Pont-y-dulais (or dau mil un cant dau ddeg dau)...

2112 square centimetres, it sounds a lot, but it's actually tiny - and that is the area of the shelf under neath East Works but above my workbench...

I've pondered what to do with this area for some time, and have mulled over small plans for OO and 009 layouts to fill the space. In the end, seeing my friends Tom Dauben and Steve Fulljames make starts on similar small projects bumped this one into reality and I settled on what had become favourite... a scene based upon photographs and video of NCB steam in South Wales in the late 1960s early 1970s.

So here we have Pont-y-dulais (or Dulais bridge). Yes, it is almost 'Pontarddulais' but not quite, with also some elements of Mountain Ash thrown in, really it's just an excuse to try out a pair of Peco bull-head points, fill a space on the workshop and have a small OO gauge layout that is out all the time for running. It nearly fills the area above my workbench, and hopefully it's compact size will make it a good fun little project whilst ticking the boxes for somewhere to 'play' with my growing collection of coal related industrials.

The period is deeply evocative and I find photos and videos of the run-down and worn out systems to be massively inspiring - and I want to see if I can capture some of that atmosphere with this project.

Work started by marking out a piece of ply, printing some templates from Peco for the bull-head points and combined with a few yards of bull-head track testing out what might be possible in such a small space. I had the idea that it would be pretty limited operation, but putting the engine shed on a kick back giving a little more running length, and two sidings to swap wagons between, appearing to go further up the line under a road bridge. The plan was then curved a little, so that it was more visually interesting, I often find that doing this makes a big difference to how a layout feels.

Some basic structures were mocked up in cardboard, this process allows you to visualise a scene a little better and although I had a good idea from the sketches, they proved the concept was worth pursuing further...

...especially seeing this view, the DJ Models Austerity and some Accurascale hoppers under the bridge. The girder is a Peco example re-used for the third time from a childhood layout - this featured on the first layout my Dad built for me when we lived in London, and then survived a move to Chester, where it was re-used on a bridge on a much larger layout. I kept it for posterity and it's nice to re-use things, I'll chop it down to fit.

The ply base (9mm) was cut to shape, and two ends 18cm tall made up. The back was added in 6mm MDF, and then a front fascia with small wings and the land form for the bridge included was glued on. Nothing rocket science, in face nothing clever at all - this is largely a working diorama so won't need any fancy wiring or point control. I'm relying on the integral back and ends to provide the box structure strength you'd normally aim to get from the under the board box structure in a conventional cameo layout, but since we're severely lacking in headroom this will suffice.

Finally, shown here in place above my bench, but below East Works. The next stage is to add a small top and see if LED lighting overpowers at such a low height, if so, I'll need to look at dimming them or adding a diffuser, I want to make the lid integral for added strength. Anyhow, the points are on order and should be due in the next few days, I'll push on between commission work with this, alongside Mollington Road, which is also progressing - this weekend I've added the missing structures, so I'll post about this separately. Until then, more soon...