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Meldon West - 3x1 Quarry / Aggregate Layout - set in the 80s/90s


NGaugeTom
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You've made a good start on this NGaugeTom.
I agree re the curved backscene - and that's looking good already.
The whole scene has a nice, natural "flow" to it

Looking forward to seeing where you're placing your structures / buildings - have you got any in mind?
Will you be using kits, or scratchbuilding or adapting kits? What sort of bridge will the view-blocker to the fiddle be? I'm assuming a concrete road bridge from those photos

Nice work sir :)

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Thanks for the kind comments Marc.  I haven't really started looking at buildings seriously yet but I have a few ideas rattling around in my head.  I was thinking of having a storage warehouse in the centre with a kiln/warehouse and chimney to the right near to the bridge/fiddle yard exit.  I've found it quite hard finding pictures of clay facilities from the 80's/90's so would appreciate any pointers in the right direction for research if you know of any.  I'm planning on scratchbuilding them as they will then fit exactly as I want them too within the layout but I'll probably utilise old bits and pieces of other kits I've got lying around in boxes.   Bridge wise I'm looking at a stone bridge with steel girders supporting the road, based on one I found earlier this year whilst out on a walk on a disused railway in the Peak district, although not sticktly right of course for Cornwall but I think it will fit the layout :)

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Tom,

 

Great start there and what a lovely little layout this is shaping up to be. That trackwork looks absolutely superb! :good_mini:

 

Thanks for sharing and looking forward to seeing this develop.

 

David

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Managed to get quite a bit done on the layout over the weekend so thought I'd share the progress.  I used DAS clay to build the foundations of the yard area, I'm not too happy with the way its dried, its very hard to get a flat surface with it.  I'm thinking I may plaster over the top for a better finish, (small test section can be seen at the front of the layout) and then I can hopefully put in some lorry/plant tracks around the buildings.  I've begun building the rock faces on the rear of the layout, I used plaster mixed with water and PVA and then manically scribed and manipulated it whilst it was drying.  I think it still needs some work once fully dry but I like how this is coming along,  I saw this technique on a youtube video for an american layout and thought I'd give it a go, results look good so far.   I also managed to build a couple of mock-up buildings and make a start on the bridge that hides the fiddle yard exit and give the harbour area at the front a bit of paint.

 

 

Wheal End Update 1.JPG

Wheal End Update 2.JPG

Wheel End Update 3.JPG

Wheal End Update 5.JPG

Wheal End Update 7.JPG

Edited by NGaugeTom
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6 hours ago, Duncan. said:

Hi NGauge Tom,

What make are the buffers stops or are they scratch built?  The trackwork is Finetrax -certainly looks good  how are you operating the turnouts?

Cheers

Duncan

Hi Duncan,

The buffers are the standard Peco N Gauge ones, I've chopped quite a bit off the base's so they sit on the code 40 rail and painted them up using acrylics.  Thanks :) - I'm really pleased with how the tracks turned out and it works really well with RTR locos and stock.  Turnouts are operated by Cobolt Digital motors for the slow-throw, they work a treat.  First time I've used them on a layout and they seem solid, really liking that they've got two switches built in, so I'm using one for the point frog.

Cheers,

Tom

 

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9 hours ago, NGaugeTom said:

Hi Duncan,

The buffers are the standard Peco N Gauge ones, I've chopped quite a bit off the base's so they sit on the code 40 rail and painted them up using acrylics.  Thanks :) - I'm really pleased with how the tracks turned out and it works really well with RTR locos and stock.  Turnouts are operated by Cobolt Digital motors for the slow-throw, they work a treat.  First time I've used them on a layout and they seem solid, really liking that they've got two switches built in, so I'm using one for the point frog.

Cheers,

Tom

 

 

Tom - the permanent way really looks fantastic. I cannot believe it is N gauge to be honest! 

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As a fellow N gauge China clay enthusiast I rather like this. And the track is simply superb.

 

With regards picture of the works then as mentioned the Cornwall railway society webpage is a great start. Also any of the John Vaughan books, especially ‘An illustrated history of West Country Clay Trains’ or ‘The Newquay branch and its branches’. Also the Middleton Press books on the mineral railways. You can also get a fair bit of an idea on google earth

 

The 80s and 90s is an interesting period as the industr6 went through great changes, from the older traditional dries to modern industrial plants. Till 1988 you have the old wooden hoods alongside modern air braked wagons. The last traditional coal fired dry was Carbis which closed in 1989, but at locations like Moorswater a lot of the older buildings remained in use, modified till the mid 90s. By the late 90s a lot of the smaller dries were declining or closed, a process which continued into the 21century.

 

So if you set it losely in the late 80s early 90s you could have a large variety of stock and buildings and be. A bit flexible about the exact period depending on stock

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 20/03/2019 at 05:18, TomJ said:

The 80s and 90s is an interesting period as the industr6 went through great changes, from the older traditional dries to modern industrial plants. Till 1988 you have the old wooden hoods alongside modern air braked wagons. The last traditional coal fired dry was Carbis which closed in 1989, but at locations like Moorswater a lot of the older buildings remained in use, modified till the mid 90s. By the late 90s a lot of the smaller dries were declining or closed, a process which continued into the 21century.


You might be surprised to know that the process of change that you are talking about actually happened much earlier. A lot of research and development occurred at Lee Moor, where a rotary calciner was constructed, among other things, in the early 30s. This was followed by a rotary drying plant at Rock Hill/Caudledown on the Goonbarrow branch in 1939, but due to the war that wasn't commissioned until 1949. A board of trade working party published a report on the state of the industry in 1948, which made recommendations for improvements at a time when the government was subsidizing and rationing the industry. This led to a period of rapid mechanization, and the bulk of the big modern drying plants were built during this period which spanned the 50s, 60s and 70s. Moorswater rotary dryer was built some time in the late 60s or early 70s, and it replaced the old coal fired dry completely, disused from that point on apart from it containing an additional filter press for the new dryer. By about 1970 ish, only Goonvean used coal and Great Wheal Prosper kiln at Carbis Wharf actually lasted until 1991, the clay being trucked down to Charlestown harbour in it's final 2 years.

The 80's and 90's were actually a period when no new dryers were built and as a 2 decade period it can be divided into two distinct halves; pre 1988 and post 1988. Pre 1988 was a boom period for clay and the beginning of speedlink freight. It was a time when every available resource was mustered to process and ship as much clay as possible. Older plants were shut down as the industry re-organized it's flows to concentrate on larger plants for more efficient operation. Post 1988, the industry had hit it's peak and was now in rapid terminal decline. The CDA was introduced to replace the clay hood, but each year an ever growing number spent more and more time stored at St Blazey. The industry spent the 90's coming up with a survival plan that culminated in the 1999 sale of ECCI to Imerys.

Blackpool dryers, Drinnick dryers, Collins dryer (and with it the entire Retew branch), and Ponts Mill dryer were all shut down by the end of the 80's (on re-reading, I've remembered that Pontsmill was actually shut down in '92, and Moorswater sometime in the mid-90s). The next wave of shutdowns wasn't until the 00's, with Kernick Buell, Par Buells, Par slurry plant, Marsh Mills Buells, Blackpool slurry plant, and Crugwallins Burngullow tube press.

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  • 2 months later...
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On 19/03/2019 at 09:13, NGaugeTom said:

Managed to get quite a bit done on the layout over the weekend so thought I'd share the progress.  I used DAS clay to build the foundations of the yard area, I'm not too happy with the way its dried, its very hard to get a flat surface with it.  I'm thinking I may plaster over the top for a better finish, (small test section can be seen at the front of the layout) and then I can hopefully put in some lorry/plant tracks around the buildings.  I've begun building the rock faces on the rear of the layout, I used plaster mixed with water and PVA and then manically scribed and manipulated it whilst it was drying.  I think it still needs some work once fully dry but I like how this is coming along,  I saw this technique on a youtube video for an american layout and thought I'd give it a go, results look good so far.   I also managed to build a couple of mock-up buildings and make a start on the bridge that hides the fiddle yard exit and give the harbour area at the front a bit of paint.

 

 

Wheal End Update 1.JPG

Wheal End Update 2.JPG

Wheel End Update 3.JPG

Wheal End Update 5.JPG

Wheal End Update 7.JPG

 

Hi Tom,

 

If you use DAS for the surface and want it to be more rough.....

 

Use a fine pitch wire brush in a stipple motion - ie verticle down onto the surface whilst it is still drying.

 

The amount of pressure will need to be judged to get the finish you want.

 

Thaks

Phil H

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Tom 

 

The scenic work looks great, the layout is coming along nicely. 

 

A question about the Dapol magnets - how easy do they fit within the finetrax? Did you have to dig out the baseboard to get the top of the magnet below track level?

 

Regards 

 

Nick 

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2 hours ago, stivesnick said:

Tom 

 

The scenic work looks great, the layout is coming along nicely. 

 

A question about the Dapol magnets - how easy do they fit within the finetrax? Did you have to dig out the baseboard to get the top of the magnet below track level?

 

Regards 

 

Nick 

Hi Nick,

 

Thanks! It's getting there.

 

The Dapol magnets are good but are rather large, I wish they were about half the size!  I cut each of them in half before measuring and cutting away roughly a 3 sleeper space for them, the tracks laid on a layer of 1/16th cork which I also removed so the magnets would sit a little lower.  They ended up sitting just above the height of the sleeper which was no bother at all during testing.  After testing I laid some spare code 40 rail around each side of the magnet to make up the crossings and filled the gap at the top with a plaster/glue/water mix to hide the magnets before painting.  The one issue I had is with the Farish Class 47's - they have a low hanging plastic cover over the running gears on both bogies, which would beach the locomotive on the crossings.  Not so bad at speed as the momentum is there to push the loco over, but would stop the loco from moving at slow creep speeds, which is exactly what I want to achieve on this layout.  I've got around that by cutting away the plastic gear coverings on both of the bogies and they now work fine without beaching.  I've not come across that with any of my other stock but something to watch out for.  I've almost finished converting all my stock to Dapol's kadee couplings and I'm super pleased with the hand's free shunting, well worth installing in my opinion.

 

As another option - as I've found I want to add one more magnet in another position I've bought some small super strong Neodymium magnets, so planning to fit those to the front wharf track at some point and see whether they work just as well.

 

Cheers,

Tom

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36 minutes ago, NGaugeTom said:

Hi Nick,

 

Thanks! It's getting there.

 

The Dapol magnets are good but are rather large, I wish they were about half the size!  I cut each of them in half before measuring and cutting away roughly a 3 sleeper space for them, the tracks laid on a layer of 1/16th cork which I also removed so the magnets would sit a little lower.  They ended up sitting just above the height of the sleeper which was no bother at all during testing.  After testing I laid some spare code 40 rail around each side of the magnet to make up the crossings and filled the gap at the top with a plaster/glue/water mix to hide the magnets before painting.  The one issue I had is with the Farish Class 47's - they have a low hanging plastic cover over the running gears on both bogies, which would beach the locomotive on the crossings.  Not so bad at speed as the momentum is there to push the loco over, but would stop the loco from moving at slow creep speeds, which is exactly what I want to achieve on this layout.  I've got around that by cutting away the plastic gear coverings on both of the bogies and they now work fine without beaching.  I've not come across that with any of my other stock but something to watch out for.  I've almost finished converting all my stock to Dapol's kadee couplings and I'm super pleased with the hand's free shunting, well worth installing in my opinion.

 

As another option - as I've found I want to add one more magnet in another position I've bought some small super strong Neodymium magnets, so planning to fit those to the front wharf track at some point and see whether they work just as well.

 

Cheers,

Tom

 

Tom 

 

Thanks for the information - I have used the Dapol magnets on several layouts with Peco Code 55 and found they uncouple well, but the pre-uncoupling is not so good. Have also used Neodymium magnets located in the cork track bed, a group of 4 on a metal plate works OK but can also expand to 6 magnets if a larger "uncoupling zone" is needed. My current and past layouts use longer ( and heavier) stock so magnet length is less of an issue. The next layout is likely to have a lot of 10 foot wheelbase wagons so will need to decide if I want to shunt individually or in groups of 2 /3 wagons. 

 

Thanks again for the quick response.

 

Nick 

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Hi Nick,

Nice layout, your making excellent progress!  What have you used to do the grass between and around the tracks? Is that a static grass system?

 

Like others have commented, very impressed with the FiNetraX trackwork, I'm considering using that for my layout at the moment - you may have just convinced me!

 

Rich

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3 hours ago, stivesnick said:

 

Tom 

 

Thanks for the information - I have used the Dapol magnets on several layouts with Peco Code 55 and found they uncouple well, but the pre-uncoupling is not so good. Have also used Neodymium magnets located in the cork track bed, a group of 4 on a metal plate works OK but can also expand to 6 magnets if a larger "uncoupling zone" is needed. My current and past layouts use longer ( and heavier) stock so magnet length is less of an issue. The next layout is likely to have a lot of 10 foot wheelbase wagons so will need to decide if I want to shunt individually or in groups of 2 /3 wagons. 

 

Thanks again for the quick response.

 

Nick 

 

Hi Nick,

I've always found backing the loco up just a millimetre or so helps with the uncoupling.  Great to know the neodynium magnets work too!  I have a few short wheelbase wagons and decided I'd opt for the newcoup in between wagons so run them in two's or three's and this works quite well.  I was finding that when I shunted anything very slowly over magnets they'd detach, so changing the in-between couplings over to these has stopped unnecessary uncoupling .

Tom

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3 hours ago, MarshLane said:

Hi Nick,

Nice layout, your making excellent progress!  What have you used to do the grass between and around the tracks? Is that a static grass system?

 

Like others have commented, very impressed with the FiNetraX trackwork, I'm considering using that for my layout at the moment - you may have just convinced me!

 

Rich

Hi Rich,

 

Thanks!  I've used a few shades of short grass mixed together and applied using one of the yellow plastic bottles from Noch.  I find just puffing the bottle makes the grass static enough to stand up, fire them into slightly watered down PVA and leave them to dry before hoovering off the excess.

 

The finetrax trackwork is good, slightly fiddly building it but works perfectly well with all of my RTR stock.  I'm surprised it's not used more in N gauge!

 

Tom

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54 minutes ago, NGaugeTom said:

Hi Rich,

 

Thanks!  I've used a few shades of short grass mixed together and applied using one of the yellow plastic bottles from Noch.  I find just puffing the bottle makes the grass static enough to stand up, fire them into slightly watered down PVA and leave them to dry before hoovering off the excess.

 

The finetrax trackwork is good, slightly fiddly building it but works perfectly well with all of my RTR stock.  I'm surprised it's not used more in N gauge!

 

Tom

 

Thanks Tom,

Very realistic.  fiNetraX has only really reached fruition in the past 12-18 months I think. Wayne, the chap behind it, has just (in recent weeks) released some single/double slip numbers, so I think the options have been limited, but it definitely looks better than the Peco options!


Rich

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Yes I noticed Waynes released a single slip version, looks very good!  Just need to build another layout now....

 

I managed to make more progress over the weekend on the buildings for the layout, structures are pretty much there now, just need to fill in some plastic joins, add some piping and a few details and I recon I'll be able to prime them all.  I've also built a trussing out of some spare code 40 rail, which will hold a pipe from one of the facility buildings to the wharf.  Thought here being this pipe handles the excess water that is removed from the china clay.  I was set on basing the layout around a china clay facility but having looked at my research pictures, I need to shade quite a bit of it white and I'm not sure I can bring myself to do it at this stage..... so it might be a hybrid mineral/clay layout for now.

 

 

Buildings Update 2.JPG

Building Update 1.JPG

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Hi Tom,

The layout is looking great. I have already bought some of the finetrax range and after seeing your results I am determined to make a small layout using finetrax product. I do have a question, how do the stock and locos perform, is running improved (slow speed for example through the pointwork) compared to Peco streamline?

Cheers

Duncan

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