Andrew Young

Isn't a pint of cider one of your five a day too? Cheers, Andrew

Back home now after three days playing with this wee beastie amongst the first bluebells of the season. The trains were well loaded, staggered Easter holidays helping along with the good weather. Made for a decent view from the office, seen here rounding Amen Corner on the Extension, rather than the Amen Corner at the Augusta golf course that kept getting mentioned at the weekend. Thanks for the mention of the other layouts further up the page, have unearthed my copies of the two GOG publications and there are Poorsea by Ken Brennan in volume 1 and Cornish Mineral Line by the late Dave Cannon in volume 2 which I can see resemblances with. Proves it should work nicely then and should help inspire progress. Found Chesil Exchange on the web, nice little layout by he looks of it, though with six points rather than four, quite a bit more track. Have been in the attic since returning home this morning, still happy with the plan so looks like I'll have to start making some proper track to replace the paper stuff... Cheers, Andrew

Thanks both, I've got both the GOG small layouts books so will look them out. Cheers, Andrew

Thanks Don, probably helps that it has already been built in 4mm scale, finding the Crichel Down article was a bit of a 'eureka' moment. Whilst many railways had parallel lines and fences, you're right in about how much better changing the angles works on models. Cheers, Andrew

The next step is to leave it set up for a few days and see whether any niggles appear when I go back to it. Then work out a few more bits of the plan in more detail before breaking it down to prime and paint the wood and start building track. A couple of the things I'm in a quandary about are firstly, the ground frame hut. My original intention was to have it on the platform, but halfway between the points would make more sense from a rodding point of view, plus here, I can see the detail inside the box that took a while to make. The other is just how the station / siding part will work. Don't suppose the staff will want people parking their cars in this area for much longer... Cheers, Andrew

This plan has already gone further than the Melyn Road plan in that the boards were designed with this design In mind and so it all fits. This afternoon has been spent with track templates, stock and buildings trying to visualise how it will all fit together in 3D. Taken from the viewing side, from left to right. First up is the creamery cunningly hiding the cassette fiddle yard (some form of backdrop will be needed). There will be a lane going over on an embankment, bridging both the creamery and main lines forming a view block. The box alongside the coal wagon is there to represent a feed store on the line to the creamery. Nothing grander than a disused wagon / carriage body on blocks, a bit like Llanfair used to have. Next up is the station, with a goods siding behind. A suitable representation of a train shows that a carriage and two or three wagons shouldn't look overly large in the space available. Beyond the station, the line will continue to the quarry, a hole will be cut in the backdrop in due course. The line crossing a single track lane and diving between some low relief buildings acting as a view blocker. 'Gumdrop' (those of a similar age to me will know what I mean, I still have a signed book from when the author came and read to us at our local library), is sat on where the lane will be. Beyond, the small fiddle yard is big enough to hold the quarry loco, a couple of wagons and enough space to put down uncouplers, mugs of tea and beer glasses... A couple of more general shots too. What's pleasing to me is that this plan has been inserted in my mind for quite a while which is a good sign for further progress, plus it looks as good (to me) in full size now as it did on paper.... And it seems to work. Phew! Cheers, Andrew

For those who don't have their copy of 'Lesser Known Rails in Mid Wales' to hand, a quick recap of the geography and history of the area. The first rails in the valley were narrow gauge horse tramways connecting the granite mines by Abermelyn and Blaenau Melyn, plus the slate mines above Glyn Melyn with firstly the Canal (an important water feeder for the Montgomery Canal) and latterly the Cambrian Railways. Latterly, investment and expansion led to plans to convert part of the narrow gauge line (the line to Glyn Melyn remained narrow gauge to the end) from Melyn Road to Blaenau Melyn to standard gauge with a Light Railway Order. Before this came to fruition, the mines at Blaenau Melyn failed and being a desolate hole, plans were changed to terminate just above Abermelyn at the granite quarries. It's the Abermelyn terminous that forms the basis for this model, a plan of how I intend to model it is shown below: Hopefully the plan is self explanatory so you get the gist of what I'm intending doing. Cheers, Andrew

Pleased with my efforts, there was time to relax in the yard with a bottle of homebrew before cooking dinner. Next is the fun bit, getting the templates, stock and buildings out to plan out what I intend putting on the layout. Cheers, Andrew

Once assembled, I found the advantage of making boards a maximum 3'6" long as it was an easy matter to place each one on the sub-structure. Locating each with the dowels, amazed myself with how well I'd managed to get everything as square as it is! Clamped together, catches were added to the boards. (New phone means panorama shots to fit everything in!)

Once unfolded, each beam locates on the trestles, one in the middle and one each 18 inches from the ends and clipped together at opposing corners. Makes a rigid structure to put the boards on top of, crucially, this is all possible using one person:

One of the two folding beams, with added end braces to hold everything rigid, yet also more easily transported:

After what seems like an inordinate amount of time spent on woodwork, it's all (literally) come together this afternoon. Uploading here has taken almost as long as this afternoon's session in the attic... First attempt on the iPad resulted in a lot of photos uploaded sideways, on the lap top it wants me to have text at the top and photos at the bottom. So shall compromise by making several entries to post what I wanted! First up was to line up the trestles, as mentioned before, I've opted for Screwfix ones for strength and rigidity:

Being off today, couldn't spend all day at home with the sun out.... Decided against making the trip to York (had two trips driving tin rockets to Newcastle and two to Leeds this week, it's Newcastle again tomorrow and York on Tuesday!) and instead drove over to Chasewater, a line I've not visited since they built the M6 toll road despite driving past hundreds of times on my way to Wales. One reason to visit was 'Teddy' being in steam, a cracking beastie which I'd not seen in steam before: The train with 'Holly Bank No 3' heading it had a certain light railway charm about it: Just a shame I've not found an 85A Models kit of one of these yet at a reasonable price. I'd dearly like to see this loco appear from the Ixion/Minerva stable. They'd also bought one of the Ixion Fowlers too: Hadn't realised this was there, but am glad that it is as I've got one of the model Fowlers, but hadn't seen a full size one apart from the one at Middleton which is quite different. An enjoyable day, now to take a stroll down the pub for my dinner to save on washing up....

My modelling output improves when I'm home and at work, rather than my long weekends when I tend to go away. Unlike most of the population it appears, my long weekend off was last weekend and I've been working most of this weekend, with the exception of today. My good lady is away on a hen do this weekend, to make up for being away on my birthday (yesterday, but then I was at work anyway), she took me away last weekend and we had a very relaxing time in a cottage in the middle of nowhere outside of Abergavenny. The only sign of human life from the cottage being the occasional narrow boat on the Monmouth & Brecon canal across a field. We did get to visit the Big Pit coal mining museum which was excellent. Plus the Wye Valley Brewery and the Severn Valley Railway on the way home. Back at work, I've been assembling the first of the two 'T' beams which will sit on trestles to support the layout. Each made up of three pieces, hinged together for transport, they slot into screw fix trestles. I chose the latter because they're sturdy (seen too many rickety layouts and a couple of collapses at exhibitions). Plus, they were on offer. Finished the first one this afternoon and cut some of the parts for the second one too. Once the second one is made, I'll finalise my design for tie bars across. Hopefully, the pictures explain what I've been doing. The first beam folded up: And located on the lugs on the trestle: Cheers, Andrew

That's the one! I liked the way the builder relaid the track to finer standards yet didn't try to create an illusion of superiority at the same time. My thinking is the same set up, but with one lf the sidings extending in front of a cassette deck fiddle yard. Plus, rather than terminating in buffer stops, the line to extend off scene to the quarry. Cheers, Andrew

Thanks Dave, they're the photos that came up on my internet search which made me look further and found the MRC article. Thanks, will look out for a copy of that. Didn't know about that one. Cheers, Andrew

There's nothing like visiting an Exhibition to keep the modelling mojo going. Due to working shifts and other commitments, I don't visit many model exhibitions even rarer being general shows as I visit very few other than the 7mmNG show at Burton each year and Guildex whenever possible. One I do try and attend is Nottingham Exhibition, Dad's been a member of the club for over 30 years and I used to attend with him as a teenager. So last Saturday, I headed over before working an afternoon shift and was even impressed by the 2mm and 4mm scale exhibits as well as my preferred 7mm scale ones. Plus I bought a few goodies from the Traders present. Shame I had to go to work rather than back to the modelling bench... First up this week has been to finish the ground frame hut, just waiting for a nameplate for the front. For the roof, I used some corrugated aluminium sheet bought from the 7mm NG Association sales many moons ago and forgotten all about! Secondly has been to finish making the three boards and the little fiddle headshunt. The front and back facias will be cut to shape once the basic landform has been constructed. I need to make an Iain Rice 'Ulysses' style support structure to sit them on (and to make sure it's all straight and square when attached to each other.... Fingers crossed!). Some plywood is in stock to make this out of and a plan in my head on how to make it but it needs cutting into strips. To do that I have the choice of either a) cutting by hand or b ) waiting til next week when I can have access to a circular saw.... Think it'll be waiting til next week as there won't be any time for modelling over the weekend! So what's going on these boards? Having decided that the Melyn Road idea was to be postponed until I had more space to play with, I needed another plan. So I'm moving further up the Melyn Valley to 'Abermelyn'. Think I'll have to dig out my copy of Boyd's 'Lesser known Railways in Mid-Wales' and fill in some of the local history for you. Whilst trying to decide what to do about backscenes, I was reading the 'Backscenes for Burford' articles in MRJ and mention was made of a layout called 'Crichel Down', this has also been mentioned in one of Iain Rice's books too so did some digging as the only 'Crichel' layout I've known has been the 7mm scale narrow gauge one by Roy Wood. My digging resulted in purchasing a copy of the requisite issue of Model Railway Constructor from 1986 off eBay and I discovered this charming layout. The space on my boards is the 7mm scale equivalent of 'Crichel Down' and something suitably inspired by this will appear in due course. More details on the plan when the boards are mounted on their supports. Getting there.... Albeit still slowly! Cheers, Andrew

Thanks for the suggestion Bob, will let you know how my experiments turn out in due course. Day off today and been mostly modelling. More work done on baseboards, I must be the slowest carpenter out there!!! Will update you on progress shortly. Also progressed the ground frame hut and some cruel close ups taken on my phone are attached. Have tried to go for a weather beaten well worn example, reminds me how much I still dislike glazing! Cheers, Andrew

The Cliffe Hill wagon proved too tempting to resist, some photos and spiel about building the kit can be found on my thread here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/81878-melyn-valley-railway/page-3&do=findComment&comment=1822825 Cheers, Andrew

A busy few days with working over the weekend and celebrating my girlfriend's birthday yesterday has meant progress has been limited to mostly applying more paint on the ground frame. However, there has been a little narrow gauge diversion... At the upper end of the MVR, there were granite quarry workings, which I envisaged would one day be modelled by having a narrow gauge feeder line, with proper loads which would tip into standard gauge wagons. Something similar to the display at Ravenstor near Wirksworth. Though if Mr Klein brings out many more nice little industrials then the quarry might get expanded.... My intention had been to use some modified Bachmann Side Dump Cars as Gloucester C&W built some very similar standard gauge wagons for Oxfordshire Ironstone in the 1920s, however, they are a bit big when compared to the usual three plank or small hopper wagons used for granite at the time. But then, RT Models released their Cliffe Hill quarry wagons and it seemed rude not to try them out. An order for one was received within 48 hours and at a good price. I've ordered some wheels from KBScale and didn't intend starting until the wheels arrived. However, a week later, no wheels, but a morning spent inside waiting for a parcel to be delivered was too much to resist so out came the rivet press and the soldering iron! Thankfully I also had some source material to peruse, although close up photos are few and far between! The etches are very crisp and soldered up easily and by lunchtime I had this (with some incorrect wheels from stock for now) They're a nice size, somewhere between the Hudson skips and the side dump cars. The instructions are just three lines, none of which mention the body! And reference is made to the exploded diagrams which are good. Though there was a definite case of more haste less speed for me as I ended up having to unsolder some of the chassis and re solder it as I'd check mated myself over a couple of parts. The body is designed as a fold up tray, but I want these wagons to work so I detached one of the sides and used the pivot points at the top of the side to pivot the side as they should do rather than being cosmetic. The wagon now tips nicely, and I've been working out using some scrap fret from the etch on putting a small piece along the bottom of the body to keep the door shut whilst the wagon is loaded. For operation, I'm going to try using magnets. I have some very small (1mm diameter) magnets which I could fix to the under side of the rear of the tipping body. My current thought is to attempt to use the polarity of the magnets with another fixed on the lineside to push the body away and tip the contents, will let you know if it works! But before I can play about with this, the wagon needs finishing and for that I need the wheels, in the meantime I'll put the wagon away to avoid the temptation! Overall, I'm really pleased with this wagon, a lovely little kit once you get your head around how the chassis fits together and a bargain at £8 for the etch and wire for the pivot point. Once my wheels arrive, I'll finish the wagon off and once I've got the tipping method sorted out, an order will go in for some more. Cheers, Andrew

Thanks Paul, glad you enjoyed reading this topic. I have your Kelly Bray topics bookmarked and have looked through them a couple of times and saw your Callington G.F. hut. It's a very suitably sized hut for a small station. Cheers, Andrew

Seeing as the CAD images I. Post 1 show that a bell will be provided for the dockside based locos, that ought to be one of the sounds offered. Cheers, Andrew

My knowledge of the Western is limited, but I'm pretty certain that when the carriages were red pre-grouping, they were actually Crimson Lake, the Indian Red being used for bolections or drop lights in the chocolate and cream era. I too like the Indian Red colour and have used it as the 'house colour' for my Melyn Light Railway, using it for the woodwork on buildings and will be used on carriages when I build some. Cheers, Andrew

Thanks Giles, I'm trying to keep my options open! And have gone for function over form for the most part! Cheers, Andrew

Been a couple of weeks since the last update, work has intervened for the most part. A week of 3am alarm calls, going straight into a week of getting home from work about 1am without a day off in between, combined with very cold temperatures meant I didn't get into the attic much to carry on with the sawdust manufacture. I did however carry on with the ground frame hut and the slow process of painting and detailing. The interior detail is now finished, mainly from a Springside interior set, some parts have been modified and now waiting the box to be finished. I also added an embossed plastikard layer of brick as I didn't like the laser cut detail on the kit. The last coat of cream is drying as I type, then it's onto the more interesting colours. The painting and detailing always takes far longer than the rest of the build put together! At the end of that fortnight, a weekend off was spent in Tywyn for my last workshop session of the winter, my next visit will be playing with the toys rather than help mend them. Sunday afternoon saw an opportunity for a spot of gricing amongst the first daffodils of spring up at Rhydy. This week has also seen a return to the attic (warmer weather has helped too!) and have succeeded in making my first baseboard, a proud moment! Think the photo taken in a dark room is as close a scrutiny as I want! Lots of wood glue, nails and a few screws in there holding it together. Have also firmed up a few ideas of how I'd improve the construction I'm the future. Construction wasn't helped by my battery drill failing half way through so was more hand tools than I'd want too. Now for a couple more... At least with all the components made, the actual fixing them all together doesn't take that long. Have also decided to dispense with a backscene fixed to the boards, instead there will be a removable one which can be taller and more versatile to boot. The front and rear ply boards visible will be shaped to fit the contours when they're decided on. Thanks to a before work coffee meet up with Tim to come to that decision. Now to relax with a cuppa and Issue 3 of the Finescale Modelling Review which arrived today. Cheers, Andrew