Really coming on Marty - good to see you back on track again, so to speak.
All the more admirable for being in N. Having struggled with constructing Crymmych Arms, I'm never going near N gauge again!
More to the point, when are you going to reach N-C E ? that the bit I'm looking forward to! :thumbs

Shaun.

Diolch yn fawr Shaun,
More work on the Newcastle Emlyn station boards is imminent, I'm building up the courage to use the router to create the turntable well.
The approach track to the NE boards is now wired up and trains have been travelling up and down the line to check tunnel clearances as the new hillside is being developed.

lechyd da

Marty

I've gathered together the bits to make a hot wire cutter…. I may still be allowed to use the vast collection of polystyrene yet!



now to put it together…

Marty

woo hoo… it works…




Now to get on with building up the landscape in the corner of the layout. You can see the recent work on lining the tunnels and arranging tunnel mouths and the path of the Afon Teifi is sketched out on the core flute base.








I'm off to the shed with the core flute as a template to cut out a matching shape in a sheet of the closed cell insulation foam that I've finally found in our mega DIY store. cheersMarty

Well done, Marty.   :thumbs

Happy cutting Marty, but be aware of the fumes  :thumbs


Ed

Thanks Max and Ed… I retired to the garage/shed and opened both doors to let the fumes out… just as well. phew!
I had a couple of issues. One where the power pack I was using kept tripping out and required resetting if the voltage was turned up too high. With the voltage set low it was more reliable.

Two, cutting free form shapes is quite difficult in that the wire wanders off the line quite easily but I'm sure it's just a matter of practice.

More as it happens.

cheers


Marty

Just watch the power pack doesn't get too hot Marty, you're basically running it with a permanent short circuit.

Think that's why a lot of the commercially available affordable versions, are low voltage battery powered.



Ed

Thanks Ed, yes, being cautious and contemplating sourcing another power pack, I have a fair selection of old mobile phone chargers to start with.
Marty

So…. the power pack short circuit protection is definitely tripping once the wire gets hot enough to cut. I persevered and juggled the power pack reset in one hand and cutting in the other. If there had been a need to create a smooth surface from the cut modifications to the power supply would have been needed, but as the polystyrene/foam is going to be covered over with my polyfiller landscape gloop mix it doesn't matter. 

First layer down and the river bed is gouged out using a circular wire brush in the power drill, no dear… I'm working in the garage with the vacuum cleaner on.





Second layer in place…





…. and from a lower angle…





As a rough cut, virtually no mess, landscape base that'll do nicely thank you…


Marty

That works Marty, bring on the gloop  :thumbs



Ed

The gloop will be a wee while yet, the landform on the right hand side of the river is quite complicated.

One of the signature features of the Newcastle Emlyn station layout that drew me to try and model the location over 10 years ago was that the engine shed was built over a stream.

To achieve this requires the turntable to be installed and the engine shed road to be constructed. It'll take a bit of thinking!


Marty

See what you mean  :hmm

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/newcastle_emlyn/index6.shtml


Ed

Yup, and the black and white map on this page.

Disused Stations: Newcastle Emlyn Station


Engine shed in top right corner… you can see the stream running past the mill, under the branch line approach to the station and then under the shed.

Took me ages to see it… but once I'd worked out what was going on I was hooked. It has to be modelled.

Marty

Not sure if it goes around the back of the shed Marty, or under it.

There's definitely a kink in the path of the stream.

Man made?

Pretty sure the Disused Station site got the map from here

https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/230500/240500/12/101042

Can't zoom in to much on the old maps unless you subscribe, but the newest map shows a gap where it appears to go underground.

Best of luck anyway.


Ed

Ed,
Thanks for the link.

Definitely under it. There is a centerfold spread of that map in the GWR Journal article on the branch and when I visited in 2010 I found the location of the old shed.

Looking forward to modelling it and have been for 10 years!

A little more progress on the layout this past weekend.

Continuing with the development of the scenic break, valley and hillside between Henllan and Newcastle Emlyn stations, the road bridge and embankment at the west end of Henllan station was thrown together to see what it might look like.

Some more of my stash of polystyrene assortments was put to the hot wire cutter to create the embankment, and a bridge plate of 3mm MDF with plastruct I-beams glued to the underside of the MDF with MEK was constructed.

Looking west at Henllan station…




A little closer from the footbridge …




A view southwards up the Afon Teifi valley…




On the track bed to the right and on the west bank of the Afon Teifi is marked out the likely location of the stream that runs under the engine shed (further to the right and not shown in the above photo).

The Green Grove milk factory sidings are going to be extended a little where the extra bits of track are plonked. 

The internal tunnel linings are clearly visible at this point in time to the top right and building the hillside around and above them is going to take a little fettling of more polystyrene.

The rail bridge at the back between the double tunnel mouth and the new road bridge is much easier to determine now the river bed has been gouged in.

more as it happens,

cheers

Marty

Looking good Marty  :thumbs

Really shows that you can build the railway into the landscape in N gauge, without needing a space the size of a church hall.


Ed

Does this help at all?
It's taken from the 'old maps' web site.
I did try to check out the actual location at the weekend, but the residential properties have altered everything, plus when I enquired at one of the houses, they didn't really want to know. Sorry Marty…



Very impressed with the build, BTW!

Shaun.

Thanks Ed, 
The railway in a landscape is what I'm trying to portray… must be doing something right!

Shaun,

Doilch yn fawr, nothing like having a local man, above and beyond the call once again. You are quite correct, you can't get to the site itself but the old Pandy mill building with the stream running around it exists and if you cross the river and go into the rugby pitch and surrounding fields the stream exit into the Afon Teifi is visible.

Here is a zoomed and coloured version of the map… I do like photoshop.




The engine shed (Red) sits between the river (blue/green) and the station throat (green) which is on an embankment (I'm a cartographer by trade). 
The stream (bright blue) passes under the road, around the Pandy Mill, under the embankment that the station throat is on, under the engine shed and then into the river.  Turntable is in yellow. I didn't believe it as first but close examination of the engine shed photo (on the closed stations website http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/n/newcastle_emlyn/index.shtml) shows, to my eye, a gap between the embankment and the engine shed. 

cheers

Marty

Marty, you need to move the closing bracket after the link otherwise people will get a "404 page not found" (like wot I just did)