Coming soon ......

.... Machynlleth's first Railway Collectors Fair and Swapmeet.

Organised by my friend and fellow enthusiast Nick who tells me that there are still a few pitches available. He can be contacted on 01654 761424 or by e-mail nick@railwaystuff.co.uk

Inspiration

Thanks to this blog I've become ridiculously interested in the Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowden Railway, in particular the projected line from Beddgelert past Llyn Gwynant and on to Betws y Coed. Though I've yet to do anything concrete it hasn't stopped me from taking a very plesant detour on my way north through Gwynedd to visit a friend to take these photos of the locality.

Abergwynant, also appearing at .....

In response to Rogers request for an overall view of the layout I can do no better than direct you to an earlier outing on the internet here. Abergwynant features a short way down the page, but do spend some time browsing the other contributions there's much that is of interest, I particularly like the last layout a dual gauge German affair.

Abergwynant

After Shell Island, I sort of repeated the Cambrian Coast theme with Abergwynant. The fiction became ever more dubious in an attempt to justify the retention of a short section of the line from Morfa Mawddach to Dolgellau as far as the quarries at Abergwynant. The layout was pretty successful in the aim to be ultra portable though once the lighting gantry was added it became obvious that it wouldn't be possible to take it on jaunts using public transport. It's now in the safe keeping of my friend Martin Jones who makes sure it gets a far more frequent airing than I ever would.

This isn't the last you'll hear about Abergwynant ......

Corris Model Railway and Toy Exhibition 2009

Held over the August bank holiday weekend, this year the Corris Exhibition moves to a new venue at Corris School, just across the car park from the Corris Railway and Museum. In total fourteen layouts will be on display, backed up by demonstrations, trade stands, craft sales, refreshments and the Corris Railway Society Stand.

The exhibition opens daily from 10:30am until 5:00pm on Saturday 29th, Sunday 30th & Monday 31st of August.

I'll be bringing two of my layouts Chwarel Bach (009 'push-button pizza') and the ,so new the paints still wet, Isle of Avalon Tramway (EM). Make a day of it, come and say hello at the exhibition, take a ride down the beautiful Dulas Valley on the train and perhaps visit the Craft Centre too.

Hello world .....

.... meet the Isle of Avalon Tramway, my latest EM gauge microbe.

Scenes from an exhibition.

I wasn't sure quite what to expect from the Tywyn show having no prior knowledge of what else would be there. If I'm honest I thought that it might be a little bigger than it was, though the constraints of the venue were to a large extent overcome by a careful and varied selection of layouts. Here's a few of them.