Entry posted by MinerChris
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First I would like to extend greetings to all reading this first blog of which I hope there will be many. I have been reading various topics and blogs over the past couple of years and very impressed by the quality of the modelling undertaken on here. I would certainly be glad if my modelling was a fraction of that shown on here.
I have just finished my Mining Engineering Degree in Falmouth and have also worked for the last two summers underground at Daw Mill Colliery. It seems an appropriate time in order to start a blog, as my summer will most probably be spent on a few projects before starting work in the autumn.
My modelling interests have been passed down from my dad, Andy (D869), as 2mmFS and 16mm scale garden railway (currently undertaking an accurate representation of a disused line.) I have been a member of the 2mm association for the last year and a member of the midland area group, currently working on the BR WR group layout St Ruth. Holding my hands up, I was one of the people who managed to screw up the operating schedule at our most recent visit to Nottigham and then proceeded to decide that it was a good time for lunch.
I have also started work on my own shunting boxfile layout inspired by a variety of sources including South Yard, Kyle of Lockash, Inverneuk and Mayfield Street. It is this layout that this blog will be dedicated with details of other bits and pieces posted elsewhere.
When looking for a location, a number of parameters were decided upon in order to narrow the choices down. Firstly perhaps unsurprisingly given my location for the last three years, my layout was to be set in Cornwall. Secondly it was decided to make the layout a branch terminus in order to avoid fiddle yards and scenic breaks at both ends.
This suitably restricted the options down to a handful, from which Callington Station was picked, possibly due to its historical connection with mining. With the track plan extending over 6 boxfiles, I decided that this was however probably too ambitious for a first project.
The Callington Branch still interests me due to its history. This is detailed on such websites as the Colonel Steven’s museum, these railwest pages and Bruce Hunt’s excellent website. Details were also found in various books.
I won’t bore you with the details but it can be summarized as follows:
- 1890, 3’6" East Cornwall Mineral Railway serving the mines in the Tamar valley and Kit Hill area, linking these with the quay in Calstock by means of a rope worked incline.
- 1908, Line Regauging by the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway. At the same time construction of the Tamar viaduct and wagon lift commenced, along with the connection to the mainline at Bere Alston and conversion of several of the goods depots into passenger stations. The line was operated independently by the PDSWJ railway, as appose to being leased to the LSWR like the mainline.
- 1923, SR Grouping, The line passed several times between WR and SR until the line was cut back to Gunnislake courtesy of Dr Beeching in 1965.
A useless pub fact that I have read somewhere is that the Bere Alston to Gunnislake section of the line is the only remaining section of railway built on a Light Railway order, still in commercial use.
Along its history many extensions were proposed to the line. These ranged from a GWR connection to Callington from Saltash, through to ambitiously extending the line all the way through to Boscastle on the north coast. The most likely of these extensions which could have occurred was a 7 mile route through to the parish of North Hill on the fringes of Bodmin moor. This extension had a light railway order granted in 1907, perhaps as a response to the GWR connection and the predicted loss of traffic caused by this. In the end this proposal faded away when the GWR connection failed.
The terminus of this failed extension was in the hamlet of Congdon’s Shop, and is where my layout will be based. My layout assumes that the GWR connection was constructed and that the line was extended. This may be using a tablespoon rather than a pinch of “modeller’s licence,†but it allows for the much more compact layout that I am looking for. Perhaps in the future when more experience and room are available I will reconstruct the layout to represent Callington with the attractive overall roof and small engine shed.
In terms of era, I’m aiming to try and stick to the 50’s and 60’s. This allows for a variety of stock including both steam and diesel from Southern and BR(S). Ivatt 2-6-2T’s were seen on the branch right up to 1964, whilst Adam’s 02’s, Class 22’s and Suburban DMU’s also made regular workings. Due to the scenic nature of the branch, summer specials also were not too uncommon. The GWR-Callington connection should also allow for a good excuse to run and construct GWR and BR(W) stock, as it is presumed that the GWR would have obtained some running rights through to North Hill. This stock coincidentally, will also be required for the branch at ST Ruth.
I am hoping that the construction of this layout might be quicker than my dad’s previous layouts, however this is just hoping and will probably not be the case. South yard is still under construction after 11 years and Taw Bridge (which I didn’t even know still existed until a couple of weeks ago) apparently still under construction after over 16 years. I might even get distracted by another project before getting this one finished (something clay related maybe!)
Thanks for getting to the end of this entry and I hope that it hasn’t been too boring, especially with the lack of photographs (the line closed a couple of months after my dad was born,) or any modelling progress. So far I have started building a few items of stock, built baseboards and started planning the detail based on a trackplan, all of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.
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