BRON HEBOG

If there's one part of the Festiniog which really tantalises me it's the abandoned former track bed leading from Dduallt station to the Old Moelwyn Tunnel.

My current workbench project - to make a replacement for the model of replica NWNGR carriage 24, which we gave away for a very good cause - continues in fits and starts.

Recently one of the followers on our Facebook page posted a comment asking if we'd ever considered connecting together our two Festiniog layouts Dduallt and Minffordd.

I've been neglecting the blog a little while I was away on holiday in Wales with Himself and The Trainee.

We've tried a lot of new things as part of the Minffordd project, such as moving to DCC control and sound, and smaller code track.

It's been quite a few weeks since I've done any work on the NWNGR replica replacement carriage.

I'm delighted to be able to report that Moelwyn has returned unscathed from its 800-mile round trip in the post.

I've been swithering for many months about the best way of getting a 45XX Small Prairie tank for the Minffordd fleet.

I never expected model railways and politics to collide in such a media spotlight, but here we are, and it's happening in, of all places, Clacton.

I am not one of life's gamblers.

If you'd wondered about the lack of posts in the last fortnight I hope you assumed (correctly) that I was on a summer holiday - rather than having another hissy fit and ceasing blogging.

I did mention a while back that there would be an exhibition date for Minffordd in England later this year, and that it would hopefully be convenient for the greatest number of people.

My company is in the process of moving out of offices we've occupied for more than 40 years.

If you've been reading this blog over the last couple of months you may recall I have started work on building a second model of the NWNGR replica carriage 24.

I'm not the only one who's been having ideas about some one-off conversation pieces as part of the trains we run on Minffordd at exhibitions.

More of the essential modifications to turn our antique Hornby Princess from a locomotive into a piece of unpowered rolling stock have been completed this weekend.

It is just possible that some of you have been waiting with baited breath - not too baited, I hope - to find out the results of the gauging trials with the Princess.

After a long pause there's some progress to report on our project to build a modern day James Spooner from a Backwoods kit.

Once I get an idea for a model I usually like to make a start on bringing it to reality.

Now we're truly time travelling with plans for another curiosity piece to run on Minffordd, depicting one of the most unlikely trains to traverse the Cambrian Coast Line.

If you're reading this, then the click bait has worked!

This is not a groundbreaking development in the world of model railways, but it is a classic case of us being late adopters.

Body sections for the 'replica of the replica' of carriage 24 have been cast with moderate success.

We had an unexpected new item of rolling stock to play with - The Boat!

I didn't see this one coming but I've spent the last couple of weeks working on scratch building a carriage again.