The Teifi Gorge Railway

[gastwo]

Hello.
I thought it time to come out of the closet, after being a silent member for a couple of years, off and on.
There are three of us here in West Wales, and up until now have concentrated on 3mm (12mm gauge, so it doesn

[Graeme Dunbar]

It sounds like a great idea. I know the area well! I went to Cardigan Secondary School many, many years ago.

[gastwo]

Long way from Aberdeen Graeme!

Anyhow, The idea was conceived six months ago. A plan duly drawn up and timber purchased.
In time honoured fashion three baseboards were constructed from 1 x 2 softwood frames and bracing, with a 9mm plywood top. Everything was glued, screwed and sealed with matt varnish.
We went for 4' x 2', reducing two boards to 18" with a middle board 4' X 18". locating dowels, split hinges and captive bolts to join the boards together.
This shows the three boards joined together, with track down and some scenic stuff started:



More later when I've got time!

Shaun.

[gastwo]

To continue -  The three boards consist of 'Kilgerran', the 'Quarry' and finally 'St Dogmaels'

Here is St Dogmaels in the early stages:



Buildings are loosely placed just to give an idea, and a section has been cut out to form a small piece of quay-side.
The following picture of the Kilgerran end was taken later, after we had started contouring:



Contours were built up in the usual way with polystyrene, crumpled paper, cardboard - anything for bulk, and then covered with paper towels soaked in PVA, and a final shell of Modroc.
Ballasting gets to be done when the mood takes - basically dilute PVA is put between sleepers with a syringe, ballast (in our case washed sand from a local beach) pressed into the PVA and then lightly sprayed with meths.

The middle board, the Quarry, needs a post of it's own really - I'll do that later.

I hope this is of interest, and I'm happy to answer any queries. I might add that the three of us are pensioners, so cash is important, and we would rather our money went to the vineyards of France than the coffers of Gaugemaster etc. consquently we scratch build wherever we can, and make most of our own trees, bushes, foliage, scatter, buildings, stock and locos...

Shaun.

[Frank]

That looks very good Shaun,

The track layout is nice and spacious, not too cramped, often it is too easy to cram a bit more track in and spoil the overall effect but that looks good.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Frank

[gastwo]

Thanks Frank!

The Quarry board.
In the real world, a substantial outcrop of quality slate was discovered between Cilgerran and Cardigan

[gastwo]

A bit more has been done since my last post; mainly to the quarry board and St Dogmaels.
This is the quarry board as of this morning:



Fencing and undergrowth has been added, and a brazier in the workshop for the benefit of the slate workers. Through the tunnel to the right brings you into St Dogmaels:



This is very much work in progress, with some of the buildings just plonked on to help get an idea of where it's all going!
The backscene has just been roughly painted, and is presently being re-done by my wife, who thinks we modellers only see colours as greens or browns!


Looking back from the far right of St Dogmaels, these are the two boards at the moment. Cilgerran has yet to be joined on.



The harbour Masters office is fixed in place, and has a flickering fire, and inside and outside lighting. The Abbey Hotel is also fixed in place, and that too has internal lighting. Close up of the Hotel below:





Guess thats it for the time being - any queries, I'm more than happy to answer (or try, anyway...)

Shaun.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Very nice work.

Jeff S.

[clayliner]

Thanks for this, Shaun. It does have a nice feel and atmosphere about it and is looking good! I will follow progress with interest.

David.

[gastwo]

I mentioned earlier that there are three of us - the third member is Colin, who has his own N gauge layout, and scratch builds his own locomotives, using various commercial chassis, and plasticard, copper tubing, wire, and home turned brass for the body-work.

He has made several 009 engines for the Teifi Gorge layout, and they are so exquisite I thought they were worth sharing.
I'm afraid I don't know the donor chassis for any of them though...

Here are three to be going on with:







More later,

Shaun.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Those locomotives are fantastic.

Jeff S.

[gastwo]

Thanks Jeff - I'll pass your comments on to Colin.

More locos tomorrow...

Shaun.

[Harry Mantheakis]

Amazing models!

I was thinking "fantastic" but Jeff beat me to it :-)

[gastwo]

A few more snaps of Col's scratch builds. I ought to put them in the locomotion section, but as I don't have too many details, they are best kept with this thread I think.

This first one has hand drawn coach lining, done with an old fashioned bow pen...



Next one taken during a test run on Colins N gauge layout:



A saddle tank, work-in-progress:



and finally another W-I-P, but fully operational.




Shaun.

[Jeff Schumaker]

Does Colin turn his own domes?

Jeff S.