original function. It is a Grade 2 listed structure, but looks like something out of a dystopian science fiction story. Finally, I dropped down to Pontypool and took the A4042 back to the M4 at Newport by-passing Cwmbran: sorry to Steve Fay for not calling.

 

I don't know if the photos will be useable. Unfortunately, most of the housing has been improved with UPVC windows and doors, slates replaced by tiles and the sprouting of satellite dishes.  I shall see what can be done in Photoshop and with tactically placed scenic items to conceal the wheelie bins, cars and other of signs of modern life. Herbert Street in  Hafodyrynys looks the most promising.

 

Stay tuned,

 

Chris

[philip-griffiths]

Ah Chris, I'm jealous. someone once said that you should be able to name the company that a model railway is based upon with all the rolling stock removed. I would add that you should be able to look outside the railway fence and realise what part of the country has been modelled. The yellow brick and pennant sandstone is so valleys.

 

Regards. Philip. (Native of the Sirhowy valley)

[81A Oldoak]

Ah Chris, I'm jealous. someone once said that you should be able to name the company that a model railway is based upon with all the rolling stock removed. I would add that you should be able to look outside the railway fence and realise what part of the country has been modelled. The yellow brick and pennant sandstone is so valleys.

 

Regards. Philip. (Native of the Sirhowy valley)

Thanks Philip and I agree with your sentiment completely. Next time, perhaps, I should turn left at Cross Keys and drive up the B4251.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[steve fay]

That's alright Chris, you would have been greated with a nasty dose of the winter flu bug!

[81A Oldoak]

I have finished the main construction of the Invertrains water tank kit. The photos show it primed in white as I wait to decide wheter to paint it a plain grey or faded BR(W) chocolate and cream.  The primer brutally highlights some of the flaws in the resin castings. Note the rough edge on the planked lid and some blemishes on the tank side that are difficult to remove without losing the rivet detail. The operating lever is a homemade replacement of the dreadful whitemetal casting supplied with the kit. The filler hose is 80gsm paper instead of the supplied piece of shoelace that looked like, well, a shoelace. I added an access hatch to the tank roof made from plastikard and brass wire grab handle.  I'm ordering a couple of fire-devils from Skytrex and will add a small concrete coal bunker and shovel to complete the scene.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I have finished the main construction of the Invertrains water tank kit. The photos show it primed in white as I wait to decide wheter to paint it a plain grey or faded BR(W) chocolate and cream.  The primer brutally highlights some of the flaws in the resin castings. Note the rough edge on the planked lid and some blemishes on the tank side that are difficult to remove without losing the rivet detail. The operating lever is a homemade replacement of the dreadful whitemetal casting supplied with the kit. The filler hose is 80gsm paper instead of the supplied piece of shoelace that looked like, well, a shoelace. I added an access hatch to the tank roof made from plastikard and brass wire grab handle.  I'm ordering a couple of fire-devils from Skytrex and will add a small concrete coal bunker and shovel to complete the scene.

Youve made a nice job of it Chris, such a shame about the flaws.

 

Chris, hopefully you can hide those blemishes with some clever weathering. It is always frustrating when kits fail to come up to expectation.

Or the deft and careful use of scalpel and an acrylic filler etc prior to weathering would be my preferred option.

 

I often long for Tamiya type quality in our world of 7mm scale kits...

[Donw]

Chris your trip would have taken you near to the Gibbon Brothers builders of serveral Welsh Colliery layouts.

Don

[Simond]

Chris

 

Frustrating though the defects are, I suspect a suitable coat of paint, (my preference would be "well faded...") and some suitable rust and other stains, will hide them entirely. I'm sure it would be fine, but the only downside is that you have to live with it, whatever I/we think.

 

I made the top for my water tower from balsa, because the conical top was unusable, and I still have not fitted the ladder, some 8 years on.

 

HNY

Simon

[daifly]

I'm ordering a couple of fire-devils from Skytrex and will add a small concrete coal bunker and shovel to complete the scene.

Ragstone Models do some very nice accessory castings of GW (and other companies) fire devils and a water funnel.

Dave

[Budgie]

As I was alone for the return journey to Hampshire and the weather was fine, I decided to take a short detour and do some field-work for Cwm Bach, in particular to search for some terraced houses that could be photographed and, hopefully, worked up to form a backscene for the layout. I slipped off the M4 at junction 28 and headed for the Western Valleys along the A467. The first stop was Newbridge where I took a few shots including the new railway station built for the reinstatement of the service to Ebbw Vale in 2008. The passenger service had been withdrawn in 1962. Needless to say, it is a single platform and a pale shadow of the original station, but any railway is better than no railway.

I'm surprised you didn't go in the general direction of Aberdare, and stop off at a little town called ... Cwmbach.

[81A Oldoak]

I'm surprised you didn't go in the general direction of Aberdare, and stop off at a little town called ... Cwmbach.

Sadly, a bit too far out of the way on this occasion, especially with such short days. When the longer days and warmer weather return, I hope to extend my peregrinations around The Valleys. I do however have a couple of old Edmonson tickets issued at the real Cwmbach; I posted scanned copies earlier on this forum.

[81A Oldoak]

The water tank has received its basic colours. The main colour is Humbrol M103 mixed with a lot of white to give the often almost white appearance of faded cream on BR(W) tanks and cranes and it accentuates the flaws in the poor resin casting. The faded chocolate brown is Humbrol M170 Brown Bess. Normally I use Humbrol 173, which is so-called Track Colour, but I didn't look too closely at the lid when I pulled the tin from my box of paints. The leather hose is Precision Paints P11 Dirty Black, which looks right compared with photographs of the prototype. Weathering is next and judging by my glacial pace, the fire devil will probably have been delivered by Postman Pat by the time I get going.

 

Regrettably, I actually have to go to London and do some work this week so there will be a pause until Thursday.

[81A Oldoak]

Concurrently, I am working on the backscene that that will top the embankment behind Cwm Bach station. I am working on the terraced houses that I photographed in South Walse last week and I intend to use this picture of a fine South Wales non-Conformist chapel. I intenddto print and mount it on some 5mm Kappa foam board. The only niggle is the converging verticles and I am trying to discover a means of correcting this - Photoshop and Paintbox have failed me so far. I tried re-photographing it with the camera at an angel to compensate for the convergence, but that too didn't work. Does anyone have any ideas?  

[steveNCB7754]

... the only niggle is the converging verticles and I am trying to discover a means of correcting this - Photoshop and Paintbox have failed me so far. I tried re-photographing it with the camera at an angel to compensate for the convergence, but that too didn't work. Does anyone have any ideas?  

 

Hi Chris,

 

Should not be too much of a problem.  Most software of this ilk has a 'Perspective' tool somewhere (I know Photoshop Elements does).  Bring up ('View'?) a suitable grid and choose the aformentioned 'Perspective' tool.  Then just use the control handle, in the plane that needs correcting, and tweek until the verticals (i.e. the outside walls) are parallel to the grid.  Remember to work on a copy though ;-)

 

BTW, am following this thread as I too have pretensions to a Welsh-themed layout.  Progress is slow unfortunately :-(

 

Steve N

Edited January 4, 2015 by steveNCB7754

[BG John]

Having never tried this before, I dragged your photo into Gimp and worked out how to alter the perspective in seconds. It usually takes me ages to work out how to do things in graphics programs, and I often give up trying! Here's my quick result.

[Simond]

I have no experience of Gimp, but it has an excellent reputation. The results of John's "seconds" would appear to bear this out!

 

Best

Simon

[81A Oldoak]

Having never tried this before, I dragged your photo into Gimp and worked out how to alter the perspective in seconds. It usually takes me ages to work out how to do things in graphics programs, and I often give up trying! Here's my quick result.

chapel.jpg

 

Muchas gracias Juan. I have just downloaded Gimp and corrected the original photo. It was very simple and quick. Should you ever need help mass producing RTR 0 gauge model locomotives, I am happy to return the favour. Now for the terraced cottages.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[pwr]

That will make a great model!

 

Paul R

[BG John]

Muchas gracias Juan. I have just downloaded Gimp and corrected the original photo. It was very simple and quick. Should you ever need help mass producing RTR 0 gauge model locomotives, I am happy to return the favour. Now for the terraced cottages.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

28.08mm gauge is nearly 0 gauge, if you fancy doing some 4mm broad gauge!

[corneliuslundie]

I only discovered this thread today as I model in EM, but am also working towards a Welsh valleys layout, based in my case on the principle of a nonexistent joint RR/GWR line off the Pontypool-Neath line somewhere around Treharris. It will be called Nantcwmddu, a variation on the real Cwmnantddu in the Eastern Valleys. So your thread has given me a great many ideas. Thank you for all the effort you have put into showing progress.

 

Two thoughts about your terraced houses. Some years ago I picked up a colour postcard of a terrace in the Rhondda, I think from St Fagans. I wouldn't use is as it is but it is a very useful reference. In any case my terrace will be low relief. as will my chapel (or perhaps two). The other suggestion is to explore using Google Earth and street view. I am just building a cottage based on screen grabs.

 

Jonathan David

[The Stationmaster]

One thing about the Valleys (and many other places of course) is just how much the appearance of ostensibly the same buildings has changed since the end of the steam age.  Not just things likedouble glazing but the end of predominantly coal fired domestic 'heating', better wearing qualities of outdoor paint and so on. 

 

A few months back a friend came across a picture obviously taken 'somewhere in the Valleys' for sale on Ebay - the place had an air of familiarity to it but was extremely difficult to link to where I thought it might be on Google streetview.  In the end I ran it to earth to confirm it was Aberbeeg but numerous buildings had changed apart from things which had vanished completely over the 50 odd years since the photo had been taken.  Fair enough things do change in 50 years but having had the place on my 'patch' 40 years ago it was also instructive to note that not only had its appearance changed noticeably in the dozen or so years visited between then and when the photo had been taken but it had changed again since my days there.

 

The best source I think, if you can find them, are old colour photos and - even better - postcards.  But a word of warning, colliery postcards now seem to go for very high prices - I was recently after some and they went for the equivalent of c.£35 each in a lot of 5 although the Cornish tin mine cards might have caused the high price.

[81A Oldoak]

One thing about the Valleys (and many other places of course) is just how much the appearance of ostensibly the same buildings has changed since the end of the steam age.  Not just things likedouble glazing but the end of predominantly coal fired domestic 'heating', better wearing qualities of outdoor paint and so on. 

 

A few months back a friend came across a picture obviously taken 'somewhere in the Valleys' for sale on Ebay - the place had an air of familiarity to it but was extremely difficult to link to where I thought it might be on Google streetview.  In the end I ran it to earth to confirm it was Aberbeeg but numerous buildings had changed apart from things which had vanished completely over the 50 odd years since the photo had been taken.  Fair enough things do change in 50 years but having had the place on my 'patch' 40 years ago it was also instructive to note that not only had its appearance changed noticeably in the dozen or so years visited between then and when the photo had been taken but it had changed again since my days there.

 

The best source I think, if you can find them, are old colour photos and - even better - postcards.  But a word of warning, colliery postcards now seem to go for very high prices - I was recently after some and they went for the equivalent of c.£35 each in a lot of 5 although the Cornish tin mine cards might have caused the high price.

I scrutinise very closely photographs from railway albums of the Fiftiers and Sixties. Thus, a colour view of an NCB loco at Mountain Ash taken by the late Mike Hale around 1960 has a partial view of some terraced houses in the background that shows two styles of front door, which are both a faded pale blue colour, and rather tired looking four pain wooden sash windows. It will help with backdating photos for my backscene.

[Giles]

Whilst I remember, here's Cwmtillery colliery in 1976 - it was still in use, although by this time they were bringing the coal up at Rose Heyworth, a mile away - and only the men were going down here (and equipment)

 

 

It's a lousy photo - but that's what we had then! There was some narrow gauge on the surface, but the standard guage up the valley had been lifted a couple of years before. The line was still intact and in use to Blaena, if I recall.

 

The Rector of Aberbeeg  ('60's and '70s) was a chap called Dai Pritchard - a right b*****r he was!

[philip-griffiths]

Thanks Philip and I agree with your sentiment completely. Next time, perhaps, I should turn left at Cross Keys and drive up the B4251.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Ah, Chris, that was the old A4048 when I was young.  Last time I went up that road is 'traffic calmed', so they want traffic to Blackwood to go up to Newbridge and across?

 

A good place to go and observe buildings is St. Fagans.  Also many buildings were rendered on concrete, so for example in my youth this former chapel in Aberbargoed was grey.  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.69533,-3.2240305,3a,75y,135.56h,90.89t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sMXFf5K1IYY3YEwDCia1aNw!2e0!6m1!1e1

 

I had forgotten that the terrace opposite was in red brick, but note the standout yellow relief brickwork.  The sandstone for the other houses was more common, but bay-windows if there was a front garden.  This was the street my grandparents lived on so know it well.  The windows in real life tend to be bigger than I see on models. 

 

regards

Edited January 6, 2015 by philip-griffiths