PONT-Y-DULAIS (OO)

A no-nonsense, simple-to-operate layout has great benefits for short running sessions, yet can remain evocative of an era no more. James Hilton explains.

Saturday morning, April 30, 1977, The Jam ‘In the City’ droning on the radio as you drive down the wet, muddy track down to the shed at Pont-y-dulais with a mix of excitement and anticipation. Your bright red Ford Escort RS2000 is a little incongruous in this dirty industrial setting, yet it's your pride and joy. Avoiding the inevitable potholes, you swing into the small yard, and pull up alongside the run-down shed building just ahead of a pile of coal. The rain has stopped but it’s still wet everywhere and as you step out of the car avoiding puddles, the 2.0-litre engine is still ticking and smelling hot after a spirited drive from back home in England taking advantage of the recently completed sections of M4 over the Severn Bridge. You’re excited to find, just sitting inside the shed, the cutdown curiosity Peckett Hornet, still warm from its shift yesterday. A sharp whistle spins you round to see its larger sister, B2 Bronwen, appearing beneath the road bridge bringing a rake of 16T minerals over the weigh bridge on the Saturday morning shift. You breathe in the smell of hot oil and coal smoke, savour everything with every sense, before taking out your cherished Olympus OM1, loaded with Ektachrome slide film for a walk around the yard and an attempt to capture some of this industrial steam atmosphere before it is gone forever…

OK, so I wasn’t born until 1980, but this feeling of discovering an industrial backwater resonates with me. I remember walking around Bristol Docks on holidays visiting my Nan, seeing the Western Fuel Company coal trains being shunted by the ‘Big Yellow Diesel’ (an ex-BPA Hudswell) as well as brake van rides with the big

Peckett Henbury along the harbour. This combination of down at heel track and buried rails stuck with me, and my interest in industrials bubbled along until Hornby started announcing items in its range. The Sentinel perked my interest but it was its Peckett W4 that really opened my eyes and tempted me back from my narrow gauge modelling to OO gauge.

I’m a professional model maker and have been designing kits for Narrow Planet as well as my own brands for many years. In 2019, I developed my first standard gauge kit for ‘Planet Industrials’, a collaboration with Steve Fulljames. This model, fittingly a Hibberd Planet, was well received (built by Phil Parker in the BRM May 2020) and led to further kit developments. Fast forward and this growing collection of industrial 'OO' models needed a home!

Construction constraints

The Covid-19 lockdown, combined with a space above my workbench, some spare track and some offcuts of wood led to the idea of building a small industrial slice of South Wales informed by those early memories and influenced by Gordon Edgar’s book on the industrial systems in Wales with its evocative colour photographs.

The layout is just 98cm long and 24cm deep and was built from offcuts of 6mm MDF I had from a customer project. There is no depth for a proper baseboard structure, but as it sits on a shelf and is fully supported, this wasn’t necessary. The integrated lid, which is offset a half cm over the front of the layout, includes a strip of natural LED lights that provide a good spread of light. The inside of the lid is painted white, the LEDs are on an angle, so provide reasonable light spread and minimise shadows on the backscene.

The simple trackplan is constrained by the layout's physical location in my workshop meaning there are no fiddle yards. Track is Peco Code 75 bullhead, just two points, operated by surface-mounted wire in tube that has been buried in scenery. I didn’t have space to mount sliding switches on the front, so small knobs operate the point mechanically and toggle switches at the bridge end operate the frog polarity.

Capturing South Wales

Scenically, I was trying to capture the feel of various South Wales locations, hence the road bridge is influenced by that at Mountain Ash, and in my mind, the layout is the end of a run round loop that features a weighbridge, before wagons are then tripped down to BR interchange by the line that runs behind the shed. The shed building is inspired by that at Pontarddulais, including the breeze block rebuilt back – presumably, there may have been a run-away at some point? This, and the bridge, were built with Plastikard cores overlaid with Wills' and Slater's brick plastic sheets, carefully painted using enamels to try and capture the subtle colouring of the prototype and evoke the feeling of those photographs in Gordon’s book. Greenery makes use of various static

grasses and Greenscenes' scenic scatter over some old recycled Woodland Scenics' ‘forest in a box’ white metal armatures. The backscene, a moody overcast sky, is one from the excellent ID Backscenes.

The combination of colours and the moody backscene I feel capture the feeling of a bright but wet day in South Wales.

Finishing touches

The small details are key and must not be overdone on such a small layout. The scene behind the shed with the occupation crossing uses some Planet Industrials' gates and signs. The shed has some lockers – future Planet Industrials' products – and appropriate signage inside. Outside, coal and ash piles were formed in clay before being painted and covered with material over

PVA. The wheelbarrow is neat – a 3D print from eBay. Beyond these small details, it’s spotting things on prototype structures and incorporating them so you might notice the

broken gutter and snapped off downpipe with the associated green staining on the brickwork – the coal at the base of the wall will be useless now its thoroughly soaked!

I was trying to evoke an emotional response with this layout, its small size allows you to get up close and lost in the scene. I feel that I’ve been successful in the flesh, yet I hope you can really soak up the atmosphere in these photographs. It also demonstrates that small layouts don’t need to be overly complicated or crammed with cameos.

Operating 'Pont-y-dulais' frequently between model making, you’d expect me to lose interest with the simple trackplan, but 10 minutes can easily be lost shuffling stock; 16T, 24T, or HUOs around between the two sidings before putting the locomotive back to sleep at the shed.

I’ve written about the joy of model railways as a guest writer on Phil Parker’s blog and, to me, this layout epitomises it – model railways need to be accessible and ready to run when you are. I can leave the stock in place and in two seconds turn on the light and power before running trains. Take a fresh look around your home and see if you have space to evoke something that resonates for you, in a readily accessible location, making the most of the joy of this wonderful hobby of ours. Happy modelling!

Hornet trundles past an empty shed with empties from the exchange sidings for loading at Graig Merthr. The model is a Hornby Peckett with Planet Industrials cut down cab conversion, and is based upon a prototype that worked at Bersham colliery in North Wales.

Peckett ‘Hornet’ rests on shed at shift change. Note the ash that was shovelled out last night hasn’t been cleared up yet! The model is a modified Hornby Peckett with Planet Industrials cut down cab conversion and is based upon a locomotive that worked at Bersham Colliery in North Wales.

Andrew Barclay No. 22 crosses the occupation crossing behind the shed. This was built from prototype parts for a Planet Industrials kit.

On hire from Gwent Coal, Pride of Gwent shuffles a crippled wagon back to the shed for some attention. The Bachmann 03 has been repainted and fitted with custom decals designed by the author to match the prototype, an example of an ex-BR locomotive seeing use in Industrial service beyond the main line.

Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 Lady Morvyth hauls a set of Pensnett railway opens up the line in a scene where the layout has been transported from the South Wales valleys to the Black Country! The model is a Hatton’s Barclay modified with a Planet Industrials conversion kit. The wagons are Oxford seven planks, repainted with Planet Industrials transfers.

Andrew Barclay No. 22 pauses while the driver discusses the next move with the shunter as they shuffle empty wagons over the weigh bridge (out of sight beyond the road). The model is a modified Hatton’s Barclay with a Planet Industrials cab conversion, based upon the preserved locomotive that worked in the North East.

An 'Austerity' is running round its train of empties before taking them back up the line to the colliery. This DJ Models example was repainted and weathered to represent one of those used at Graig Merthyr Colliery.

Pride of Gwent sits on shed in a ‘post steam’ scene with a Mk. 3 Escort XR2i, assumed to be our photographers, parked alongside the shed.