Ok, odd title but bear with me. This starts with a what will seem like a holiday report because, in a way it is. I am just back from two weeks driving on the Festiniog Railway. One new service for this year is the quarryman train which starts in Blaenau and the loco and stock live in the railways Glan-y-Pwll depot. Putting the coaches away involves the loco going very close to the end of the line beyond which a bridge is missing.

Having seen it from the footplate I decided on an outing on my day off to see it from the other side and timed my visit to be when one of my colleagues was putting the train away.

This line used to be the Dinas branch of the old FR with a station just beyond the bridge and freight lines that continued to inclines to the quarries.

This image shows the carriage shed when it was new with the line to it curving in at the top right where it leaves the FR main line and following the Afon Barlwydd past the shed and up to the missing bridge. Once past the shed the line splits in two to make a run round loop and two sidings kick back into the shed.

Also curving round to the left of the FR tracks is the standard gauge Conwy Valley line.

This picture was taken not long after the shed was built and after a lot of waste tip clearance that resulted in the flat areas either side of the tracks. Its all a bit more verdant now.

To lurch into a very brief history tour  this is the view looking down the valley from the quarries before the tip clearance happened but after the original narrow gauge tracks had been lifted.

The tip on the left has all gone and the one of the right reduced, The bridge in the current picture is in the far  distance here about where the tip on the right slopes down and the flat are in the right foreground was the site of Dinas station.

Its all a lot greener now.

Right, back to the bridge

The missing bridge was double track and supported by two parapets and a central pier. All are made out of slate waste blocks.

I haven’t found a view of the old bridge that shows how the deck was made yet  but there is this one further up the valley that is of presumably similar construction that shows it to be a girder bridge.

Once again there is very little of that scene left now.

Then there is this earlier view that shows the old Dinas station with the bridge in the foreground that shows it to have similar railings and therefore one supposes girder beams.

OK, now the modelling bit

Whilst I was there i took a load of detail photos of the parapets and piers as well as a load of arty ones of flowing water with different shutter speeds.

The modeller in me was triggered and I quite fancy having a go at modelling this as a diorama as I haven’t done flowing water before.

It also dawned on me that the diorama would be a good practice for a similar scene on my On3 narrow gauge American Brymston Railroad. This is where the translation and the opportunity to help come in.

So in this Welsh view we have a girder bridge in slate waste slab piers with the river running through it. Forming the background is the two arch stone built bridge that carries the standard gauge line. In the diorama this bridge will be the backscene so will be more of a culvert that a bridge. I guess what you can say with this is that the structures are made out of readily available local material.

Translation

Now we have teleported to the Midwest of the USA to the Brymston Railroad which is a 3ft gauge general hauler that shifts coal and logging produce.

The foreground bridge is a wooden trestle

The water flowing into it is going to come under the flat area in the background which is made up ground.

Now what is the culvert mouth going to look like?

My first thoughts were for a couple of wrinkly tin pipes or perhaps one big one. I’d not sure that they’d provide enough flow.

Idea B was for a rectangular culvert with wooden sides and a wooden lintel so the water could cascade out of it into the stream bed but would they have used wood to create what would be a pretty long culvert.

Suggestions Please