From Llangunllo to Llanbister Rd.

Geoff

Western Thunderer
Hi again,

Over the past few months my time has been spent on signalling the layout. All the semaphores are now in place which just leaves the ground signals to be painted and installed. Made from a mixture of Ratio and MSE components together with the odd piece of wire it was a job I had been dreading.

Anyway here are a few of the latest photos.

Next jobs will be to complete the detailing of a Bachmann Pannier and some 6 wheel milk tanks are also being worked on ready for the appearance of the dairy
 

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Simon

Flying Squad
Hi Geoff

Great to see your layout again. Those well observed signals have made it even better and I especially like the shot with the signal in front of the plate girder bridge.

I really feel that I am looking in to a real place when viewing this railway of yours, it is a fantastic piece of modelling by anyone's standards.

The single unit sequence on your blog is also brilliantly done and highly evocative of the last days of trains on many a GWR branch, as captured and so well described by Chris Leigh in his many books and articles - just wonderful!
 

Geoff

Western Thunderer
Thank you all very much for the warm welcome, comments and interest shown in Penhydd

Simon said:
Hi Geoff

Great to see your layout again. Those well observed signals have made it even better and I especially like the shot with the signal in front of the plate girder bridge.

I should have signalled the layout a long time ago but it is one of those jobs I hate. Strange as it might seem once I threw myself into the task I enjoyed myself, must be a lesson there ? I have to agree that the layout looks far better with signals in place and have included a shot of the home in this post. I suppose it should have been situated at the other side of the bridge and will most likely be re positioned there when the dairy extension is made.
The signal you mention Simon was modelled on the starter at Fairford but I needed an 'S' symbol for the shunt ahead arm rather than an 'O' as fitted to the protoype.
In fact the whole idea of the plate girder bridge with signal against it was lifted from Fairford, which was the subject of my first venture in EM modelling




I really feel that I am looking in to a real place when viewing this railway of yours, it is a fantastic piece of modelling by anyone's standards.

Thank you, that is most generous of you  :-[

I think the trick is to plan the whole layout in detail, I formed this picture in my mind of what the landscape would most likely look like and adapted the trackwork to suit, this I think gives the impression of the railway being secondary to the topography around it. I also had to give Penhydd a purpose and so the idea of a Creamery was dreamt up. In the original scheme both cottages and pub were absent but I feel they add a little to the scene. Like most branch termini the station was some way from the village, when I was growing up we lived on Mells Green in Somerset and it was hell of a walk to Mells Road station. I have tried to capture a feeling for those happy carefree times through my modelling and to be honest I can walk into the railway room and enter another world far away from the pressures which exist in the real one.
Perhaps the greatest influence on my approach to modelling has been Iain Rice and I am a firm believer in his ideas.


The single unit sequence on your blog is also brilliantly done and highly evocative of the last days of trains on many a GWR branch, as captured and so well described by Chris Leigh in his many books and articles - just wonderful!

Ahh......now this is getting a little uncanny as Chris Leigh and his various articles  have been another huge influence on my modelling. In one of his books or magazine articles there is a photo of a Class 122 standing alone in the huge platform at St. Ives. The goods yard and loop have been lifted and not a soul is in sight. To me it gives a feeling of isolation, gradual decay and the 122 is the only link to civilization.
In the sequence on my blog.that you mention  the whole future of the branch to Penhydd is down to the dairy, shades of Hemyock. The autotrain has given way to an ex GWR railcar which in turn has been replaced by a 121 bubble car and eventually a single deck bus will do the honours.
A Hymek drafted in for a failed baby Warship has brought a rake of empty milk tanks up to the dairy and will soon depart with loaded ones. Then all will be quiet until the 121 returns later in the day.


I can of course turn the clock back and have a 45xx on duty so despite the layouts small size I have plenty to interest me.

Anyway here are a few photos showing the home signal, 121 idling in the platform and then passing a Hymek which is waiting to proceed to the dairy. To round things up we turn the clock back for a shot of 4560 reversing back to the goods yard after taking water.

Geoff
 

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Geoff

Western Thunderer
Just noticed a padlock against my thread, did I have another senior moment and lock myself out ?    :vista: Sorry if I have caused any offence but I'm just finding my way around here.

Geoff
 

28ten

Guv'nor
Geoff said:
Just noticed a padlock against my thread, did I have another senior moment and lock myself out ?    :vista: Sorry if I have caused any offence but I'm just finding my way around here.

Geoff
It's a paperclip!! I won't be locking this thread  :))
I love the atmosphere of this layout, and the William Clark-esque station
 

Geoff

Western Thunderer
28ten said:
It's a paperclip!! I won't be locking this thread  :))
I love the atmosphere of this layout, and the William Clark-esque station

I'm pretty sure there was a padlock symbol present around lunchtime Guv, I clicked on unlock and it cleared ? Thought I had perhaps hit the tab in mistake whilst looking around and now I'm begining to think I should have gone to Specsavers ?  ;D

Took a look at your excellent Ashburton thread earlier and was going to add a comment but I was warned off due to no post being made for the last hundred and odd days ?
Tuckers Maltings are just crying out to be modelled as they make a fantastic backdrop and I wondered if you had done a mock up using the computer program ?

The inspiration for Penhydd feed merchants came from those lovely buildings.

Geoff
 

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Pugsley

Western Thunderer
I can confirm that there was definitely a padlock on the thread around lunchtime, as I was puzzled as to why it had been locked - I see nothing controversial in good modelling  ;D
 

28ten

Guv'nor
Pugsley said:
I can confirm that there was definitely a padlock on the thread around lunchtime, as I was puzzled as to why it had been locked - I see nothing controversial in good modelling  ;D
That's odd, because it wasn't me!! I shall have to review the admin logs
 
S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
Nice stuff, Geoff - and thanks for the compliment in name of the feed merchants. (Surprised you didn't have me as a manure producer!)
I won't use any icons as I know you don't like them: also, I can think of at least two things wrong with your layout, and you know what they are.*  ;)
28ten said:
That's odd, because it wasn't me!! I shall have to review the admin logs
Cynric,

I can lock every topic I have created: you may need to review the system-wide settings.

*In case anyone is wondering, long running joke about period and scale.
 

Geoff

Western Thunderer
Morning Chaps,
Thank you for all your comments, this place has a nice warm friendly feel to it and I must say it hasn't took me long to feel at home. I had a good snoop around yesterday and came across some real quality modelling.
It was a pleasant surprise to see some fantastic photos of milk tanks which is just what I needed, so a big thank you for all who were involved in putting those together.

Moving on........ 

Pugsley said:
I can confirm that there was definitely a padlock on the thread around lunchtime, as I was puzzled as to why it had been locked - I see nothing controversial in good modelling  ;D

Thanks for that Pugsley you have made my day. I most likely locked myself out by mistake.....it won't be the first time  ::)  :D

Phil, you should find both track and location plans attached together with a couple of overhead views, when all are pieced together it will hopefully make sense.
I apologise to Mr. Dunkley for not drawing your attention to his core business and would like to point out there are far more than two things wrong with the layout.  It is my intention to upgrade, improve and extend Penhydd as time goes but conversion to 'S' is a none starter, sorry Simon.


The following photos show the branch from goods yard the end of the line.  I'm going to give you all a break now before you become bored with the same old thing.

Geoff
 

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Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
Hi Geoff,

total inspiration for any scale/region - many thanks for posting, more than a yardstick to aim at with my up-coming 16' effort.

regards

Mike
 

Jordan

Mid-Western Thunderer
Geoff said:
Morning Chaps,
Thank you for all your comments, this place has a nice warm friendly feel to it and I must say it hasn't took me long to feel at home. I had a good snoop around yesterday and came across some real quality modelling...... 
You didn't look at any of my stuff, then....
ashamed0001.gif

Glad you're making yourself at home, though, I have to join the queue to say how good this layout is - fantastic scenery in particular!
..... but conversion to 'S' is a none starter, sorry Simon.
:)) :)) :)) Nice one !! :thumbs:
 

Geoff

Western Thunderer
Thanks again chaps for your kind words.      :-[


CME & Bottlewasher said:
Hi Geoff  :wave:


I have some buildings very similar to the countryesque industrial types - in low(ish) relief, I still dont know if they will make it into the 'final cut' as I would like to hint at/or model a Dairy - yet keep a spacious feel.

I think your best bet is to place the buildings on the layout and juggle them about until you have a workable scene, perhaps make a few rough copies out of cereal packets but with the proportions adjusted slightly here and there. This is something I always do, in time your eye adjusts to the scene and what you thought was rubbish looks good, a bit like seeing a new build going up in the area you live. At first it is a blot on the landscape and then you sort of accept it.
In an ideal world I would love to have found space to model Ashburton Maltings in full, in the end I just took little bits of the buildings and tried to blend them together without giving a crowded appearance.  Like you I also want a Dairy or Creamery, call it what you will but still want to retain a feeling of space. The plan at the moment is to have this either as a mask for the cassette deck or as a self contained cassette in it's own right. Planning is well advanced and a mock up is slowly being put together.


The row of cottages below started of as a cereal packet and in the end were modelled in perspective. It took many attempts to get the scene I wanted whilst trying to keep the feeling of open space. I think it was Mr Rice who came up with the term," Selective Compression" which sums up modelling to a tee.

Geoff
 

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