iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Exactly a week ago we were dismantling Minffordd at the end of the Troon exhibition, this afternoon it was reassembled (without fiddle yards) ready for various running repairs and fettling to be carried out before its biggest outing yet to the NEC in Birmingham in November.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

“On an exhibition layout it’s important to strive to always have trains moving.”Discuss.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Some of them, yes, but not so much on this latest project. Previous layouts were almost entirely kit or scratch built.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The last train has departed. The next chance to see Minffordd running is in 2 months time at the NEC in Birmingham.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Younger viewers may struggle to believe this but every word is true! 50 years ago if you wanted to remove a massive steam engine from a display plinth you laid temporary tracks and arranged a special train. Today there is no way it would be done any way than by road!

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Set up done for the Ayr Model Railway Group show on in Troon this weekend. All quiet in the yard now but there will be so many trains tomorrow you won’t know where to look!

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Steam’s last gasp on the Cambrian - a Standard 3MT tank heads off down the bank from Minffordd.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Shortly, some unsuspecting volunteers are going to discover it’s their job to empty this lot out…..

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Picking up the empty mineral wagons from Minffordd Yard - part of the job for the crew of the daily freight train on the Cambrian Coast.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Did you know we also have a YouTube channel for our layouts? Lots of content from the last 10 years + .We could use a few more subscribers 😉

youtu.be

Cambrian Coast Compilation

YouTube video by Bron Hebog & Minffordd layouts

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Here’s Britomart starting a short train of empty slate waggons out of Minffordd Yard before coasting along the Mineral Line and then getting a little tap on the regulator. You can get some nice effects when DCC locos are ‘driven’. Am I changing anyone’s mind here?

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Magic? Or just magnets? Yes, you CAN do hands-free shunting with 009! To be honest , was sceptical about the plan to make the Greenwich couplings work automatically on the narrow gauge tracks on Minffordd but they work brilliantly!

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

The nation’s favourite Quarry Hunslet ‘Britomart’ moving some slate waggons around in Minffordd Yard today.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Do you like to conjure with ‘what if’ scenarios? Like, what if the Ffestiniog never had to abandon its original route and build the Deviation? Here’s how I think it could have turned out differently 👇

bronhebog.blogspot.com

Alternative Histories

What if the Ffestiniog Railway never had to give up its old line and tunnel?

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

A steam loco in its last days. This is a Dapol Churchward 43XX mogul. As it came the engine was very shiny out of the box - now it’s the complete opposite! It really looks like a loco which is nearing 50 years old - built during the Great War and soldiering on into the diesel age.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Indeed - always poignant as we pass the one survivor at Crewe.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Amazing! Must be a great memory. I love riding the Pendolinos from Glasgow - like flying but without leaving the ground.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Went rummaging in the loft tonight looking for something - didn’t find it, of course! - but I did come across the one photo of the only time I saw the APT at London Euston. I was still learning about composition on my antique Kodak Instamatic. 🤣

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The Cambrian has always been by far my favourite standard gauge railway line. In the period we are modelling Minffordd control passed from the BR Western Region to the Midland Region (what was once the LMS)

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The shed crews on the Cambrian had a reputation for doing the best job they could with their famous ‘Manor’ locos. So that’s why we got our Dapol Manor to look as if the lads had given it some attention with an oily rag to go with the trademark white paint.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I promised more grime and I meant it! Here’s a truly grotty Hornby BR Standard 2MT made to look like it hasn’t seen a shed cleaner in a looong time thanks to professional weathering. What was already a superb model now looks even more the part on Minffordd.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Yes, the chassis was certainly comprehensively redone. We had both an old & new version - but assembled and put side-by-side it was not immediately obvious which was which.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Had my first opportunity to examine the exquisite weathering makeover work on some of our locos. A favourite is the Collet Goods in rather scruffy condition. For what is essentially a Mainline product from the early 1980s it still stands up well against contemporary models.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

First experiments using the Consist function on the NEC Powercab system. Mary Ann & Moelwyn charging the bank out of the depths of Minffordd Yard making a right cacophony! More practice required until we achieve operating ‘consistency’.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Recently a follower asked if we’d considered connecting our layouts into some sort of Mega-Ffest experience? Well, could we? 👇

bronhebog.blogspot.com

Joined-Up Thinking

Could we create a mega-Ffestiniog layout?

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Could this be the summer of 1962 at Minffordd Yard?Someone go tell Mr Garraway the new locomotive has arrived…

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

They say you can’t have too much of a good thing. Does that include Penrhyn Ladies? A blog update on our latest arrival 👇

bronhebog.blogspot.com

Identical Twin

Modelling the most famous delivery to Minffordd Yard

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The crowd-pleasing party piece on our first 009 layout Dduallt was the gravity slate train. It would be wonderful to run this on Minffordd but it might be a challenge too far to adapt tiny slate waggons for DCC control.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The video clips of Minffordd have been well received and some more followers have signed up - welcome! - so I thought you might like to see a reminder of how we started our 009 Ffestiniog modelling adventure with our first layout - Dduallt - built around 35 years ago.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

It most certainly is. ‘David Lloyd George’.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Alighting from a Ffestiniog train at Dduallt and watching it circle around before leaving you in complete solitude in the mountains is something I suggest should be on every railway enthusiast’s ‘Bucket List’. (Someone once made a rather nice model of this, you know 😉)

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Another of those things which makes the wonderful Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways unique - the mixed-gauge crossing of the Cambrian Coast Line at Porthmadog.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I’d hoped to hear more thrash up the hill before it came into view - but worth going out late to see my first loco-hauled train on the Cambrian in more than 20 years & my very first at Minffordd. Great to see the Belmond Britannia Explorer using the line.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It’s a fascinating installation at Porthmadog especially the miniature lever frame in the ‘box.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

It’s always worth hanging around for the empty stock moves at the end of the day at the FR’s Harbour Station, you can see the strangest combinations.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

It must be nearly 50 years since I was last at the Vale of Rheidol (I was too young to remember) and I love that this livery has come back! There are so many places to see GWR livery so if you’ve got something unique, flaunt it!

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Now Moelwyn works on DCC we can test how much it pulls up the hill on Minffordd? Answer: Not a lot! But doesn’t it sound nice and look good!

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Small Birminghams. Or Bug Boxes. Perhaps the most famous narrow gauge carriages ever? On Minffordd in the 1960s we show these hard at work on the relief ‘Flying Flea’ service to mop up every shilling and penny in the summer peak to plough back into rebuilding the FR.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The hardest working shunter in showbiz! Our ‘Simplex tractor ‘ Mary Ann is a real crowd-pleaser at exhibitions with its unique look and sound. This WW1 veteran helps us to make sure there’s always something moving on the layout.

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Is it worth paying a pro to weather your models? Take a look and decide for yourselves. More pics and explanation on the blog.👇

bronhebog.blogspot.com

Weather Update

Investing in professional weathering for our OO steam locomotives

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Bron Hebog & Minffordd @bronhebog.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Last Days Of Steam. Manors and Dukedogs may be the locos you most associate with the Cambrian but look in a book of photos from the 1960s you’ll see a lot of BR Standard 4MTs. This one is calling at Minffordd with a Down service for Pwllheli.

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