Penrhos Junctions

I've been making model railways since I was 11. On these pages you will find a selection of the models that I have built over the years and my research about Penrhos Junctions. Like most people, I started modelling in OO. In about 1988 I changed to P4. P4 is the same size as OO, but the track is much closer to scale. To find out more about P4 have a look at the Scalefour Society web site.

Since being a child I have been interested in the GWR; tank engines and wagons, not the big expresses for me. For some unknown reason I also liked the railways that the GWR had absorbed at the grouping, particularly the South Wales lines. I'd already thought about modelling Merthyr Tydfil, and even today there is still a bookmark in Barry Norman's MRJ article.

Inspiration to model Penrhos Junctions came from another Barry Norman article in Model Railway Journal 85, a track plan for Curzon Street; with an entrance into a goods depot and three mainlines running behind, two of them on viaducts. So I had a good look around the Great Western system to find something similar. In the end I found something similar, Penrhos Junctions, which is actually very different. But what to me were the key features of the Curzon St design; a junction and a viaduct are key features, with the added bonus of a road bridge over the tracks from which spotters used to watch trains slog up the 1 in 47 'Big Hill'.

Three society's that have been very helpful are:

The Welsh Railways Research Circle,
The Historical Model Railway Society
Great Western Study Group.

Links to these societies can be found in Exchange Sidings.

My other railway hobby is Great Western 4 and 6 wheel coaches. I've spent many an enjoyable day at the National Railway Museum Search Engine looking through the records and drawings of short coaches. Presented here is a summary of some of my research. I reckon that it takes about 2 days work to research a batch of 50 coaches at the NRM and then present the information with a drawing or photo on my web pages. So you can appreciate how much effort has been put into what you see here today. I doubt that I am even half way through completing the project. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. GWR Short Coaches