Penhayle Bay

[NHY 581]

2 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

When I move back down to Amp Sher in a few weeks, I hope to meet both yourself, Rick and many other Suveners at Shows.

 

Not if they see you first............

[Andrew P]

1 minute ago, NHY 581 said:

 

Not if they see you first............

There speaks a man of experience.

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

When I move back down to Amp Sher in a few weeks, I hope to meet both yourself, Rick and many other Suveners at Shows.

 

I may be demonstrating weathering again at the Twickenham & District MRC show in July though that is the only one in the diary other than Hayle in May which isn't too close to Amp Sher   

[Andrew P]

3 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 

I may be demonstrating weathering again at the Twickenham & District MRC show in July though that is the only one in the diary other than Hayle in May which isn't too close to Amp Sher   

I'll have to watch out for that Rick, and stick it in my diary.

[Donw]

Penhale really should have appeared in a mag. The pictures may not have been as good as the professionals but the layout was very inspiring 

 

Will you be coming to the SWAG meet at Staplegrove Rick? I suspect it will be too close to moving for Andy  I am hoping to see him at Rail-Ex Taunton in Oct.

 

Don

[Sol]

I was fortunate to see it in the flesh before Rick went back to the UK & one of my mates thought it was DCC at first - so well it ran.

[Gwiwer]

16 hours ago, Donw said:

Penhale really should have appeared in a mag. The pictures may not have been as good as the professionals but the layout was very inspiring 

 

Will you be coming to the SWAG meet at Staplegrove Rick? I suspect it will be too close to moving for Andy  I am hoping to see him at Rail-Ex Taunton in Oct.

 

Don

 

IT is always gratifying to know that something I have created has gone on to inspire others.  I certainly intend to be at Staplegrove but nothing is definite at this stage.

 

14 hours ago, Sol said:

I was fortunate to see it in the flesh before Rick went back to the UK & one of my mates thought it was DCC at first - so well it ran.

 

Sol - I remember it well and perhaps we might mention that our mutual friend knows his way around DCC and the electronics which go with it.  It must have been fully an hour into the running before I was approached slightly quizzically with the enquiry "You're not DCC, are you? ......... "   I could run four trains independently with two main lines and two branches and with both main line trains able to disappear into the fiddle yard and be replaced at the other end by something else emerging from a tunnel mouth.  By deft use of the main line loop platform I could add a fifth train. When it ran well it probably looked really slick though it required a high degree of concentration.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Gwiwer

[Module00]

great layout. Congratulations for your work. 

[Gwiwer]

Thank you.  

[St Enodoc]

Nice to see the photos on the KMRC website Rick.

Edited May 11, 2020 by St Enodoc

[Gwiwer]

14 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Nice to see the photos on the KMRC website Rick.

Indeed it was thank you.  And Hayley's little comment that went with it made it all the more pleasing.  I'm afraid that may be as close as the layout ever gets to publication in any form unless I resurrect the idea of a self-published book which was started a number of years ago but not proceeded with.   It could still be done.  

 

Penhayle Bay still has over 12,000 Facebook followers though many will by now have just not "un-followed" since there is no new material being posted there.   I still receive occasional feedback and questions through that page.  

 

It would seem that, now three years since it closed and around fifteen since the concept first moved on from a circle of track on the dining table, that my little project has made quite a significant impact around the modelling world.  Which is very humbling, really.

 

[steve22]

I'd like to add my name to the many that found Penhayle Bay such an inspiring layout.  Thanks for creating it Rick.

Steve.

[Gwiwer]

Penhayle Bay has resurfaced for a couple of days.  

 

The Hayle Model Railway Club, with Duchy Railroaders, was to have held their May Exhibition across this weekend in Cornwall.  Owing to present restrictions on public gatherings this has had to be cancelled but the club has put together a Virtual Exhibition.  

 

While this is not a professional production - it has been done by several members and others often with little or no experience of such things - it does include a number of layouts which might otherwise have been exhibited.  It also includes a 15-minute video of me demonstrating some basic weathering techniques which I was invited to do at the exhibition.  On the back of that the Club has accepted the Penhayle Bay video for inclusion as well.

 

The link to the full program is here.  As this is a playlist it is possible to pick and choose which to view without needing to sit through everything.  The Penhayle Bay video is not new of course.  But it has been welcomed by a club in whose area the layout was set.  It included some recognisable references to the town of Hayle and the name itself was derived from that town's name prefixed with Pen- (the Cornish for headland) and suffixed with Bay.  

 

Here it is to enjoy again.  My contributions are items 7 and 31 on the playlist.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Almost four years since Penhayle Bay closed for good I am very pleased to say that it has finally appeared in print.  Electronic media for the 21st Century and not only the lead article but also the cover photograph.  With thanks to those (Trevor and Robyn) who made it happen.   There can be no new photos, I'm afraid, so these might seem familiar but for all my friends and followers who have been asking why the layout has never been featured - it now is.  

 

https://railmodelleraustralia.com/RMA Mag March 2021 web.pdf

 

There's more.  I am also now some way through writing the book of the layout which is intended to be ready for late this year or early next.  This will be printed on demand, possibly self-published or maybe through one of the small-volume outfits now in the marketplace.  I shall maintain a small stock for sale at exhibitions and similar events and for those without online ordering facilities.  My working title is "Penhayle Bay - The Story of an Imagined Landscape".  More on that as it develops.  

 

 

[ian]

A wonderful read Rick, and long overdue.

 

Put me down for a copy of the book.

[Rhysb]

Copy for me too please!
 

Rhys

[Jim76]

Great article Rick - I always enjoyed visits to ‘Penhayle Bay’... Looking forward to the book. The inclusion of a track diagram would be beneficial for those who have not seen it in the flesh.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Jim76

[Gwiwer]

9 hours ago, Jim76 said:

Great article Rick - I always enjoyed visits to ‘Penhayle Bay’... Looking forward to the book. The inclusion of a track diagram would be beneficial for those who have not seen it in the flesh.

Good to hear from you Jim and we hope all is well there. 
 

I was asked if I could include a track plan for the article. The only one I ever had was crudely sketched and could not be found. The plan on the control panel photo gives an idea - though not the scale and size - and includes most of the trackwork. Despite the size of the layout well over half of it was a plain double-track main line passing through the scenery. 

[brushman47544]

The best thing you showed to get a real feel for the size of the layout was the In-cab video, but even that didn’t give the sense of size that a plan or aerial shot would do. 

[roundhouse]

Rick

 

I enjoyed reading the article. Doesn't time fly as had forgotten that it was 2017 when you ran the last train.

 

Any plans to reuse the viaduct section yet?

[Gwiwer]

42 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Any plans to reuse the viaduct section yet?

The viaduct section is the centrepiece of my weathering demonstration stand these days.  All plans for 2020 and 2021 have been cancelled due to a certain nasty virus going around but all being well it will be back out there in 2022.

 

I have no plans to re-use it as part of a layout.  If at some future time we find ourselves blessed with a lot of space then maybe.  I have enough of the original to build a Mk2 Penhayle Bay if ever there is the room for it.  There is definitely the interest - that much has never been in doubt. 

[Donw]

It was nice to view it again on the video.

 

Don

[Gwiwer]

It is four years since the Penhayle Bay Railway closed. New fans have discovered it, questions are still asked and it is still cited as a "go-to" example of what can be achieved in railway modelling. I thank everyone for their ongoing support and interest. While 17th April 2021 may be overshadowed by other events in the UK it does mark the anniversary of those final trains. By the end of this year I expect to have the often asked-for book available. Watch this space. Until then here is a selection of images from ten years ago in 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sasquatch]

Such an inspirational layout. This is where I come to get my mojo flowing.

 

Regards Shaun

[Gwiwer]

On 12/05/2020 at 13:24, Gwiwer said:

unless I resurrect the idea of a self-published book which was started a number of years ago but not proceeded with.   It could still be done.  

 

On 16/04/2021 at 22:56, Gwiwer said:

By the end of this year I expect to have the often asked-for book available. Watch this space. Until then here is a selection of images from ten years ago in 2011.

 

The second quoted post is the only one to have lost images in the great hosting debacle of March 2022.  I won't be restoring them because they are available elsewhere and it's only a re-post of earlier ones anyway.  

 

The book project has been a slow-burner I'm afraid.  I had hoped to have had it ready for the fifth anniversary of the closure which falls in a few days time.  It is part-written and the images are sorted but another book has overtaken it in the queue which has required more in the way of research than I had anticipated and both projects have suffered from the limitations imposed on certain activities by the pandemic.  

 

It remains a "live" project however but with no time estimate for completion.