Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[P.C.M]

The layouts looking great John, hope the running session goes well.

 

Cheers Peter.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, P.C.M said:

The layouts looking great John, hope the running session goes well.

 

Cheers Peter.

Thanks Peter. We'll know in a couple of hours!

[Barry O]

Hope the session went well... sorry to miss it!

 

Of course Cornwallalso means...

 

Shackleton.. 

 

Hat,coat, car keys... bye!!

 

Baz

 

 

[St Enodoc]

On 20/11/2021 at 17:56, Barry O said:

Hope the session went well... sorry to miss it!

Yes, it did. We were all rather ring-rusty, so we only got through 24 trains this time but everybody had a good time.

 

Having turned on the power at 0900 this morning, the system worked perfectly until two minutes before tea time, when it froze again. That was a shame, because we were just about to run the long clay round to Polperran and back so that the team could see the branch in action. Anyway, after turning everything off and then back on after tea, we managed that so we moved on to the short clay, to demonstrate the working at Wheal Veronica, only to find that the system had frozen yet again.

 

I'm half-convinced now that it's a command station problem. David the NYCRR man has kindly loaned me a spare, unused, PH-Pro 5A set so I'll change over to that and see whether the problem recurs or not.

 

On 20/11/2021 at 17:56, Barry O said:

Shackleton

That's still sulking in the corner and remarks like that are likely to keep it there.

 

Anyway, here's a near-repeat of one of yesterday's photos - can you spot the difference?

 

Yes, Porthmellyn Road signal box is sitting temporarily in its place at the Down end of the island platform.

 

 

Here are two close-ups, for the record.

 

The join in the roof doesn't look too bad, so I'll add the top coat and press on with the windows next.

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[bgman]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

still sulking in the corner and remarks like that are likely to keep it there.

 

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Shackleton.. 

 

No wonder he went off to the Pole with all that going on over his head !

 

 

 

[SJR]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

And a lifeboat station...

 

And trees all bent in one direction...

 

And hedges...

 

And WN/SN buses and Royal Blue coaches...

 

And Kelly's ice cream...

 

And...

 

And...

And a Shackleton.....

[St Enodoc]

32 minutes ago, SJR said:

And a Shackleton.....

Do try to keep up, there's a good chap.

 

 

[Sharky]

5 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Having turned on the power at 0900 this morning, the system worked perfectly until two minutes before tea time, when it froze again. That was a shame, because we were just about to run the long clay round to Polperran and back so that the team could see the branch in action. Anyway, after turning everything off and then back on after tea, we managed that so we moved on to the short clay, to demonstrate the working at Wheal Veronica, only to find that the system had frozen yet again.

 

 

Perhaps the command station just doesn't approve of the new extension to the branchline??

 

On a serious note the signal box is looking very nice!
Will look great with a row of levers and a Signalman reading the paper by the pot belly stove in a big comfy armchair.

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by Sharky

[TrevorP1]

49 minutes ago, Sharky said:

 

…… and a Signalman reading the paper by the pot belly stove in a big comfy armchair.

 

I don’t think he’d get much time to read the paper at Porthmellyn Road on a summer Saturday in the 1950s! 

[Sharky]

13 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

I don’t think he’d get much time to read the paper at Porthmellyn Road on a summer Saturday in the 1950s! 

Maybe on the night shift...

[sandwich station]

20 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Anyway, here's a near-repeat of one of yesterday's photos - can you spot the difference?

 

 

Yes, Porthmellyn Road signal box is sitting temporarily in its place at the Down end of the island platform.

 

Also a cloth has gone from the signal levers and the time on the clock. 

[St Enodoc]

27 minutes ago, sandwich station said:

 

Also a cloth has gone from the signal levers and the time on the clock. 

Well done. Award yourself a Tim-Tam.

[St Enodoc]

Today's first job was to change over to David's PH Box and see whether the system was stable, so I fitted it with a new battery, changed over all the cables and programmed the six route-setting macros.

 

Everything worked, so I left it switched on while I tidied up after yesterday's running session and did a few other odds and ends.

 

One of those was to update the draft layout plan with the revised Pentowan layout that I've been working on. I've squeezed in 10 carriage sidings, which will give me space to stable at least 50 carriages. I say "at least" because I was very conservative in my calculations, leaving plenty of room (I think) to the fouling points and using a value of 280mm per coach, even though I know that only a few will be 70 footers. I also left a full 100mm between the ends of the sidings and the baseboard edge, although the final value could be about half that. Of course, I rounded the number of carriages down in each case too. I'm now confident that I can proceed with the plan as drafted, although there might be some minor changes when I set it all out at full size and do a dry run with the actual carriage sets.

 

Here it is, with the three passenger platforms at the top, then the loop on platform 1 (I've reversed the numbering from the real Newquay, to maintain my convention of numbering all tracks from the rear to the front as the operators see them) and the 10 sidings below them. It will be a while until all this gets built, although the L-girders could go up sooner rather than later.

 

After about four hours the NCE system was still working normally, although until that has been the case for a few more times I won't be happy that we've fixed the problem. Fingers crossed.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[aardvark]

16 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

After about four hours the NCE system was still working normally, although until that has been the case for a few more times I won't be happy that we've fixed the problem. Fingers crossed.

 

I admit to not following your DCC saga that closely, but as an ex-software developer (and debugger), I observe that a system that is idling is quite different to one that is doing something useful.  But I'm sure you know that.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

I admit to not following your DCC saga that closely, but as an ex-software developer (and debugger), I observe that a system that is idling is quite different to one that is doing something useful.  But I'm sure you know that.

Thanks. It does seem to be random though. There's no clear (to me) pattern of whether the freezing happens when the system is quiescent, being used "gently" or being used intensively, or the time before it freezes.

 

As with all intermittent faults, bl00dy hard to pin down.

[aardvark]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

As with all intermittent faults, bl00dy hard to pin down.

 

So that. Intermittent faults kept me gainfully employed for years.

 

Could also be thermal, interference, and/or a host of other secondary effects.

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by aardvark
Edited to remove excessive stupidity.

[St Enodoc]

1 minute ago, aardvark said:

 

So that. Intermittent faults kept me gainfully employed employed for years.

 

Could also be thermal, interference, and/or a host of other secondary effects.

Yes, it's just a gradual process of elimination. I'm starting with the command station because David kindly lent me a different one to try.

[Martin S-C]

I am certain I have asked this before - or others have, but what foam trackbed do you use? I seem to recall its mostly for realism so there is a cess beside the line but I have just seen some Woodland Scenics trackbed at Hattons in the UK which looks quite good but its not cheap so I wondered what you use.

...and how do you curve it - do you cut out sections?

https://www.hattons.co.uk/37698/woodland_scenics_st1461_single_track_strips_of_oo_ho_gauge_track_bed_1_75_x_24_x_36/stockdetail

Edited November 23, 2021 by Martin S-C
rubbish spelling

[bgman]

1 hour ago, Martin S-C said:

..and how do you curve it - do you cut out sections?

 

Hi Martin,

 

I used this product many years ago and if I recall the Woodland Scenics offering has a split line down the middle which can be used to separate the foam and then each piece is laid individually to the required radius. It is very pliable and easy to use when laid and is one method to lay track onto. 

These days I work mainly in 7mm and use a rubberised cork sheet to lay track onto.

 

G

 

Look here at approx 2.17 into the video.....

 

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by bgman
video added

[Chamby]

4 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I am certain I have asked this before - or others have, but what foam trackbed do you use? I seem to recall its mostly for realism so there is a cess beside the line but I have just seen some Woodland Scenics trackbed at Hattons in the UK which looks quite good but its not cheap so I wondered what you use.

...and how do you curve it - do you cut out sections?

https://www.hattons.co.uk/37698/woodland_scenics_st1461_single_track_strips_of_oo_ho_gauge_track_bed_1_75_x_24_x_36/stockdetail

 

Hi Martin,

 

I have used the woodland scenics foam track bed rolls, and can highly recommend it.  It is a nice product to use.  I have used it as supplied on single track, and in combination with the sheet version for double track.  Below, shows the chamfered foam split down the middle, with a section of sheet cut to shape in-between to give the required width.

 

 

Track-laying in progress:  the foam is easy to trim to shape as required.  I split the foam roll down the middle, and use the proposed track centre line as a guide to laying.  I used neat PVA glue, and map pins to keep it in place whilst drying.

 

 

In summary... not cheap, but an excellent product.

 

Phil

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Martin S-C said:

I am certain I have asked this before - or others have, but what foam trackbed do you use? I seem to recall its mostly for realism so there is a cess beside the line but I have just seen some Woodland Scenics trackbed at Hattons in the UK which looks quite good but its not cheap so I wondered what you use.

...and how do you curve it - do you cut out sections?

https://www.hattons.co.uk/37698/woodland_scenics_st1461_single_track_strips_of_oo_ho_gauge_track_bed_1_75_x_24_x_36/stockdetail

Pretty much as Grahame and Phil have said except that I use the DCC Concepts 3mm thick product (usual disclaimer).

 

https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-category/track-and-track-making-parts/top-quality-track-bed/

 

The half-width strips curve quite easily. Where I have a wider expanse of trackbed, such as at pointwork, I fill in with cork as it's cheaper than the DCC Concepts foam sheets.

[aardvark]

On 24/11/2021 at 05:10, Martin S-C said:

I am certain I have asked this before - or others have, but what foam trackbed do you use?

 

In for a penny ... I use TrackLay, which makes ballasting a piece of the proverbial for thin-sleepered track.

[Regularity]

3 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

In for a penny ... I use TrackLay, which makes ballasting a piece of the proverbial for thin-sleepered track.

Interesting, although the ballast offered is way over scale size - even the “N gauge” ballast at 1mm is 50% too big! 
(IIRC, prototype ballast passes through a 2” sieve, or 0.67mm in 4mm scale.)

[aardvark]

2 hours ago, Regularity said:

Interesting, although the ballast offered is way over scale size - even the “N gauge” ballast at 1mm is 50% too big! 
(IIRC, prototype ballast passes through a 2” sieve, or 0.67mm in 4mm scale.)

 

I didn't use their "ballast chippings", just the underlay.

[Barry O]

6 hours ago, Regularity said:

Interesting, although the ballast offered is way over scale size - even the “N gauge” ballast at 1mm is 50% too big! 
(IIRC, prototype ballast passes through a 2” sieve, or 0.67mm in 4mm scale.)

got any photos you can post of this size of ballast in situ on a 4mm layout?

 

Baz