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Launceston Branch: Rails Across the Moor


Brinkly
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Regards the track plan, are you building to enjoy the construction and/or the operation, as to me, this dictates the number of sidings. IMHO, too many, even 2!, can seem a little contrived, but as is often said Rule 1 applies, it's your train set after all!

 

Mike.

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1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Regards the track plan, are you building to enjoy the construction and/or the operation, as to me, this dictates the number of sidings. IMHO, too many, even 2!, can seem a little contrived, but as is often said Rule 1 applies, it's your train set after all!

 

Mike.

 

Thanks Mike. 

 

I've tried to fit a second siding it and it just doesn't work! Looks all wrong: I like @Captain Kernow's idea, but 12inches isn't that wide. 

 

Essentially, I'm building Whitchurch to learn how to lay track, wire a layout and dabble with scenic ideas. I don't plan to widely exhibit the layout, if @Stubby47 thinks it's good enough, I'd quite like to take it to a future RMWeb Taunton member's day and then possibly at Exeter.

 

Something I discovered a few years ago, is that I just like watching trains go by. I also enjoy shunting, but primarily, watching a train in the landscape is what I like. This was one of the reasons I choose to model Horrabridge. Far larger and busier stations would fit in the footprint, but I like watching a short train in, what appears to be, a large landscape. Whitchurch is a bare bones version of this idea, but I think I will be happy enough with it.

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

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1 hour ago, Brinkly said:

 

Hi Lee,

 

Thanks for for your interest. 

 

I bought these about 3 years ago now. At the time, I seem to remember £110 including postage. I think they have gone up a bit (and understandably so as the price of everything has gone up material wise) since then. 

 

Orginally, they were a set of 3 left, middle, right (LMR); although, I'm only using the left and right boards for this project. I suspect the middle board will have the back scene removed and become part of the fiddle yard. 

 

As a side note, Tim's service for standard products is very quickly and the boards went together very well. You might want to invest in a couple of sash clamps, but, bar basic tools, you don't need much else. 

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

 

 

Brilliant Thanks Nick

 

At least it gives me a rough idea price wise for something I will do over the winter months later in the year and work towards

Regards

Lee

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Thanks @LBRJ I did toy with that as an idea, but I quite like seeing loco at the platform, similar to Geoff @sparky layout, Llangunllo. Geoff's work I have always found very inspiring. 

 

IMG_0443.JPG.62a0114ce96428d05bc2960046ffc1a3.JPG

 

IMG_0444.JPG.2df86fa6616643147afa51999a52ea0b.JPG

 

IMG_0445.JPG.12072806491fe5e1c615e9643441e9e6.JPG

 

Indeed, if I had more space, I would have built something similar.

 

If I can build Whitchurch half as good as this, I'll be happy!

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

 

 

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17 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

I think it's highly likely that a ground frame at a location like this would simply be levers in the open air, locked by an Annetts Key on the One Train Working Staff or released by the electric token.

 

Or, it could be a derelict signal box, like at Mary Tavy and Blackdown http://great-devon-railway.uk/pd%26sw j/mary tavy.html

 

Good work Nick, by the way.

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Greetings,

 

Today's work saw cork removed and cork relaid! Bit of a slow job; however, I'm happy with what I have achieved. 

 

The track has been cut into approximate lengths but needs fine-tuning and fettling before I stick it down. I'm going to lay the running line first before proceeding on to the siding and headshunt.

 

IMG_2139.jpg.e2864f33448d712f854db8adbb3c4af4.jpg

 

IMG_2141.jpg.b0cce78302bacf13e274f6ff91d36b3b.jpg

 

 

I did manage to take a quick video showing the first movement this afternoon. 6400 was one of the last locomotive working the Plymouth - Tavistock section in the winter of 1962/3, so I felt it was only right for this locomotive to be the first to traverse the newly laid trackwork. 

 

 

I then paired her with a suitable auto trailer! The auto-workings were a regular movement along the line, especially during BR days, hauling the majority of the Plymouth-Tavistock services. 

 

IMG_2142.jpg.a2aa86754c629dcc61d23f09a7403fda.jpgIMG_2145.jpg.36bdf27df2020aceb7a49c152c2ec268.jpg

 

Thanks for reading! Any comments are most welcome. 

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

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Splendid stuff, Brinkers. 

 

This is right up my street and is developing very nicely. 

 

Would you like a pagoda? 

 

 

Rob 

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4 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Splendid stuff, Brinkers. 

 

This is right up my street and is developing very nicely. 

 

Would you like a pagoda? 

 

 

Rob 

 

I would love a pagoda. Do you have one spare sir?

 

 

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I have a brand new Bachmann jobbie which is yours if you want it. 

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8 hours ago, Brinkly said:

I've tried to fit a second siding it and it just doesn't work! Looks all wrong: I like @Captain Kernow's idea, but 12inches isn't that wide. 

 

Well, that's fair enough. 12" isn't that much, especially if you want to fit a passenger station into it.

 

Just think of the fun of going 'goods only' - it's great!

 

Making the headshunt as long as possible would make up for the lack of a second siding parallel to the main siding.

 

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8 hours ago, Brinkly said:

Something I discovered a few years ago, is that I just like watching trains go by.

In which case, no worries, but for maximum enjoyment of this, I'd advise hiring a couple of fiddle yard operators to keep the flow of trains going, whilst Sir relaxes in a lineside deckchair with his Ian Allan Locospotters handbook and a Pims or two!

 

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Just now, Captain Kernow said:

Well, that's fair enough. 12" isn't that much, especially if you want to fit a passenger station into it.

 

Just think of the fun of going 'goods only' - it's great!

 

Making the headshunt as long as possible would make up for the lack of a second siding parallel to the main siding.

 

 

 

Will do Captain!

 

As you know, I do like a good wagon or ten!

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6 hours ago, Tim V said:

Or, it could be a derelict signal box, like at Mary Tavy and Blackdown http://great-devon-railway.uk/pd%26sw j/mary tavy.html

OK, question then, what used to be at Mary Tavy & Blackdown to warrant the expense of a block post and accompanying signal box?

 

Would Whitchurch Down have had sufficient traffic to merit a the costs of providing such a block post and the on-going costs of manning it?

 

Alternatively, the building could have been moved there to serve as an office, having been used as a signal box or similar in another location. Such things were not unknown.

 

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Now I can answer this! Originally, Mary Tavy had two platforms allowing trains to cross, this was done when the LSWR had running rights over the Lydford-Plymouth section of the Launceston branch. No joke CK, this did happen! None of your works of plausible fantasy on this branch! :D:P;) The branch was dual gauge for quite a long time too. 

 

Once the LSWR completed the Lydford to Plymouth section of their mainline, traffic on the GWR branch significantly reduced: the northern part of the branch (Tavistock South to Launceston) was always quieter than the southern section and once the LSWR trains stopped, so to did a lot of the activity. 

 

By WW1 Mary Tavy had been reduced to a single platform and the loop removed. Some time after 1916, the signalling equipment was removed completely and Mary Tavy became a staffed halt with public siding: this section of the line was part of the block working from Tavistock South to Lydford Junction. I believe this was achieved by 1917: probably wartime savings drove this.

 

By 1958, or there abouts, the siding was removed and the station closed: tickets being issued by the guard on the train. 

 

So it may be possible to have a similar situation at Whitchurch... 

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

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All good stuff, Nick, hope it materialises into what you imagine.  A lot of good suggestions but too much expansion and it ceases to become Whitchurch, for the reasons you have mentioned.  Its times like this, it would be nice to be back in my OO days!:vava_mini:

       Brian.

 

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Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for your kind words. 

 

I do like 4mm as a scale myself. 7mm is tempting; however, space is such a premium that I am quite unlikely to go down that route for the time being. There are some very nice 7mm layouts on RMWeb mind and certainly makes one think! 

 

As a side note, the first bit of track has been stuck down this evening. Hopefully more to report tomorrow.

 

Thsnks again for all the comments and likes everyone. 

 

Best wishes,

 

Nick.

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Well I must say if one of the lesser reasons for posting ones work on this here internet is to encourage others, then this one has worked!

I will have to do a bit of this and that to my plans - but I feel the urge to actually do this and that now I have read this thread several times.

 

Nothing too spectacular, but as an RTR /easy as possible type of entry way back into doing something I have missed out on for a few years it will please me to even start works!

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1 hour ago, Brinkly said:

I do like 4mm as a scale myself. 7mm is tempting; however, space is such a premium that I am quite unlikely to go down that route for the time being. There are some very nice 7mm layouts on RMWeb mind and certainly makes one think! Nick.

 

Unfortunately, I have seen a number of 7mm layouts squeezed into the space I would have difficulty building a 4mm layout in, don't do it Nick.

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Less is more ladies..............just saying...

 

 

Rob 

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8 hours ago, LBRJ said:

Well I must say if one of the lesser reasons for posting ones work on this here internet is to encourage others, then this one has worked!

 

Generally, I've found over the years that if I put something up on RMWeb, one it generates a bit of discussion, which is good and two I tend to get on with the next bit!

 

I didn't think there is anything wrong with using a lot of RTR and RTP models on a first layout, nor subsequent layouts if it pleases the builder. Don't get me wrong, I admire those folk who build stunning layouts from scratch as their first attempt, but I lack the time and the skills to march in and do the same thing straight away. 

 

The important thing is that we have a hobby and are doing something constructive, rather than vegetating in front of a screen! 

 

Get cracking @LBRJ

 

Regards,

 

Nick.

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