Few days late, as we went up to Yorkshire for three days.

Back home now, safe and sound in Gods Country...
This weeks Narrow Gauge picture - any ideas what and where?

Last week the loco was 'Dolbadarn' on the narrow gauge line running around Llyn Padarn up in Llanberis. Quite an old picture - the embedded details say 2003. I didn't think it was so long ago that we were up there. The memory fades with age...

Talking of age - three of us met here at Ty-Nant on Tuesday, Charles having family commitments.
Crymmych Arms was the order of the day, and we knuckled down to get a bit done on it.
Pat and Colin had brought along the finished signal box, goods shed and platform shelter.
Her is Patrick diligently at work with adhesive putting the SB in it's place.

Colin had gone to extremes with the signal box - no one will see, but it contains all the levers, a fireplace, coal scuttle, armchair, clock, and a correct track plan up on the wall - here is your chance to see inside:

Crymmych Arms signal box was unusual in that it had a brick fireplace and chimney instead of the normal stove and flue pipe. Bet you didn't know that now, did you!

While Pat was busy with the buildings, Colin was making back supports for the backscene - this is going to be one of those suck-it-and-see constructions (i.e. we aren't sure what to do about it)

While this was going on I was laying down more landscape foliage and ground cover. We called it a day at 9 pip emma, due to dusty throats, so a quiche lorraine and salad plus a couple of bottles of Merlot were thankfully consumed. All in all a successful evening.

The layout as it is looking at the moment:

Excuse the brightness - I over corrected the colour.

Chas's next week - well, in two days actually...

ATB
Shaun.

Into May now - one third of the year gone by already...

I've changed the opening picture - the new one is a shot of Cardigan and Boncath at the exhibition held in Llwyncelyn (Aberaeron) back in 2015. This is instead of a narrow gauge picture that I was changing each post - I suddenly realized that changing it on one post resulted in all previous posts changing as well. Oh the complications of blogging...

The narrow gauge picture will now be in the body of the post - for example:

What is it and where is it?...   (answers on a postcard please.)

Enough of this frivolity, on to ChufferDuffer stuff. We met at Colins this week, a pleasant evening of 'Show and tell' and then watching some old footage of steam engines on DVDs, helped along with pizza, sausage rolls and black pudding pies, washed down with appropriate beverages.

Pat had been tasked a couple of weeks ago to construct the goods shed for Crymmych arms and tonight he produced the completed building:

 The view above will be seen from the front of the layout, and pictured below is the canopy over the platform

 Above and beyond the call of duty Pat also produced the Down platform waiting room - this was quite a challenge, as there are not many images available. In the one picture we found of the rear, Pat has faithfully reproduced the crumbling render to show brick-work beneath.

And the platform side, which unfortunately the viewers will be unable to see (except with permission)

Colin has almost completed the signal box - two views again here, front and back:

I omitted to include the mandatory coin to show the scale, so here are a couple of other shots of other signal boxes the Col has made, showing the detailed interior, in one case with a Bic pen to compare:

The picture above does not show the signal levers, so I snapped another angle:

His precision and attention to detail makes me want to give up modelling and take up knitting, or some other less demanding hobby.

However - I soldier on, concentrating more on the Warren rather than the more intricate Crymmych Arms. The Warren has now be renamed 'Dyffryn y Tyllau', which translates to 'Valley of the Holes'

It has also been given a backscene make-over by Annie. Latest picture:

Thats it until next week, when we meet here and try to do some work on Crymmych...


Hwyl fawr,
Shaun.