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Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00


St Enodoc
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5 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

Reliability has been good so far once the adjustment has been secured. It’s a shame there isn’t better provision for this. I’ve resorted to glue, tiny self tappers, even a cable tie - horrible bodges!

Trevor, do you mean holding the fulcrum bar in place? I fix mine with dabs of UHU. All mine operate on maximum throw. If you need to reduce the throw to get more force, I reckon there's something wrong with your points.

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6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Trevor, do you mean holding the fulcrum bar in place? I fix mine with dabs of UHU. All mine operate on maximum throw. If you need to reduce the throw to get more force, I reckon there's something wrong with your points.


Yes, mine are on maximum throw or thereabouts. I just wish the fulcrum bar could be secured in a better way. At first most of mine seemed quite firm so I tried leaving it but of course with use they slip out of the guides and that it is a real pain! 

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29 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Next, I glued the foam trackbase down along the new formation. I lined up one side first, using the card templates protected by clingwrap, then completed the other side.

So that’s how you do it.  That’s clever.
Looks like I need to make some templates for my corners.

Paul.

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15 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

So that’s how you do it.  That’s clever.
Looks like I need to make some templates for my corners.

Paul.

Thanks Paul. Tracksettas are good if they match the radii you're working with. The card templates are for less common radii (including double track spacing) and transitions.

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Starting to take over the garage now John, that said are there any areas which might cause problems in respect of reaching an area should there be a problem i.e. derailment ?

 

D.Uckunder

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It’s good to see things are moving apace down under.  With the lockdown restrictions gone, and those of us up here in the northern hemisphere enjoying mid-summer, we’ve a lot of distractions from our own modelling time at the moment.  

 

One quick question... are you planning to let the scenery flow between St Enodoc and Indian Queens Halt, or will you install a backscene/scenic break?   Visually, that will make quite a difference.

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8 hours ago, bgman said:

Starting to take over the garage now John, that said are there any areas which might cause problems in respect of reaching an area should there be a problem i.e. derailment ?

 

D.Uckunder

Thanks Grahame.

 

Once you are inside the railway room, via the lifting flap on the main lines, there are no more duckunders. Everything is (should be) within a maximum of about 750mm from a baseboard edge. Most of the tracks are closer than that. For reaching across the widest sections I tend to stand on a stool.

 

7 hours ago, Chamby said:

It’s good to see things are moving apace down under.  With the lockdown restrictions gone, and those of us up here in the northern hemisphere enjoying mid-summer, we’ve a lot of distractions from our own modelling time at the moment.  

 

One quick question... are you planning to let the scenery flow between St Enodoc and Indian Queens Halt, or will you install a backscene/scenic break?   Visually, that will make quite a difference.

Thanks Phil.

 

Yes, the scenery will flow, as you put it. There will be a backscene, probably about 400mm high, along the two walls between Paddington and Porthmellyn Road. It will then separate Polperran, and Penzance, from the scenic area and finally run along the back of Pentowan. 

 

Everything within this space will be scenic (one day).

 

The scenic-feature-that-dare-not-speak-its-name-yet between St Enodoc and Wheal Veronica will provide some visual separation, as will the vertical difference of about 45mm between St Enodoc and Indian Queens Halt.

 

Having said that, if you were to stand outside the railway room looking across the lifting flap, you'll be able to see a train on its entire journey between Tremewan Tunnel and the buffer stops at Pentowan.

Edited by St Enodoc
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Phil has access to some very high powered graphics software and the skill to use it.  Being an older style of diagram and brass rather than ivorine leads changed what could be put on it.  I did a crash ‘teach yourself’ course on lead wording as this was way beyond the simple stuff I’d done back in ‘81 for Roskear Jn.  SRS CDs, looking for layouts with similar features, where the lever leads were available and related to the plan on the CD.  Mike added in his usual ‘what the operator needs’ together with his WR experience.

An enjoyable experience with a superb outcome.

Paul.

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23 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

Phil has access to some very high powered graphics software and the skill to use it.  Being an older style of diagram and brass rather than ivorine leads changed what could be put on it.  I did a crash ‘teach yourself’ course on lead wording as this was way beyond the simple stuff I’d done back in ‘81 for Roskear Jn.  SRS CDs, looking for layouts with similar features, where the lever leads were available and related to the plan on the CD.  Mike added in his usual ‘what the operator needs’ together with his WR experience.

An enjoyable experience with a superb outcome.

Paul.

As you know, there will be three signal boxes on the Mid-Cornwall Lines...

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2 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

 

Only 3 ?  You'll need 2 on the triangle.

 

I should really have said three lever frames rather than three signal boxes. There will actually be four signal boxes on the layout.

 

There was only one at the real Tolcarn Junction, so Treloggan Junction will be the same (a nice Dexter's Cove kit will sit inside the triangle, facing the SE-PT (main) line). However, for operational purposes it will be a single combined lever frame with Pentowan, so the three frames are/will be:

 

- Porthmellyn Road, 54 levers

- St Enodoc, 27 levers

- Treloggan Junction 22 levers + Pentowan 29 levers = 51 levers.

 

Paul knows this already, as both he and Mike @The Stationmaster provided a large amount of input to the design of these, for which I am extremely grateful.

 

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I admit I was thinking more of Blackwater triangle, but as that was all double tracked there were 3 boxes.

Will you not need section boxes as well as operational control boxes ?  Perhaps by the viaduct ?

 

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2 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

I admit I was thinking more of Blackwater triangle, but as that was all double tracked there were 3 boxes.

Will you not need section boxes as well as operational control boxes ?  Perhaps by the viaduct ?

 

No, Stu. On the main line, the next signal box in the Up direction is the fictional Trewoon Junction, where the Tregissey branch diverges. This is, in theory, roughly where the real Trenance Sidings box was but on the model it is on the far side of the equally fictional Tremewan Tunnel. The Trewoon Junction Up Main Distant is just outside the tunnel mouth.

 

The next box in the Down direction woudl be Grampound Road.

 

St Enodoc Signal Box is the equivalent of Bugle, Treloggan Junction the equivalent of Tolcarn Junction and Pentowan the equivalent of Newquay of course.

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On 02/08/2021 at 09:13, St Enodoc said:

I had my second Covid-19 jab today, for which I'd booked a full day off work in case of problems or side-effects. So far there have been none, so I stole a couple of hours in the railway room after I got home.

 

553445194_20210802002TLcorkinfill.JPG.8c3559c28ecd72621ca30533754f7b88.JPG

First I cut some scraps of 3mm cork to fill the gaps in the two points. Once the glue's dried I can paint these with Grot Grey.

 

331339042_20210802003PPPMendcorkandbufferstops.JPG.9622028bc235638965ac3bd250ef93bc.JPG

Next, I laid some larger sheets of cork at Polperran and marked the track centre lines on top. The furthest section (about 650mm long) is 2mm thick, for Peco track, while the rest is 3mm thick, for SMP.

 

I also fitted the five buffer stops in their final position, just clear of where the fascia will drop down in front of the Chapel Sidings at Porthmellyn Road.

 

The white map pin marks the key location at Polperran, namely the centre of the Barry slip. Everything else has to converge here.

 

1498208157_20210802005singlelinelookingDown.JPG.0de7ebe70d48a0df9ab6fa197865d679.JPG

 

250644914_20210802006singlelinelookingUp.JPG.c15c33b8cb61ad5acfd370e14da6c5c0.JPG

After that I laid three more yards of track on the single line, taking it through Indian Queens Halt to within about 400mm of the first point at Treloggan Junction. I took some time adjusting the alignment with the templates before pressing the track down with the rubber roller. It's not perfect but I think it's smooth enough and the straight section is more-or-less straight too.

 

I'll lay more track into Polperran soon but that will be temporary and not glued down, pending building and installing the two points and the Barry slip.


Please can I jump back up the page a little bit and ask about the approach to tracklaying: is the track just glued down to the roadbed or are there pins as well?  Just trying to work out which way will work for me (I’ve tried just pins direct into plywood in the past, which bent a lot of pins).  Thanks, Keith.

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1 minute ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:


Please can I jump back up the page a little bit and ask about the approach to tracklaying: is the track just glued down to the roadbed or are there pins as well?  Just trying to work out which way will work for me (I’ve tried just pins direct into plywood in the past, which bent a lot of pins).  Thanks, Keith.

No pins, Keith.

 

First, I glue the foam or cork trackbed to the ply baseboard using ordinary PVA. The PVA grabs quite quickly and when the trackbed's been pressed into place using the rubber roller (from an art shop - I've no idea what its real job is) I leave it to dry overnight.

 

I stick the track to the trackbed using water-based contact adhesive. Kwik-Grip is the brand here but in the distant past, back in the UK, I used the Evo-Stik equivalent. Ordinary contact adhesive would do but water-based is better in the confined space of the railway room. I try to fix the track down before the glue has gone properly tacky so that there's a bit of scope for adjustment. Again, I use the rubber roller to press the track down. For points I usually put some weights on top as well.

 

The only time I use pins is if I need to keep a rail joint on a curve in place until the glue dries.

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5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

No pins, Keith.

 

First, I glue the foam or cork trackbed to the ply baseboard using ordinary PVA. The PVA grabs quite quickly and when the trackbed's been pressed into place using the rubber roller (from an art shop - I've no idea what its real job is) I leave it to dry overnight.

 

I stick the track to the trackbed using water-based contact adhesive. Kwik-Grip is the brand here but in the distant past, back in the UK, I used the Evo-Stik equivalent. Ordinary contact adhesive would do but water-based is better in the confined space of the railway room. I try to fix the track down before the glue has gone properly tacky so that there's a bit of scope for adjustment. Again, I use the rubber roller to press the track down. For points I usually put some weights on top as well.

 

The only time I use pins is if I need to keep a rail joint on a curve in place until the glue dries.

 

Another advocate of this method here.  I use common or garden PVA and it works fine.  Neat to glue the Woodland Scenics roadbed to the board, and diluted to fix the track to the road bed. Best of all, it all comes up again easily when you change your mind repeatedly about where the track should go.

 

Ask me how I know.

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Here's a section I'm working on right at this moment.

 

20210803_174219.jpg.77fcfd13029747a9bd826eb3749b067c.jpg

 

I use a lot of tracksetta things to keep the curves curvey.  

 

From the end of the turnout is a tangent, then a transition to 42" then 36" then 30" which is my minimum radius.  Transition curves make for happy trains.

 

16280092472732035617645.jpg.f475dd44ad96ab96292b7b33db7005b0.jpg 

Edited by Dr Gerbil-Fritters
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19 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:


Please can I jump back up the page a little bit and ask about the approach to tracklaying: is the track just glued down to the roadbed or are there pins as well?  Just trying to work out which way will work for me (I’ve tried just pins direct into plywood in the past, which bent a lot of pins).  Thanks, Keith.

 

I'm with you Keith.  As a beginner, I was amazed at the not-fit-for-purpose-ness of so-called track pins.  Hornby-style pins were too short, and Peco pins too thin.  In the end, I used brads from my grandfather (and still not rusty). Despite being from Imperial days, these were nigh on 1mm diameter, and went into plywood perfectly.

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