Oakley Quarry wagon in 009

You want small? I'll give you small.
The wagon scratch build section for new tome is an Oakley wagon. Two sources of info: one from the real example in the TR museum and the drawing in the 7mmNGA's FR drawings book. They differ slightly so I'm cutting the middle ground. At just over an inch long it's a bit of a fiddle, but quite fun. Once again a chopped PECO 9' chassis and lots of strip and 30thou sheet.

Heroes

Like most people I have modelling heroes. Several of who I've had the chance to meet and brains to pick.
I'd wandered off for a spot of lunch while the 009 Society used Orne as a photo backdrop for various items. On my return my friend (and modelling influence) Dutch modeller Ted Polet had appeared behind the layout.
For a view of Ted's work take a look at this:

ExpoNG test

Off to ExpoNG on Saturday with Orne so a quick plug in for power lights and run some trains to make sure it's all working.

Wills sheet walling mod

One of those small but important experiments. The ongoing Welsh project requires walling similar to the above for some buildings. My preference these days is for Wills sheet (or similar; and more on that later) but the nearest item is the stone which is a little bit on the Cotswold side and definitely not as flat -faced as I wanted, with some blocks projecting out by quite a bit giving a heavy feel. Enter the trusty sanding board - usually used for shaping the mitre joints. A bit of scrap and a few minutes removes (along with some of the fingertips) about 10 thou of thickness. In other words the projecting areas and a lot of the 'cutting' marks. Much better.

1950s Talyllyn Railway layout

On the return trip from Porthmadog a detour was made to take in a little Tal-y-llyn. Notwithstanding the obvious attractions, a quick look around the shop threw up the usual keyrings and books. A look upward to the top of the shelves gives you not only Gordon Gravett's Abergynolwyn in 7mm in its box, but the original roundy roundy 009 layout. This was built for the TRPS to take to events to promote the railway. and was featured in an early BRM. One train circled round through the scene powered by a motor bogie in the brake van. As can be seen it split into two for transport in a way that

I can't help but feel would not be acceptable now. Nevertheless, it has spawned at least one copy cat from yours truly and featured in the pages above.

Multi gauge test track

A bit of a grease and oil round on Mr Hill's 20 year old Terrier. Without a 16.5mm gauge layout to test it on, the late 1980s test track made a surprise appearance. Supported on 3' of 9mm MDF it originally had a length of track fitted to EM gauge during my brief dalliance with the wider gauge. Gradually two more sets of rails were added with the end result that I can run 16.5/EM/21 on it as well as  a whole different set of 32mm on the flip side. Needless to say that the 21mm hasn't had a lot of use. What I should do is take the 21mm up and lay a length of N gauge down the middle of the 32. One day...

009 scale slab wagon

After slates come slabs. Essentially a few bits of plastic on a butchered Peco chassis. Based on the long version on the FR, but a couple of mill under in length. Droopy oval fixing loops as per the prototype.

Rope rings

I'm most of the way through a semi-scratch slab wagon and needed some tiny fixing rings to attach to the solebars. Single strands of layout wire twisted around the tip of a pencil which is wound round unto the loop reaches the required size. Who said 009 was fiddly?

009 slate wagons

A brace of slate. Two Dundas FR 3 ton versions in braked and unbraked mode flanking a Narrow Planet (Meridian) Penrhyn 2 ton example. The numbering on the outer two is Ratio and the smallest I could find here, but I picked up a sheet of Old Time transfers at Porthmadog which are designed for these wagons and will replace in good time. The Penrhyns had microscopic numbers on the side bars either direct or on black patches which are represented here.  The rear two will get a load when I get around to it. A scratch slab wagon is next up.

The Corris

Still on the Welsh theme. One of the mostly overlooked lines, The Corris. The problem is that it has tended to get overshadowed by the big boys so a) doesn't get the volunteer base as it's short and not so glam, and b) is short and non glam as there isn't the volunteer base and cash - vicious circle. There is a highly enthusiastic band of workers who put an enormous amount of work in and could always use a hand.

009 Penrhyn slate wagon

Now in a deep channel of Welsh NG and a brace of slate wagons to build. Fiddly? Undoubtedly. At under an inch long this Penrhyn example is a fiddle, but does fit together pretty well. Still a bit to do in final cleaning and painting.

www.narrowplanet.co.uk

Stone tunnel mouth

One of my pet hates on layouts is the exit line into a tunnel to a rear FY with a fan of sidings in front, usually with some sort of mill or diary to disguise said FY. Tunnels start in cuttings, they don't stick out.
That said, last week Mrs. F dragged me kicking and screaming up to Caernarfon  on the Welsh Highland (the things I put up with for a quiet life). The last bit of the line from Dinas uses the old LNWR trackbed into the town. This was all a school day for me, so imagine my surprise when my unlikely model scenario slapped me straight in the face. I'm not awfully familiar with this route, but a check reveals that this end of line used to continue under the town and up to Bangor. Here we are then; sticky-out tunnel mouth hiding the storage yard with warehouse in front. All built from Wills sheet with low relief houses along the top. Prototype for everything.

Spooner's boat

Back from a long weekend in North Wales: some R & R (research and relax) most of the research on the FR and most of the relax in Spooners at Porthmadog (which is top notch BTW). Not cheap trip by any means - we could have done Majorca for half the money, but who needs that when you can get good Welsh drizzle and stuff like the above. Spooners boat was allegedly personal transport for the above named which could be run on wind power across the Cob between Porthmadog and Boston Lodge. There was a little in the way of a helping push here, but it did seem to work.

Handkerchief and a Kato Portram chassis anyone?

Orne fiddle yard mods

Orne wasn't really thought of as an exhibition piece hence the front loading point switches. Seeing as it's going out later this month a timetable of sorts was run through using the simple three road fiddle yard. What was spotted was that there are a couple of railcar moves possible that mean moving something else to load them up. Having two short sidings for two railcars seemed the answer.
Fast forward to Sunday and I picked up a point from Kernow Models and... well you can work he rest out yourselves. The wood glue is to fix a strip of wood along the near edge to stop stuff falling off.
How slick is this going to be?