Coombe Barton Workbench
For the past twenty five years I've been using half of an old church notice board as a modelling workbench. However age as taken its toll and the ply is seriously delaminating. So this is the construction of a replacement. I can now incorporate features that will make life easier that I'd neglected to do for the past quarter century.
I've been using the modelling workbench for a whole variety of things, sometimes including railway modelling. However from the model
Control Panels
At some recent exhibitions I’ve been looking at the control panels people have been using. Some are almost as large as the layout they control. Others are a tad smaller. Most are maps of the system. So in my perverse way what better to start designing the layout than with the control panel.
The design of Coombe Barton requires that the control panel is incorporated within the layout, hence why I’m starting with it. And the room taken up by said control panel will deter
Measure twice, cut once, they say.
This one fell at the 'measure once' stage.
The layout was designed to have four boards 3' 6" long, 2ft wide and one 2' square. It's portable and would have to be stored, and the design takes care of this. It also has to fit in the back of the car, a Focus estate. That's where the problems come in - I made an assumption (which is the mother of all cocks ups). So now there are four boards 4' x 1'9", two mainly station, one mainly river and one fiddle.
Following a great deal of help from RMWeb members here http://www.rmweb.co....al-box-diagram/ and here http://www.rmweb.co....ease-crossover/, the signal box diagram is now finalised.
Levers
1 - Home
2 - FPL
3 - Main to loop and trap
4 - Main to goods
5 - Dummy main to goods
6 - Dummy main to loop
7 - Dummy loop to main
8 - Starter
9 - Adv starter
10 - Shunt
11 - Dummy from goods to main
12 - Spare
13 - Engine release
14 - Dummy for engine release
Lever 12 will control
I've been collecting resources for years about Devon and Cornwall for purposes other than modelling. I've been using them for modelling research so sharing them seems the natural thing to do. Many of them in Cornwall may suffer webdeath because of the new Unitary Authority - these are based on the post 1974 districts.
All links are to the CISI or CSUS (Cornwall & Scilly Urban Survey) sites.
Main CISI map
Main CSUS Map
Penwith
St Just
Nancherrow-Tregeseal
Botallack
Carny
Full Signalling
In a small Great Western branch line terminus full signalling is something of a rarity. Moretonhampstead is one example where there's a full signal box Princetown's another. Other branches operated with porters acting as signalmen using various ground frames, local to or remote from the turnouts.
So I've decided to make things difficult for myself and specify full signalling with working ground signals. The diagram indicates what's proposed.
There's the home an
Progress?
Loads of decisions, not much action except buying tools.
We have a plan - Ashburton with signals but without the train shed. And with a river. An xtrkcad plot will be posted soon
We have a timetable - based Ashburton Working Timetable 1948.
We have some experiments in track - they work.
We have some exhibition visits under our belt - only two, Expo Em and ExpoEM North.
We've spent some money - bits, kits, tools and gauges.
We've still got a lot to do.
So here's the plan.
It's 14 ft x 2 ft. There is a 2ft x 2 ft town extension at the right hand end, but this is purely scenic. Four 3ft 6 in by 2ft boards, but the end of the fiddle yard will have a short single track extension to enable a run round there without excessive handling. However for cattle fairs the extension may be as long as 3ft. I'll be detailing this later.
The track is completely flat, but the illusion of the third dimension comes from the track crossing the river valley
The Timetable
The branch loco has been a 517 and then a 48xx/14xx. The branch is operated using a staff and ticket system.
5:15am:
Early turn fireman books on, fires up and moves loco from shed to water and coal up. He then cleans the shed pit of ash.
6:00am
Early turn driver books on and oils up, before moving to platform where the first auto coach is stabled.
8:07am
First auto to the junction mainly with pupils to the Grammar School. (staff)
8:47am
Return of auto. A
Coombe Barton
Coombe Barton is a small town west of Exeter and east of Penzance. It lies on the southern slopes of the granite moorlands and thus is sheltered from the worst of the weather. The town takes its name from its deep valley location, or coombe which is possibly of the same derivation as the Welsh cwm, and the parish's most important farm, or barton. This latter may have been derived from the Old English (Anglo Saxon) beretun, meaning enclosure or barley-yard.
The town owes
Occasionally you find a resource on the web that is complete. This is one - http://www.buildinghistory.org/ - detailed, comprehensive, updated frequently.
If you want to find anything this is really the place to start.
Soldering the footplate laminates.
Flux
Now there’s a lot written about fluxes. A lot of people swear by this, that or the other flux, all with secret recipes. Some of the most respected people in the field say phosphoric acid, 9% or 12% for more challenging metals, going to as low as 7% or lower for whitemetal. Iain Rice has information on this in Rice, I. (1990). Etched Loco Construction. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications. p. 31.
Now fluxes are hard to post and running out on a Sunday
More on the footplate
Right, so the cleanup.
The brass is usually attacked with a glass fibre brush and that’s quite quick. For excess solder I use gravers. First found out about them from Eileen’s but bought from somewhere else when I was buying other tools (where they cost less) and mounted them in a couple of Axminster file handles. I use the ones made from 1.5mm and 2.5mm square section. A graver is simply a scraper with which you can get into the right angle and get the excess solde
The Cab
This week’s purchase was an A4 cutting mat from The Works for three quid. This may seem a little unnecessary as I’ve already got a couple of A2 size, one atop the workbench and one for extra space. I did notice that as I was cutting small items off the frets and cutting up solder that one small area was getting significantly more wear then the rest, so an A4 mat chopped into an A5 and two A6 portions will allow me to chop and discard when necessary. OK, I could just buy another A2 bu
Cab
Right, so it’s the cab. Enquiries on a thread have produced answers that help. What the people answering didn’t know was that I can quite successfully bu99er up their suggestions and delay delivery of the necessary wire to complete the cab rear. So now I’m going to cut out the necessary bits to dry fit them on to what’s already built. Or may be to cut out another set from brass. We’ll see.
The inside of the back of the cab, Seats and coal door in place.
A bit of thought first h
Churchward 45xx
It’s about time. I’ve had this kit for about a year. And seeing threads such as A Nod To Brent, Wencombe, Mayhill, Salcombe and, just yesterday, Western Diversion have all prompted me to get up off my ars backside and start.
So what is it? One of the last, if not THE last, 45xx 4mm Churchward 45xx kit sold by Modelex, just before the range went to Phoenix Precision. At the time of writing no 4mm kits and just one 7mm 45xx kits are listed on the Phoenix Precision website.
Right. Return to action after a heavy cold, family matters and cleaning up weekends which have stolen the time.
Now I’ve completely cream crackered the drilling of holes in the cab rear it’s a matter of cutting out a new set from 10thou brass – or shall I use nickel-silver?
This is just like Brian Williams had to do as reported in MRJ Compendium 3.
I consider myself in good company.
Be back when I can actually show some progress. And it’s a good job I have a squad of piercing saw
Buffer Beams
I’m glad I’m keeping this blog – saves me having to remember which bit comes next. However finding the right place in the instructions and the correct bits is another matter ...
So buffer beams. This model is of one of those built with full length frames, so there’s no fiddling with the appearance of modifications. However the instructions tell you how to bend things for the shorter frames, but does not tell you what do for the longer frames. Studying a pic of 4564 suggests
Nuts
I said – “The next bits are the 8BA nuts to secure the body to the chassis. Must remember to open out the holes to take the bolts BEFORE soldering on the nuts.”
Then I changed my mind. Instead of opening out the hole to clearance I opened the holes to the tapping size approximately with a broach – this way you can centre up the nut more closely and then run a tap through it to allow the bolt to go through. I have been equipping with tools over the past few years – blame Guy Williams
Cab Rear
The cab rear windows have had their etched bars cut and filed out and the whole thing filed smooth. Now it’s time to mark out the positions of the holes where I’m going to fit the replacements. Marking out that accurately will be a problem unless I employ some subterfuge. So a scan of the GA drawing cab rear, a printing out and then measuring to find out how much to reduce the image, then doing that, then reversing the image so we get the other cab side then you get this. And then I
Building Resources - Thatching Links
Thatching resources - inspired to add by scanman of this parish
Thatching from Building Conservation
Long Straw Thatching
Thatching Gallery
Thatch in England
These documents are recent and give plenty of detail about the coonservation area. More importantly they usually give plenty of high quality photographs.
I've linked to the man websites where I can, but some of the detail is proving elusive. I will update as and when I can.
Each is arranged by the authority carrying out the appraisal. After each authority is the list of areas covered.
Dartmoor National Park Authority
Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Chagford, Crockernwell, Drewsteignt
Conservation Area Character Appraisals and Management Plans
In the links below many more areas are designated as conservation areas - but those listed are the only ones with character appraisals.
Appraisals look at:
The history of the buildings
Topography and landscape setting
Settlement form
Important views and vistas
Locally distinctive features and vernacular building styles
Past and present activities and uses
Streetscape and the public realm
Green spaces and trees
