Llanmynach & Tawel-Llety Views

[Tigger]

Thank you for clarifying things Rhobat but before we return please allow me to exercise my 'Right of Reply'.

When, as a 14-year-old with a very basic understanding and enjoyment of the Welsh language but no idea of its nuances or syntax, I found descriptive words that, at the time, seemed appropriate for the railway that was to become a life's work.  I shan't go into the details here of how I constructed the names using the very basic Welsh-English dictionary I'd picked up in Blaenau.
As the years passed I slowly realised that the names were not constructed correctly and I started to make plans of how to retain the spirit and meaning but to alter them to something better.  By then however, the layout was becoming known and to change its identity didn't feel right so for good or bad I stuck with them.  Trust me; it has bugged me ever since which is why some of the later additions of places (Tyddyn-Glas for example) have been pinched off maps of an appropriate mid/west Wales area.
I was given a bit of a lift last year when I was contacted by a Chris Lewis, another native Welsh speaker who'd seen my website and was intrigued by the place-names.  On apologising to him for bastardising the Welsh language he actually offered me some plausible reasoning behind the constructions I had chosen.  Rhobat, I do have a respect for the Welsh language and if I'd been looking for names in more recent years I'd have chosen well.  I have four books on my bookshelf to try and ensure I don't make the same mistakes again; although I am now rusty, at one time I could hold a (very) basic conversation in Welsh.    Years ago I even copied the phrase 'Nadolig Llawen A Blwyddyn Newydd Dda' off a WHR card so I could use it on Christmas cards to Welsh speakers.  Unlike many of my fellow Englishmen I actually make the effort to pronounce things correctly, whether they be place-names in Wales, Scotland or the Isle of Man, or when I'm trying to hold a (again, basic) conversation in France.

I could go on but that's more than enough.  I do hope I've set out my stall properly.

I started to become active in the Forum because I wanted to inform, inspire and perhaps assist my fellow 009 modellers.  This was a direct result from my rejuvenated interest in 009 modelling after a long time out and is indeed a far, far cry from four years ago when I had become so despondent with it all that I very nearly scrapped the entire railway and left the Society to pursue my other passionate interests of horology and 7

[Mike Griff]

Good man yourself Tigger, very eliquant.

[JulienW]

One of the pitfalls of using a language which is not one's own is that despite one's best efforts not to cause offence offence is taken.  As a non-Welsh speaking native - ok I can probably pronounce written Welsh with a passable Vale of Gamorgan / Cardiff accent but not have a clear idea of what I'm saying - it is good to see someone at least make an effort, unlike an aquaintance of mine who was adamant that the castle just north of Cardiff was "Castle Coach" despite being told by myself and my (English) wife how Castell Coch should be pronounced.

Whilst place names and prononciation are one thing grammar is something else and is only ever really mastered by those who are native speakers, have spoken a language well for some time or those very lucky few who just have a talent for such things.  Unfortunately I am none of these so have to settle for the occasional 'fix' of my native language being spoken wherever I can get it...

I would like to think that folks would be pleased should I continue to post photos of the L&TR on this thread.

Hear here (both of which rhyme with pier*) David!


*English is just too wyrd for words!

[Tigger]

Hear here (both of which rhyme with pier*) David!

I guess that would make me a fairly short pier then...

Thanks Julien and for continuity, here's a photo from last night.  The extra goods vehicles are now making their presence felt because the trains are now consistently longer and here Russell has had to collect a couple from the siding at Rhyffedd Coed and spot them in the platform road for convenience before returning to shunt a couple of vans into the siding.  At the tail end of the train are the three new (and now empty) loco coal wagons making their way back to Llanmynach from the loco shed at Tawel-llety.

Incidentally, as I mentioned earlier, these are not specially posed photos - which is why the lamps are on the wrong ends of both the loco and the brake van.  It's just TOO fiddly to swap the lamps around in normal operations but they'll always appear correctly in posed photos.

Also Mike, a combination of canny lighting and camera angle and you can't actually tell it's an inside-framed model of an outside-framed loco!!

[pilotfriend]

I  have to say that I am finding this whole business extremely irritating.

BRM have had a continuing thread in readers letters telling us we should not model graffiti as they are illegal. We now have a 'wounded Welshman' because an English modeller tried, best effort,  to write in Welsh 38 years ago. This is political correctness gone mad! To think that Tigger felt it necessary to apologise to Rhobat is absurd. My answer would have been "Rhobat, pull up your big girl panties and get used to language mangling", but then again, I am not known for politeness. At least Tigger tried.

English is constantly being mangled by people who have moved here and no one expects apologies. The native English in any case are scrupulously fair when it comes to foreign langauges as they mangle every one of them as do the French, in point of fact!

Rhobat should be proud that an Englishman chose to model a Welsh railway. He could easily have chosen an English one.

Political correctness ranks higher than the law of the land these days, it would seem. This even applies to the now FF in Festiniog Railway even though it is incorporated by Act of Parliament as the Festiniog Railway.

Tigger. I am shocked and disgusted that the model people on your railway do not reflect the varied diaspora of our multi cultural society. Shame on you! ;D

Let us just get back to the original intention of the thread which, if I recall rightly was to be a series of photos of a layout which is not on the exhibition circuit and can only be shared if the owner wishes to do so by internet and magazines.

Damn, Russell was pig ugly cut down!

[alan]

Can I please ask members to stick to the topic of the board. I would suggest that if anyone has any issues to do with foreign language names, they take it up with the original poster by means of a Personal Message.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Alan
Membership Secretary

[Tigger]

"...Let us just get back to the original intention of the thread which, if I recall rightly was to be a series of photos of a layout which is not on the exhibition circuit and can only be shared if the owner wishes to do so by internet and magazines..."

Indeed!  Thank you John.

"...Damn, Russell was pig ugly cut down!"

I agree completely; Russell was certainly an ugly loco after the FR had a go at her!  I was never going to build the model but this version appealed to a friend of mind as it put us in mind of the steam locos on the Central London Railway.

Meanwhile and to continue the thread, here's an illustration of the Cefn Glas mountainside which Rhobat mentioned earlier, with Russell (the other version, much nicer!) returning down the valley with a short goods.

Incidentally, running times on the layout are interesting.  Generally the trains take comfortably over a minute station-to-station and a complete circuit (such as those run by a non-stop slate train) can take up to 3

[rhobat bryn]

Never fails to raise a smile.   :)