Moel Rhos

Priming Prints

Having made a start in 3D printing I found that priming some of the bits and pieces I’d testing with different print settings helps to show up differences in the finish you get.

Hot Cross Bun train

It’s Good Friday! But owing to engineering work, the hot cross bun train may not run this year, so… here’s a video from 2020 of this vital service.

A couple of weeks back I posted a photo from a late night steam running session which took place back in May 2020. The top photo on this post is taken half an hour later the same evening. By this point it was pretty dark, and you can see to good effect the illumination provided by the light mounted above the smoke box.

Snow in the Sun

When I caught the sun on this patch of snow before it melted, I couldn’t resist another pic. It’s thawing fast now, but there are still patches around.

Snow on the Moel Rhos

Unusual conditions this morning! As you can see I didn’t have time to steam up (and snow never lasts long on the Moel Rhos – it’s beginning to thaw and the sun has barely risen). But I posed this anyway, it’s irresistible when the white stuff comes.

Late night steam

I was pleased with the effect on this photo which was taken during an evening running session in May 2020 at around 9.15pm. The low light forced my phone camera to slow the shutter, and a panned round with the loco to keep it in focus while the background blurred.

2023 in garden railway visits…

Looking back over the garden railway year, one particular pleasure has been our South West Wales 16mm Association Area group resuming a substantial programme of garden railway visits after lockdown shifted us online in 2020, and while we had some good meetings in 2021/22 it was only this year we got back to monthly (sometimes even twice monthly) gatherings in each others’ gardens.

Tunnel mouth silhouette

Sometimes when trains run frequently on the Moel Rhos (usually in the summer months) I’ll leave a train in the tunnel, to save taking it off the tracks, but to give some shelter from any showers in the hours between running sessions. This pictures was taken through the northern tunnel with a train of full gravel tippers, poised to be called back into action.

A Mamod Boulton for the Moel Rhos

No. 5 arrived on the Moel Rhos in April 2020. It’s a Mamod Boulton – a steel-bodied battery-powered diesel outline loco with an MFA motor on an Essel designed chassis.

Lego wagons

One of the first drawings I did to 3D print was for parts to make Christmas presents for my nephews and niece.