Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

I finished the first production double slip (Porthmellyn Road 19A and 22B points) today. Everything went quite smoothly except for one of the combined flexible switches, which I managed to bend the wrong way and hence solder in place with the wrong sides of the blades against the stock rails. Stupid boy! I didn't notice this until I was fitting the tiebars, when I couldn't quite work out why the blades weren't fitting up properly. Fortunately, this piece of rail is only soldered on to three timbers so it wasn't too hard to pull it out, bend it the other way and refit it.

 

I also tried a different technique for the elbow guards. There isn't really room to fit correct length rails here without fouling the curved slip rails, as I found when I built the trial piece which has some strange curvature in that area, so I just filed shorter pieces of rail to fit and filled the gaps between them and the slip rails with solder. Not quite right but they look tidier than on the trial double slip.

 

In fact, the whole thing looks tidier than the trial piece, which is very pleasing.

 

 

The trial piece is at the top and the production one at the bottom.

 

The tiebars seem to have gone slightly skew-whiff but I'm not going to change them. I think they'll look OK when they are shortened and FPL covers are fitted above the equalising levers at both ends.

 

The next job is high speed push testing, following which I will gap and paint the slip ready to lay it. Once it's in place I can also lay No 1 Spur and the permanent track in Platform 3, plus a temporary goods siding. After that, one more double slip to build and an ordinary point (the one that was no good for the Up end of the Down Goods Loop) to lay, then I can finish Porthmellyn Road trackwork as far as the junction at the Down end. I really will have to make a start on the lever frame after that.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

The high-speed push tests were successful, so I have gapped the slip ready for painting. Unfortunately, it is too windy today for spraying so that will have to wait.

 

As I'm going to have some permanent sidings on the scenic section soon, I've ordered some Lanarkshire Models & Supplies buffer stop kits which will do the business.

 

I also took the Modratec levers out of the box, as painting these will be the first job when I start to build the frame. I didn't actually do anything with them though...

 

Talking of the lever frame, I've started thinking about how to number the levers. At the moment my thoughts are to have a strip of numbers in front of the frame itself, much as I did on the previous St Enodoc layout:

 

However, I'm tempted by the idea of little etched plates on the levers themselves but I haven't yet found anyone who supplies these. I thought that Narrow Planet did but I can't find them on their current website. I will of course need numbers 1 to 54.

 

Any comments on which way I should go with this?

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Stubby47]

You could ask Pete Harvey (http://www.phd-design-etchings.co.uk/) to make you a custom etch for the plates ( usual disclaimers).

Edited September 24, 2017 by Stubby47

[St Enodoc]

You could ask Pete Harvey (http://www.phd-design-etchings.co.uk/) to make you a custom etch for the plates ( usual disclaimers).

That's a very interesting site Stu - thanks.

[Barry O]

Or were if Mike or nick will etch them and I can fetch them..or is January too late?

[St Enodoc]

Or were if Mike or nick will etch them and I can fetch them..or is January too late?

No, January would be no problem. The lever pitch is 9.7 mm so I think that something about 5 mm or 6 mm square with a raised rim and a simple number in the middle would look right. Thanks.

[St Enodoc]

I thought that Narrow Planet did but I can't find them on their current website.

I was half right. The Thatcher Plates range, now sold through Narrow Planet, includes a set of oval plates 1/4" x 3/16" with numbers from 1 to 40, for about GBP 12. I think I'll drop them a line to find out how much it would cost to get the rest.

[The Fatadder]

I was half right. The Thatcher Plates range, now sold through Narrow Planet, includes a set of oval plates 1/4" x 3/16" with numbers from 1 to 40, for about GBP 12. I think I'll drop them a line to find out how much it would cost to get the rest.

I would highly recommend Narrow Planet, which reminds me that I must get on an place an order with them for another batch of GW number plates.

[St Enodoc]

I was half right. The Thatcher Plates range, now sold through Narrow Planet, includes a set of oval plates 1/4" x 3/16" with numbers from 1 to 40, for about GBP 12. I think I'll drop them a line to find out how much it would cost to get the rest.

Success - Stephen at Narrow Planet has responded to my inquiry already (on a Sunday lunchtime in Bexhill-on-Sea too!). He has quoted a very reasonable price for a full set of 1 - 60, which are actually rectangular not oval, which will make them easier to fix straight, so I will go ahead and place an order.

 

Thanks Stu and Baz for your suggestions anyway, which were much appreciated.

 

Edit - Rich, your post crossed this one, so thanks for the recommendation as well.

Edited September 24, 2017 by St Enodoc

[The Stationmaster]

Sounds like a result.  

 

Having just measured one of my 'paperweights'  I doubt the real thing would scale very well as the GWR brass lever leads were 40mm across the back and 133mm between the fixing centres.  The cast steel (or iron?) rectangular blanks which replaced them would have shared the distance between the fixing centres but were possibly slightly wider.

[St Enodoc]

Sounds like a result.  

 

Having just measured one of my 'paperweights'  I doubt the real thing would scale very well as the GWR brass lever leads were 40mm across the back and 133mm between the fixing centres.  The cast steel (or iron?) rectangular blanks which replaced them would have shared the distance between the fixing centres but were possibly slightly wider.

Very true Mike. If I scaled down the real lever leads they would of course be totally illegible anyway, so I'm just going for the lever numbers. I will produce a separate pulling list to help the signalman to pull the right levers in the right order. Something along the lines of "to get from Platform 3 to the Down Main pull x, y, z" although the detail will be a little more complicated than that.

[The Stationmaster]

Very true Mike. If I scaled down the real lever leads they would of course be totally illegible anyway, so I'm just going for the lever numbers. I will produce a separate pulling list to help the signalman to pull the right levers in the right order. Something along the lines of "to get from Platform 3 to the Down Main pull x, y, z" although the detail will be a little more complicated than that.

 

Nah, treat 'em like grown ups and just give a lead list like the real world, they'll soon get used to it (or maybe not).  Herewith one 'style guide'  (there was an official Reading drawing for the style of numbers and letters and the way they were to be arranged but I doubt it would be much help in a small size installation)

 

 

PS Sorry about the publication it is resting on should anyone happen to recognise it

[St Enodoc]

Nah, treat 'em like grown ups and just give a lead list like the real world, they'll soon get used to it (or maybe not).  Herewith one 'style guide'  (there was an official Reading drawing for the style of numbers and letters and the way they were to be arranged but I doubt it would be much help in a small size installation)

 

DSCF9899.jpg

 

PS Sorry about the publication it is resting on should anyone happen to recognise it

Food for thought Mike. I might use the style and format but make the instructions a little more explicit (don't forget the recent issues with "pass"!). We shall see. And no, I don't recognise the document - I must have been away too long.

[P.C.M]

That's a very interesting site Stu - thanks.

Hi John,

I have bought a few things from Pete, He doesn't do  paypal  but it very good to deal with and happy to send to Oz.

 

Cheers Peter.

[St Enodoc]

Hi John,

I have bought a few things from Pete, He doesn't do  paypal  but it very good to deal with and happy to send to Oz.

 

Cheers Peter.

Thanks Peter. As you can see above, I've placed an order with Narrow Planet but Pete Harvey is definitely on my list of potential suppliers for future requirements.

[The Stationmaster]

Food for thought Mike. I might use the style and format but make the instructions a little more explicit (don't forget the recent issues with "pass"!). We shall see. And no, I don't recognise the document - I must have been away too long.

 

RT 29987 'Working On or About 25kv A.C. Electrified Lines'.  Issue 4.

 

The title amuses me as NR seem to have A.C. electrified lines rather than AC electrified lines and I wonder what the difference is?  Now back to proper railways ...

[St Enodoc]

Today's first job was to remove the track from the temporary Platform 3 connection.

 

It was calm, and warm, enough for spraying today so I painted both the double slip and the trackbed where it will go.

 

Once the paint was dry I aligned the slip, marked and drilled the holes for the operating wires.

 

Next I removed the 3 mm cork from the area under the tiebars...

 

...and replaced it with small pieces of 2 mm cork.

 

I cut some DCC Concepts printed tiebar labels and glued them to the cork. This leaves a nice clearance under the tiebars giving the illusion of ballast, so I don't have to worry about gluing the whole lot up solid when I (or Barry O...) do the ballasting.

 

I applied water based contact adhesive to both surfaces.

 

Once it had gone tacky I laid the slip in place.

 

Plenty of weight should see it fixed firmly in place by tomorrow.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

RT 29987 'Working On or About 25kv A.C. Electrified Lines'.  Issue 4.

 

The title amuses me as NR seem to have A.C. electrified lines rather than AC electrified lines and I wonder what the difference is?  Now back to proper railways ...

Mike, it's probably a legacy from the original B.R. 29987 "Working Instructions for A.C. Electrified Lines", when full stops were de rigeur in abbreviations (as in B.R. not BR too).

[St Enodoc]

All was well after removing the weights today, so I carried on with connecting the double slip to the main lines. First, however, I had to lay more trackbed at the Down end of the double slip, ready both for the next double slip and the track into platform 3. While I was at it I also laid the first few feet of the trackbed for No 1 Spur, which runs off 22B points and runs parallel to the Up Main - probably as far as the lifting flap to get as much length as possible for carriage storage.

 

I added some long timbers, than laid a short length of track to make the connection. Having done this, I realised that at the other end where the two double slips adjoin, I will need yet more long timbers. Some of these will have to be extensions of the existing timbers - if you look closely at the photo you can see where I have marked the trackbed for these. As I haven't started assembling the next double slip yet, I'll be able to fit the long timbers to it from the start.

 

As a result, Platform 3's track will have to remain temporary for a bit longer, until the next double slip is laid.

 

Here's a view of today's work, looking in the Down direction...

 

...and in the Up direction. Sorry about the lack of depth of field here - I got a bit too close with the camera. This shot shows the needs for the extended timbers more clearly. You might also see a line marked "back of L-girder". This has thrown up a problem I hadn't anticipated (i.e. bad planning), in that the L-girder runs almost directly under the next double slip. I'll have to do some thinking to work out how to fit the point motors here.

 

The trackbed in the yard will continue flush across the whole area, so I trimmed some cork offcuts to size and laid them between the future Loop and No 2 Up Siding. The next piece of cork will in fact extend right to the baseboard edge.

 

Finally, here is the trackbed for No 1 Spur.

 

Fitting the two point motors is next, then wiring everything up. I should get that done before the November running session, which seems a long way off but we have some other things to do over the next few weeks (including Stubby's favourite rugby tournament, the Singapore Cricket Club Rugby Sevens) that will restrict quite severely the amount of time I can spend on the layout.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[The Fatadder]

Glad to see I’m not the only one whom has that problem with the beams going straight under a double slip!

[St Enodoc]

Glad to see I’m not the only one whom has that problem with the beams going straight under a double slip!

Thanks Rich. Extending the tiebars is one possibility but as they don't remain parallel when they move there is a limit, governed by the slop in the pivots, to how far I can go with that. I could possibly use Cobalt right-angle adapters, which would (just) let the motor nestle between the baseboard and the L-girder. Provided that I can actually manoeuvre the operating wire up into the hole in the equalising lever, that might be the best bet. I'll probably order a set of adapters and have a play around.

[St Enodoc]

I went to the big Sydney Model Railway Show at Liverpool this morning. I caught up with a few people, some of whom from interstate I hadn't expected to see, and bought some odds and ends including some tools, spare consumables such as slitting discs and so on. The best find was an as-new Ratio GWR Open C kit, which I promptly bought and which is now on the round tuit shelf alongside one of its sisters (brothers? Troublesome trucks always looked masculine to me). Eventually they will go into service alongside the one I built about 40 years ago.

 

There were some good layouts too. Some I had seen before and were worth another look, while two good ones were new to me. One was Waterfall, by the Illawarra Model Railway Association. This is a simple H0 model of the station south of Sydney as it was in the 1960s. The overall finish was very restrained and it was set off by a very convincing backscene. Most of all, there was shunting going on in the yard, which is most unusual at Australian exhibitions. See http://www.imra.org.au/waterfall_.html.

 

The other layout, which I had been looking forward to seeing, was Maryborough, Victoria in H0 by the AMRA VIC branch. This was modelled in steam/diesel transition days and includes trains from and to all four routes, using some clever junctions at the entrance and exit from the dumbbell storage yards. Maryborough is famous for its station building (look up Mark Twain's comments) and the model, which was on static display a few years ago, is simply magnificent, right down to the interior of the main hall. The rest of the layout lived up to expectations and yes, once again shunting was being performed (as it happens by one of the Mousehaven operators that I see in Melbourne on Wednesday evenings). The only thing that didn't quite look right for some reason was the photographic backscene. That's odd, because it is a faithful replica of the actual scene. However, everything on it looked slightly overscale to me - even though it probably wasn't, if you see what I mean. See http://www.amravic.com.au/maryborough.html.

 

All in all, a good way to spend the morning of a public holiday.

Edited October 2, 2017 by St Enodoc

[Barry O]

That layout certainly looks the part.

 

A ratio open C? I may have one of those lurking somewhere..

 

Sounds like you had a good time.

Baz

[Mallard60022]

All was well after removing the weights today, so I carried on with connecting the double slip to the main lines. First, however, I had to lay more trackbed at the Down end of the double slip, ready both for the next double slip and the track into platform 3. While I was at it I also laid the first few feet of the trackbed for No 1 Spur, which runs off 22B points and runs parallel to the Up Main - probably as far as the lifting flap to get as much length as possible for carriage storage.

 

20171001 001 PM 19B and 13A points connected to main lines.JPG

I added some long timbers, than laid a short length of track to make the connection. Having done this, I realised that at the other end where the two double slips adjoin, I will need yet more long timbers. Some of these will have to be extensions of the existing timbers - if you look closely at the photo you can see where I have marked the trackbed for these. As I haven't started assembling the next double slip yet, I'll be able to fit the long timbers to it from the start.

 

As a result, Platform 3's track will have to remain temporary for a bit longer, until the next double slip is laid.

 

20171001 002 PM 19B and 13A points looking Down.JPG

Here's a view of today's work, looking in the Down direction...

 

20171001 003 PM 19B and 13A points looking Up.JPG

...and in the Up direction. Sorry about the lack of depth of field here - I got a bit too close with the camera. This shot shows the needs for the extended timbers more clearly. You might also see a line marked "back of L-girder". This has thrown up a problem I hadn't anticipated (i.e. bad planning), in that the L-girder runs almost directly under the next double slip. I'll have to do some thinking to work out how to fit the point motors here.

 

20171001 004 Porthmellyn Road yard.JPG

The trackbed in the yard will continue flush across the whole area, so I trimmed some cork offcuts to size and laid them between the future Loop and No 2 Up Siding. The next piece of cork will in fact extend right to the baseboard edge.

 

20171001 005 Porthmellyn Road No 1 Spur.JPG

Finally, here is the trackbed for No 1 Spur.

 

Fitting the two point motors is next, then wiring everything up. I should get that done before the November running session, which seems a long way off but we have some other things to do over the next few weeks (including Stubby's favourite rugby tournament, the Singapore Cricket Club Rugby Sevens) that will restrict quite severely the amount of time I can spend on the layout.

 

Would it be easier to adjust the beam(s)? need not be a major engineering job perhaps just a clever 'move'.

 

Phil

[St Enodoc]

That layout certainly looks the part.

 

A ratio open C? I may have one of those lurking somewhere..

 

Sounds like you had a good time.

Baz

There's a new home waiting for it down under...