Trebetherick Harbour and Mineral Railway

[Polar Star 795]

Well last summer after our annual local exhibition my other half bought a Bachmann 009 WD 4-6-0 Peggy !! I must admit I was unsure about this being an N gauge modeller and also into G scale !! So it sat on the coffee table for a couple of days everyone inspected it and commented on how fine it was !! Then it was given a run on a test track on the coffee table . What a runner okay I was getting interested . So in the next few days I went and bought a ROCO HOe starter set with Henschel 0-6-0t and some wagons and oval of track ,controller etc . So on to the coffee table for a play !! Okay what a runner ! So the following weekend off to the local model shop (Rhuddlan Models ) ,and some open tub wagons were purchased ! 

                                                                  So there the background now to the layout ! Well its a metre  long by 36cm wide . Baseboard is two layers 5mm foamboard and plastic L Pieces as a frame bonded together with industrial superglue I can obtain very strong stuff takes no prisoners not like certain proprietory make ! The layout is a fictional harbour set in North Cornwall somewhere on the Camel estuary it was built as rival to Bodmin and Wenford line and also as branch to Delabole slate quarry all pure fiction !! So the first building a rebuilt Wills engine shed ! Next the painted shed

[Polar Star 795]

[Polar Star 795]

So one of things that I wanted was atomated uncoupling . So after much experimenting on a friends layout with magnets etc (A story in itself ) I came up with discreet ramps that are operated by bicycle spokes . Backscenes are made by myself from various photos I have taken over the year and put through Photoshop to make the fit etc ! Most of the town/village buildings are adapted from Scalescenes .com and I have tried where possible to keep the stonework as near to bodmin stonework as possible the Clyde Puffer is also a Scalescene kit with added detail the fishing boat was purchased at a local RNLI shop at very good price some detail !

[Polar Star 795]

So more photos  Water when put down was Woodlands Senic water very good and the rock face I used this new woodlands scenic shaper sheet very good Vehicles re usual sources except lorries all scratchbuilt or heavily modified even bus has been modified to show steering going round tight corner as they do in Cornwall

[Polar Star 795]

More photos !! Since been out on first exhibition seems to have gone down well !! If nothing else it ran very reliably . Not bad for 4 months every inch of spare time ! And well 009 great fun now where,s my N Gauge !!