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The North Cornwall line in 2mm Finescale


queensquare
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It was a real privilege to be invited to operate the North Cornwall at Wells last weekend. A fantastic couple of days. Considering the magnitude of the project, that it had been transported all the way from Wadebridge, and there wasn’t really much in the way of a “plan” for operating, it all performed remarkably well. A credit to John’s workmanship, and my fellow operators!

Tom.

 

 

All in all, we felt it was a very successful outing for such a massive undertaking. Inevitably things went wrong - turnouts failed, locos died, the crane and road vehicles on Wenford Goods Depot were out of action for part of Saturday, so John Greedwood spent a lot of time with torch and tools under the layout fixing things. Lessons learned: less panic in operating, sloooow down, operate fewer passenger trains and more goods trains, and importantly, keep the number of operators behind the layout to the minimum necessary to keep it running. But generally, we all had a jolly good time - as indeed we hope the viewing public did too! 

 

Whether this happens again - who knows. But having done it once, at least we now know how to go about it (or not)! Thanks are due to our willing operators over the weekend - Dave Taylor (DLT), Maurice Hopper, Tom Everitt (TomE), Laurie Adams, Tony Gee (plus a few others who wangled 'a go'), and of course to Jerry Clifford (queensquare), fixer-in-chief. And a special thanks to the gaffer himself, John Greenwood, for kindly inviting me (and the rest of us) to help out - it was a privilege and a real thrill. What an inspiring experience this has been!

 

Absolutely agree with all the above, I enjoyed a splendid weekend, it was a great experience to be there and a privilege to be invited.  I thought the quality of running was exemplary, yes the DCC shut down from time to time, but usually because of a derailment or one of us had tried to run through an incorrectly set turnout.  I plead guilty to being one of the "too fast" brigade, but I blame my more usual 7mm scale experiences.  Odd that in Phil's photos, most of us look pretty glum for some reason, probably the intense concentration.  Notable exception are Tony when being offered cake, and of course all-round master and maestro, John, who had a broad grin for the whole weekend.

Thanks again to John and the whole team for a wonderful weekend.

 

Of the "views", I liked the end-on view of Padstow from the seaward end the most. I enjoyed looking through the gap between the pillars at the fourth side as well.

 

The design of the Padstow section is an unusual one, offering a variety of stunning views, up and down, and across the Camel estuary.  The small scale is a real advantage here, and Padstow promises to be a highly successful exhibition layout in its own right.

 

All the best, Dave.T

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Thanks for sharing these interesting photos - this layout is truly a impressive body of work. I really admire John's commitment to recreating an accurate historical account of the North Cornwall railways.

It's also (from my limited knowledge) a fairly unique approach to layout design in the UK, following more a style of US layouts?

Looking at this last batch of photos it's interesting to see some details of the layout super structure. I would like to see more details of this aspect, which is often over looked.

Things like the lighting rigging and frames, the trestles and the skirting/curtains - their design and how are they fixed to the layout.

What is best practice?

Can anyone refer me/us to further information on this aspect?

 

The baseboards are all thin ply of various origins - almost all second hand although we did buy a new sheet for Padstow. They're not pretty but they work!

 

The legs are an ingenious pop-up design using tentioning wires based on a masseuse table -(Im not kidding!). I will get some pictures next time I'm in Cornwall. They take all of two minutes to erect or take down and again are made of a motley selection of pre-loved timber of an almost infinite variety of sections!

 

I made the lighting rigs, again from 6mm ply. They are mainly in 4' sections but can be joined for a single 16' unsupported span. The secret is in the joints which utilise copper pipes and over center clips. I pinched the design from a layout we saw at Wells a few years ago.

Ive attached a couple of poor pictures taken in the kitchen and garden when I made them but will try to remember to take some more next week as the lighting rig is still at the club in Wells.

 

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Jerry

 

Edited to say that I've only just noticed that Kim has her 'are we there yet?' T shirt on!!

Edited by queensquare
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The baseboards are all thin ply of various origins - almost all second hand although we did buy a new sheet for Padstow. They're not pretty but they work!

 

The legs are an ingenious pop-up design using tentioning wires based on a masseuse table -(Im not kidding!). I will get some pictures next time I'm in Cornwall. They take all of two minutes to erect or take down and again are made of a motley selection of pre-loved timber of an almost infinite variety of sections!

 

I made the lighting rigs, again from 6mm ply. They are mainly in 4' sections but can be joined for a single 16' unsupported span. The secret is in the joints which utilise copper pipes and over center clips. I pinched the design from a layout we saw at Wells a few years ago.

Ive attached a couple of poor pictures taken in the kitchen and garden when I made them but will try to remember to take some more next week as the lighting rig is still at the club in Wells.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_0870.JPG

 

attachicon.gifIMG_0871.JPG

 

attachicon.gifIMG_1261.JPG

 

attachicon.gifIMG_1526.JPG

 

Jerry

 

Edited to say that I've only just noticed that Kim has her 'are we there yet?' T shirt on!!

 

..... and I reckon that in the good old days of through carriages from Waterloo more than a few passengers, particularly the younger ones, would have been saying just that!

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..... and I reckon that in the good old days of through carriages from Waterloo more than a few passengers, particularly the younger ones, would have been saying just that!

Indeed. As a “younger one” in them thar days, the hanging around at Exeter to drop off catering cars, Okehampton to lose the Plymouth portion and Halwill to uncouple Bude coaches meant that the desire to get to Port Isaac Road only increased. And I’m sure one year we hung around at Meldon Junction awaiting the single line. I last did the trip in 1962.

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Indeed. As a “younger one” in them thar days, the hanging around at Exeter to drop off catering cars, Okehampton to lose the Plymouth portion and Halwill to uncouple Bude coaches meant that the desire to get to Port Isaac Road only increased. And I’m sure one year we hung around at Meldon Junction awaiting the single line. I last did the trip in 1962.

You are making me very envious but I wasn’t even thought of at that point. One route that I would love to have travelled over and one day I will get to see this superb layout in the flesh.

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You are making me very envious but I wasn’t even thought of at that point. One route that I would love to have travelled over and one day I will get to see this superb layout in the flesh.

I hope you get the chance, Ian. Having seen Wadebridge last year, at - er - Wadebridge, it runs just as well as it looks, and the crew are friendly!

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I made the lighting rigs, again from 6mm ply. They are mainly in 4' sections but can be joined for a single 16' unsupported span. The secret is in the joints which utilise copper pipes and over center clips. I pinched the design from a layout we saw at Wells a few years ago.

Ive attached a couple of poor pictures taken in the kitchen and garden when I made them but will try to remember to take some more next week as the lighting rig is still at the club in Wells.

 

 

Thanks Jerry, The lighting joint I didn't manage to get a look at was the unsupported corner over Padstow (Even though I was under it for much of the weekend...)  

How was that achieved?

 

Many thanks, Dave.

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Indeed. As a “younger one” in them thar days, the hanging around at Exeter to drop off catering cars, Okehampton to lose the Plymouth portion and Halwill to uncouple Bude coaches meant that the desire to get to Port Isaac Road only increased. And I’m sure one year we hung around at Meldon Junction awaiting the single line. I last did the trip in 1962.

You were lucky.... I did the 01.10 Newpapers from Waterloo to Plymouth North Road, Plymouth - Bodmin Road, Bodmin Road - Padstow (dmu), return on the same train to Boscarne Junction were I changed onto the railbus for Bodmin North. Walked across town to Bodmin General and the dmu for Bodmin Road. Returned to Paddington by 18.00 ish. This (I think) in the October half term in 1966 with the North Cornwall already gone.

All for the price of a couple of Lyon fruit pies and some Kia-ora orange juice... well squash to extend the packed breakfast and lunch. How lucky those of us who could travel on passes were. Ashtead to Padstow, any permitted route.... ie. a different route each way. Try doing that on today’s tickets..... singles all the way.

 

Great layout. Great weekend..... Maurice

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As one of the press ganged guest crew at the show, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

 

I certainly wasn't glum, more just concentrating. It is a superb layout, combining some amazing technical work, lovely scenics and great operational potential and if this turns out to be the only time it is all exhibited together, it was an honour to have played a small part in keeping the trains running.

 

And what a great group of people to spend some time with too. Good company, plenty of semi intelligent conversation (OK that might be pushing a point!) and some very skilled modelmakers. What I was doing there still baffles me!

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As one of the press ganged guest crew at the show, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

 

I certainly wasn't glum, more just concentrating. It is a superb layout, combining some amazing technical work, lovely scenics and great operational potential and if this turns out to be the only time it is all exhibited together, it was an honour to have played a small part in keeping the trains running.

 

And what a great group of people to spend some time with too. Good company, plenty of semi intelligent conversation (OK that might be pushing a point!) and some very skilled modelmakers. What I was doing there still baffles me!

 

Tony,

 

Your company and assistance was very welcome and much appreciated! You put in some sterling work all weekend keeping the Wenford half of the layout going and entertaining the public. And I much enjoyed our intelligent conversations too. I look forward to more of the same another time.

 

Glad you thoroughly enjoyed the weekend as much as the rest of us! 

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I thought followers of this thread might appreciate a closer look at the 25 beautiful locos we ran on John Greenwood's layout last weekend.


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The work of a Master Model-Maker: John's exquisite rendition of a SR 'King Arthur' in 2mm finescale.

This loco usually heads the 'Betjeman Belle' Pullman set. As 'Arthurs' were never permitted beyond Exeter, it is rumoured that John may name this engine fictitiously as 'Sir John Betjeman' and name the Pullmans after girls in Betjeman's poems and the women in his life. Sir John Betjeman (1906-1984), Poet Laureate, lived his last years near Padstow and is buried in St Enodoc's churchyard, Trebetherick, just across the River Camel. Rather fitting and romantic, methinks.


Prior to the show I photographed all of John's locos and put together a series of 'crib sheets' illustating each loco together with it's DCC code number for the benefit of operators, both regular and guest. John generally uses the last two digits of the loco's running number which are fairly obvious by simply looking at the model on the layout. This is true for most of his Southern locos. But some of these have perforce been changed to avoid duplication or avoid obvious no-goers such as "00" resulting from the last two digits of SR 02 No.200, or by the two unpainted locos, or the difficulty of squinting at the tiddly GWR number plates from 2-3 feet away!

After checking for correctness with John, I emailed these to David Long who kindly duplicated and delivered several sets of neatly printed lists on the Saturday morning, just after opening. Jerry also did a laminated set and posted them on the front of the Padstow part of the layout.

Anyway, you are probably not interested in the DCC codes as such. So I have re-edited these illustrated lists without the codes and added a few extra notes about each model and posted them below as easy-to-read pdfs.

John does have some other locos which don't normally run on the layout or which are unchipped, so I didn't include them in these lists. He also has three exquisite scratchbuilt 2mm scale/4.5mm gauge narrow gauge locos, but that is another story...

1. John's GWR tank & tender locos (no codes).pdf

2. John's SR tank locos (no codes).pdf

3. John's SR tender locos (no codes).pdf

Enjoy! Edited by Phil Copleston
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And yet more pics for your delectation! This time from the camera of one of our stalwart Railwells operators and arch-2-mil modeller, Laurie Adams. Thank you, Laurie!

 

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Happy and smiling Edna Greenwood and Kim Clifford (Mrs. Queensquare) arriving with chocolate cake (in the box held by Kim) near the end of the show!

 

Laurie grabbed this selection of photos and videos (on the link below) late on Sunday afternoon - just as the rest of us remembered we hadn't taken enough ourselves. Of note are his short videos of the final DMU 'Bubble Car' service leaving Padstow for Halwill Junction via the North Cornwall line - which on the prototype constituted the last through train from Wadebridge via the SR link in 1966. For us, running this ceremonial 'last' model 'Bubble Car' train out of Wadebridge has become something of an end-of-show tradition!

 

Too many megabytes to upload here, so Laurie has kindly put his videos and photos in a Dropbox folder called 'Wadebridge et al at RailWells August 2018' and asked me to share it with you at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7xxm7vmu24coary/AADvGykNoB0luDOtT88I8MXJa?dl=0

 

You should be able to see this without a Dropbox account. But if you haven't already got one, you can sign-up for free at: https://www.dropbox.com Dropbox is an online 'cloud' area where you can store files, back-up your hard-drive, or share folders and files across platforms (such as PC, laptop, tablet or phone) or with others. Very useful!

Edited by Phil Copleston
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13 hours ago, queensquare said:

With Wadebridge and Padstow coming to the Warminster show on June 8 I thought I ought to push the Padstow buildings on a bit. They won't  be finished by June but will, at least, be much further on than for the layouts last outing to Wells last August.

 

jerry

 

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Looks fabulous Jerry, if it wasn't for the pencil you probably would not be able to judge the scale.

Wish I could see this at Warminster.

Cheers, Dave.

 

PS  What is the dog eating???

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26 minutes ago, DLT said:

 

Looks fabulous Jerry, if it wasn't for the pencil you probably would not be able to judge the scale.

Wish I could see this at Warminster.

Cheers, Dave.

 

PS  What is the dog eating???

 

Thanks Dave, shame you cant make it.

Jazz has one of her toys in her mouth, its a burger!

 

Jerry 

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8 hours ago, queensquare said:

 

Thanks Dave, shame you cant make it.

Jazz has one of her toys in her mouth, its a burger!

 

Jerry 

Jerry,

I recognised the burger immediately - Willow has an identical one :rolleyes:

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11 hours ago, D869 said:

Looks like Padstow station building to me. What are you using for the stonework please Jerry?

 

How are you doing the flashing?

 

Regards, Andy

Andy,

Looking at how thick it is, it looks like the Peco embossed sheets to me - hopefully Jerry will respond to confirm or deny.

Ian

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13 hours ago, D869 said:

Looks like Padstow station building to me. What are you using for the stonework please Jerry?

 

How are you doing the flashing?

 

Regards, Andy

 

Thanks Andy. The stonework is peco, a bit thick and not the easiest to work but rigid and self supporting.

The flashing is 10x20 thou strip

 

Jerry

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Hi John ,Jerry and all, It must have been your first outing for Wadebridge Padstow since the pandemic glad that you made it to Uckfield show.I didnt realise that you were going to be there. I only knew that Ian and Modbury were to be on show.

I was a little pushed for time on Sunday afternoon as I didnt have long to chat may catch you later on at another show.

Layout is looking good.I think it was Jerry Iwas talking to about the turntable on Padstow as he was letting a couple of kids have a go with the buttons on the control board.

Nice to see you any way look forward to seing you in the future. best regards Ray October 2021

 

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