Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[Chamby]

10 hours ago, KymN said:

 

According to several notable magazines the worst cameos that they see are buses on bridges over the railway.

 

That settles it then.  I will carefully place a bus on my bridge, proudly defiant!

[St Enodoc]

12 hours ago, KymN said:

 

According to several notable magazines the worst cameos that they see are buses on bridges over the railway.

Yep - that's why we do it, to wind up those poor delicate souls.

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

That's an interesting thought, Phil - thanks. My first reaction is that it might not solve the length problem but I'll sketch one out and see how it looks.

 

My second reaction is that the idea of six vees and four separate sets of switches gives me the shivers...

I've had a quick look and a 1 in 5 outside double slip would need about 60" radius slip roads and so, as I suspected, the length between the toes would be too great. The critical distance is from the buffer stops to the toe of the switches at the Porthmellyn Road end, this being constrained by the Porthmellyn Road baseboards on the one hand and the geometric relationship between the Treloggan Junction/Pentowan tracks on the other. It was worth a try though.

[chesterfield]

On 06/02/2021 at 14:43, St Enodoc said:

A quick test today and both locos can now lift the long china-clay train up the gradient, both bunker-first (as intended) and chimney-first.

 

Another time I'll add more load to see what the limits are but for now I'm happy and, once I've sorted out the roofs (not to perfection but slightly better than on Thursday) the locos will again be right for work.

I am sorry about that - I was hoping there would be the odd banker required.

[St Enodoc]

19 minutes ago, chesterfield said:

I am sorry about that - I was hoping there would be the odd banker required.

No bankers but, fear not, there will be double heading on some of the heavier passenger trains!

[St Enodoc]

On 26/01/2021 at 07:55, St Enodoc said:

It is indeed now on its way. Also in the box should be a Fordhampton signal box kit, which I plan to mix and match with the Ratio model to make Porthmellyn Road signal box.

One 94xx and two (I'd forgotten I''d ordered more than one!) signal box arrived today. Two weeks and a day in transit, which is better than it has been for nearly a year. Between the Fordhamptons and the Ratios, I'll have to work out the best cut-and-shut arrangement for Porthmellyn Road.

 

The loco looks good through the plastic packaging but I won't get it out until the weekend when I'll have time to check it over properly and run it in. I've a decoder in stock, so if all goes well it could be test-running on the layout before Sunday night.

 

The numberplates are still somewhere between Old South-West Scotland and New South Wales...

[Oldddudders]

21 hours ago, KymN said:

 

According to several notable magazines the worst cameos that they see are buses on bridges over the railway.

There is a prototype to give them nightmares - Eccleston Bridge, which crosses right over Victoria Station, has forever been a major bus stop, with multiple stands for buses and Green Line coaches. I bet other comparable examples are available across the UK. 

[Mulgabill]

6 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

One 94xx and two (I'd forgotten I''d ordered more than one!) signal box arrived today. Two weeks and a day in transit, which is better than it has been for nearly a year. Between the Fordhamptons and the Ratios, I'll have to work out the best cut-and-shut arrangement for Porthmellyn Road.

 

The loco looks good through the plastic packaging but I won't get it out until the weekend when I'll have time to check it over properly and run it in. I've a decoder in stock, so if all goes well it could be test-running on the layout before Sunday night.

 

The numberplates are still somewhere between Old South-West Scotland and New South Wales...

 

I do hope the SBs are in different liveries.

 

That'll cheer Clive up no end, as long as you don't get the paintbrushes out.

 

All the best

 

TONY

 

[St Enodoc]

Just now, Oldddudders said:

There is a prototype to give them nightmares - Eccleston Bridge, which crosses right over Victoria Station, has forever been a major bus stop, with multiple stands for buses and Green Line coaches. I bet other comparable examples are available across the UK. 

Waverley Bridge in Edinburgh, for one.

[St Enodoc]

Just now, Mulgabill said:

 

I do hope the SBs are in different liveries.

 

That'll cheer Clive up no end, as long as you don't get the paintbrushes out.

 

All the best

 

TONY

 

Regrettably not. The Fordhamptons are both in the current pre-coloured green and cream and the Ratios are in red brick, with white window frames in each case. The final answer will be chocolate and cream woodwork and red brick with blue trim. The window frames will stay white.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Regrettably not. The Fordhamptons are both in the current pre-coloured green and cream and the Ratios are in red brick, with white window frames in each case. The final answer will be chocolate and cream woodwork and red brick with blue trim. The window frames will stay white.

I was wrong! The Fordhampton window frames are part of the sides, so they're green too at the moment.

Edited February 9, 2021 by St Enodoc
Eliminate ambiguity

[FarrMan]

15 hours ago, chesterfield said:

I am sorry about that - I was hoping there would be the odd banker required.

I thought that bankers were odd by definition!

 

Lloyd

[St Enodoc]

On 08/02/2021 at 21:30, St Enodoc said:

Looking ahead...

 

The entrance to the double-ended Polperran fiddle yard will be on a 30" radius curve leading into a double slip, giving access to the five tracks at each end. At the Down end (next to Porthmellyn Road) space will be at a premium, so I want to use A5 points here.

 

I think I have two options for the double slip:

 

1. Modify my existing 1 in 6 - the original trial version - which might or might not inovlve a slight reverse curve through teh straight roads; or

 

2. Build a 1 in 5, with sprung blades like the one on the SMP template, where the slip road radius appears to be about 30" - some of the locos won't go round anything less.

 

Have any of you any experience of either or both of these options and, if so, what pros and cons can you share?

 

Thanks.

 

On 09/02/2021 at 12:48, St Enodoc said:

I've had a quick look and a 1 in 5 outside double slip would need about 60" radius slip roads and so, as I suspected, the length between the toes would be too great. The critical distance is from the buffer stops to the toe of the switches at the Porthmellyn Road end, this being constrained by the Porthmellyn Road baseboards on the one hand and the geometric relationship between the Treloggan Junction/Pentowan tracks on the other. It was worth a try though.

Based on suggestions here and on another topic:

 

...it seems that a 1 in 5 double slip will have too tight a radius for the Mid-Cornwall Lines.

 

Consequently, I've had a look at Plan B, which is to use the existing 1 in 6 and start a 30" radius curve on two of the roads immediately after the vee. Sketching this out suggests that this curve will only need to be about 20mm long to increase the effective divergence to 1 in 5.

 

Although the distance between toes on the 1 in 6 is about 30mm more than on the 1 in 5, I think everything will just still fit with a little bit of @LNER4479 Graham's "give", so I now think that this is the way I will go. Apart from anything else, it will save me having to build another double slip!

[LNER4479]

34 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Although the distance between toes on the 1 in 6 is about 30mm more than on the 1 in 5, I think everything will just still fit with a little bit of @LNER4479 Graham's "give", so I now think that this is the way I will go. Apart from anything else, it will save me having to build another double slip!

Most sharp curves in jointed track on the real thing are more like a series of straights joined up like a thr'penny bit. Hours of fun and amusement for the breakdown gang ...

[5BarVT]

5 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Hours of fun and amusement for the breakdown gang ...

I suspect St.E. has had enough experience of breakdown gangs in his past!

:-)

Paul.

[LNER4479]

Ditto - especially on depots!

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

Most sharp curves in jointed track on the real thing are more like a series of straights joined up like a thr'penny bit. Hours of fun and amusement for the breakdown gang ...

That's right Graham. In this case I think that, if I line up the centrelines of the slip and the adjacent point, the intervening curve will take care of itself.

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

I suspect St.E. has had enough experience of breakdown gangs in his past!

:-)

Paul.

Up to a point, Paul...

 

I don't miss the phone calls from Control at about 0300 on a winter's Sunday morning. I don't miss passenger train derailments (fortunately I had very few and none involved fatalities). I do miss strong (read: stewed) tea with Fussell's condensed milk...

[5BarVT]

9 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

especially on depots!

Depots don’t usually have signalling.

Just sayin’ . . .

:-)

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

Depots don’t usually have signalling.

Just sayin’ . . .

:-)

Paul.

Increasingly nowadays they do...

[Northroader]

The catering was the best bit on a breakdown, a large pot filled with any sorts of soup plus some tinned new potatoes, but the key ingredient was some mulligatawny thrown in as well, and all warmed up.

[St Enodoc]

1 minute ago, Northroader said:

The catering was the best bit on a breakdown, a large pot filled with any sorts of soup plus some tinned new potatoes, but the key ingredient was some mulligatawny thrown in as well, and all warmed up.

How interesting! I'd have enjoyed that. Where I worked it was usually beans or, occasionally, beans.

[Barry O]

4 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

How interesting! I'd have enjoyed that. Where I worked it was usually beans or, occasionally, beans.

with extra beans???

 

 

Baz

[KingEdwardII]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

with extra beans???

Nah, beans is orf...

[acg5324]

And Spam on the side.....