Porth Dinllaen

[PhilH]

Brunel seriously considered Porth Dinllaen as a competitor to Holyhead, the line would have surely come up from Barmouth, via Harlech, Porthmadog & Pwllheli. How it got there from the midlands without climbing Talerddig is another question (double headed Kings with bankers...? Would have been a sight to behold - and hear!)

Cartwright and Russell in their book on the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway (David & Charles 1972) mention Brunel's broad gauge scheme to connect the GWR to Porth Dinllaen, known as the Worcester & Porth Dinlleyn (sic) Railway. Apparently it would have passed through Llanfair Caerenion on its way through Mid Wales, with a viaduct 92 feet high over the River Banwy followed by a 1½ mile tunnel at a gradient of 1 in 121 against eastbound trains ! The scheme also included two other major tunnels over 2½ miles long.

 

[simond]

I’m all in favour of a cat, though on occasion our dear departed moggy did the unpardonable and caught a bird. I was not too bothered if it was a pigeon, but he couldn’t get them through the cat flap, much to our relief.

MrsD points out that a cat is a bit of a bind come holiday time, and she’s right. The howls of protest remain with me..

Maybe, one day. Good pets, cats.

 

[Neil]

Be careful about cats. I love cats and I love our current cat Fred but he catches birds, mice, voles and the odd rat and brings them into the house. We have had to replace our bedroom carpet after one of his victims expired under our bed and began to decompose into the carpet; when you notice the smell it's all too late. Again this year another mouse he brought in escaped. Here's Fred looking for the lost mouse.



We only found out some time later where it escaped to when the oven was turned on and a nasty smell filled the kitchen. Once I'd pulled the oven out I found it had burrowed into the insulation surrounding the oven and died. We had to replace the oven. So far he's cost us around eight hundred quid and the year's only half way through.

 

[simond]

Our little darling brought in various rodents over the years. Mostly he would have applied the coup de grace but occasionally he must have thought that I needed the entertainment... (or perhaps the exercise, or just needed teaching).

What was quite strange is that he almost immediately lost interest in the vole or whatever once he'd "handed it over", and it was generally quite difficult to get him re-engaged in a hunt. We did have one mouse lost under the kitchen units for a few days but I got him in the end, and ejected him to fight another day. We also had one wandering about in the stereo cabinet one evening - we had guests, who were most amused!

My son was somewhat disturbed one night by the sounds of a decent sized rabbit being eaten under his bed. Much crunching, apparently.

 

[RichardG]

The only concern I have is that I do not wish to create rodent central under the shed. Pondering that one.

Yes never more than three yards from one they say.

I had a threatening problem with rats running past my back door to use the hole they had chewed through my fence to get back to my neighbour's garden, the neighbours regarded them as beautiful creatures and fed them. There was a nest under their shed.

Well, I had a cage trap and a tunnel trap, both primed with bait I bought from the agricultural merchants, this came with detailed human survival instructions printed on the tub if you were stupid enough to lick your fingers or whatever. Remarkably potent stuff, no longer on sale for domestic use I believe. Some of my most memorable experiences here are picking up a dead rat and carrying it back to the railway. Well, that's where they all live.

Then Harry cat arrived with my other neighbours and moved in with me a few weeks later. I haven't seen a rat since, though he does bring me mice from time to time. I am told, cat psychology sees their chosen human as a pathetic creature who could never catch their own mice and needs help, but that's wandering off topic.


Harry is half Bengal cat. This means he likes the rain, and shows affection by biting. But a dear little chap really!

 

[Sheffield]

A few years ago I was engaged in a major war against mice, who were getting into the space between the top floor and the ceiling below and holding dances and the like. So I got two cats, brother and sister (why they had to stay together I never found out). But they flatly refused to assist me in the war, as it seems ordinary mice were beneath their notice. I used to have red squirrels, grass snakes and toads in the garden, but not any more. Most of the birds give us a clear berth as well. Eat sleep and kill is the guiding principle of their life.
I still feed them and give them a home, but it is clear that they hold me in contempt, and my view of them is not much better.

 

[simond]

So, returning to the grand plan - the intent for the lower level is currently a loop of track within the shed, with storage sidings under the passenger terminal. This allows locos to be run continuously for the purposes of running in, and offers storage. The dock side of the oval will be double track, the hidden side, ideally I should be able to get 4 or 5 tracks in. I have found that placing turnouts (or worse, crossovers) on curves is very difficult, and takes up far more space than might be at first imagined, particularly if one is trying to maintain 2m minimum main line radius (or even a bit more).

I am looking through my books to try to understand the layout of goods yards - it seems to me that one needs a reception road sufficiently bigger than the largest train, probably parallel with the long side of the oval, with some means of loco release, and a headshunt allowing the shunting locos to access the stock and distribute it around the docks. A lot of sidings seems to be a common feature, but I really don't want to overcrowd it. Some more work on screen required before committing myself.

Another, key point, is uncoupling. I use 3-links or screw couplings on everything, except within rakes of coaches where I use Kadees. Three-links mean the hand-of-god (attached to the arm of Simon and holding the holy uncoupler of Damascus) has to be able to reach - practically this is not more than 750mm / 2'6 dependent on the height of the baseboard - that limits the number of tracks from the furthest where uncoupling is envisaged to the edge of the board. Higher baseboards probably means the furthest track needs to be nearer.

Work in progress - the lower level - Entry/exit to the outside lines to right. Double track with crossover top centre. Outer track at left becomes the ramp to the upper level. I'm trying to make some sense of the pointwork top right - the three roads in the upper middle are reception and departure, the two below are "dockside". The curves top right will connect to the storage sidings bottom centre.



and the upper layer for the passenger terminal. Both upper and lower level exit the shed on the east.
The spur to the bottom of the trackplan connects to the ramp track which is the lowest line in the upper image.
The spur to the upper centre will lead to the loco shed. It is "based on" Birkenhead Woodside though I have taken a few liberties...


The plan is such that (once I have constructed the hidden sidings) it is reasonably easy to build it in stages and thus develop it piecemeal.

The outdoor track will all be Peco as it is robust and standardised - if a point or crossing is damaged, the replacement would be drop-in. As you will gather, I am planning to use Templot for the indoor track. I have done the loco shed in C&L chairs and wooden sleepers/timbers and that was quite enjoyable. I would like to use the 3D printed track but I am still on a learning curve, and have yet to complete my first turnout, but I have printed a couple of reasonable track bases, so it will happen. Still two double slips in the passenger terminus and maybe three in the dock...

Early days, need to build the shed first!

Simon

 

[LarryG]

I eventually found a mouse was hiding up inside the tumble dryer, so I took the dryer outside along with Bert and shook the mouse onto the lawn. Bert showed no interest and strolled into the kitchen to stand by his food dish. Unsurprisingly he departed the kitchen like a rugby ball. Useless oracle!

 

[Phil O]

My dad, bought several pieces of wire mesh, like that used for bird feeders dug a bit of a trench around the summer shed, summer house is grandiose for it put the mesh in and around a foot (300mm) up the walls and stapled it. at the doorway it was stapled to the hill and a bit to the outward opening doors. As far as I'm aware no livestock got in or under it.