Nampara for Hendrawna

[drduncan]

So, since the last post I’ve been making painful progress on electrics. 
 

The reason for this - despite and indeed because - the track panels aren’t yet fixed in place is because the wiring will be running over the top of the baseboard to the wiring loom behind the back scene. No upside down soldering when things go wrong. So it has been quite important to check all track feeds quite carefully. 
 

Also I needed to get the wiring loom in place before starting to block in the basic groundwork. 
 

To do this I’ve been busy making the control panel, planing the wire in tube point operating runs, siting the servos. I’ve also had to build the servo controllers and of course the means of setting the servo limits. So lots of soldering MERG kits.

 

 

The basic control panel has been roughed out and it’s box constructed from 2 laminations of 5mm ply while the top itself is 100 thou plasticard.

I have been agonising over the placement of the uncoupling magnets. I have 7. 1 is needed for the test track, leaving 6 for the layout. Ideally I’d like 1 or 2 spares for exhibitions (if I ever get an invite to exhibit or finish the layout enough to do so) so I have 4 or 5 to play with. I have already decided that the platform road gets 2. I as the loco release (the right hand green push button) and one for tail traffic (the left hand green push button). As I’m using Alex Jackson couplings I could, in theory place the two magnets to the outside of the loop points on the main/platform road. I could alternatively site then ivo the diamond crossing, or the tie of the points from the loop to the sidings. But do I need any on the loop itself? Decisions, decisions…

 

Below is the hole in the end board where the panel will fold up for travel.

 

 

Any suggestions warmly received!

 

Duncan

[drduncan]

By the way, the Triang Hymek lives!

D

[AlfaZagato]

Excellent.

[drduncan]

So wiring work on the panel and associated buses has continued. Unfortunately the two sockets to power the dc accessories bus and the NCE power cab turned out to be the wrong size. 
 

 I’m now reasonably happy with the position of the first two servo units, the servo4 driver and eb1 circuit breaker so these can be fixed in position and wired up. 
 

I’ve also decided on the positions of the remaining uncoupling electro magnets too. 
 

what hasn’t quite gone to plan is the wiring looms from the track panels to the track bus at the rear of the layout. It worked line for the rearmost track, but was too bulky for comfort for other lines so these will be taken sub baseboard - hopefully…

 

drduncan

Edited December 31, 2023 by drduncan

[drduncan]

Today saw me finish the internal wiring for the control panel and fixed it in place. You can see it below folded up in the travelling position.

 

 

Then it was a matter of running the wiring loom from the control panel up round the NCE power cab panel and then to the rear of the baseboard. 
 

 

Above you can see the wiring loom exploding out from the securing clips. It now needs to be run past various bits of electronics. You can also see the backs of a couple of sockets - the upper one is the DCC power supply while the lower is the DC 12v accessories bus which will power the electro magnet uncouplers, any internal lighting , the servo4s and possibly the planned 12v LED layout lighting. 
 

Duncan

Edited December 31, 2023 by drduncan

[drduncan]

So, while waiting for the 3D printer, I got some work done on track panels - getting the alignments correct on the board joints and making sure the gaps in the rail were as small as possible. 
 

 

As the track is crossing the joint at an angle some of the sleepers are yet to be fitted, but you can see the pints that were inserted into the hardwood strip to support the rail ends.

I also fitted the sub sleepers tie bar to the point just visible to the right.

Next job: replace sleeper I broke off while doing all of the above.

 

The job after that: find what I did with the sleepers I cut to straddle the baseboard joint.

 

The job after the job after that: fit them…

 

Duncan 

[drduncan]

As the great server meltdown destroyed a lot of the photos early on in this thread, I though to reinstate some, but also enhance the back story for Nampara which has led me to post this new introduction (a blend of fact and fiction) - even though it is nowhere near the introduction to the thread!

 

The origins of the line

 

In the early 1850s, inspired by the onrushing (sic) progress of the Cornwall Railway, Sir Henry Poldark, son of the late Sir Ross, decided that his mining and associated ventures in the vicinity of the family seat at Nampara would benefit from connection to the national rail network, especially as hopes in the area that the Treffry tramways might reach the area had been dashed. The building of a railway from Nampara south towards Truro and both the West Cornwall Railway and Cornwall Railway was not just vanity - the continued success of the extensive mining ventures depended on reducing their costs - especially that of coal. Therefore a line from the harbour at Nampara to the various tin (to the southwest around St Annes), copper and lead mines running to the south east and east. 

 

 

Poldark agitated and pestered until he had sufficient interest in a scheme for a branch line from the Cornwall Railway just east of Truro to reach his land at Nampara, where he undertook to develop more suitable quays for the exporting of tin, copper and china clay that across an open beach. Work started on the line in 1858 and by 1862 was open for goods and passengers, with the Cornwall Railway undertaking to work the line.  The stations at Idless and then at Callestick & Marazanvose - a station that the locals joked had a name as long as the railway that served it - could pass passenger and goods trains, while there was a smaller station at Chynoweth.

 

Relations with neighbouring lines

 

When the line was proposed it was opposed by the Treffey tramway (from Par to Newquay) who could recognize competition when it saw it (and later took an equally dim view of a another broad gauge intrusion, this time in the shape of the Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway which was built from Burngallow towards St Dennis but only got as far as Napean before running out of money).  Happily, the Treffey trustees were unsuccessful in the face of Sir Henry's determination and his railway to Nampara went ahead as he intended. 

 

When the Treffey tramway was rebuilt as the Cornwall Mineral Railway between 1873 and 1874 a branch was authorised from St Dennis junction to meet the Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway (now part of the Cornwall Railway and the Associated Companies = GWR)  and as part of the authorization it was agreed that not only would the line be mixed to St Dennis and even Newquay, but that the Treamble branch would be extended a couple of miles from the area of Shepherds to meet the Nampara Railway at a junction at Perranwell.  From this point the Nampara railway would lay a narrow line to its harbour at Nampara and give the CMR running powers over the mixed portion only of the line.  It was a nice bit of quid pro quo, but the CMR saw little value in actually doing their broad gauge bit of the agreement and after a salvo of lawyers had been unleashed on them in 1875 in order to get them to do something towards laying the broad gauge rail could only frustrate plans for mixed gauge from St Dennis to Newquay by laying the rail in such a way that it couldn't be used! Unfortunately for the Nampara Railway Sir Henry was a decent chap and had laid the narrow rail, making the line from Perranwell Junction to Nampara a mixed gauge line

 

The line was, much to its promoters' relief a moderate success, and this helped it weather the county's banking crash in 1866. Indeed, in the mid 1870s the line was extended a short distance to serve an additional new quay. To get his own back on the CMR Sir Henry did not lay a narrow rail on all parts of the new quay extension, limiting the utility of the facilities for the CMR.  With the collapse of the mineral trade shortly after the new quays were completed the CMR was leased to the GWR in 1877. With lower harbour duties than at Par and Newuqay, the link to the CMR actually allowed the Nampara line to poach traffic (especially China clay) from the CMR - much to that line's intense annoyance, but with no break of gauge to complain about opportunities for CMR petty revenge were limited.  

 

From the outset the line was worked by arrangement with the Associated Companies (ie GWR).

 

Industry and Traffic on and along the line.

 

However, the Nampara line fulfilled its promise of lower costs for the mines.  More importantly, the mines remained an important source of traffic for the line - not just coal in, but also timber and machinery, while ore went out. The lower costs helped the copper mines in the area survive the collapse in copper mining in the late 1860s and early 1870s.

 

Lead mining was also very important in the area by the mid nineteenth century - in fact in the area had the two most productive lead mines in the country - West Chiverton and East Wheal Rose. To consider East Wheal Rose (up the mixed gauge branch to the CMR0 between 1845 and 1885 it produced 48,200 tons of 62% lead ore, 212,700 ounces of silver and 280 tons of zinc ore and the savings in costs allowed to keep working despite an increasingly unfavourable economic climate in the 1880s and 1890s. Between 1859-1886, West Chiverton produced around 45,800 tons of lead ore, containing over 33,000 tons of lead and over 1.24 million ounces of silver, not to mention 22,676 tons of zinc ore and 15 tons of copper ore. Between 1863-1874 the mine paid £157,000 in dividends for a purchase price of £30,000. The line also allowed the development of lead smelting close to the mines, maximising the profits that could be realised - the unrefined ore commanding a much lower price than lead ingots. 

 

China clay, although not a product of the area, is a significant sourced of traffic on the line thanks to the lower harbour dues making it a more attarctive exporting point than Newuqay for traffic on the CMR lines, but with its broad gauge, it provided a handy outlet via Truro for the traffic from the china clay workings on the former Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway.

 

Fish was another stable of the line. Like St Ives further west, Nampara was saw considerable landing of fish, not just Pilchards, but others - most of which headed south as perishable traffic to Truro to join the express workings to the east and ultimately London.

 

The line and its route.

 

The terminus of the line at Nampara is constrained by the high ground inland and the sea. The result was a long thin set of facilities in three groups. At the farthest point of the line is the 1870s new quay extension. This consists of a pair of BG sidings and a pair of narrow (standard)  gauge sidings as well as a loop. However, due to the poor relations with the CMR, a clause was inserted that only standard gauge engines owned by the harbour company (a separate concern to the Nampara line) were allowed onto the new quays extension.  This clause has persisted into GWR leasing/ownership of the CMR with the result that the exCMR 1392 class engines (and others) cannot pass onto the new quay lines, while the board gauge engines can. The next group of facilities are centred on the station proper and the old harbour.  The goods and loco facilitates for the station are a few yards further inland along the line. Fortunately, gentle curvature of the line as it approaches the station gives Nampara signal box a good sight line of the goods loop and engine shed and the outer home and ain to loop points are within the prescribed distance by the BoT so a second box is, at the moment, unnecessary.  

 

Nampara station signal diagram.

 

Once out of Nampara the line heads south and about 1/2 a mile along the line is a set of sidings to serve the Lesiure groups of mines, before continuing to Perranwell Junction, where the mixed gauge line ends and standard gauge to the CMR diverges  from broad and heads east. A couple of chains west of the junction there is a siding serving the New Chiverton Mine, and a few chains east of the junction on the standard gauge is a siding for North Chiverton.

 

 

Heading south the now broad gauge line continues for about a mile before a lengthy siding serving West Chiverton and Wentworth Consols mine diverges. Another half a mile sees the first passing station, Callestick and Marazanvose. This station is not only a block post on the line and generating agricultural traffic for the line, but it has several sidings devoted for mines lying to the west of the valley. It is also the summit of the line. The line now falls towards Truro.

 

 

About 1/4 of a mile south of Callestick, the line crosses the A30 at a level crossing, before arriving at the small station of Chynoweth. This station has a loop and siding for general merchandise - but a few chains further south along the line lies yet another siding serving the Garras mine.  A mile further south of Chynoweth station is the station at Idless - the lines second passing point and again serving mines in the close area as well as the agricultural trade. 

 

And now

 

The date is now 1891, and within a year the line will be converted to the Stephenson's narrower gauge.

[drduncan]

Look what arrived in the post today!!!!!

 

A big thanks to Gareth @garethashenden for being persuaded to build it and for doing such a tip top job too.

 

And here is 1561 posed on Nampara’s wharf siding with some 3 plank and 4 plank wagons as well as a part finished lidded China Clay wagon.

I really must stick the track down, ballast it, finish the electrics, finish some rolling stock, play trains and then get some scenics done!

 

Duncan

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by drduncan

[drduncan]

I have bitten the bullet and struck down the first track panel. It has been layed onto cooydex as this is a flexible rubber based glue and should not harden solid there seemed no point using a sound deadening underlay and then adding pva on top….

The ash ballast substitute is ash… from a wood burner, sieved and then sprinkled and brushed into place. The books are to make sure nothing moves and everything remains in contact with the glue and underlay until it’s all thoroughly dry. Then I can see how much ballast actually stuck and how much hasn’t…

Duncan

Edited March 9 by drduncan

[drduncan]

A mixed result for todays efforts. The first track panel is glued down very successfully, but the ballast not so much…

 

 

Most of the ballast came up when the track was hoovered. So it will be a case of redoing with dry ballast and then adding dilute glue to it 🙁

On the plus side the broad gauge M2/L7 coach negotiated the point without the bogies jamming on the footboard.

Duncan

[stevel]

8 hours ago, drduncan said:

A mixed result for todays efforts. The first track panel is glued down very successfully, but the ballast not so much…

 

 

Most of the ballast came up when the track was hoovered. So it will be a case of redoing with dry ballast and then adding dilute glue to it 🙁

On the plus side the broad gauge M2/L7 coach negotiated the point without the bogies jamming on the footboard.

Duncan

Duncan

 

have you tried using artists Matte medium diluted 2 parts water to 1 part, it is an excellent glue which stays flexible flows well and dries very clear and matt.

 

Stephen

[drduncan]

4 hours ago, stevel said:

Duncan

 

have you tried using artists Matte medium diluted 2 parts water to 1 part, it is an excellent glue which stays flexible flows well and dries very clear and matt.

 

Stephen

No I haven’t,  but I shall! Thanks for the tip.

D

[drduncan]

So I test printed and fitted a mixed gauge buffer stop today.

The chairs under the baulk of the buffer stop will face to be trimmed away before final fitting and painting.

 

Duncan

[Schooner]

Fun!

[Mikkel]

Enlightening!

 

Never noticed the prototypes before, but of course how else would it be done.

[drduncan]

4 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Enlightening!

 

Never noticed the prototypes before, but of course how else would it be done.

It’s based on a design for Barlow rail and is designed to bear against the wheel flange not tge wagon buffers, so is a lot lower than ‘normal’. It will also make for interesting painting and weathering to show the wear of flanges against the metal sheathed cross beam.

D

[drduncan]

The track is now down on board 2 (the right hand one). 
 

 

Working on board 1 today as if time permits wiring up board 2 for testing (aka playing with trains). It will be a chance to put @garethashenden’s Buffalo through its paces, and 1384 for the SG as well!

 

[drduncan]

One of the decisions for the quay sidings is whether to reballast in wood ash or use cinder ballast. Also to okay around with what ballasting  over the sleepers might look like.

Here I’d board one’s quay sidings with still loose cinder ballast roughly in place to see what over the sleepers might look like. At the moment I’m tempted to continue with both cinders and over the sleepers ballast.

 

Comments very welcome!

 

Duncan

 

[Stubby47]

Is it worth raising the general ground level around the trackwork, to help simulate the track has become fully embedded over time?

Then you'd just need to fill between/over the sleepers, between the rails and along both sides.

[Portchullin Tatty]

Duncan,

 

The chances are that all goods yards at the time had cinders ballast that covered the sleepers and may have been surprisingly close to the railhead.

 

This is because the shunting locomotives would have been the version with a tail and four legs and walking across what we now think ballast was uncomfortable for them and the raised height of chairs/rail was an encumbrance* to getting the most out of the horse as it had to step around these rather than lean into the weight. 

 

Have you seen the Chris Nevard method of ash ballasting?  I think it is the most realistic approach and uses Das modelling clay, a thumb and paint.   https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=463962129104807

 

 

    *We call this a trip hazard now; that is not a concept I think they will have used!

[drduncan]

4 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Is it worth raising the general ground level around the trackwork, to help simulate the track has become fully embedded over time?

Then you'd just need to fill between/over the sleepers, between the rails and along both sides.

Yes that is my intention. The ballast at the moment only goes to the sleeper ends. The area between the track and the quay edge will be cobbled with stone ‘kerbs’ butting up o the sleeper ends and the sleeper ends ballasted over. The inland sections will have similar treatment but with soil not cobbles/kerbs.

Duncan

[drduncan]

4 hours ago, Portchullin Tatty said:

Duncan,

 

The chances are that all goods yards at the time had cinders ballast that covered the sleepers and may have been surprisingly close to the railhead.

 

This is because the shunting locomotives would have been the version with a tail and four legs and walking across what we now think ballast was uncomfortable for them and the raised height of chairs/rail was an encumbrance* to getting the most out of the horse as it had to step around these rather than lean into the weight. 

 

Have you seen the Chris Nevard method of ash ballasting?  I think it is the most realistic approach and uses Das modelling clay, a thumb and paint.   https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=463962129104807

 

 

    *We call this a trip hazard now; that is not a concept I think they will have used!

It is similar to what I had in mind for the non-quayside infill.

D

[drduncan]

When I say cobbles it’s really random stone rubble laid as a road - like this from Boscastle and very similar to ones I’ve seen in st Ives, Mousehole and other Cornish villages.

Im going to try skaters 2mm  random stone to see if it looks right. Any suggestions as to a better approach?

Duncan

[AlfaZagato]

I'd look to see if someone offers 'stone chippings' as a ballast/grit.   Plasticard is going to end up looking very regular by definition.

[Schooner]

5 hours ago, drduncan said:

Any suggestions as to a better approach?

 

Define your 'better'! Slaters 2mm sounds worth investigating...I'd also have a go at scribing plasticard and see how long it takes to achieve what effect. It was the only way I found to do the do:

 

As for ground cover, I can recommend two products (after a non-negligable amount of largely unintentional experimentation and exploration):

Chinchilla dust for 'smooth' ground

 

and Treemendus 'Earth Powder' for rough ground

 

Both take washes and powders well, and texture can be modulated by re-wetting with very dilute PVA or alcohol and tamping as smooth as desired, or sprinkling a little extra material on to add a little more texture:

 

DAS is alright for scribing, but harder than plasticard, and for taking setts, but not as good as 2-3mm foam:

(DAS in the 4', foam between tracks)

 

HTH

Edited 12 hours ago by Schooner
Treemendus' Normandy Earth cannot be recommended - beware!