No Chuffers meeting last Tuesday, but we did get together, as we are all members of the Cardi-Bach Railway Society (which I may have alluded to once or twice in the past...) Anyhow, the theme for last Tuesday was railway modeling - Colin brought along part of his N gauge layout, and Pat brought his 'baby' which we have yet to give a name to, and also his ACE '0' gauge model of the Coronation class 'Duchess of Sutherland'
Lots of other stuff went on, but I wont bore you with it. Pictured is Colin demonstrating his layout:

Across the other side of the room, Pat then talked us through his N gauge Western themed baby layout, as well as showing the 0 gauge loco and carriages in the foreground:

There is of course a full report of the evening available to friends of the Society, and members will have already received a copy.

On the modeling front, I managed to put down a bit more track (unsupervised!) on the Crymmych Arms layout, and successfully ran a train on a complete circuit. I do have a movie of it, but the technology required to post it on here is way beyond me... You'll have to make do with photos!

This is the complete track - only the front half of the centre board will be seen, which is the actual station. A backscene will hide the fiddle yard at the back, whilst the foreground loop will also be hidden, with the bridge linking the village to the station forming a natural break.
At the other end, where the line curves around and drops down to glogue, a natural cutting and trees will form the break there.

And there we have it - meeting at Colins in a couple of days, ostensibly to discuss a method of point control and wiring the points.

Nos da,
Shaun.

Yet another week gone by...
Met here again last night, as we need to crack on with Crymmych Arms. Pat had invested in a pair of 'Xuron' rail cutters - we had always ignored these in the past... "Ten quid just to cut a bit of rail? Pah!!"
What a revelation they turned out to be. Cut rail like a knife through butter. No more struggling with the Dremel, bits of disc going everywhere, ragged edges. Well done Pat!
He also put some crew into his 3D printed locos:

 

Colin put his hand into his bag and pulled out the finished Glyn Valley look-alike:

 

The only trouble is he told me that I have to do the painting!! 

Not a task I'm looking forward to - it seems such a pity to spoil something so exquisite.

Preliminaries over, it was down to a bit of grafting. I had put up the Crymmych boards all ready to continue with the track laying, and managed to join the three boards together. Work progressed quite quickly, with, to come up with an old cliche - 'many hands make light of work':

After a couple of hours things were coming along swimmingly - we even ran a test loco along the points to check, and it all passed with flying colours.

The layout towards the end of the evening:

Shortly after this we called a halt, and repaired to the social end of the room for some light refreshment.

All in all a productive session.

This morning after clearing up the scene of mayhem and chaos, this is Crymmych Arms so far:

No Chuffers next week, as we have a Cardi-Bach Society meeting.

Bye for now,

Shaun.

Morning all.

It's been a busy week since the last posting - Last Friday Annie and I took a trip on the Heart of Wales Line from Llandovery to Shrewsbury to see a Celtic Rock Band - Skerryvore - stayed overnight and came back on Saturday. For anyone living in Wales, did you know that if you have a bus pass, the Heart of Wales Railway is free from October until March... Swansea to Shrewsbury and stops in between, for nothing!! (and we had free parking at Llandovery...)

No rest for the wicked though, as on Sunday we were exhibiting the Teifi Gorge at Rogers Modelling Show in the Hermon Community Hall. An excellent venue with a remarkable cafe - whole range of meals, sandwiches, paninnis and much more.
Pat and I had a great day there, with lots of interest shown in the layout. Good to see Pete Towns, Peter Francis, Martin, Chris, Ron, and several others.
Couple of pics taken before opening:

On to ChufferDuffer business - after all, thats what this blog is supposed to be about.
Met here at Llechryd last night, without Charles, who is still a bit under the weather, and not really up to an evening of hectic graft and socialising!
The first thing to show you is another fine effort from the Herrington Light Industrial Manufactory Co.
I bought one of those Kato chassis from Japan, like the ones that Pat had a couple of posts ago.

I gave it to Colin last week, to see if he could do anything with it. No sooner said than done!
Last night he produced this:

Loosely based on the Glyn Valley style tram loco. The skirt, which is supposedly there to protect the public from the moving parts when the line is on the roadway, also hides the fact that the chassis is 0-4-0, not 0-6-0, which was the prototype. More pics of it as work progresses.

And talking of progressive work - two hours without a break last night!
The Gandy Dancers were in fine fettle, laying track on the Crymmych Arms layout like there was no tomorrow:

The result of our efforts (I say 'our', but it was mostly Pat and Col) don't appear to be much, in the picure below, but as it's N gauge, it requires a lot more precision and care, and as you can see, removing small fishplates that get stuck in one's finger (Pats, to be precise. We heard one or two new expressions...)

Anyway, this was the state of play at the end of the evening:

You wont recognise it in the next post!

Bye-bye.

Tuesday evening we met here at Llechryd, without Charles, unfortunately, as he was recovering from a bit of a health problem. Hopefully he will be able to join us next week.
We finally sorted out the Crymmych Arms layout - for those not familiar with Crymych (modern spelling) this was what the station looked like in its hayday:

Putting the track plan down on paper to the scale that we want was quite involved, but hopefully it is going to work out - this time we want to have a continuous layout, or a 'roundy-roundy' in technical terminology.

Here's our planned configuration of the station:

What isn't shown are the loops at each end that will take the track around the back of the station and form a fiddle yard behind the backscene. I already had timber in the garage in readiness, so yesterday made up the three boards that we require.
9mm ply wood, screwed and glued to 19 x 44mm frame work. Hopefully I will varnish them today to seal the timber, and then next week we should be able to start laying track. Actually it will be Pat and Colin laying track - I'm rubbish at it!
These are the boards - total size when put together, the layout will be 7' long by 2'6" deep.

Finally one more old photo of Crymych to finish.
(That station building is all of 2" high in 'N' gauge. I'm dreading trying to model that!)

Off to exhibit the Teifi Gorge layout at the Hermon Model Show on Sunday in the Hermon Community Hall. Come along if you are in the area!

Chuffers meeting tonight, but in the meantime I thought I would add an extra post.

I made a bit of a blunder a couple of weeks ago (I can't say c#ck up, as that is rather vulgar, and the god of blogging would probably censor it anyway) I meant to order 5 lengths of N gauge track, in preparation for Crymmych, but when it arrived I found I had ordered 009 track instead. Not worth changing it, as Pete, in the meantime bless his heart, had given us over 10 yards of N track.

Consequently I made use of a bit of 9mm ply that was spare from the Crymmych board. Braced it with 1 x 2 framework, and lo and behold, we have a 'Rabbit Warren' layout in the making!
The intention is not to spend money on it if at all possible, but use scraps of what we have available, so it may take a while to complete.

This is the basic layout:

 

The track was pinned and then glued in place with PVA and No-nails in places, I left it overnight for the glue to set, then started Modroc'ing (plaster bandage) to get some of the contours.

This was the state of play this morning:

 

I wired it up and tested various Teifi Gorge locos, and nearly all of them manage the inclines and tight curves very well. Peco couplings dont... so I need a rethink on carriages and wagons.
Most of the track is going to be hidden by mountains, and there will be seven tunnel mouths, which is why this type of layout is called a rabbit warren.
I'll show progress in a week or two. Got to get ready for tonights meet now.

ATB
Shaun.

Did anyone guess the location of the narrow gauge railway pictured above?

It's on the Pelion peninsular in Greece, runs up to Milie. Not particularly outstanding, as it has that lumbering great diesel pulling it, but fairly picturesque. Anyhow, thats nothing to do with chufferduffering.

Congregated at Colin's gaff last night - main item on the agenda was to try and set down on paper the track plan for Crymmych Arms, our next layout project. It wasn't easy, as we are trying to make it a continuous run, instead of our usual 'end-to-end', incorporate the marked curve in the platform that is so noticable at Crymmych, have the viewing side looking over the goods sidings towards the station building, and get it on a board that will fit in a car. (We are desperately trying to avoid the word 'compromise')

This is the start of it:

Interest soon waned!

 

Charles is contemplating the latest Herrington masterpiece - you saw it in the last post in its raw state - since then it has had a trip to the paint shop:

Having found that trying to sort out the track plan was too taxing, we trundled up the stairs to Colins modeling room, where he had set up a section of his N gauge layout so that we could test-run the locos that Pete Towns has kindly donated towards the Crymmych layout. Two Panniers and a 45 Prairie, all three of which were prototypical of the Cardi-Bach line. All three ran perfectly, so we repaired to the lounge and celebrated the successes (well, the locos ran...) of the evening in the time-honoured fashion.

More next week.

The picture above is of Regina Station in Corsica, for those of you who didn't guess it.
I've moved it from the heading into this post, and put another in it's place. Taken in 2005, somewhere in Europe...

We had an excellent evening at Charles house last Tuesday, discussing the way ahead with our next projected layout. We are seriously contemplating modelling Crymmych Arms (as it was spelt back in those far off Cardi-Bach days)
We are opting for N gauge, to make it easier to transport around to various venues. The gauge clashes with our other cardi-Bach layouts, as they are in 3mm scale, but they are awkward to cart about, and acquiring bits and pieces for that scale is not the easiest - particularly considering the track and point configuration that was at Crymych. Colin is experienced in building in 'N', Patrick has dabbled with it, and I hate 3mm, (which means Mike will never speak to me again) so it's sorted. We start the track plan next week at Colins.
Plus we have promised to have a new layout to show at two venues next year. (oh dear...)

Anyhow, at Chas's, Pat brought along two 009 locos that he built last week, using tiny Japanese chassis and bodies that were made by a 3D printer. A commercial one, not a home job. Pat did paint jobs on both of them and added handrails and glazing.

I also took another shot of Colins new loco that we ran at the Woolen Mill:

The evening ended quite convivially, as our Chuffer-Duffer meetings so often tend to do...

No meeting next week, as we have a Cardi-Bach meeting at Login Station.
Thanks for logging in,

Shaun.

Well, here we are again. It's been a couple or three weeks since the last post. I think the last one ended on us having to decide on Merlot or Shiraz... Verdict was tied, so we drunk them both. Next time it is going to be questioning the merits of Central Spain or the Douro region of Portugal...

European flavour to the heading photo at the moment. Any one got any idea? you can post an answer in 'comments' below. It's narrow gauge, still in operation, though the motive power has since been upgraded (I took this photo back in 1998. Kodachrome then, none of your digital nonsense...)

Back to the here and now. Good weekend - Colin and I exhibited Teifi Gorge and Patricks Baby at the Woolen Mill in Drefach Felindre on Saturday. A very pleasant day, not overly busy, but that gave us time to talk to several nice people, including ChufferDuffer Charles and his wife Louise, who called in on the way home. Also a very pleasant couple from Cwmcou - I forgot to get your contact details, so if you would care to e-mail me at < shaun.tynant AT btinternet.com > I can send you details of the Cardi-Bach Society.

Pictured below is the TGR, ready to meet its public, and below that Pats Baby (yet to have a name)

Colin, of the Herrington Light Industries fame:

Has been busy building a new loco. He brought it along to the expo to give it a trial run prior to it going into the paint shop.

We do have a movie of this, but I have just spent the last 90 minutes endeavouring to get it downloaded...
Got it to youtube, but then hit a stone wall.
Fed up now.

So that Pat wont feel left out, here is an archive picture of him adjusting things on one of the layouts:

 

And lastly another from the archives, Cardigan station:

I'll try and get video uploading sorted by next week.

TTFN (for those who are old enough to remember...)

Humble apologies everyone for not posting for a couple of weeks. Have been rather busy though with real life, rather than the ethereal world of model railways...
No matter - what has happened in the last Month? Pete Towns telephoned - 'Any chance of Login layout being available for September 30th? - S4C would like to do a quick clip on Login.'
For those unaware (i.e. outside of our great Principality) S4C is the Welsh Language TV channel - and to appear on it is GREAT!... well, quite an event, anyway.
So I quickly tidied things up, Annie got out the paint brushes, and we managed to get Login presentable.
Pete came round and picked it up - last pics of Login:

 

 

Consequently the room is now bare! (apart from Cardigan, which Colin and I carted up from the garage ready for remedial work next week)

The TV boys turned up to do the Program on Login and the Cardi-Bach, which went like a dream. Emyr, our Society Chairman had arranged for several old C-B employees to come along for a chat, and there was lots of coverage of  everyone and everything involved.
We are just waiting to hear when it will be screened. Hopefully it will be on Iplayer/ITVhub - not sure what company covers S4C!

Since then we have attended another Model Railway Exhibition - this time it was the Carmarthen '0' Gauge Modelling Clubs Expo in Bronwydd Arms. Colin, Pat and I took along Teifi Gorge, and Pats N gauge western themed mini-layout, to show the range of size that you can model in.This is Pencader MRC's '0'gauge layout:

Which rather dwarfed our offering that was at the side:

 

Pats tiny Western layout just squeezed into the gap!

We had a great time, and met lots of interesting, and interested people! Sadly though very few were under the age of sixty...

 

 

I forgot to mention, may many thanks to Mike from Llangadog for coming along to see us - I dont think he has missed one of our exhibits in the last three years. Sadly he didn't have time to operate for us at this visit - maybe the next one at the Woolen Mill on the 22nd!

 

We meet here in Llechryd on Tuesday, and the big discussion, apart from choosing between Merlot or Shiraz is what to do next? Crymmych Arms in N gauge has been mentioned... 

ATB

Shaun.

Well here we are again - Wednesday morning, and another Chuffer-duffers meeting come and gone.
We met at Charles house last night, where we take a welcome break from the never-ending trials and tribulations of railway modelling and have a pleasant evening socialising instead...

I forgot to take my camera, forgot to have a pen in my pocket, and only remembered at the last minute to change out of my slippers before leaving the house. If only I could remember how to worry about losing my whatever it's called - but there you go, it's all part of growing old!

So - no camera, so no picture of the excellent spread provided for us all by Charles' wife. A very tasty home-made pate and salad, washed down with beers by Charles and myself, and a copious quantity of red wine consumed by the other two reprobates.
Suffice to say we all enjoyed ourselves!

On to more important stuff.
The directors of the Teifi Gorge Railway Company felt that the small 5 ton manual crane at Forest Quarry was not really up to the work required of it, so they offered it at a knock-down price to the St Dogmaels saw-mill, and commissioned The Herrington Light Industrial Locomotive Company to manufacture a more substantial steam driven crane to take the place of the aforementioned manual one.
This new state of the art piece of machinery was duly delivered last night, and by this morning was up and running.

Several photographs of this mechanical marvel in operation can be seen below:

Later on in the morning the work started in earnest, with no less than three of the TGR locomotives pressed into duty:

 

 On to other matters, panic has now set in, as our good friend Pete Towns (who serves exceedingly good cakes at Login Station at weekends) asked me would it be possible for him to have the Login layout for September the 30th... Yes of course, I glibly replied (no f'kin way! gasped my inner voice...) However, I figured if I knuckled down it could be halfway presentable.

Watch this space.

Colins next week. See you all then.

'The Duffers have a grand day out'
Well, two of them did, anyway...
The Welsh Highland Railway were having an exhibition and Gala day up at Dinas Station near Caernarfon over the weekend, so Colin and I got permission from the domestic authorities and took off for the day.
Grand weather, and a good run up to North Wales. Breakfast at the Festiniog Station Cafe in Porthmadoc, and then on to Dinas. Around a dozen model layouts, mostly in 009 gauge, a large 0 gauge live steam, and an amazing live steam 009 demonstation and layout. Heres the layout, closed and open:

 Next to it is the small demo layout:

The tiny boilers are fired by an ethanol burner, and the locos given a hand nudge to overcome inertia, and off they go! no speed control, but the amount of load seems to act as a slowing function.


Outside there were free footplate rides on a selection of narrow gauge locos from the Welsh Highland stable and the Festiniog. Couple of examples below:

On our way home we went via Tywyn and called in at the Tal-y-llyn station for a cup of tea and a snack and a quick look around their museum.
Fortunately for us the famous 'Dolgoch' engine was in steam, and about to leave with a train for the last run to Abergynolwen. Here she is powering up and leaving the station:

And off home!


On the modelling front, I found an old picture of a steam crane that was operating at Forest Quarry (part of our Teifi Gorge Layout)

I idly suggested to Colin when we met at the Cardi-Bach Society meeting that it would make a good model... it doesn't take much to start him off...

He produced this to show me when we were out on saturday:

Looking forward to tonights meeting to see what else he has done!!

Best to everybody - Chuffer 1