ECC Wheal Imogen / Rosevean Station: the expansion

[The Fatadder]

After yet more work on my Centenary coaches for Brent, I have turned attention back to Wheal Imogen. The first task was to lay the branch line, this is reusing track from Blackcombe’s fiddleyard (if you can call 4 lengths of track stuck to a bit of plywood with double sided tape the night before Scaleforum a fiddleyard)… It has been glued in place with PVA (as my preferred Evostick melts the foam underlay), and is pre wired as a bonus.

 

I am continuing to work on the planning of the buildings, the rear buildings are pretty much finalised. The dries on the left still need to be re-clad in rough stone, while the more modern building on the right just needs a few additional details adding (access ladders, slurry pipes, along with adding gutters and downpipes.) I have a good idea of how I want the covered loading area to look, I just need to draw up the roof support and run through the silhouette cutter. The bridge still needs a lot of design thought, especially as I am still very unsure as to how I want it to look. This is not helped by my continued debate as to whether I should expand the layout to 5ft length (a decision which needs to be made asap given I would soon like to start work on building the yard track). The final area to be started was the slurry loading point, the intention being that with this in position it will be possible to see how the whole layout will look in situ and get a good idea as to whether it fulfils the brief.

 

I started with a photo of the old slurry loader at the Blackpool works which was posted somewhere on RMweb (but I have lost the link). With the photo opened on my iPad propped up against the clay dries, along with a sheet of paper covering the area where the building is intended to go and a TUA slurry tank I started sketching possible layouts of the building.

From this I was able to determine a basic footprint, along with the height for the loading platform and roof.

 

From this I cut out the floor, walls and roof from Evergreen sheet, along with some I beams from plastruct. The next task was to prepare the floor, I removed approx. 3mm by 1.5mm from each corner to clear the vertical steels. The sides were prepared (cutting openings for the door to the machine room on one side, and a door on the top level which will be reached by a ladder / platform.) The steels were then glued to the edges of the sides and allowed to dry. Starting with the left hand side, it was glued to the floor (with reinforcing fillets added below with some scrap I beam). Next the front was added, before following with the other side and rear. It is now ready for test fitting on the layout where I think it looks the part.

It will now need to be fitted with more structural details (mostly brackets from a smaller I-beam section), a control desk, a small platform between the upstairs door and ladder (likely to be leftover TTA walkway), a roof and the main boom arm for loading the tanks. For the latter I have some old etched mesh walkways which should surround it (with hand rails soldered on).

 

Once all this is complete attention will need to turn to the area around it. A 4ft high wall is needed along the whole length of the river to isolate it from the works, however I really could do with the concrete inset track completed first to give a final confirmation of the ground level on the yard side. This is particularly important around the slurry loader, (one of the main reasons for choosing this old design of loader over the more modern structure I had originally planned is that I suspect there is no chance planning would have been granted (even in the 1980s) to build a clay slurry loader that close to river!)

 

 

 

I have also been playing in paint, trying to get an idea how the final presentation will look.

 

I’m not sure about the space between the covered area and the river, another shed of some kind might be a good fit. I have omitted the pipe runs linking the building at the back with the slurry loader.

With the bridge I will probably lower the far side to indicate an incline raising up to cross the yard (approaching the hill you are looking down on the works from)

The problem area is still the left hand scenic brake.....

 

I have foam boards and plasticard so once I’ve finished working on coaches I may have a crack at the bridge tonight, otherwise it’s adding the loading apparatus to the slurry loader.

[The Fatadder]

Last night saw more work on the slurry loader.

 

First the actual loading arm was fabricated from a length of brass tube, (modelled I the up position). The tube has been fitted with a valve on either end (taken from a 51L models PCA cement wagon kit that was never going to be finished). This is now ready for installation once painted.

 

The next task was the walkway up to the door on the side, I started with one half of the etched walkway from the same PCA kit and cut down the length by approx. 10mm so that there was about 4mm of mesh past the hole (where the ladder will come through). 2mm Evergreen I beam was glued along either edge (one of which drilled for hand rail posts.) A handrail along two sides was soldered up (again pinching parts from the PCA kit), I have not included a handrail along the third side as it will be protected by the ladder cage and I assume that is sufficient H&S. The ladder itself is from a Ratio gantry crane (recovered from my Tavistock Junction TMD diesel depot layout a very long time ago), it still needs to have the vertical bars adding to the ladder cage before gluing into place after painting. I cut two I beam brackets to support the platform, which were fitted after gluing the assembly below the door.

 

I have followed the same basic approach for the platform around the loading pipe, however on this I still have a lot more soldering of handrails to complete before it will be ready to be glued in situ. This time I haven’t predrilled the holes, as learning from the end platform I want to be able to match the holes to the soldered assembly rather than the other way round.

 

Still to do:

Add roof

More interior details – control panel, for this I am thinking about having a cabinet against a wall containing all of the control equipment. I think a phone box on the wall for the loader to communicate with the factory might be useful. Not really sure what else there would be in there.

Fit spotlight onto roof

Edited January 17, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

After running a number of parts through the silhouette cutter, the focus of last nights work returned to the main building for Wheal Imogen.

I started off with the old structure from Blackcombe Torr, I added an additional roof over a new door (clad in the same Evergreen sheet as the original.) Looking at photos of the real thing, a common look on buildings at various clay works there are different stages of construction where the building has evolved over time. I want to get a similar effect on my building, to that end I have reclad two thirds of the building in rough stone (while the remaining section keeps its original block construction.)

The main focus of the work was a covered area for loading of vans, this is roughly based upon a structure at Ponts Mill. I started with the trusses, these were cut on the silhouette (2 sheets of 20thou) and then laminated together. There was an odd cutting issue where one side was miss formed, this was resolved by using the good side as a template to recut the bad line on the other side.

These were glued into place on the Evergreen sheet roof, I had problems keeping them bonded and resorted to using superglue to hold it in place. A length of 80thou by 60thou plastic sheet was fitted along the edges to hold it together.

It now needs to be fitted with a series of posts along one edge (shown temporarily in place), along with a long beam supporting the other side. It now needs the doors adding before it will be ready for paint. Although at this point it fulfils the initial requirement enabling me to see how things are coming together.

 

I do wonder if I should add a third small covered area on the right

Edited January 24, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

The bare bones of the final building were cobbled together this evening, tomorrow I should get a rough build of the bridge in place and will be able to see almost the finished article.

 

I have also chopped 2 inches out of the length of the office block to increase the gap between it and the river

Edited January 24, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Today I have been reeeading the book looking for inspirational for the backscene and lighting, I think I now have a rough idea as to how I will proceed.

 

Everything now is pretty much in position building wise (with the shed now having gained a roof). I now need to get on with track building before I put up the sides and rear limiting accessibility.

 

In the mean time I have been distracted building a metal model of a Walt Disney World monorail

 

Re reading the book has also started putting other ideas in my head, with a rough concept for a much shortened version of Kites Croft coming to mind for a bit of 1947 Cheddar Valley. Once Imogen is finished it may well be a viable project (espically as I do have another 4ft baseboard to play with. That said a lot will depend on how much enjoyment this layout gives at exhibitions, as to whether the cameo concept keeps me entertained for 2 days

[The Fatadder]

Now that my 4700’kit is nearly finished it is time to get back to work on the layout.

 

First a slight diversion to build one of the signature locos 37521 English China Clays in EWS livery http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/50/entry-20497-37521-renunbering/

 

Then it was back to work on the wall separating the works from the river, I started by filling the joints between the sheets of plastic sheet before scribing the missing mortar lines. I followed this by picking out a number of bricks in different colours, this time using EWS red, NSE red, LNER wheel maroon and LMS bauxite. Once dry this was overpainted with a coat of Hunbrol brick red, which helps blend in the different shades. Finally it was all overpainted with a coat of dirty mortar, wiping it off the surface of the brick. Once finished it needs a wash of white to tone it all down, however I need to finish off the other side first

[The Fatadder]

Just needing basic detailing and nameplates, the important work on. 37521 is now complete. As is the brick painting on the works side of the river retaining wall. It should get a coat of brick red tomorrow before work and mortar in the evening.

 

Once that’s out the way I am going to look at starting track building, initially seeing what can be recovered from Blaclcombe (I am hoping to lift 3 whole points) ideally I want to get the building done over the next couple of nights so I can get on with the detailing.

 

Provisionally the layout has a booking for February 2019 in 1980s mode so I want to ensure it’s ready.

 

I do have some more loco painting to distract me, with a grey 37 and a 31 plus a 50 all awaiting paint, Instill can’t decide if I will do the 31 in large logo grey for 1980s, EWS red or Intercity.

Has anyone ever seen a 31 working a service train in cornwall?

[The Fatadder]

As I have not yet been able to make it out into the garage to start recovering track components from Blackcombe, my plan to get the track built on Wheal Imogen has not yet progressed.

Instead, having finished painting the retaining wall I have been working on the buildings. The first job was to start picking out stones / blocks on the store and the dries, for this I have used 3 different shades of grey for the breezeblock construction, while using the same plus a couple of browns for the older stone built wall. The latter still needs a couple more shades adding before it is ready for its top coat of brown, while the breezeblock areas are now ready for the top coat. A first coat was also applied to the new roof section, although this still needs a fair bit of extra paint. The next task was to add some more detail to the store, adding the brackets connecting the sliding doors to the rail. Once the blocks are painted, I will add the valance to the front of the slider, guttering and the bargeboards to the roof. The dries will also need a more complicated guttering arrangement, the addition of missing doors on the new doorways, finally the support structure for the curved roof.

The other area of work was on the large building to the right of the layout, I am soon to leave Airbus and as a result I have been keeping a more of an eye out for interesting structural elements around the factory. One thing I keep noticing are the large transparent panels mixed in with the steel panelling. Looking at photos of clay works you can see similar panels, so I have had a crack at adding them. First up I cant find a photo of the prototype I have modelled, in my Blackcombe thread I mentioned it is based on a structure at Drinnick Mill but I cant find the source.
Looking at other structures I think the scoring made between panels was too far apart, so I have halved it. I have also added the transparent panels, masking and painting in Great Western Trains buff. A couple of extra details were added to the side with some vents (from the end of a CDA) and extra roof vents (Hornby HST shed). It still needs gutters / down pipes, and probably a few extra details. I want to find the source photo to look for extra pipe runs etc...

Now its really time to crack on with the track, as I want to ensure it is fully tested before I add the plywood sides / back / front panels. Once the sides / back are in place, I can make any final adjustments to the structures to ensure they correctly match the intended alignment (seamlessly join with the backscene.)

Given its now under a year until I need to have the layout finished, its time to get cracking!

Edited February 17, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Still no chance of any track building, and as I have both children on my own this morning while my wife attends a speed awareness course, it’s not going to change soon!

 

I did manage to add mortar to the clay works building, but I’ve had issues with the paint.

After picking out lots of stones it received a coat of a brown shade last night to blend it in / paint the remaining stones. This morning this was covered in Phoenix weathered concrete, and wiped off to leave the mortar. Unfortunately this wiped off some of the paint, so there are now a number of white stones. These now need repainting, before a final wash of white to weather

Edited February 18, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

While I continue to procrastinate about track (this time i have an excuse in that the noise cutting copperclad into strips would wake the baby). I have been thinking about the extent to which the track should be sunk in concrete. The plan is to solder up with check rails, but I am less happy with the points. I would welcome advice as to which option seems more prototypical the red outline or stopping at the green line

[The Fatadder]

No photos yet, but the last piece of work last night was to prepare the doors for the loading bays. I have worked from a photo of a real works which has plastic sheet screens over each door. These were cut from 20thou sheet along with a couple of details from evergreen strip. That now need paining ECC blue before gluing in position. Two will be closed while the third (right most) will be half open showing the front loader in position

 

In order to prepare for this I have also made up a brick puller which will sit between the rear most wooden doors and the first cover, this just needs the cement painting

[Gordon A]

While I continue to procrastinate about track (this time i have an excuse in that the noise cutting copperclad into strips would wake the baby). I have been thinking about the extent to which the track should be sunk in concrete. The plan is to solder up with check rails, but I am less happy with the points. I would welcome advice as to which option seems more prototypical the red outline or stopping at the green line

269FE5AC-B800-4B37-B333-4400C66E935E.jpeg

 

Assuming the reason for infilling the track is for road vehicle access then work out the generous space your largest road vehicle would require to manoeuvre to give you the indication.

 

Gordon A

[The Fatadder]

Unfortunately I forgot to bring the copper board to the club on Tuesday, so the planned preparation of copper clad sleepers was not possible. Instead I have made more progress on the building painting. The doors over the loading bays were added from plasticard painted ECC blue, while there is also a valance to add above the left hand doors. It now just needs to be fitted with the gutters / down pipes along with a few other small details.

Ive also finished off the painting of the slurry loader (other than the roof), which is nearly ready for final fit out. The main remaining tasks are adding hand rails to the loading platform, and final installation of the access ladder.

Edited February 22, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

A few updates photos,

 

Since the last photos progress has consisted of more building painting and a start on track building with the pcb chopped into roughly 8mm strips on the clubs bandsaw. I have now started preparing to start soldering this evening, though I still need to get in the garage roof to get another vee recovered from Blackcombe.

 

Design work on the river bridge is now finally finished, so ought to get that installed as well.

Edit: just noticed I forgot to put the slurry loader back on.

 

 

I have an updated project plan, but it’s on the other computer so will have to wait...

Edited April 28, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

I didnt manage to make a great deal more progress over the weekend, after getting back from the SWAG members day at half five I was to tired to think about track building. Now its into month end at work, so not likely to have much modelling time over the next few days.

 

At the show I did manage to make some progress on the PRA wagons, with the 20thou components cut for the first two wagons. I now need to buy more Evergreen U channel as I only have enough for 1.5 wagons....

I think eventually I could do with 4 of them a brake van and an 08 running on the branch for the Ponts Mill run

 

I did pick up something useful at the show, a pre-production Kernow Clay Tiger in ECC Blue. It now needs some heavy weathering, and takes my 1998 clay tiger fleet up to 3 wagons. It is interesting to compare with the S Kits model, certainly the end walkways on the latter are a lot better than the white plastic on the Kernow / DJM product (which really ought to have been an etch). But apart from that it is a really fine looking wagon.

Edited April 30, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Last night I finally started track building on the yard, the v crossing assembally is from a P4 track co point (scavenged from Blackcombe) whole as previously mentioned the copper sleepers are cut from pcb. Because the pcb is fractionally thinner than the exactoscale fastrack used for the straight track, I have soldered rough spacers into position from old fret. The switch rail assamabally is also P4TC, soldered into position.

 

Still a long way to go until I am able to wire up, but on track for trains to be running by the end of the month.

 

The soldering still needs a lot of cleaning up, but that can be done in one job once the rest is soldered!

[The Fatadder]

Last night I didn’t manage to make as much track progress as I would like, with only two more rail lengths soldered into position.  I have however managed to find a slight issue which will cause a further delay, The layout uses two B6 points and one B7, I only have switch blades for A6 and a B7, so I need to file up two pairs of B7 switch blades before I can get much further.   However I am still on track (pun not intended) to finish track building over the bank holiday weekend, at which point initial testing can commence.   Hopefully there will not be any major issues.

 

The other major job completed was the installation of the bridge and retaining wall for the River Par, this is now ready for pouring the river (but I want to finish off the track and add the concrete hard standing before adding the water.)

 

As mentioned previously I have put together a project plan detailing the remaining tasks / time scales.  

Project Plan

  POC Plan Baseboard 100%   Fiddleyard 0% Aug Backscene 0% Jun Arch  0% Aug Support Structure 100%   Track 33%         Yard 30% May      Branch 100%       Painting 0% May     Concrete inset 0% May Buildings 69%       Drys 100%       Stores 100%       Road Bridge 0% Jun     River Bridge 100%       Works 100%   Slurry Loader 80% Jul Covered Loading 20%      Site Office 50% Jul Weathering 0% Sep Terrorforming 90%   River 50% Jun Grass / Trees 0% Jul Minimum Stock 90% On going       Total 44%  

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

Another night and another length of track has been completed, with the next vee soldered into position and the rail completed for the loading siding.  This was followed by adding the check rails, and starting the preparation for the next length of track.  As with the previous track, fret spacers were used to maintain the rail height, although I am now running a little short of waste fret (I will need to solder up another brass coach kit to get some more supply.)

 

With this complete the only remaining job was a little testing, the test fleet for Wheal Imogen currently consists of two wagons.  A TTA clay tank (Maygib 12mm wheels) and a CDA (14.5mm Maygib wheels), the latter is a lot more temperamental than the former.  I need to investigate as to whether the cause is the wagon or the track, the CDAs were always temperamental on Blackcombe as well, so I suspect Hornby’s chassis design has something to do with the issues.

 

Tonight I aim to get the outer rails in place for the next point, and the rest of the rail down for the track under the covered loading area.   I also need to ensure that the sleepers are cut to length and glued down for the remaining (ballasted) track, without which I can't progress with the remaining track.   With that complete the rest of the track can follow as planned over the weekend.  At the moment I am hoping to commence track testing under power on Monday, all be it at a cost of pinching point motors which were intended for the Kingsbridge fiddleyard on Brent (the construction of which is some way off in the future).

 

For loco testing the plan is to utilize 3 locos which should be representative of everything that will be ran. A Bachmann Class 37 is a clear choice given it forms the backbone of all operations.  A Hornby Class 50 will be the longest loco used, the Hornby chassis design was always a tricky one running wise from memory (so I will utilize one of the Branchlines fitted locos rather than the Ultrascale ones which from memory were better performers).  Finally will be a Bachmann Peak, with its odd drive set up 1 Bo 1 1Bo 1 it has the potential to be awkward, however the Ultrascale wheels more than made up for it from memory.  Assuming all 3 run a complete circuit (fiddle yard > head shunt > back through crossover > fiddle yard > slurry siding > fiddle yard), I will be able to move onto the next step (which will be adding the concrete to the inset track.  

[The Fatadder]

While the heat is certainly not helping, I have cracked on with the track building. After a little refinement the complete track is now passing the CDA test. I have also added the final vee assembally and then fitted in the other rail for the loading area and installed track for the slurry loader.

 

The next job is to install the remaining sleepers on the slurry point to allow fitting of the remaining 2 lengths of outer rail, at which point I need to get those switch rails filed. Thinking about it, I may as well cut some rail and sit out in the garden filing!

 

As part of the testing i have been checking clearances, a Class 50 will just fit in the headshunt, although I have yet to work out how I am doing the buffers at that end. I may continue it through and have the teackncontinuing about an inch or two into the fiddleyard. It’s one area where my vision as to how it fits into he wider environment isn’t so clear.

[The Fatadder]

Another short session later and I have added the remaining outer rails, along with the final pair of check rails. So now it is time to start preparing 5 switch blades (only 5 as one reuses an Exactoscale part).

 

Once that’s out the way I need to find the wire brush attachment for the dremmel to start cleaning up the flux residue before the steel rail starts to rust!

[The Fatadder]

The rest of the evening did not result in much more progress, in that the baby was asleep (so no dremmel) and the garage to hit to file switch rails. Instead I have tidied up the layout and fitted the slide chairs to the two chaired points.

 

I have also put the buildings back on he layout to check clearances. The dries will need to be fitted on top of the concrete infill, as currently the roof fouls the easisheet on the CDAs. The slurry loader on the other hand is set up perfectly. Just need to get those switches made then I can get it wired. Testing showed that two silver bullets will fit under the loader. So a good chance for some shunting splitting my set of four for loading

 

Given the layouts current home I am a little annoyed with the baseboard shape, an angle the other way round would mean it could stay set up in bedroom 4 (aka the workshop) but as it is I can’t fit the fiddleyard. The only reason I chose to angle this way was to differentiate from Wheal Elizabeth which was angled the other way round...

 

(Edit: I should add the roof on the slurry loader is not glued in place (hence the curled up sides) while one of the roofs on the dries needs refitting after I knocked it off while track building)

Edited May 7, 2018 by The Fatadder

[The Fatadder]

No photos today as after this evenings work it still looks pretty much as it did last time I posted.

There has however been a reasonable amount of progress, with all 3 points now fitted to tie bars.

I have compromised here, in that I have never got on well with under board tie bars. Instead I have stuck with the copper clad strip soldered into position that has served me well on Brent.

 

Taking advantage of the warm weather I have also started washing down the track to remove any traces of flux, it does still need the wire brush attack however.

 

That will need to wait until the weekend (along with cutting the isolating gaps). Once done wiring shouldn’t take long, now adding the point motors, so it should soon be working. The aim is to run the first train by the 20th...

[The Fatadder]

Further progress this evening has got the copper clad sleepers cut with isolation joints cut, I have also managed to install the tortoise motors to power the points.  This in turn enabled some more testing (with more to come once the wiring is complete.)  

 

The aim is to complete the wiring over the next week so that live testing can start at the weekend.  I have now fully identified the initial test fleet, comprising of 50002, 37672 and 47817 all of which are still DC fitted.  The intention is that all testing up until the hard standing has been installed, should be conducted with DC stock in case of derailments.  There are just too many live sleepers around the track risking shorts.  

 

Along with the point motors I have also been finishing off a couple more small repairs, first raising the dries up to their final height in order to check clearances (which were fine), then re-gluing the roof on one side.  Extra cosmetic chairs have been added to the slurry point (around the vee and slide chairs).  

 

Finally a photo: 37196 shunting a clay tiger into the slurry siding.

[The Fatadder]

Slowly making wiring progress, the workshop is still a bit uncomfortable for prolonged soldering.

 

One track defect is now resolved, but there is another on the point entering the slurry siding. At present it is only occurring with a VDA with Gibson wheels, so may be a back to back issue...

 

On the other hand the TTA and silver bullets are fine (but they are fitted with the 12mm Maygib which as often proved to be the most forgiving

[The Fatadder]

Track building is now complete, wired, and after an hours work with a wire brush in the Dremmel cleaned.

 

So now testing can commence! At least it could if I could find some DPDT switches to power the tortoise. So that is now on hold until an order arrives from Rapid...

 

In the mean time I have returned attention to the buildings,

 

 

There are two areas I am not completely satisfied with, the yard office towards the front of the layout and the gap between the dries and the large building. For the latter I am not sure of a soloution (other than adding a third building which joins the two). In the foreground I am torn between the original fairly large site office, a pair of silos (as mocked up in the below photo) with connecting pipework over the tracks to the right hand building, or some sort of small stores office (too similar to the left hand shed I think).

 

Finally I have been trying to get on with finishing the covered area in front of the dries, I have decided to add an 8mm section of corrugated sheet along the near edge (with a few sections missing) based upon Ponts Mill. Once that has dried it is time to finally get it painted, before adding more rust effects to the roof / side.

Edited May 20, 2018 by The Fatadder