The Pilotman

Not the best paint job I’ve ever seen...

Not much to report since the last post but I have produced a schematic diagram of the track plan: A few explanations may help: 1) I will run the layout using a mid-1980s summer WTT with times and trains for Par station. It will be either a weekday service (lots of freight) or a Saturday service (lots of extra passenger trains). Rather than stick rigidly to the real service, there will be some rule 1 extras as well, but within the realms of possibility. For example, in recent years there have been sporadic trains carrying sand out of Burngullow and so I have borrowed that idea and will run a train of 30 PGA hoppers in ECC Quarries livery. This is my justification for running a class 56 on the layout as in the mid-80s, they are what dominated WR aggregate traffic. 2) The Fowey and Bodmin Fiddle Yards are just run-round loops as in both cases, there will only be one train on each line at a time. 3) Empty china clay trains coming up from Fowey will run-round in the down bi-directional goods loop (like they do at Lostwithiel in real life) before heading west again to be reloaded. 4) The Newquay Fiddle Yard is two run-round loops in series as it allows me to accommodate four trains there (useful for the Saturday service when four trains go down the branch before the first up working returns). Also, there were space issues that prevented me from installing the three road fiddle yard that I first planned. 5) I haven't decided what sort of factory the sidings in the top left corner will service (and, to be honest, it doesn't really matter) but various wagons arriving on the several daily Speedlink services will go in there. 6) The freight yard will perform the same function as St.Blazey did in real life. Several times a day, Speedlink services will arrive there and be spilt up into trip workings that will head off to various points. The same applies in reverse, of course. 7) The run-round/transfer loop will allow an up train whose stock is next required for a down working to run round and then reverse the short distance into the down fiddle yard. Conversely, a down train whose stock next forms an up working can run through the down fiddle yard, run round in the transfer loop, and proceed forward into the up fiddle yard. There is enough room to allow run round movements to take place whilst not interfering with movements on the main lines.

Last time I bunked round a depot (Stratford circa 1985) it was nowhere near as clean as that!

It’s supposed to be...

Irrespective of which line it is, any post with a photo of an unidentified Deltic in it usually generates a lot of posts...

Spent most of the day making the supports for the raised Newquay fiddle yard and glueing on cork strips for the track to go on. I will post some photos next week when it looks a bit more presentable. This evening I did a bit of testing to see what sort of loads my locos will be able to handle up the bank onto the Newquay branch. I rigged up a two metre straight of Kato Unitrak with a gradient of 1 in 50 (on the layout the bank will be 1 in 71) and gave both the Farish 45 and 47 a try. Both managed 9 Farish Mk1 coaches easily, even from a standing start. The only other diesel type that will be taking this length of passenger train to Newquay in my era is, of course, the class 50 but I shall have to wait for the Dapol version to appear before I can check what it can pull. When the new Farish Castle was released, there were reports about its poor haulage capability on gradients and so I thought I’d see how mine fared. I’d already tried it out on the flat and it handled 9 Mk1s just fine. On the 1 in 50 test bank, it managed 6 Mk1s, including from a standing start, but started slipping when a seventh was added. This is considerably better than some other reports but even so, it looks like steam charters will be limited to the main line, or run with a smaller than normal load on the Newquay branch. I won’t be doing anything to the layout for about a week now due to work commitments, but there should be lots of time to progress at the end of April and throughout May.

That doesn’t look like a running line to me; more likely a trap point, in which case causing derailments would have been its job.

Today's efforts. After yesterday’s picture session, I had to remove part of the Fowey fiddle yard/run round loop in order to complete the track laying. Once done, it was slotted into place under the main baseboard and I couldn’t resist parking one of my rakes of CDA hoppers down there: The four banana boxes under the baseboard contain almost all of my rolling stock. I also had a play around with some cork sheets and a jigsaw to see how easy it would be to cut strips to go under the track with a ballast shoulder. With the jigsaw set at 45 degrees, I think the result is pretty good:

I spent this morning running some trains on a test loop of Kato Unitrak with super-elevated curves to see how they looked and whether it was worth the bother of doing this on the layout. Although the curves were only 48cm radius (about half what the curves on the layout will be) I thought the effect was very impressive. There followed some more testing to see if there would be any clearance issues with long vehicles with the curve radius and track spacing I plan to use. Luckily, there weren’t. The rest of the day was taken up with putting the raised “Bodmin” fiddle yard together and making a start on the low level “Fowey” fiddle yard. Here is 37207 trying out the newly laid track. The track immediately above the loco will be the down main line on its way to the down fiddle yard. I will be putting some sort of edging along the edge of the boards as the drop is equivalent to more than twice the height of Moorswater Viaduct! Quite happy with what I’ve done today so hopefully the impetus will continue.

Over a year has passed since my last post on this thread . For various reasons, progress has been slower than I would have liked but there were several aspects of the layout that either wouldn't work, or didn't look right so I have spent many hours refining the track design to something that is more prototypical and very close to what I envisaged. There was far too much straight track parallel with the baseboard edge so I have eliminated that wherever possible (there is not much straight track in Cornwall anyway). I have remodelled the "Newquay" fiddle yard from a three road affair into two passing loops in series so that, with the same number of points, I can stable four trains there instead of three. This means the Newquay fiddle yard is much longer, but narrower, than before and so the overhang over the main fiddle yard is reduced. I have redesigned the main fiddle yard to include a section where trains can run round without blocking the main lines and this also makes it easier to transfer a down train that has passed through the layout back into the up yard for its next working and vice versa. The marshalling yard and depot have been redesigned so that they are more prototypical. The CCE sidings have been redesigned and lengthened to provide more space for my growing fleet of departmental wagons. I already have decent rakes of Seacow, Grampus and Barbel, to be joined in the future by some DJ Models Mermaids and Turbots, and Revolution Sturgeons. Finally, there were sections of the layout that just looked too crowded with track so I have rationalised here and there and opened things up a bit (particularly around the station) so there is a bit more space between the station and depot. Today I made a start on the "Bodmin" fiddle yard which comprises a passing loop on a 240 x 6 cm strip of wood. I will post pictures when there is something worth seeing.

I no longer own a copy but I am fairly sure that the book Rail Centres, Reading by Laurence Waters had a chapter in it about the signal works. I suspect The Stationmaster will know plenty about it, he may well be typing a response at this very moment.

Just unpacked my 4 (one of each type except the Motorail branded ones) and am very impressed! Exquisite models; well done and thanks to all concerned.

Can anyone who is a member of the Collector's club confirm if the model of 50007 is available to order yet? If so, I’ll probably join up now. Thanks.

Wherever there were points nearby, some of the cabinets would contain point clips and scotches (usually covered in oil and grease). These would often have the words “point clips” painted on the doors, although you'd be struggling to pull that off in N.

A.V. (Tony) Barry, known to all railwaymen in the Reading area as “The General” died on Tuesday last week. A signalman, traffic manager and signalling manager, he was a Western man through and through, and a railwayman of the old school. RIP.

C7001: an English Electric Type 3 and a Mini Metro. An interesting juxtaposition of the extremes of British engineering capability.

I think you should be docked some points for that post.

I think that’s a semi-obscured shunt signal you're looking at. I wonder if the presence of a railwayman standing near the end of the train is indicative of a shunt movement? It certainly looks like there is an open door on the right hand side of the rear vehicle.

I was planning on joining the Dapol Collectors Club just so that I can acquire No.7 in green but I’m going to wait until I’m sure it will appear within my membership year.

Happens with planes too. You sometimes see a panel on an aircraft in the colour scheme of another airline if a part has been replaced away from base. All the British Airways Airbus 319s that were painted in a “dove” livery for the 2012 Olympics have various bits of them in non-matching colours.

Thanks. I shall have to go back and get it then.

Quick question; what were the split head code 40s selling for before they sold out? I saw a new one in a shop today but didn’t buy it as the price seemed too good to be true.

C7500 is interesting; I’ve never seen a picture of a Railfreight grey 56 with the BR logo in the middle and an offset nameplate. It was normally the other way around. A one-off perhaps?

And in that picture, it looks like it’s bearing a Cuneo pigeon as well.

Another inspired choice from Revolution! I’m sure I’ll find room in the PW sidings for some of these. And how appropriate that a “Wee Nicky” should be announced at ModelRail Scotland!