Penhayle Bay

[Gwiwer]

Ooh thats spooky check this out 2:22 into this vid

 

 

Ps Excellent layout

 

 

The connection with the down Voyager is intentional as well. See 3m 20s of the same link!

 

Ps Excellent layout

 

Thank you kindly

[Red Fox]

The platform and street lights are sourced from an eBay store, user name "everydaygoodz" which I have used as a satisfied customer on a number of occasions. They don't seem to be branded. That store has a huge range of similar items. Those lights run from the mains supply as they are all wired back to a transformer on 12Vdc.

 

Thanks, I shall look into them.

[Kernow Joint Railway]

The connection with the down Voyager is intentional as well. See 3m 20s of the same link!

 

 

 

Thank you kindly

 

Hello Rick,

Nice to see your continued modelling on your excellent Lay-out. The installation of lighting has created some effective results. In respect of my Lay-out I have completed the Shed and finished the Lay-out boards (16ft long x 11ft 8 inches wide)

The Combined 75 Gauge and 55 Gauge Tracking is next on the Menu, plus I need to make an elongated S shaped viaduct, measuring 8ft, in Double-tracked N Gauge. Take Care and Speak to you later,

Kind Regards,

Michael Thornberry.

[JamesB 34067]

Very nice layout there like it that it sort off looks like brockenhust station with the Voyger, Where did you get the heardboard from or did you make it?

 

ATB

James

[Gwiwer]

James the headboard is taken from a photo of the real one. There are so many of those that it is well and truly in the public domain and I am not using anythign more of the original image than the board itself.

 

It was printed, colour-adjusted slightly then reduced on the printer to be the right size and printed onto medium-weight art paper.

 

It is fixed to the unit with a tiny blob of PVA.

[Preservation Modeller]

Have just found this layout, and must say I am AMAZED!!!

 

The detail in your layout is superb! A variety of levels and alike make it stand out and I think that you've made a MARVELLOUS layout!

[Gwiwer]

I have completed some signalling work which has been waiting for many months. First at the up end of Treheligan station where the three-arm gantry has been in place for a long time but the moves from both down platforms onto the Ponsangwyn branch have not previously been signalled. These require a full signal, not a ground disc, because the moves enter a bi-directional running line to the yard and not merely to a loop or siding.

 

The new two-arm signal post is seen in the first image along with detailed attention to oil staining of the track and the recently-completed barrow crossing.

 

 

Detail of the new signal, which is a Ratio kit, with a Bachmann class 221 waiting to depart from platform 2, the up main.

 

 

Mid-way around the layout a small but critical addition has been made to another 3-arm post. This one controls the junction between main and fiddle yard routes and acts as Treheligan outer home signal. The main arms here control moves to down loop (a move to which the 15mph speed restriction sign in the background applies) , down main and fiddle yard respectively. A subsidiary arm and route indicator have been added to the central post to control entry to the two up-side sidings and permit a crossing move from down main to up main which is required when trains drop a portion for the St. Agnes branch in Treheligan station. The signal post, in a typically GWR "right-hand drive" position, which was previously just placed has also now been glued down and the ground worked around it. A train of "unsilver bullets" is making its way into the fiddle yard.

 

[JackBlack]

Very amazing layout there, well done. Do you have a track plan?

[Gwiwer]

Sure. I think it was posted earlier but re-posted here anyway.

 

Not to any sort of scale but for guidance the length is about 16m and the width around 2.25m though narrower at the beach end. The complete circuit is therefore about 35m of track and takes around 1½ minutes.

 

 

And the detail of the larger station area

 

 

Since those plans were drawn up there have been a couple of slight changes. The "Back Siding" which was laid along a fence rail well away from the main board has been removed as it was impossible to keep it dry in wet weather. There is a crossover â…” of the way along the East Siding to the Up Through meaning I can park a loco or bubble car at the buffers on the siding and use the rest of it as a short loop. And a further crossover has been fitted between 60 and 72 points to increase operating flexibility at that end of the yard.

 

There has never been space for a full crossover there as there is at the other end but this means most lines can now feed to most others. For example if the Up side of the yard is full and I still need to run a train through in that direction it can now come via the Down Through or Down Through Loop crossing over and back at each end of the yard. I have more loco run-round options as well.

[Gardener20_0]

I love the detail on that new signal. Are you planning to make anymore?

[JamesB 34067]

James the headboard is taken from a photo of the real one. There are so many of those that it is well and truly in the public domain and I am not using anythign more of the original image than the board itself.

 

It was printed, colour-adjusted slightly then reduced on the printer to be the right size and printed onto medium-weight art paper.

 

It is fixed to the unit with a tiny blob of PVA.

 

 

Is it really it looks good, Wish I could do this as I am after having this headboard http://james-bartlet.../p64938545.html for my Real Ale Trains or Beerexs

 

 

ATB

James

[Gwiwer]

I love the detail on that new signal. Are you planning to make anymore?

 

Thank you Jed. I have several more signals on the workbench at the moment mostly of the square-post variety and mostly kit-bashed to some degree to meet the requirements of my operation. Even the ancient Crescent signals (which are probably even older than me) can be modified using bits of Ratio kit as I have shown above.

 

If you are careful with the Ratio kits it isn't hard to adapt them. The trickiest part I find is assembling the extremely small parts which should allow them to be built as fully-working. The soft plastic really isn't up to that sort of use in my opinion and the size of some critical parts and the need to bend wires through them presents a real challenge.

[smudgeloco]

Scenery - ASTOUNDING.

Atmosphere - Smell the salt in the air.

A terrific bit of modelling, a great design, showing a real feel for the area.

Then there is the bonus feature - Trains run through it all.

 

I don't know how I have missed this until now.

[Gwiwer]

I don't buy many items that are completely out of theme simply because I'd have no legitimate reason to run them. The CEP units are among the few that fit that category. Recently an opportunity arose to purchase a bargain-priced Heljan Clayton which is a type I have always rather liked and have memories of in service from my early treks north of the border.

 

And of course on its long haul "doon sooth" the class 17 has acquired a certain amount of grime! So here is a home-dirtied D8606 having failed to blow up, explode or break down while working a Paterill to Truro goods throughout. You've never heard of Paterill? It's the opposite of Motherwell in the local dialect

 

 

[westernglory]

Agree with all the sentiments re the undeniable Cornish nature of the layout, and love that piece of moorland wasteland alongside the branch that the 17 is coming off.

 

Do you have any other pics, or care to share how you got it (the moorland) to look so realistic?

 

Steve

[darren01]

HI

I just love this layout so much , you have done somthing that stands out !!!

Keep up the good work and keep the photo comming.

Darren01

[Gwiwer]

Agree with all the sentiments re the undeniable Cornish nature of the layout, and love that piece of moorland wasteland alongside the branch that the 17 is coming off.

 

Do you have any other pics, or care to share how you got it (the moorland) to look so realistic?

 

Steve

 

I'll see what I can find over the next few days as I have time to go through the photo files.

 

Many thanks for all the comments.

[Gwiwer]

Here are some more images of the patch of moorland westernglory was asking about.

 

The construction is of crumpled and mushroomed newspaper sheets placed randomly on the baseboard and covered with plaster cloth. The random distribution gives uneven ground surface without huge peaks or valleys; one straight-ish valley was intentionally created through the middle of the scene. The construction was then painted a shade of olive green before the application of a range of Woodland Scenics products. Foliage sheets of light and olive green were stretched over and stuck to most of the area first. I have then used fine and coarse turf of several shades of green and brown, bushes in several shades of green including in the bottom of the deeper valley, fine leaf foliage again in several shades of green, yellow foliage to represent flowering gorse and have included random sprinkles of fine ballast to represent stony ground. Brown, buff and grey ballast has been used. There are some larger stones again randomly scattered to represent boulders and also used to create a tor; these are bluestone chippings found at bonsai nursery and have been most useful in all the moorland areas as well as for boulders along the rocky shoreline of the beach scenes. A few wandering Hornby sheep complete the scene which is edged with Skaledale granite walls and has a green Hornby bubblecar included for scale.

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Two workbench projects in one shot.

 

The 4-year old Metcalfe viaduct which is printed card and has been outside for most of it's life has come to the end of its useful service. It has done very well in the outdoor environment coping with everything from extreme heat to persistent dampness but has finally started to warp and break apart.

 

It is time to replace it.

 

I have had a Wills viaduct kit with two extension arches sitting on the workbench for some time and this has now been started on. It will form a five-arch structure with both ends sprung from the hillsides and will be taller than the Metcalfe unit it replaces thus requiring a new baseboard. As the viaduct is on its own little lift-out section this poses no major obstacles.

 

Here is a test fit of one arch - minus the brickwork insert - after several coats of paint to bring it towards the appearance of old weathered stone. The honey-coloured cap stones require toning down and when built there will be wooden inserts to add considerably to the strength of the plastic kit.

 

The other project, seen placed on the deck for scale, is the ongoing weathering of the Clayton which has now been completed on one side and is â…” finished on the side shown; the right-hand engine compartment is still in its out-of-the-box condition but not for much longer.

 

[Kernow Joint Railway]

Hello Rick,

Excellent modelling and description of modelling method. Many Thanks. Good Luck with your Viaduct Re-Build. Looking Forward to seeing this develop,

Kind Regards,

Michael Thornberry.

[Andrew F]

I was constantly reminded of this layout whilst on holiday in St Ives the other week. From the Sloop and down the line to St Erth. Yeah you've got the feel of the area down to a T.

 

Lovely scenery and a wonderful layout you have there.

[Gwiwer]

Thanks for the comments guys - all feedback is appreciated.

 

A rare appearance today for the "King Arthur" with Mainline green stock in tow as it heads around the curve below St Senara's Church and over a length of track which I relaid during the day. The original track had been in place five years and had a joint right above a baseboard edge. That edge - along with most others - has shifted by about 1mm over the years so while in most cases it is possible to simply refettle the track to overcome that it wasn't possible on this length due to the rail joint. I had to replace it with a spare length and cut back to shift the rail joint by a few centimetres so that it no longer sits over the board join.

 

Newly-relaid track on the right; original track still in situ on the left with an obvious difference in the ballast as well.

 

 

There's a narrow strip of grass between the tracks as they are farther apart on the curve than standard geometry (a relic of the broad gauge still often found on GWR lines) and a couple of Jim Smith-Wright's etched drainage gratings have been added in the central cess as well.

 

The SR steam fleet and the green stock will be diverted onto the left-hand route through the tunnel at some time next year onto their own SR-themed layout. In an ambitious challenge I have set myself I intend to create a north Cornwall SR-themed scene on boards double-stacked over part of the existing fiddle yard. Trains will still run the full circuit of the layout but will come through an SR-styled station to the rear of and higher than the present Treheligan scene. A movable panel will conceal which ever station is not in use.

 

[Gwiwer]

Some small works are going on around the church scene and to the branch line which climbs from Treheligan station around to and behind the church itself. The branch line sits on a separate curved board from the church until it ends at the garden fence. The final section has not proven to be entirely proofed against rainwater running down the fence and now has to be cut back. I can still support the shortened board at the fence end by inserting slotted steel bearers beneath it.

 

In order to retain the length required to hold a loco+2 or 2-car dmu train on the shortened branch I have had to move the skew-arch bridge portal about a coach-length closer to the station. The new arch is formed of a painted Ratio "coarse stone" sheet and has had new land built behind it creating a tunnel. This land rises slightly above and behind the church and will be blended into a higher backscene board yet to be fitted.

 

Here we see the newly re-worked scene as a 150/2 Sprinter comes off the branch and through the new tunnel. Taken with flash in very poor light today. The new portal is still skewed over the line and continues the church yard boundary wall in a straight line. The old arch through the scenery, which used to be a stone bridge, is now the far end of this tunnel. The 08 is sitting on No.1 Church Loco Siding with Nos. 2 and 3 to its left. The two through fiddle yard tracks are on the lower level centrally beneath the new tunnel and emerge in the distance beyond the church.

 

And another view looking from track level up the steeply-graded branch as the train emerges from the new portal. As owner-operator I have a PTS and authority to take such pictures!

Edited July 2, 2010 by Gwiwer

[34010-34005]

Hi Rick,

 

Just stumbled on to this layout and wow it is amazing. You are an inspiration.

 

Cheers.

 

Chris

[Gwiwer]

For large-logo fans here's a 50 with the Old Oak FK set in the late afternoon sun at Pryce Moor. The patch of moorland has been so named as an Anglicised version of the Cornish "prys" meaning "worth". The name then becomes a pun on "worth more" B)