Hi Geoff
Great to see your layout again. Those well observed signals have made it even better and I especially like the shot with the signal in front of the plate girder bridge.
I should have signalled the layout a long time ago but it is one of those jobs I hate. Strange as it might seem once I threw myself into the task I enjoyed myself, must be a lesson there ? I have to agree that the layout looks far better with signals in place and have included a shot of the home in this post. I suppose it should have been situated at the other side of the bridge and will most likely be re positioned there when the dairy extension is made.
The signal you mention Simon was modelled on the starter at Fairford but I needed an 'S' symbol for the shunt ahead arm rather than an 'O' as fitted to the protoype.
In fact the whole idea of the plate girder bridge with signal against it was lifted from Fairford, which was the subject of my first venture in EM modelling
I really feel that I am looking in to a real place when viewing this railway of yours, it is a fantastic piece of modelling by anyone's standards.
Thank you, that is most generous of you :-[
I think the trick is to plan the whole layout in detail, I formed this picture in my mind of what the landscape would most likely look like and adapted the trackwork to suit, this I think gives the impression of the railway being secondary to the topography around it. I also had to give Penhydd a purpose and so the idea of a Creamery was dreamt up. In the original scheme both cottages and pub were absent but I feel they add a little to the scene. Like most branch termini the station was some way from the village, when I was growing up we lived on Mells Green in Somerset and it was hell of a walk to Mells Road station. I have tried to capture a feeling for those happy carefree times through my modelling and to be honest I can walk into the railway room and enter another world far away from the pressures which exist in the real one.
Perhaps the greatest influence on my approach to modelling has been Iain Rice and I am a firm believer in his ideas.
The single unit sequence on your blog is also brilliantly done and highly evocative of the last days of trains on many a GWR branch, as captured and so well described by Chris Leigh in his many books and articles - just wonderful!
Ahh......now this is getting a little uncanny as Chris Leigh and his various articles have been another huge influence on my modelling. In one of his books or magazine articles there is a photo of a Class 122 standing alone in the huge platform at St. Ives. The goods yard and loop have been lifted and not a soul is in sight. To me it gives a feeling of isolation, gradual decay and the 122 is the only link to civilization.
In the sequence on my blog.that you mention the whole future of the branch to Penhydd is down to the dairy, shades of Hemyock. The autotrain has given way to an ex GWR railcar which in turn has been replaced by a 121 bubble car and eventually a single deck bus will do the honours.
A Hymek drafted in for a failed baby Warship has brought a rake of empty milk tanks up to the dairy and will soon depart with loaded ones. Then all will be quiet until the 121 returns later in the day.
I can of course turn the clock back and have a 45xx on duty so despite the layouts small size I have plenty to interest me.