Neil
Western Thunderer
I've been busy the last few days cutting up Morfa into small enough chunks for me to manhandle down two flights of stairs and barrow into the garage for sorting and final reprocessing. Though I'm not sad to see the layout go, when I was half way through taking the fiddle yards apart it dawned on me just how much time had gone into this small part of the layout and yet how little time it took to reduce it to nothingness.
I'm also surprised at how little I've been able to recover and what form the recoverable stuff has taken. The easy bit was lifting the buildings off the layout as none were stuck down. The copper clad points came up easily, but all the ply and plastic chaired track has gone, though the rail has been saved. I also managed to soak and prise away the timber viaduct over the Mawddach Bach. Some of the lower parts of the benchwork has also survived with new additions on top; I'll return to this later on.
Of the baseboard tops that were taken down to the garage those parts with no combustible potential awit a journey to the tip, otherwise their destiny lies with the central heating boiler; the last three days central heating and hot water has been powered by the remains of Morfa.
I've already hinted that some rebuilding has taken shape/is taking place but this isn't layout specific and will be dealt with when I can take photos to illustrate the direction I intend to take. The destruction has prompted me to think about what to build next and the manner in which I would like to do it. There will be something of a hiatus in construction while our crumbling pile sells and we move somewhere smaller and easier to manage. Though I'm unsure what the subject matter of the next build will be, I've come to the conclusion that it won't be in EM. Though in some ways it's a good compromise, the ease of OO yet approaching the fidelity of P4, it also embodies the worst of both, everything needs altering to suit or built to a bespoke standard without gaining anything over OO finescale except for the rails being a bit further apart.
I do have another Cambrian inspired idea I'd like to do, but in OO with Peco track and points. I'd be able to de-convert my EM stock in very short order as all that would need doing would be to push the wheels back in. There is a chance that something Belgian might appear though, or Italian, or Indian narrow gauge, or .....
I'm also surprised at how little I've been able to recover and what form the recoverable stuff has taken. The easy bit was lifting the buildings off the layout as none were stuck down. The copper clad points came up easily, but all the ply and plastic chaired track has gone, though the rail has been saved. I also managed to soak and prise away the timber viaduct over the Mawddach Bach. Some of the lower parts of the benchwork has also survived with new additions on top; I'll return to this later on.
Of the baseboard tops that were taken down to the garage those parts with no combustible potential awit a journey to the tip, otherwise their destiny lies with the central heating boiler; the last three days central heating and hot water has been powered by the remains of Morfa.
I've already hinted that some rebuilding has taken shape/is taking place but this isn't layout specific and will be dealt with when I can take photos to illustrate the direction I intend to take. The destruction has prompted me to think about what to build next and the manner in which I would like to do it. There will be something of a hiatus in construction while our crumbling pile sells and we move somewhere smaller and easier to manage. Though I'm unsure what the subject matter of the next build will be, I've come to the conclusion that it won't be in EM. Though in some ways it's a good compromise, the ease of OO yet approaching the fidelity of P4, it also embodies the worst of both, everything needs altering to suit or built to a bespoke standard without gaining anything over OO finescale except for the rails being a bit further apart.
I do have another Cambrian inspired idea I'd like to do, but in OO with Peco track and points. I'd be able to de-convert my EM stock in very short order as all that would need doing would be to push the wheels back in. There is a chance that something Belgian might appear though, or Italian, or Indian narrow gauge, or .....
