Porthmeyn - My Lockdown Project

[HonestTom]

Hi all. During the lockdown, I started teaching myself to make buildings from scratch. Then I wanted somewhere to put them, so I started building a new narrow gauge layout. This is (or will be) the Cornish harbour of Porthmeyn.

 

The inspiration is St Ives, albeit that town never had a narrow gauge railway. The basic scenario I've imagined is that, like St Ives, the streets of Porthmeyn are too narrow for heavy traffic, so a narrow gauge tramway was built through the town to the pier here to enable fishermen to offload their catch. My layout is set in the 1950s, when the line is being run down.

Edited April 22, 2020 by HonestTom

[HonestTom]

I actually came up with a history for this line, because I'm a bit nerdy like that and because I like to come up with a context when building a fictional location.

 

The History of the Porthmeyn Railway, Part 1

 

Porthmeyn ("Stone Beach" in Cornish) is a fishing port not far from St Ives. Aside from fishing, the other major employer was Wheal Jowanet, a tin mine on the coast. Branok Spargo, the owner of Wheal Jowanet and local MP, was a great supporter of railway construction (indeed, he claimed, somewhat dubiously, that his grandfather had employed Richard Trevithick). Spargo had long pushed for the construction of a branch line to Porthmeyn to transport his wares. While local businessmen and residents were generally favourable, the difficult terrain made such a railway economically unattractive.

 

On a trip to Wales in 1876, Spargo encountered the Ffestiniog Railway and realised that a narrow gauge line was a possible solution. He approached the businessmen and civic dignitaries of Porthmeyn with a new proposal. A narrow gauge tramway that would run from the main line along the coast, stopping at Wheal Jowanet, and ending at the harbour. Fishermen had long complained that the narrow, winding roads in the town made transporting their catch difficult, so Spargo's proposal caught their interest. The line was also to have a passenger service, as it was considered that the town had a lot of potential for tourism. Spargo also approached the people of the island of Enys Platt, proposing a connecting steamer service.

 

The railway opened in 1884. There were four stations - Gwidden Bay, where it met the main line, Wheal Jowanet, Porthmeyn Town and Porthmeyn Pier. The line proved an instant success, and within a few years had turned Porthmeyn into an attractive destination for tourists. In 1901, a fifth station was opened to serve Porthmelyn Beach. At some point, this station was renamed "Porthmelen Beach," presumably for the sake of avoiding confusion.

 

Steam haulage was used from the start, although the locally constructed locomotive No. 1 quickly proved unreliable and underpowered. Locomotive No. 2, a saddle tank built by Parsons & Clarke, arrived in 1888. The success of this engine prompted the purchase of a third in 1890, a smart tram engine. All were fitted with side skirts to enable street working.

 

Unfortunately, Wheal Jowanet closed in 1932. The mine had been struggling for some years, but the Great Depression finished it off. However, the line still had more than enough traffic to keep going, even if the Great Western Railway did condescendingly refer to it as a "toy railway" on their maps.

 

In a heady bout of post-war optimism, a bus station was constructed at the edge of town, which proved a major blow to the railway. The old line was starting to look distinctly quaint. The final blow was a new pier, coincidentally almost beneath the bus station, which could be used by lorries and opened in 1953. In 1955, the railway finally closed. But this was not to be the end...

 

[Nile]

Better than watching tv all day, keep it up.

[HonestTom]

2 minutes ago, Nile said:

Better than watching tv all day, keep it up.

Many thanks! I work in a major London hospital, so my days are currently divided into "stressful" and "bored." A model railway is the cure for both.

 

The History of the Porthmeyn Railway, Part 2

 

The railway may have lost its lustre in the twentieth century, but it still had its admirers. Inspired by the example of the Talyllyn Railway, and realising that the writing must surely be on the wall, the Porthmeyn Railway Society was inaugurated in London on May 3rd 1954, headed by law student Sam Bonneville and with Keith Spargo, grandson of Branok, as honorary President. The proposal was to run it primarily as a tourist attraction with some freight traffic.

 

The scheme attracted a lot of enthusiast interest, and indeed, there was barely a month's hiatus between the line's official closure in April 1955 and its acquisition by the Society in May. Examination revealed good and bad news. No. 1, thought long scrapped, was discovered in pieces behind the sheds. Nos. 2 & 3 were working, though barely, and in dire need of an overhaul. Much of the line's rolling stock had been disposed of as traffic reduced, and what remained was in very poor condition. The track, too, was highly neglected. The consensus was that frankly, it had only been good luck that had prevented an accident.

 

The Society engaged in what became known as the "Mad Dash," a programme to get trains running in time for the summer season. To this end, they bought a Simplex (No. 4) and a couple of ex-WD wagons from an agricultural line in Lincolnshire to form a makeshift train. As Bonneville put it, "Not ideal, but at least the wheels weren't going to fall off." The same source provided them with new rails, and the heroic volunteer platelayers had the line from Porthmeyn Town to Porthmelen Beach ready by July, when the line was officially reopened to passengers.

 

The first season was a resounding success, helped by an aggressive publicity campaign by the Society. The railway press at the time noted the somewhat surreal situation of tourists flocking to a new line that had always been there. The following year saw the arrival of a new coach and a fifth locomotive, an ex-Metropolitan Water Board Kerr Stuart 'Wren'.

 

The society prospered over the following decades, despite setbacks. The final goal was achieved in 2009 with the reopening of Gwidden Bay station, which had been closed under the Modernisation Plan. Indeed, the line does very well out of a Park and Ride scheme operated from Gwidden Bay. As for what the future holds, well, that all depends on what I can make up. 

[HonestTom]

Progress!

 

The stones are cut from an egg carton and glued on individually. Takes a while, but it costs nothing.

[Nile]

Eggcellent !

 

(Someone had to)

[Stubby47]

For the outside corner (the one above the middle of the brush), can you fold pieces of egg carton around the corner to simulate large stones ?

 

Also, the top edge of the walls would have a more regular stone size, like kerb stones.

 

Stu

[HonestTom]

19 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

For the outside corner (the one above the middle of the brush), can you fold pieces of egg carton around the corner to simulate large stones ?

 

 

Not easily. The stones on the corners have been roughly matched, so the plan is to use the old bicarbonate of soda/superglue trick to fill in the cracks. I've used this on other projects and it works pretty well if you want a rough finish (and I do).

Edited April 23, 2020 by HonestTom

[HonestTom]

43 minutes ago, Nile said:

Eggcellent !

 

(Someone had to)

Well, I did learn about it just before Easter, so...

 

42 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

Also, the top edge of the walls would have a more regular stone size, like kerb stones.

 

Stu

Wait, I forgot to address this. The top of the quayside isn't quite finished - I am planning to lay some regular-ish-sized stones along the top, along with cobblestones. 

 

The egg carton thing has been a total revelation. Now I never throw them away - that quayside isn't even half a box. I'm planning at least one more stone building on Porthmeyn and I'd also like to see if I could use them to represent a rendered surface.

[HonestTom]

If anyone is curious about the little chapel, I have a two-part video. First part is out this week and can be seen here.

[HonestTom]

A closer look at the fishing boat. This was from Anyscale Models and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

[Marly51]

I’ve just come across your interesting little YouTube videos on modelling in 009! I love all the research behind your micro of Porthmeyn and the layout is looking really good!

[HonestTom]

On 17/03/2021 at 15:15, Marly51 said:

I’ve just come across your interesting little YouTube videos on modelling in 009! I love all the research behind your micro of Porthmeyn and the layout is looking really good!

Thanks! I must admit that progress is proving a little slow right now - the channel is taking up most of my spare time.