Cardiff Model Engineering 2010
It's for children. Honest.
OK, so that's the excuse that people use to visit it, but really, this is not a place for children. It is a place for steam enthusiasts to make deceptively powerful miniature steam engines. These are all working models, to an obsessive degree, with tiny details like gear levers, and even moving models in some of the surrounding scenery.
Loch Laidon, one of the powerful, larger sized engines.
Pengwyn (meaning "white head" but sounding like penguin), the largest steam engine. As you can see, this is for children, right?
Another black engine demonstrates why people normally sit inside carriages, not on them.
Bridges and tunnels.
Tank with moving models.
Working miniature signals.
And a working turntable.
In case the earlier examples weren't small enough, there is the raised line, where the Cambrian Coast Express shows the even smaller engines. With these ones, the ride-on carriages have to hang over the edges in order to be large enough to carry passengers.
Cockington Manor, another of the smaller engines.
Being stoked with coal. This is, after all, a complete working engine, with a working tender, working valves and gears.
These little engines are still easily strong enough to pull several carriages of passengers.
It wouldn't be right to let children go on there unattended though, right?
Emma, the smallest. Not powerful enough for carriages though, so she needs some help.
Not all are steam powered. This TGV, for example, appears to be electric. And it failed quite quickly, and needed repairs.
Good old Inter-City 125.
There are smaller models that cannot carry passengers, requiring some care to fill and maintain.
They are still steam engines though, but they tend not to burn coal.
The level of detail is amazing though, with the same moving parts as a full-sized engine.
Lastly, there is the tram. This is electric, with overhead wires, but substantially smaller than a normal tram.
Tram controls.
Loch Laidon, one of the powerful, larger sized engines.
Pengwyn (meaning "white head" but sounding like penguin), the largest steam engine. As you can see, this is for children, right?
Another black engine demonstrates why people normally sit inside carriages, not on them.
Bridges and tunnels.
Tank with moving models.
Working miniature signals.
And a working turntable.
In case the earlier examples weren't small enough, there is the raised line, where the Cambrian Coast Express shows the even smaller engines. With these ones, the ride-on carriages have to hang over the edges in order to be large enough to carry passengers.
Cockington Manor, another of the smaller engines.
Being stoked with coal. This is, after all, a complete working engine, with a working tender, working valves and gears.
These little engines are still easily strong enough to pull several carriages of passengers.
It wouldn't be right to let children go on there unattended though, right?
Emma, the smallest. Not powerful enough for carriages though, so she needs some help.
Not all are steam powered. This TGV, for example, appears to be electric. And it failed quite quickly, and needed repairs.
Good old Inter-City 125.
There are smaller models that cannot carry passengers, requiring some care to fill and maintain.
They are still steam engines though, but they tend not to burn coal.
The level of detail is amazing though, with the same moving parts as a full-sized engine.
Lastly, there is the tram. This is electric, with overhead wires, but substantially smaller than a normal tram.
Tram controls.