Cardi-Bach meeting next Wednesday - September 4th. Don't forget!!

It's been a busy week for the Chuffers. On Sunday Patrick, Mary and I went up to Machynlleth to the Annual Corris Model Railway Exhibition. Not as many layouts as there have been in previous years, but entertaining all the same.

I didn't take any overall views, just a couple of engine pics and cameos.
Some 009 locos to start:

On to bigger stuff.
This was rather a good depiction of an engine cab and crew:

7mm scale (0 gauge) of course.

The same layout had some interesting cameos - one in particular was of a photographer conducting a shoot for a gentlemans magazine. Taking place in the privacy of a walled garden...

You can just make it out to the left of the yellow cottage.


For the older and more lascivious amongst you, here is a closer view:

Moving swiftly on...


There was a good exhibition of steam driven radio controlled engines and trains.
Here we have one of the locomotives:

Going back down the scale, our friend Martin that we met at the Bala expo was showing one of his 009 layouts, so I took a quick movie:

Thats it for the Machynlleth show!

The following day I took a trip to the Internal Fire museum at Tanygroes, a few miles outside of Cardigan. Dozens of static diesel engines on display, many of them working, and displayed as if they were actually in their original environment.
Large and small - here are just a couple:

Being a bank holiday, the steam engines were working, and here is a short video of a triple expansion pumping engine:

On to last nights meeting.
Met at Colins, and we start as usual with 'show-and-tell'.
Pat kicked off with the latest edition of the funeral bier and coffin. The corpse has now been painted, and the coffin and lid lined with satin:

Stiff as a corpse...


Colin then showed us some wheels that he is in the process of making for another of his Showmans Steam Engines, one of which is pictured here together with the partly built wheels:

And a final view of the back of the engine, complete with driver:
(Note the pound coin to reference the size...)

Finished the evening with a supper of pork pies and Mariannes superb salad whilst watch some of the old 'Railway Roundabout' DVDs.

Most enjoyable evening.
Nos da,

Shaun.

Cardi-Bach news first of all - Our first autumn meeting will now be on Wednesday September 4th, 7 p.m. at the Heritage Centre in Login.

On to Chuffers.
We met here at Llechryd last night, and kicked off with the usual 'show-and-tell'. Patrick first of all, producing a cart for the coffin - I suppose the proper term is a funeral bier...
Anyway here is Pats version, yet to be painted. Constructed from coffee stirrers and solid wheels made from the ends of a cable drum (!)

The coffin has now had a nice glossy coat of varnish, though has yet to be satin lined...

Now if you can cast your minds back a year or two, we featured some work-in-progress that Colin was doing on scratch building a fairground galloper.
It was put on a back shelf when other things took precedence, but recently Col resurrected it, and did a bit more work to it:

Inside it has a ring of dragon cars, a waterfall and the traditional galloper organ, complete with it's own trailer:

Here is a shot taken with the roof removed:

And looking through the entrance archway:

Once it has been painted and peopled, Colin tells us that it is going to be part of a fairground diorama.



My contribution was the construction of two baseboards for the embryo 7mm narrow gauge layout that is going to be our winter project.
Here are the boards joined together with some roughly made card buildings to give us some idea of scale.

The lighting gantry has been cobbled together to assist construction during the dark evenings, as the lighting in the conservatory workshop is pretty abysmal.
We spent an hour or so discussing various plans and ideas, before drawing a rough plan on paper, ready to track lay once we have a cork surface on top of the ply.
This is progress so far:

More on this as and when we do stuff to it!

Repaired to the dining room for Jalfresi curry and the usual libation, plus a selection of slides that Colin had taken during a visit to the West Country.
Pleasant evening all round...
Nos da,
Shaun.

Quick off the mark with this post - we only met last night!

Colin and I turned up at Chessboard House, and rounding the corner we were greeted with this view of the side of Pats van:

Pats had magnetic signs made, to put on the van when layouts go on the road to exhibitions...
Pretty good, huh?
Advertising our blog like that will surely double our viewers - four instead of two. The beauty of these signs is that they can just be peeled off when not in use.

On to the evening.
A couple of weeks ago I passed on to Pat a 7mm NG engine that I had started to build, but abandoned when I decided not to continue with a 7mm layout, as Pat already had 'Maes Y Gof'. He finished building the engine, gave it a blue livery and a bit of coach lining, and here is the result:

Notice in the background that the coffin we showed you in the last post has now been given a coat of wood stain, the appropriate handles and a brass plaque...

In the station siding the funeral train is laid up waiting for the mourners and the pall-bearers to load the train ready for the journey to a station closer to the church and cemetery.

I managed to take a short video of the new loco circling around 'Maes Y Gof':

As the station is getting a bit crowded, and the stock of engines and rolling stock is steadily increasing, we have decided to build a bigger layout, in 7mm narrow gauge. I've made a start on two boards, 4' x 2' 6", and next Tuesday we will plan the layout in earnest, so watch out for progress reports!

Cardi-Bach meeting on Tuesday September the third. Don't forget...

Best regards,
Shaun.

Hi all.

Not a Chuffer post, this one, but a Card-Bach update.
Today The Login layout accompanied Patrick and me to the West Wales Model Railway Exhibition at Llwyncelyn village hall, just outside Aberearon.

This is the fourth or fifth time that we have exhibited at Martyn's expo, but it was the first time that the Login layout was made operational - up until today it has always just been a static diorama.

It was with slight trepidation that we joined the four boards together - never having done it in anger before. Why did we worry ? It all went together perfectly, and ran as soon as we powered up.

Busy all day, from the time the doors opened at ten until they closed at four. Mike turned up from Llanduesant, with a model of a Deans Goods, that handn't been run for ten years. On Login? no bother... faultless!


Some of the afternoon crowd:

Login just after setting up:

Couple of static shots, which you are all probably familiar with...

 

























And to finish, a couple of quick 5 second videos - blink and you'll miss them!

Finally to make you aware, the first autumn meeting of the Society will be on Tuesday September the third, 7 p.m. at Login Heritage Museum.

Regards,
Shaun.

Good morning all.
Missed the deadline last week, so this is two Chuffer meetings combined into one.

Last week we met here at Llechryd to power up the Login extension boards and check for operation, as the end boards had quite a rise in elevation, and on a fairly sharp curve, as well.
More of that in a minute - first of all it was show and tell. Patrick once again, with further progress to report on his Ffestiniog style hearse and mourners coach.
Here is the hearse:

The green painted internal timbering is prototypical, as are the finials on top:

The mourners carriage is work in progress, and features first class padded seating, with extra room for floral tributes:

More of Pats modelling prowess further down, but back to the Login boards...

I had previously made a small panel for plugging in power and a controller. This was connected up to the rails, and tested for continuity. All was well, so we had a test run with a spare 00 gauge loco.
Results well up to expectations:

The loco managed the incline and the curve without any problem. It just remains to be seen if we can marry the boards up to the Login scenic board next Sunday!

We ended the evening with a home brewed curry, which seems to have become bit of a tradition here at Llechryd!

On to last night, when we met at Colins.
Again 'show-and-tell' had Pat in the limelight producing his mourners carriage now with splendid coach-lining and glazing:

And as a final treat, a passenger for the Hearse!

We then settled down to railway related DVDs and pizza and sausage rolls, accompanied by Mariannes excellent salad.

Pats next week!