Bron Effans

 Life has returned to some normality now and I have been able to find some time to work on the coaches. The Dundas Vale of Rheidol Carriages have languished on my "to-do" pile for some time since I started the process of changing the kit bogies for the more reliable Peco RTR examples. My original rationale for using these bogies was to give the coaches more consistent running and to rationalise the couplings across the whole fleet.  I had originally just drilled a 4mm hole in the floor which helped but I had not accounted for the excess material on the original axles. I filed the material away and constructed new collars out of styrene to mount the bogies into. I re-drilled the holes to 5mm and added the 4mm collar melting it onto the floor with poly-cement. My hope was that it would be more secure.  Coaches 2 and 3 were given this treatment and the carriages were finished with glazing and the rooves being attached. Coach 4 was an attempt that had not gone to plan with my...

  I have been keeping my powder dry with kitbuilding for some time, partly due to not having time to spend on construction and partly due to lacking confidence to build something complex.  Conwy Castle is one of the more elusive diesels in the Ffestiniog fleet. I have only seen it in the open air on one occasion and was very taken with the rich history that there is behind this locomotive. It was adapted to work on the Push-pull train which is something that I am keen to try and build.  I bought the kit with a Kato Chassis which meant that I needed to make some quite hefty alterations to the frame of the kit to fit the motor into the void. It took me quite a while to heft the floor of the cab away.  I attached the side board and removed the cast axle boxes. I removed them because they don’t line up with the wheel sets so I took them off. It means that the model won’t be a true representation of the real life equivalent but I am only aiming for an approximation of Con...

 It has indeed been some time since my last update on Bron Effans. I have simply not had any time free to do any work on the layout, which has not been fun. There are various aspects of the layout that have required my attention and I have addressed them over the last few days in my Christmas holiday time. I am limited in what I can do by the current Covid-based issues. I can't get to my local model shop as it is in a different tier to where I live. I am not prepared to break the rules for my hobby. I do not see the point.  I have acquired some new locomotive projects for me to be working on along with several new pieces of rolling stock to use on the line. I have taken delivery of two custom pieces of stock, built by my good friend Leigh Hullatt. They are decorated with the initials of the line BER for Bron Effans Railway. Rolling Stock I have obtained a Bachmann Narrow gauge coach to compliment my burgeoning Talyllyn rake. This coach is exceptionally well made. I am pro...

  I have struggled to find time and motivation to sit at my workbench for any length of time. A consequence of this is that the layout has really been neglected. I gave myself a day to myself and set about doing some small jobs on the layout. I have received some new rolling stock and items that can be used on the layout. Coaches I managed to secure a new Indian Red Lynton and Barnstaple styled compartment coach to match the brake coach. I have been looking for suitable carriages to replace the European style coaches that I repainted over the summer. This will form the second main rake on the line and they fit the aesthetic of the railway with a more uk based design and size. Ultimately, my rationalisation of the stock was intended to give my layout a more unified theme. This rake will help form backbone of services on the line. I can also use it for "Covid secure" services as it is a compartment coach. I feel that the Indian Red coaches look more appealing than the Southern ...

  I have taken some time to update and amend the details of the motive power on the line. I am also working on a rolling stock page, which will be published in due course.  Please find the updated page using the following link.  https://www.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/2166231028384630191/8580419163129318916

  I have had a fairly productive summer break from work. My time has been divided by various jobs on the layout and catchup repairs from the lockdown period. Ultimately, I had set myself some targets for the summer period to improve the running of the layout and to sort out the ongoing issues with the rolling stock. I have managed to finish the vast majority of these jobs and have finished a few other extra things that were not in the original plan. The biggest of which is the new retaining wall at the west end of the line.  I have been trying to give the layout a more unified look and feel that reflects the location that I am trying to model. I found some inspiration from the creation of a group on Facebook concerned with modelling the Corris Railway. I took ideas from this group and set about building a retaining wall along the northern slope to disguise the poor effort on the slope. The first layer of styrene is laid. I used styrene to make thin slabs and built them up with...

  I have undertaken a rationalisation of the stock that I have for the layout of late as there was much more stock than was wholly necessary for the railway. A clearout was necessary. To make the decision process easier I applied the following three questions to each item of stock under consideration. 1. Do I use it? 2. Does it fit on the railway 3. Can all locomotives haul it? To that end, I took a good look at my rolling stock and put them under the scrutiny.  Ultimately, I have dispensed with the Lynton and Barnstaple liveried coaches. The Vale of Rheidol Brake van and I am currently looking for a home for the three BR Maroon coaches that I completed last month. As nice as they are, they are far too big for the layout and many of the locomotives cannot haul them unsupported. It is sad given the effort that I have put into them but I did not really think they would be as heavy as they were.  If anyone would like to give them a good home please don't hesitate to get in t...

  I have found been hunting for a kit that could be used to represent the coaches that are used on the Corris Railway. I wanted something that could be used to match with the new Tattoo locomotive and used with the Talyllyn outline stock. I had sold the original short bogie set to make room on the roster for these new carriages.  I was impressed by the quality of these kits and set about building them. There are some quite noticeable differences between these kits based on the Innisfail Tramway and those of the Corris Railway. My aim was to use them as a resemblance as they have a single doorway and two vestibules for passengers. I did not see the need to adapt the kits for my aims and I found the kits detailed enough to pass as older coaching stock. I put the kits together fairly quickly and primed them with Humbrol primer. The bogies for these kits are some of the best that I have built for a plastic kit. The wheels were free running and the couplers were easy to attach....

I apologise for not posting as regularly recently. I am on my summer break from work and that has meant that house jobs and other things have come to the fore. I am working through the list of summer jobs for the layout and those for my house.  After several weeks of pondering and debating on what to do with the newly acquired carriages, I took the plunge and set about the refitting of the Austrian carriages. The initial plan was to repaint them into BR Blue and Grey however something was holding me back from travelling down that road. I decided to go down the more traditional BR Maroon route after seeing a picture online that showed a maroon dining car. Image taken from Google. This image prompted me to begin the process due to the recessed doors looking the part. I took the carriage to pieces and set about removing the printed on details using a fibre glass scratching brush. I then used Railmatch BR Maroon spray to add two coats on to the carriages.  I masked off the carriag...

I have finished work for the summer and have decided that it is high time I spent some quality time on the layout. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to make sure it is fully functional.  Electrics I find myself being haunted by the ghost of poor electrical fidelity. There is a weak link in the circuit around the points. I am intending to solve this using some proper track cleaning materials. The track has not had any proper use due to there being a considerable lack of power to the northern platform and the siding. This all stems from my over exuberant use of pva glue when I ballasted the track. I plan to get some proper track cleaning solution to sort this out and hopefull restore the running to what it used to be like. I am guilty of neglecting this aspect of the railway but due to lockdown I haven't been able to go out and purchase the items I need to resolve these issues. Carriages I have been looking through the very large selection of...

I was very fortunate to be able to purchase a U class locomotive from a good friend in the 009 group. It is an old liliput model and was one of the mainstays on the layout, when I first started. However, age caught up with it and it stood dormant on the layout for a good 9-10 months due to a major failure that constituted it coming to an abrupt halt with a horrid stench emanating from the chassis.  I left it to one side for a while and did some research on how to service motors and also fix them. I will be honest and say that electrics and mechanics are not a strong suit of mine, so I took my time.  So to the efforts of last friday, when I set about trying to get her going again. I started by taking the chassis to pieces to inspect it's condition. The motor looked in a good state but the sheer amount of muck and grime that was caked on the gearshaft, pickups and gears was alarming. It took me a good half hour of careful cleaning and scraping of the gunk....

I have been quiet of late with various bits and pieces related to my return to work. It has meant that I have not really had a good deal of time spare to do any building or painting. I have begun the refit of the new European bogie coaches, with a view to anglicising them somewhat.   Unfortunately, due to the lockdown, paint has been in extremely short supply. My desire to use the aerosol paints on the carriages has meant that the repainting of these carriages has been set back some time until the shops get new stock. I am still intending to use BR blue and grey on these carriages just to add a bit of variety to the stock on the line.  I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain this new example from someone on the 009 Facebook group. It has been heavily cut down and carries roughly the livery that I am intending to use on these new carriages. This example is heavily battered and has definetly seen better days. With that in mind, I shall be using...