Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

Its looking really neat, I do like the flowing curves, excellent stuff.

Thanks Andy, I appreciate that. My pace of work seems positively funereal at the moment compared with yours, but I will get there eventually.

[Gwiwer]

Speed isn't an issue.  The GWR never rushed anywhere unless they were on their way to Cheltenham  The trackwork and the marked plan look good with smooth flowing curves though I just have a nagging question (since it affected me) as to how much useful space might be lost as the tracks close towards a point.  That can effectively shorten the length of a loop by an alarming amount.  I ended up using fixed-geometry pointwork with much smaller radii in order to achieve maximum useable space.

[St Enodoc]

Speed isn't an issue.  The GWR never rushed anywhere unless they were on their way to Cheltenham  The trackwork and the marked plan look good with smooth flowing curves though I just have a nagging question (since it affected me) as to how much useful space might be lost as the tracks close towards a point.  That can effectively shorten the length of a loop by an alarming amount.  I ended up using fixed-geometry pointwork with much smaller radii in order to achieve maximum useable space.

Thanks Rick, that's an interesting observation.

 

I use a minimum radius of 30 inches so smaller radius points would not work for me. By using curved points concentrated in the corner area, I find that I can maximise the length of the loops. On the exisiting St Enodoc branch line layout, I can get a 6-coach train in some of the storage sidings even though the long dimension of the layout is only just over 9 feet.

[St Enodoc]

A very busy weekend on the Mid-Cornwall Lines. Yesterday, I hosted a BRMA Sydney area group meeting. Whether it was because it was the first BRMA visit to the layout or just that everyone wanted to get out of the house I don’t know, but 23 members turned up – more than twice the usual number for our monthly meetings. This is rather more than the railway would normally expect to hold, and I was a little worried about the lack of fresh air ventilation, but in the end everything was fine. The biggest problem for train drivers was trying to see their train past the mass of bodies.

 

We had both layouts running – the Mid-Cornwall Lines themselves of course could only run as a pair of ovals so the Riviera and the Milk completed plenty of circuits with a variety of locos. As always when people are visiting, a couple of locos misbehaved including the old Airfix Castle 4099, which completed several laps without the driving wheels rotating. Former BRMA president Bill Cooper did my blood pressure no good when he started running the Riviera in reverse on the Down Through next to the roller door, where there is no fence yet to stop derailed vehicles falling four feet to the concrete floor, but fortunately everything stayed on the track.

 

We tried an experiment on St Enodoc before the hordes arrived, by rigging up a second RB02 to see if we could run both layouts with wireless at the same time. Unfortunately this didn’t work so we put St Enodoc back to its standard configuration of PowerCab plus one extra throttle. By using longer leads the drivers were able to stand outside the layout while I worked the signal box.

 

All in all a very successful day and thanks not only to everyone for showing such an interest in the layout, but especially to RodneyV of this parish for bringing some extra chairs so that everyone was able to sit down for afternoon tea as well. We signed up a few more members for the future operating team too.

 

Today it was back to work on the layout and I laid the plain track to complete Paddington loops 1 to 3. I will wire these up to the Down bus and then I hope to have sorted out the point motor control issues so that the three loops can be brought into use.

 

 

These photos show the loop tracks in place. As well as the straight Tracksetta, I used a Proses track spacing tool for the first time, which really did help to get the tracks parallel.

Edited July 22, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

Thanks Rick, that's an interesting observation.

 

I use a minimum radius of 30 inches so smaller radius points would not work for me. By using curved points concentrated in the corner area, I find that I can maximise the length of the loops. On the exisiting St Enodoc branch line layout, I can get a 6-coach train in some of the storage sidings even though the long dimension of the layout is only just over 9 feet.

Rick, when I laid the track yesterday each of the three loops used just shy of five yard lengths of Peco code 75 - say 4.5 m. This approximates to the clear length of tracks 1 and 2 as you can surmise from the first photo in yesterday's post. Track 3 is slightly longer, as will be tracks 4, 5 and 6. Tracks 7 - 12 will follow the same pattern as tracks 1 - 6. Overall then, at Paddington there will be 12 loops all of which have at least 4.5 m clear length in a total length of 6.9 m.

[St Enodoc]

Visitors from Singapore this weekend, so apart from showing them some trains running on the main lines and on St Enodoc all I got done was drilling the holes for, and inserting, the droppers for Paddington loops 1 to 3. Not enough time to solder them though so that is the first task next weekend.

[St Enodoc]

There is a fairly significant glitch with RMWeb at the moment in that any posts that were cut and pasted from Word, and which include special characters, have been truncated following a software upgrade yesterday. This includes most of my longer posts on this topic. I am not alone in experiencing this problem.

 

Advice from Andy Y is to sit tight in the meantime so apologies to anyone who is trying to read this topic and is wondering what is going on.

[Andrew P]

That's some Fiddle Yard, I've never bothered with neatness in Fiddle Yards so seeing your, well its a credit to you my friend. Well done.

[St Enodoc]

That's some Fiddle Yard, I've never bothered with neatness in Fiddle Yards so seeing your, well its a credit to you my friend. Well done.

Thanks Andy - I hope the rest of it turns out as well.

[aforsyth]

Hi John - this is looking really good! This is a favourite part of the world for me too, although I'm focusing mainly on Cornwall in the 60s to 80s at present, and may even slip into 'withered arm' territory for my current layout!

 

One query about the impressive looking fiddle yards. You mentioned earlier in the thread that the railbus siding was difficult to reach (should you need to make up a train). How easy will it be to reach the rear-most lines for access, should you need to, particularly if the closer lines have stock on them? This operational aspect has caught me out in the past, so I'm a little more wary of 'reachability' now!

 

Thanks,
Alan

[St Enodoc]

Replying to Alan Forsyth as I still can't get "Reply quoting this post' to work - probably connected with the wider issues with RMweb at the moment:

 

Welcome aboard Alan! The Paddington and Penzance boards are each 710 mm from front to back, with the 14 tracks spaced at 50 mm centres and the front and rear tracks 30 mm from the baseboard edge. There are 12 loops as such in each set as the front and rear tracks are the through lines on which no trains will be stored.

 

I can reach all the loops fairly easily but my intention is that trains that need remarshalling or otherwise handling will be nearer the front than those such as the Limited that only need engine changes or something relatively minor.

 

The railbus siding (Tregissey) really only needs to be 6 inches long, but I laid in as long a length of track as would fit - just in case I find another use for it.

 

I do use a set of small steps to help me reach to the back when laying and wiring track and in all likelihood these will get used during operation as well.

[aforsyth]

Thanks John, that makes sense. I'm guessing that you're going to use an automated track cleaning method too with that amount of track? I'm sure you've been as thorough in your planning there as anywhere else.

 

I'm really looking forward to see how you do the clay dries and general Cornish 'atmosphere', although that's a long way away for now, and as you say, there's no rush!

 

Alan

[St Enodoc]

Thanks John, that makes sense. I'm guessing that you're going to use an automated track cleaning method too with that amount of track? I'm sure you've been as thorough in your planning there as anywhere else.

 

I'm really looking forward to see how you do the clay dries and general Cornish 'atmosphere', although that's a long way away for now, and as you say, there's no rush!

 

Alan

Thanks Alan. As you can see, I've got the "Reply quoting this post" working again, by switching to Firefox instead of IE.

 

Track cleaning isn't automated as such, but I have got a Dapol track cleaning car that works quite well with the chip set to run the motor at a constant 75% of full speed. I also have an old Tri-ang car which has had DG couplings and new bogies with finer wheels fitted. Between them, they will do the job I think. Having said that, track doesn't seem to pick up a lot of dirt round here.

 

You can see the clay dries in one of the earlier posts describing the first St Enodoc. I still have the structure after 35+ years but it's looking a bit battered after travelling half way round the world so I might replace it. I have some thoughts on the area around St Enodoc and Wheal Veronica where the branch doubles back on itself, but I won't give them away at this stage in case they don't work.

[St Enodoc]

Today I got all the wiring done on Paddington loops 1 to 3, except for the connections to the point frogs.

 

The feeders are daisy-chained from the Down bus and as I add more tracks I will install more feeders and droppers.

 

I haven't fitted the point motors yet, as I'm waiting for the outcome of DCC Concepts' investigation into the ADS-2fx problem noted a couple of weeks ago. At their request I have checked the coil resistance on a number of motor types, and also confirmed that the various types all work when fed from different power supplies.

 

Now that these three loops are done I think that I will get some more trains out of their boxes next weekend, even though I won't really be able to run them until the points are commissioned.

Edited July 22, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[brianusa]

If only my layout looked that good underneath!

 

Brian.

[St Enodoc]

There is a fairly significant glitch with RMWeb at the moment in that any posts that were cut and pasted from Word, and which include special characters, have been truncated following a software upgrade yesterday. This includes most of my longer posts on this topic. I am not alone in experiencing this problem.

 

Advice from Andy Y is to sit tight in the meantime so apologies to anyone who is trying to read this topic and is wondering what is going on.

Everything appears to be fixed now - thanks Andy.

[St Enodoc]

I got the ADS-2fx back from DCC Concepts in this week's post. Apart from the damaged terminal screws they couldn't find anything wrong, so I will have another try this weekend. If all goes well I am thinking about using an NCE Mini-Panel to do the route setting at Paddington and Penzance, which should save a considerable amount of wire - has anybody done this before?

 

If all doesn't go well I will have to scratch my head a bit harder.

[St Enodoc]

It's the weekend, the Super Rugby season has started with a cracker between the Blues and the Highlanders (no spoiler!) and my Collett coaches are on their way from Cornwall. Life is good...

[Barry O]

Time to get some HSTs hurtling round!

Hat, coat,....

 

But I managed to catch a bit of super rugby here brumbies v hurricanes. Why bother with line outs?

Baz

[St Enodoc]

Time to get some HSTs hurtling round!

Hat, coat,....

 

But I managed to catch a bit of super rugby here brumbies v hurricanes. Why bother with line outs?

Baz

Well that Brumbies try from a lineout wasn't bad.

 

I've got a 2+8 HST (Scottish Region funnily enough) waiting to be chipped, rewheeled and renumbered. Then we shall have some fun.

 

Second half just starting so time to go.

[Barry O]

So is there a push pull rake plus cow also available?

[St Enodoc]

So is there a push pull rake plus cow also available?

Of course - you must remember that from Leeds Victoria?

[Barry O]

Oh yes I do but you may have dispensed with its services.

[St Enodoc]

I got the ADS-2fx back from DCC Concepts in this week's post. Apart from the damaged terminal screws they couldn't find anything wrong, so I will have another try this weekend. If all goes well I am thinking about using an NCE Mini-Panel to do the route setting at Paddington and Penzance, which should save a considerable amount of wire - has anybody done this before?

 

If all doesn't go well I will have to scratch my head a bit harder.

I tried the ADS-2fx today with an old Dell laptop power supply (19.5V at 6.7A) powering a SEEP PM4 motor on the workbench. Everything worked faultlessly. So, on the basis that the ADS-2fx is capable of powering two SEEP motors per output and with the coil resistance of a SEEP motor being in the region of 3.5 ohms, I tried it with an H&M SM3 motor which has a coil resistance of about 2.5 ohms. This too worked well, so I reckon that if I stick to one motor per output I will be able to use the several dozen H&M motors that I have stashed away and won't have to buy a load more SEEPs.

 

I will now order enough of the ADS-2fx's big brother, the ADS-8fx, to power all the Paddington and Penzance points. I intend to use the internal frog switching function in the ADS-8fx so that I don't need to fuss around with microswitches.

 

I then spent a pleasant hour or two rummaging through stock boxes and filling Paddington loops 1, 2 and 3 with some trains. I set out the sleeping cars, the Postal, a class F freight, an LMR express, a couple of Plymouth - Penzance locals (one with a fish van on the back) and a parcels train. Until the points are operational all they can do is sit there and look nice - which they do. I will try to take a photo or two tomorrow.

[St Enodoc]

Oh yes I do but you may have dispensed with its services.

Then you will remember that we had to put a film of Evo-Stik on the loco wheel treads to get enough adhesion for it to climb the bank from Dewsbury Midland.

 

It's one of a collection of trains or locos that I have built up over the years that have a link to different jobs I have done. There is also the Modern Shrapnel Kits 2-BIL, a 31 with a train of Departmental wagons, a 56 with a few HAAs and various other odds and ends. I wouldn't mind a class 325 but I think that Mr Edge's models are all accounted for...