Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

Those who like "system" layouts, such as @t-b-g, @LNER4479, me and others, might enjoy these photos:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/albums/72157633314925287.

[t-b-g]

3 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Those who like "system" layouts, such as @t-b-g, @LNER4479, me and others, might enjoy these photos:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/albums/72157633314925287.

 

Lovely stuff. Perhaps the standard of modelling has been bettered over the years but that must have been great fun to operate! I remember seeing articles in the press and thinking the same.

 

Another one, which I did get a chance to visit and operate, was Wallsea. Great fun.

[LNER4479]

Ah, Jack Ray's classic of the genre. Clockwork until conversion to two-rail electric in 1981.

 

Would love to have seen it. I did once get to visit George Hinchcliffe's outdoor O gauge layout which was on similar lines, though not quite as elaborate.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

50 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Those who like "system" layouts, such as @t-b-g, @LNER4479, me and others, might enjoy these photos:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/albums/72157633314925287.

Well, that’s today’s daydreaming sorted then...

[ian]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Those who like "system" layouts, such as @t-b-g, @LNER4479, me and others, might enjoy these photos:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86020500@N06/albums/72157633314925287.

 

It is a shame that with the easy availability of track and rolling stock now that there are so few of this sort of layout around today.

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

1 hour ago, ian said:

 

It is a shame that with the easy availability of track and rolling stock now that there are so few of this sort of layout around today.

 

To be fair, I think there were few of this sort of layout around back then.

 

I love those big old system layouts.

[St Enodoc]

Last night I assembled and primed three 4ft stop arms for the two bracket signals and this morning I added a coat of white, so all being well the red can follow tonight.

 

Why only three and not four? Well, if you've been paying attention you'll remember that I made a 3ft stop arm as part of the last batch that I didn't need. That will be used for 17 signal.

[St Enodoc]

I've erected both structures and finished the arms (apart from colouring the spectacles) so assembly and installation should happen this weekend.

[St Enodoc]

We had a good walk this morning from Bobbin Head up Cockle Creek and back but I didn't quite get as far with the signals as I had hoped today.

 

In the first place, I'd forgotten how fiddly connecting the wires and cranks for the bracketed arm is, so that took longer than expected. Then, as I was connecting up the actuator for 2 signal the tube under the baseplate came loose. That means I've had to glue it back on to the baseplate and I'll need to leave it overnight to harden. So I only managed to assemble one-and-a-half signals and install none. Never mind.

 

To get away from the frustration of watching MEK dry, I went out to the railway room and had a look at how the Polperran baseboards will interface with the existing boards. It will actually be quite straightforward. I can screw an end piece on to one of the existing legs, then hang two new legs from that and fix them to a short piece of the original trial (small) L-girder. That will then be fixed both to the same existing leg and to the floor giving a nice datum for the new baseboards, for which I will need to get some longer lengths of timber to make the new L-girders.

[Oldddudders]

31 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Bobbin Head up Cockle Creek 

They sound like porn actors!

[St Enodoc]

After dinner I thought I ought to do something constructive, so I removed the Viessmann motor from one of the St Enodoc ground signals and remounted it on a small styrene base. It is now ready for use as one of the non-operational dummies. Anybody want a Viessmann motor? Only two (reasonably) careful owners...

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

After dinner I thought I ought to do something constructive, so I removed the Viessmann motor from one of the St Enodoc ground signals and remounted it on a small styrene base. It is now ready for use as one of the non-operational dummies. Anybody want a Viessmann motor? Only two (reasonably) careful owners...

I can send you 4 non working brand new ones ... out of packet ..tested.. dud!

 

Baz

[Tallpaul69]

On ‎21‎/‎09‎/‎2020 at 13:10, St Enodoc said:

Rather than doing more actual work on the signals, I spent some time tonight drawing up a spreadsheet showing how many signals of what types I will need for each of the three signal box areas on the complete layout. This will help me keep track of progress. I did something similar for points which was extremely useful.

 

The grand total is 65 individual signal structures, which between them will carry some 86 arms. It sounds a lot, and I suppose that it is, but it was nice to realise that almost one-third of those are already built - the 6 built for Porthmellyn Road so far and a further 15 for St Enodoc that I recovered from the old layout. A small subset of the total won't need to work anyway, as they are models of fixed distants of one sort or another (plus two discs, leading to and from the camping coach siding at St Enodoc, which will be static dummies), so that means commensurately fewer actuators and power modules to make.

Well, that's a lot of work! When do you eat and sleep?

I hope you don't graze as you model cos you know that is bad for you?

 

I have to admit if my layout needed 65 signals, even if 1/3 of them were already made, I think I would give up and look for something simpler?

Having said that, while my numbers are smaller, the complication is greater, as each location needs two signals, one semaphore and one colour light, to reflect (excuse unintentional pun!) different eras of operation. Thus the signals need to be removable.

I have to confess that I have recognized the level of the problem and found someone to make them for me!

 

Cheers

Paul 

Edited September 27, 2020 by Tallpaul69
Left out one piece of explanation!

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

I can send you 4 non working brand new ones ... out of packet ..tested.. dud!

 

Baz

Thanks but no thanks.

 

I got it secondhand in the first place, from a friend who found that it didn't have enough guts for 0 gauge signals. I never had any real trouble with it, once I'd stopped the end cap trying to escape, but at three times the cost of a memory wire actuator it just didn't make sense for the whole layout.

 

If the owner of a well-known LNER layout would like it either to use or as a source of spares he'd be very welcome.

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Well, that's a lot of work! When do you eat and sleep?

I hope you don't graze as you model cos you know that is bad for you?

 

I have to admit if my layout needed 65 signals, even if 1/3 of them were already made, I think I would give up and look for something simpler?

Having said that, while my numbers are smaller, the complication is greater, as each location needs two signals, one semaphore and one colour light, to reflect (excuse unintentional pun!) different eras of operation. Thus the signals need to be removable.

I have to confess that I have recognized the level of the problem and found someone to make them for me!

 

Cheers

Paul 

Thanks Paul. It isn't really as bad as I've made it sound. I hadn't made any bracket signals for over ten years so I am out of practice.There aren't too many to do though (only another five brackets for the whole project), so I shouldn't complain too much. Single-post signals are pretty easy, even those with two arms. Ground discs are fiddly because the Ratio ones aren't designed to work. Fortunately, I enjoy making signals (except for yesterday), which is just as well because they are essential for the way we operate the layout.

[St Enodoc]

A quick half-hour this morning and another at lunchtime saw the two signals complete at last. 2/17 on the left, 3/7 on the right. They won't get installed until the weekend though.

 

The next three are all ground discs, so another re-learning process to be enjoyed/endured.

Edited July 17, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[LNER4479]

 

23 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

To get away from the frustration of watching MEK dry, I went out to the railway room and had a look at how the Polperran baseboards will interface with the existing boards. 

Sometimes, just looking a something can be very productive. You can draw all the drawings and 3D CAD you like but it's only when 'on site' that you see the how the thing actually is and what the best solution might be. Even then, it often pays to sleep on it or think about it the bath...

 

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

If the owner of a well-known LNER layout would like it either to use or as a source of spares he'd be very welcome.

Well, that's very kind of you ... but won't you treble the cost of it attempting to send it half way round the world?! Put it in the flight bag for the next time (whenever that might be).

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Sometimes, just looking a something can be very productive. You can draw all the drawings and 3D CAD you like but it's only when 'on site' that you see the how the thing actually is and what the best solution might be. Even then, it often pays to sleep on it or think about it the bath...

Very much so.

 

3 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Well, that's very kind of you ... but won't you treble the cost of it attempting to send it half way round the world?! Put it in the flight bag for the next time (whenever that might be).

Will do  - if I haven't put it in a safe place that I can't remember...

[GRM1]

I'd just like to poke my head in and say what an absoulety fantastic project, I'm following this with much interest!

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, GRM1 said:

I'd just like to poke my head in and say what an absoulety fantastic project, I'm following this with much interest!

Thanks and welcome aboard!

[St Enodoc]

Now that the days are getting longer, and warmer, there's an hour or so after work and before dinner when it's worth popping out to the railway room before it gets dark. Last night and tonight I used that time to start the baseboards for the branch. The first step was to build the end support structure for the Polperran fiddle yard, which will run at right angles to Porthmellyn Road station Down end.

 

I took a fair bit of time measuring exactly where this needs to go, so as to give a clear 900mm gangway to Penzance. Once I was happy I marked a datum point on the floor. Next I fixed a piece of 64mm x 19mm softwood to one of the Porthmellyn Road baseboard legs, which will support the end of the L-girders. I then cut a 600mm piece of spare L-girder to form a base, which I will screw to the floor later. Finally, I cut two pieces of 42mm x 19mm softwood to bridge the gap between the base and the end piece, to form legs for this end of the L-girder.

 

Fixing these together resulted in a rectangular frame screwed to the existing leg to locate it. I'll fix the base to the floor at the weekend and put some glue in the joints, after which the whole thing should be nice and rigid. Photos to follow.

 

Later this evening, rather than start the three ground discs, I was in the mood to chop things up so I dismantled nine more Bic Clic pens (they come in packets of three), cut the barrels and pistons to length and drilled the holes for the memory wire anchors. Building those bits into actuators will be a nice job over a couple of evenings.

Edited October 1, 2020 by St Enodoc

[Keith Addenbrooke]

On 28/09/2020 at 08:59, LNER4479 said:

 

Sometimes, just looking a something can be very productive. You can draw all the drawings and 3D CAD you like but it's only when 'on site' that you see the how the thing actually is and what the best solution might be. Even then, it often pays to sleep on it or think about it the bath...

.

I can see a headline: “well known Railway Modeller confesses to sleeping on their layout...“

Did I miss something?

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

I can see a headline: “well known Railway Modeller confesses to sleeping on their layout...“

Did I miss something?

I've mentioned before my friend in Melbourne whose railway room is the only air-conditioned room in his house. When the weather gets too hot, he sleeps next to the layout on a camp bed.

[St Enodoc]

This afternoon I finished the frame for the end of the Polperran L-girders, by gluing the joints and screwing the base to the floor. It's pretty rigid although there isn't much to stop the top of the frame from twisting slightly. That should improve once the L-girders themselves are erected but if necessary I'll add some diagonal bracing just to be sure.

 

This evening I cut and crimped the memory wire for the nine actuators I started yesterday. That's one of the trickier bits out of the way - the other is threading the anchoring pins through the loops.

 

Installing the signals I finished last week is next.

[Tallpaul69]

Sounds like you are making good progress on the foundations for the branch!

 

Can we have some pics before you hide the infrastructure with the baseboards? I for one will understand better what you have been doing with some pics. And maybe a plan of the branch and how it relates to the rest of the layout (apologies if you have posted these before, just post the relevant page nos.)

 

Best regards, from a soggy UK,

Paul