Wild Ideas, Chops & Changes…..

A couple of weeks ago I came very close to dismantling Bleddfa Road, for it is getting harder to find new camera angles now, and you can have too much of the same old thing. Were I younger, and in better health then no doubt I would be looking forward to starting a new layout. Several new ideas have been floating around in my head, but all have been quietly dropped. So Bleddfa Road lives on for now, but I need a new challenge, one that would motivate me to do some modelling. One of my friends had this to say…………….

“I feel Bleddfa Road is at the stage where you can just now tinker with additional details such as the extra planting, flowers, telegraph wires, etc, etc; i.e. the small everyday details we see and take for granted but only notice when they become conspicuous by their absence”.

With the exception of telegraph wires, which in my experience only act as dust magnets, that is pretty much how I see things. But I’m also considering changes to the trackwork, take the limekiln siding for example, which sees little use.

Removing it would be rather drastic, but I’m attracted to the idea of modelling even less.

Of course the changes wouldn’t stop there because the occupation crossing would become a single ungated affair with cattle grids, so there would be no need for a crossing keepers cottage. I don’t know why, but there is something about this scene that captivates me, perhaps it is the simplicity and openness of the countryside?

Drawing by the late John Lloyd

Now to throw a spanner in the works imagine this simple shelter on the platform, or as a replacement for the current station building at Bleddfa Road. I came very close to modelling this structure, and will definitely be creating a mock up of it come what may.

Another thing that has crossed my mind is to replace the occupation crossing with a slightly modified version of the current road bridge. Its span would be narrower, the road wider and it would be modelled in full so it could be viewed from each end. The cart track leading to the station would have to be realigned, and the existing backscene would remain in place, but a new scenic fiddleyard would be constructed.

Anyway, putting my possible future plans and ideas to one side here’s a few photos of Bleddfa Rd., today. Sometimes I have a diesel only session, the 03 is another model that was picked up cheaply and repaired. I still need three spare parts to complete it, hopefully Heljan will soon come up with the goods.

I rather enjoy watching the 03 pottering around as she shunts the yard. The model is a real heavy weight and runs ever so smoothly. She is seen here on the siding loop with a short train of full coal wagons.

I have been fortunate enough to have enjoyed many cab rides over the years on both steam, and diesel locomotives. Having experienced a trip on an 08 shunter, I hate to think what the ride would have been like on D2139 as she returned down the branch with today’s goods train.

Today’s passengers can also expect a rough ride on the Railbus, but she is much smoother running, since I reduced the excessive axle side play with some fibre washers. With a set of ‘speed whiskers’ on order, I will soon be painting the yellow warning panel out, along with the white cab roof.

Time to pack the diesels away, and make a few card mock ups, well that’s the plan, but anything can happen !

Geoff