4mm Cwm Caradoc

[Quintus]

Having a general tidy up of the railway room a few months ago, I re- discovered my 4mm EM stock that had laid in the cabinet for around thirty years.
The EM layout had been sold a few years ago, along with some rolling stock, but a good few items remained, including locos, rolling stock, and some buildings.
A quick try out of the locos confirmed they were all in gwo, and it seemed a shame not to do something with them, hence Cwm Caradoc was born, a very minimal affair with a scenic area of 4ft. The layout follows the theme of the earlier layout, based on the Tanat Valley, but this time a through station.
Progress has been good, currently I am working on the scenery, and hopefully all will be completed in time for its first outing in November.

 

[76043]

Any chance of a trackplan or wider views?
Cheers
Tony

 

[John57sharp]

I like the tone of this.

John

 

[NHY 581]

Tidy.

 

[Matt.S.]

That looks like a solid start

 

[timbowales]

Croeso!

 

[LarryG]

Edrych ymlaen i weld mwy.

 

[NHY 581]

Edrych ymlaen i weld mwy.

Bless you !

 

[Osgood]

 

[76043]

View attachment 219739

Clearly not Jazz Trains, wrong company, so must be "nice!".
Tony

 

[James Spooner]

Edrych ymlaen i weld mwy.

Fi hefyd

Nigel

 

[Muddysblues]

Cymru am Byth

 

[Quintus]

Many thanks for all your likes and comments (in both languages!)
Virtually the whole layout can be seen in this photo

The blades of the turnout bottom left in the top photo can be seen in this photo of the "exit stage left" bridge, which carries a defunct N/G quarry line.

I am thinking the surface of the goods yard is a little too smooth and regular, but I think something like silver sand may be too coarse for 4mm scale. A few puddles also required.

 

[LarryG]

I like the neat spacious goods yard with plenty of room for road vehicles to move around. For 'ground' surface, I simply use cork sheet, it's texture being adequate in 4mm scale. Fine ballast looks too course unless it is representing newly laid stone chippings. The best stuff I had was finely ground real ash from disused quarries, but nowadays I have to use paint.

 

[76043]

Good point about the spaciousness Larry, so knowing the board is 4' long, how deep is it?
Tony

 

[NHY 581]

I use ground/sieved barbacue ash for my goods yard/road areas. Just the right amount of texture and colour variation.

Rob

 

[LarryG]

I'm gonna have to make friends with neighbours who do barbecues .

 

[Quintus]

Alas, our BBQ is gas fired, however, I think I have the answer, I brought home a small bag of smokebox ash, and after sieving out the large lumps, put it in a cheap blender, purchased specifically for getting rid of the clumps in static grass. Don't use the one in the kitchen or you will be in deep trouble!!
I now have a quantity of very fine charcoal coloured powder, and a blender with a kn*****ed bearing. I will lay some on a test piece, but it looks encouraging.
The layout is 20in. wide in old money. I really did want to give the goods yard a spacious appearance, as befits a rural station, hence the goods shed and cattle dock on the platform. There is a small end loading dock at the end of the long siding, and somewhere I have a very ancient yard crane (S&B models, anyone remember them?) that could possibly be used.

 

[MartinWales]

Tidy.

Isn't it?

 

[mswjr]

Your blue engineering brick colour looks spot on, can i ask you whet colours you used as i have been trying for an age to get mine to look like yours. Thanks