Hello everybody. A warm welcome to the ChufferDuffers blog - an occasional diary of the things that a bunch of friends get up to loosely related to model railway, and also what is happening (or not...) in the Cardi-Bach Railway Society.

As a mildly entertaining side-track I've been posting pictures of Welsh castles for the last few blogs. The last one which no doubt everyone knew was Laugharne, with Dylans boathouse in the distance.

For this post we move back into Pembrokeshire, and the birthplace of Geraldus Cambrensis.

I was fortunate to get the bank of Daffs in the foreground. Very Patriotic...

Staying with castles for a brief moment, Pat's model of Cardigan Station has a temporary home in the house in the grounds of Cardigan Castle, and it was officially acknowledged by the Mayor and Lady Mayoress last weekend, and Emyr, Pat, and myself were invited to attend a photoshoot.

Herewith for your delight and edification:

The item appeared on the Cilgerran Facebook page, and the reporter mistakenly credited me with being one of the layouts instigators - the credit should of course go to Colin, as it was he and Pat who were the originators. I only came in at the last moment.

The Mayor and mayoress later appeared in their full regalia, and posed for the official photographer. I just happened to be lurking in the undergrowth:

 

 

On to more pertinent stuff.

As the Teifi Gorge layout has an extension, I thought some changes were due to be made  - the line coming in from Llechryd and points East does not pass directly through Cilgerran Station, as can be seen in the picture below:

It actually comes in on the line you can just see on the far left-hand side.

With the use of a laser-cut footbridge kit, and a bit of judicious brickworking, we now have access from the main Cilgerran station across the tracks to 'Cilgerran Junction' where passengers can join trains for their onward journey to Llechryd and beyond.

 

 

 

Last night (Tuesday) we had a Duffers meeting at Patricks, and he unveiled the new look to 'Bayview' the backscene has yet to be painted, and the proscenium lighting put in, but to all intents and purpose it is ready for the exhibition circuit. (once things have got back to normal, that is)

And just a quick close up of Bayview Hotel to refresh memories:

During the last couple of weeks Pat has been delving into his box of model railway paraphernalia and came up with a quantity of old triang stuff.

Being at a temporary loose end he put together this fully operating layout - purely for nostalgic enjoyment:

(Try to ignore the bottles on the right) Everything is fully operational and wired-up. electrically operated points and level crossing gates, and the original log tipper and wagon chute, all in pristine condition. Here is a shot from the opposite end:

We then repaired to the lounging area to enjoy roast chicken and salad, and a selection of Ivo Peters video tapes about the long defunct 'Slow and Dirty' line, or as some would have it - The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Thats it for this post - Colins abode in a fortnight, when hopefully we will have a big update on Pete's Lynton and Barnstaple layout.

Cheerio for now,

Shaun.

 

 Good evening everyone. I can say that, as I'm writing this in the evening. You may be reading at some other time. It matters not - at least you are reading it...

Last blogs featured castle was of course Picton Castle - not a castle in the true sense, but a fortified home. Called a castle nevertheless. Mind you, it was originally built as a defensible building around the time of the Flemish occupancy of Pembrokeshire, but when the Phillipp's (that's their spelling) inherited it from the wogans it became residential.

Lets move across to Carmarthenshire again and give you an easy one:

No prizes for guessing this one!

The ChufferDuffers held their first meeting for several months here at Pentrecagal - after a quick tour of the work-shop above the garage we moved up to a spare bedroom where I had the Teifi Gorge layout set up.

With Pat and Colins help we moved the layout further into the room so that we could try out the Llechryd extension for suitability

Quite successful, although we still have to work on connecting the boards together for us to get a continuous run of track.

A couple of pictures of how the completed layout will look:

With a bit of persuasion we managed to get a short video of the little train rounding the rather tight curve and pulling into the station:

Colin had brought along his 'Dolgoch' 009 scratch built:

and we gave it a run from Cilgerran through the Gorge down to the quay-side at St Dogmaels:

The latest developments on the Lynton and Barnstaple (Login version) were sent through by e-mail from Pete.

He bought a laser cut kit of a stable/barn which turned out to be low-relief. Copying the basic carcass onto card, Peter made up a most commendable building that will be a smithy with attached stables.

Here is the kit:

 

 

 

Which made up into this:   

 

 

Pete then fettled it and gave it stone cladding, courtesy of Scalescenes printed papers, and here we have the finished article:

 

 

The Chuffer meeting concluded in the time honoured fashion with a Thai green chicken curry and suitable liquid refreshment to accompany it.

If no further lockdowns appear, the next meeting in two weeks at Patricks.

Cheerio,

Shaun.

 Hello everybody - welcome to the first post in April - three months of the year gone already, and very little to show for it in the Chuffering department, apart from Pete down in Login, where we will come to shortly.

First the castle slot.

Did anyone get the castle in the the last blog? (apart from Emyr and Pat, whom I told)

It was Narberth, believe it or not. Not too many people know there is a castle there - they keep very quiet about it. Not a lot is known about Narberth Castle - Norman - but legend has it linked to the  Mabinogion. 

For this blog we'll stay in Pembrokeshire for an easy one:

On to the Cardi-Bach Society. Good news and bad news, I'm afraid to say. First of all, the good news is that the Cardigan layout is now safely installed in the Castle House, in the grounds of Cardigan Castle.

Patrick, Emyr and I went to the Castle during  the weekend before Easter and connected everything up, and it all ran perfectly, without even touching the rails - and this was after a move from Login to Emyr's garage, a further move inside the garage, and then a trip from Cilgerran to Cardigan, and up two flights of stairs. Connected it all up and it ran like... well obviously not clockwork - but it ran !

Here it is in its temporary home:

Overseeing the whole operation and offering sage words of advise and encouragement is the esteemed Chairman of our Society , Mr Emyr Phillips:

Since then we have successfully negotiated the back lanes of the Taf Valley and collected the Boncath layout from the Login Museum and got it safely into Emyr's van.

But now for the bad news -

The pine end of the Museum has started leaking badly during the last couple of storms - not just from the bottom, as we previously suspected, but through the timber cladding, from the top down.

The two pictures below show the seepage of water through the insulation and ply overlay and onto the wall lining itself:

The only answer is to clad the pine end with profiled aluminium paneling, to ensure that it is impervious to the prevailing weather. Hopefully the monies realised from the Cardigan and Boncath layouts will cover the cost.

Doom and gloom out of the way, while Emyr and I were at Login picking up Boncath, Peter took the opportunity of showing us the progress he has made on his Lynton and Barnstaple layout. And what progress! Fortunately I had my camera with me, so here we have proof of progress.

 

First of all a shot looking across Woody Bay Station from the Barnstaple end. Static grass and fencing is still to be applied, and in the left-hand corner will be a quite large livestock pen area, which can be seen on the plan in the next picture

I know this is upside down, but I turned it deliberately to fit in with the station view. The plan was drawn from actual RAF Ariel photographs, and Peter has used it to try to place objects as accurately as possible, including the trees.

 

 

 

The farm is taking shape, with shire horses, pigs, chickens and the farm dog all close to their respective homes. The horses complete with their appropriate harnessing have all been painstakingly painted by Pete, the originals being in white metal.

Turning around from this view of the farm we look back to Woody Bay, with the doctors Morris 8 trundling over the bridge on the way to the station to pick up his wife who has been visiting her sister down in Lynton.

Since our last visit to the layout, a suitably painted driver complete with cloth cap has appeared and moved the traction engine out of the way so that the farmer can put up proper gates to keep the sheep safely in the field. A passing resemblance to Fred Dibnah is purely accidental...

Another view of part of the farmyard, before we move around the corner to where Lynton Station is slowly taking place.

On the road to Lynton we pass a Cornish pub, yet to be named and just out of shot the smithy

 

 

 

this leads us on to Lynton Station itself. Still very much a work in progress, but going by the rest of the layout will be just as exquisite.

We will leave this blog with a video of the afternoon train from Lynton drifting through the cutting and pulling gently into Woody Bay.

Thanks for watching, cheerio,

Shaun.