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 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?

Worthing show

 Seeing as though it's only a little way away and Mrs F. was out with her mother (cue Jaws theme) I wandered over to the Worthing show. The only thing that had caught my eye on the listing was Graham Muspratt's Canute Road which is tiny but lovely. I'd not been to this event for a few years and in ground space terms it's grown a bit, with two extra rooms, but is still hamstrung by the long dark corridor as the centre piece, which gives the effect of the show never achieving a critical mass of people as they're all strung out in a line.
The other layout that I really liked was at the other end of the size range - Dubmill Sidings. This captures that hard to get right atmosphere of open space. Difficult in the smaller scales; harder still on O. Not one narrow gauge layout though.