4mm Blodwell Junction (Shropshire) - Cambrian Railways/GWR/BR

[Barry37]

Time for some rolling stock.
This is a 3D printed (except for buffer heads) BR Gannet, here still being called a Trout. It's a welded version of the LMS 25ton ballast hopper.
It was printed as a "kit", though the hopper is in one piece.
Behind, are two Whales. I'm not sure if they came to the Blodwell ballast quarry (actually called Llanddu), but Sealions and Seacows certainly did. Not to the station side of the bridge, though.
The post-steam ballast trains were hauled by Class 24s (possibly 25s), and in later years, Class 31s and occasionally, a Class 37.


Somewhat earlier, this is a GWR outside-framed brake van. It has a few faults, so I'll probably print a replacement sometime, which won't have a printed roof.

 

[Barry37]

The small barn at the left hand end of the layout. It's supposed to help conceal the track disappearing through the backscene.
It's a reduced size model of a real one is further up the line in Llanyblodwel. It has dovecote holes in the gable end - the prototype has one more row of holes. Some clutter required in the yard.
3d printed except for the card slates, as is the decaying two-wheel cart.

This is a rather grander cart. A slightly simplified model of a Warwickshire farm waggon, with elements of a Surrey waggon - the shafts, as these weren't shown on the Warwickshire drawing.
The horse is cleverly pulling the cart, without actually being attached to it. The horse needs a bit of grooming with a paint brush, and the cart will have a load, perhaps hay. It's supposed to be at the rear end of the road to hide the edge of the Blodwell world.
Vehicles will vary, depending on which railway era's trains are being run.

 

[Barry37]

This is the prototype of the barn in the previous post. It doesn't have fancy ridge tiles.



Decaying shed in the garden of the station house (if the real one has a name, it's not visible). Printed frame with thin plasticard weatherboard and card tiles.
The other side has lost a lot more of its slates.
This is the prototype on Streetview in 2009:


And nothing ever changes in the country. Exactly the same location in 2021:

 

[Barry37]

This is a small bridge, to the right of the shed in the previous post. It's loosely based on a real one over the small River Morda, about 5 miles away, north of Trefonen.
The deck is ScaleFour sleeper strip, and the rusty handrail was printed



This is the prototype:


At the other end of the house's garden, these are the steps up to the road. We've been there a couple of times, but I haven't been nosy enough to look over the gate, to see what there actually is.
The stone slab paving round the house is Das clay on card, as are the stone abutments for the road bridge.

 

[Kev G]

Ventured up to the loft to take photos this afternoon. A tad cold.
Cold enough for one of the platform joints to have separated. It may have happened a while ago, as there's been a train standing in front of the platform for some time.
View attachment 206889

This is the "station house", and bridge. Someone who photographed it fairly recently (2017), claimed to have been told by the owner that it "was built after the railway closed" (and had been a coal merchant's house). As it appears in the background of photos said to be 1948, that seems unlikely. There's an ill-defined shape on older maps, but they're not good enough to confirm that it's this house. My opinion is that its style makes the building date around 1900, give or take 20 years.
These items in the photo were 3D printed: ridge tiles, windows/door, rustic fence and wheelbarrow, plus the bridge sides. The bridge deck was, too, but it's not exactly visible.
The house needs to have guttering added, and some weathering.
View attachment 206890

I would agree with you there. That building style is late Victorian/Edwardian

 

[Barry37]

The middle part of the house's garden (fiction). The real garden runs more along the side of the road, but there wasn't room for that.
The fruit cage has a printed frame, and the mesh is something left over from my brother's Newhaven Harbour layout. Based on one about a mile away.
In the goods yard, the shed and the weighbridge hut are pretty much like ones at Llanrhaiadr further up the line.
The weighbridge hut at Blodwell is said to have been corrugated iron, not weather-boarded, but there's enough of that on the platform.
There were (there still are) some sheds along the roadside end, but they don't seem to have attracted the attention of photographers.
The wagons are a BR 16ton mineral (Parkside), an LNER 16ton riveted mineral and an LMS 16ton welded mineral (both Cambrian). It's probably unlikely that the yard would have had three coal wagons present at once.

 

[Barry37]

Blodwel goods yard. I've only found one (poor quality) photo so far, showing this area, and that was taken after the yard had closed - so no weighbridge or cattle dock.
Old maps have WM for "weighing machine" in the place I've put it, but not the cattle dock. I have assumed that there was some kind of coal storage - but it's a generic model, made from ply sleepers. The coal scales are from photos of yards in the Brighton area. There'll be some filled sacks to go in the space to the left of the coal.
The large bushes at the back came from AliExpress, and still need making less identical.
3D printed horse & cart, coal scales frame, fencing, stone wall and weighbridge deck.
The goods siding was higher than the running line, so there's a possibility that empty wagons (one at a time) were allowed to roll out of the siding, then under the bridge into the loop. The station area was prone to flooding, so seems to have been the low spot locally, which would greatly enable gravity shunting.

 

[Barry37]

The cattle dock. This is from the drawing in Mike Lloyd's "The Tanat Valley Light Railway"(Wild Swan) of the one at Llansilin Road, further up the line. Ones at the other stations seem to have been pretty similar, although they varied a little. 3D printed except for the "floor" which is plasticard.
And that's all there is to the goods yard. The real siding was probably a bit longer, although it probably never held any more wagons than there is room for on my layout.

 

[Dog Star]

Thank you for posting all of these photos of your layout, I am enjoying the scene.

rgds, Graham

 

[Barry37]

Thanks.
I've meaning to do this for some time, and finally began.

While some areas of the layout are modified - mainly to hide trains exiting through the backscene - I hope that people can imagine themselves being in that location. Adding the photographic backscene will help with that.

 

[Barry37]

The footbridge plus some of the woodland.
The trees at this end are mostly quinoa stems(?) from AliExpress - I think I've bought four packs of them.
They were cut/broken into suitable lengths, then wired together as a bundle with 28swg soft copper wire, plus PVA glue. The larger trees further along (not in this photo) are plastic trunks/branches with quinoa bundles attached.
The leaves are Woodland Scenics and similar material bought from China. The latter can be a bit bright though, and not always the colour ordered.
The tree branches had spots of PVA glue put on, then dipped in the leaf material.
A slightly quicker method, was using spray mount adhesive, but this tends to make the leaves look as though the foliage is in one piece.

 

[Barry37]

Woodland, and small stream - if you look hard enough. The furthest tree is one that I used spray mount on.
The cow parsley (if that's what it is) is tiny pieces of quinoa, with white pieces of what seems to be finely chopped up mesh (China) as flowers.
This came as a mix of dark green, orange, white and yellow. It's a bit shiny - so the green has been used to make a large holly bush. Also ivy that's on one of the trees in this photo, but not really visible looking this way. The ivy was made by coating grey thread in PVA, then dipping it in the green "flakes", before glueing it to the tree trunk.
One sheep seems determined not to follow the others.


The right hand end of the layout.
An Airfix B set appears to have mislaid its loco. These coaches still need to be flush glazed and have their underframes corrected - extra trusses, moved battery boxes etc. They'll also be close-coupled like the GWR-liveried pair I have,
Must remember to take some photos when this is being done.
Some of the ABS stones have fallen out of the wall on the left. When I find the spare lengths of the concrete fencing, and the jig used for the wires (thread), I'll post a couple of pictures.
There was a platelayers' hut near this location, probably a bit further on. When fixed down, it will the other way round to have the chimney on the fence side, like the prototype.
Unless the fuel for the fires in these huts was bits of old sleepers, coal would have be supplied, and to signal boxes. I wonder how this was done?
There should be some point rodding and a ground frame here. At the "off-layout" junction for the branch to Nantmawr quarry, there was another ground frame, and a Fixed Distant Signal for Blodwell station.
Neither that junction, or Blodwell goods siding had any signals. Apparently, the ground frame was unlocked by either the signalman, or the statiomaster, getting a ride on the train from the station, with the tablet for the "main line" section from Blodwell to Porthywaen - the next box* towards Llynclys Junction/Oswestry (In the 1930s?, this section was extended to Llynclys Jct.).
After the train had gone onto the quarry branch, points were reset for the main line, and the tablet taken back to the station.

* this was only other signal box on the Tanat Valley Railway. This was demoted by the GWR to the status of a ground frame. Although it was still an actual box, there were no longer any signals. I remember seeing it when passing along the nearby road, in 1972.
All the other stations made do with ground frames, which must have been interesting when it was raining or dark, or both!

 

[Barry37]

Two photos of the junction end of the layout.
The first one is approximately "normal viewing angle", with the curve of the left hand line to the fiddle yard not visible.
The decaying timber fence is being replaced by concrete posts. And there's actually point rodding and signal wires on this short section.
Signal wires are a single unwound strand from grey thread..The point rodding was put together off the layout, on a plywood jig with holes for the stool bases, and the rodding superglued on top. The assembly was then put into holes in the ballast at the same spacing.
This seemed much easier than glueing the stools into the ballast, then finding out that one was out of line, or too high/low.


The second photo shows the LH track curving through a hole in the embankment. There is a short length of track on the "correct" route which might be possible to glimpse from the front, if someone is being too nosey. This ends under an accommodation bridge based on one on the Tanat Valley line.
The farm crossing was in a rather odd position, running across the point. I suppose that was where gates between two fields was already, and that's how it stayed - and still does.
There will be Home signals just in front of the embankment, and near the ballast bin (ancient Mike's Models). There probably wasn't another platelayers' hut here, but I had two in stock. This one is the oldest - made in 1975, and is the pre-production model of the very first Cambrian Models' kit.
Round the corner (the real line did curve away here) was a Fixed Distant signal. It will be located at the right hand edge of the hole in the backscene, I may do the same with the telegraph pole on the left, when the curved part of the backscene plywood or hardboard is fitted.

 

[Barry37]

This photo show the area to the left of the gate in the previous post. There was some kind of structure, visible in some photos, but too far away to make out what it was. So it's this.

The grounded van body is an HO scale NSWGR CV van, made for Berg's Hobbies. It's quite similar to a real grounded one (unknown railway Co.) at another location, that I found online. Unlike the CV van, that didn't have horizontal timbers halfway up the side panels. It was quite a slow job removing them from the mouldings. Only the end of the small extension was visible in the photo, so it's largely what I think it might have been like. There's clutter behind the van.
The shelter for the horses is mostly imaginary, too, though there was something attached to the end of the van in the photo. This, and the small extension are 3D printed frames, and corrugated roofing sheets made from foil food trays.
One day, Farmer Jones will come and fill the horses' bath with varnish. Which will be very disappointing if you're a horse, even an ABS thoroughbred.



The frames - drawn using Blender. Part of the station house fruit cage frame showing in bottom left corner. Making them like this, produces stronger structures than an assembly of plasticard pieces. It's a sloping site, which is why the frames are odd shapes.

 

[Barry37]

Some rolling stock.
Hornby GWR 27xx awaiting "Great Western" transfers. As bought, it had the shirt button GWR. This class didn't actually run on the line, but one, at least, was in Oswestry Works for repair, so with a bit of licence, it might have been put on a service train to test the repair. I wanted an older-looking loco to pull the past their sell-by date coaches used on trains going to Llanfyllin - on my layout anyway. The Tanat Valley had its own selection of quaint locos to match the coaches.
Some of the alterations (and others) are detailed on Tony's Workbench: Detailing Hornby's ancient open-cab Pannier (Swansea Railway Modellers Group).
The chimney height has been reduced a little, as real ones seemed shorter in photos. It has larger tank filler caps, separate injectors (after scraping the moulded ones off). This enabled fitting rear tank brackets, though they are a bit hidden. There's some daylight under the boiler now, and the centre & front wheels have the 4 coil springs on the splashers - which have also gained beading. The engine didn't come with outside brake pull rods, so they've been added. It also has lamp irons, plus fire iron hooks on the rear of the bunker (now with real coal).
Will be more useful when it's got couplings.

 

[Barry37]

This is a GWR D15 3rd Brake. It's a conversion of a Triang clerestory brake coach. This is another one of the Tony's Workbench projects.

Mine differs by having the correct number of panels either side of the double luggage doors on the body. I've also fitted a different type (mine) of "corner hung" Dean bogies. The hangers are attached to a crossbar glued to the floor, rather than the bogies, so they don't swing out/in on curves. In order to clear the bogie frames, they are about a millimetre further apart than they should be.
The windows now have separate glazing. Door glazing is stuck inside the body, and the quarterlight glazing was fitted from the outside - after scraping off the thick layer of paint in the recesses. Printed bolection mouldings were then fitted to the quarterlights (painted first!)
There's a slight wiggle in the side to the left of the ducket, due to the number of pieces this part of the side was cut into.



This is another Triang clerestory conversion, based on a Tony's Workbench project.
It's a representation of a Cambrian Railways 1st/3rd coach No.6282. Fortunately, this one didn't involve sawing up the body. The roof hasn't been fitted properly yet, as I haven't done the interior.
As on the previous coach, it has separate glazing and printed quarterlight bolection mouldings. It also has better-looking door ventilators.*
Bogies are printed, based on several photos. The commode handles have been scraped off (time-consuming), as the Cambrian ones weren't as fancy as the GWR type. Replacements still to be fitted.
* I have an LMS Booklet (looks "home-made") issued by Crewe to the Euston accident investigation department in 1947. This has photos with vehicle parts numbered and identified below. The coach photo says the door ventilators are "door bonnets".

 

[Barry37]

This photo shows the left hand line going under the hill - which is higher than if it was like the the real one. The backscene will curve round the corner from the barn to the end, as has already been done at the other end.
The top of the hill is actually flat - only the trees behind the fence and to the immediate left of the right hand track are full height. The ones behind are just "tops" that get shorter, to make it appear that the hill is sloping from front to back, and not standing on top of a tunnel.
The short trees are mostly plastic trunk/branch mouldings from AliExpress, with surgery or additional branches to avoid them looking too similar.

 

[Barry37]

Some rolling stock.

This is a model of an LMS D1927 Medium Goods wagon. These were built in large numbers from 1935 to replace pre-grouping wagons.
Some were unfitted, but this is one with eight brakeshoe vacuum brakes. It's a Ratio body, on a whitemetal underframe from a BR Lowfit,
Unfortunately, it has plastic wheels, which I haven't yet tried to replace. The axleboxes are separate castings, so it might be possible to remove them, to fit metal wheels and bearings.



This is another old model, though I only bought it about a year ago.
It's an Airfix Model of an LMS Stanier Brake van - the box says Copyright 1975.
The body now has glazing, and the vertical handrails are now wire. I didn't do the horizontal ones, as it's not that apparent that they're just moulded on.
The underframe modifications were made more difficult by the type of plastic used (polypropylene?). The hangers for the steps have been thinned down, and daylight introduced round the W-irons. It also has brake shoes in line with the wheels, and a shallow weight box.



This is an early Midland Railway van, built from 1880 to Drawing No.401/Diagram 353.
It was 3D printed, and although not planned, the separate doors actually slide. There are few printing faults on this van, more noticeable after it was painted, so it's probably going to be replaced.
There's not photographic evidence of one of these van visiting the line, but Midland open wagons certainly did. Also one photo shows what appears to be a couple of sheeted LBSC round end wagons in a lime train.



Track note: the wagons are standing on an unfinished LH three-way point, destined for one of the fiddle yards. It's got a printed base, including the chairs. As it's not on the scenic part, I haven't bothered to tidy up the sleepers.

 

[Barry37]

More wagons:

GWR Plough Brake van.
Printed, except for roof, buffers and plough operating "gear" in the body, which came from a Shark kit.
Some of the bolt heads need attention, particularly on the nearer corner.
It's pretty unlikely that any ploughing of ballast occurred on the line, but one could have turned up on the end of a ballast train from the nearby quarry.
In later years, these vans had the verandah filled in, but the as-built condition looks more interesting. The LSWR also had very similar vans.



A GWR CC1 Pooley's Workshop Van for Weighing Machine repairs. There were several weighbridges on the line, so one of these might have visited.
The roof lights are probably going to be sliced off and replaced, as the glazing isn't high enough up inside. It should also have DC brakes, not a long lever.
Lettering is laser printed on paper, and attached with PVA glue. The paper covers all of the panel each part of the lettering is on, so the edge doesn't show. It was then painted the same colour as the body, very close to the lettering.
I discovered after doing this, that transfers are available from Railtec, but they seem to have used a typeface that matches some of the lettering, but not all. The capital Ts in "Tare", and "To be Shunted..." aren't the same. for instance.
The railway signwriter seems to have varied the letters' shape, depending on the space available, perhaps.


BR D1/163 Sand Hopper.
Some of these were converted to carry lime - but I don't know what this involved. These worked up to the quarry at Nantmawr, east of Blodwell.
They'll probably be about six of these. Possibly this one won't be one of the six, as the drawings were modified after it was assembled, to improve the fit of the parts.



BR D1/107 21T Mineral wagon.
I recently saw a photo of a goods train at Llanfyllin, which included one of these wagons. For an out-of-the-way place, one of these arriving, must have been unusual.
Still awaiting a number. The sides need a bit of sanding/filling - this shows up more in a photo, than it does on the model.

 

[Barry37]

And now a loco. This is very much a work in progress, though not very often. It's possible that the body of the model pictured may be reprinted - my current printer is more accurate than the first one, despite only being around a quarter of the price of the first.
Though the first one did manage a fairly good job of the sandbox operating rods.
It's a Swindonised version of Cambrian Railways No.48, running as GWR No.908, withdrawn in 1938.
The body and chassis are printed, with turned brass buffers, and Gibson wheels. The coupling rods are being a bit troublesome at the moment - I may experiment with superglueing the two parts together (in the middle, to see if this cures the locking.
The tender is from an Kitmaster/Dapol City of Truro kit, and was sliced diagonally and extended with plasticard to make it match the length and wheelbase of 908's tender.
It has twin worms on the middle and rear axle, with a Mashima motor. The leading axle is sprung by a coil spring fitted in the recesses in the chassis and the moving part that carries the bearings. (picture lower down)



Tender chassis:



Sprung tender axle (Blender drawing):
Inverted bearing unit on the left included to show recess for spring.
The axle goes through all four holes, holding everything in place.