Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

Today was the first Saturday or Sunday in a long while that I didn't spend any time in the railway room. I wasn't idle though. Having got to a point yesterday where the layout is ready and set up for the next running session, whenever that may be, I changed tack and turned to jobs that can be done indoors.

 

Signal are the next big task so I started on those - or, more precisely, on some memory wire actuators. I used these on the last St Enodoc layout and found them easy and cheap to make and fit, and also very effective in operation. The problem is that memory wire isn't as easily available nowadays but when Jacques le Plat of Belgium retired a few years ago and stopped trading as Pro-Rail I bought as much wire as I would need for the whole of the Mid-Cornwall Lines (I hope...). My actuators are based around Bic Clic ballpoint pens, as Jacques himself described in the Railway Modeller September 1996 issue but simplified to suit the later design of the pens, and are designed to operate Ratio GWR signals (I'm not actually sure whether you can still get Bic Clic pens either as it happens).

 

This is what the finished article looks like, although I don't bother with the Z-shaped adjuster any more:

 

 

The first job is to dismantle the pen into its component parts, throw away the ink tube and operating button and then cut the remaining parts to size:

 

The barrel needs to be about 85mm long and the piston about 17mm long. The spring remains at its original length. I modified nine pens (three packs of three) today before I got bored.

 

Tomorrow I'll drill these parts for the memory wire fittings and then start to make the memory wire assembly itself.

Edited July 17, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Stubby47]

Do you fit false counter weights to the base of the signals?

[manna]

G'Day Folks

 

New Somersaults for Finchley Central !!

 

manna

[St Enodoc]

On 08/08/2020 at 18:30, Stubby47 said:

Do you fit false counter weights to the base of the signals?

Yes, the signal in the photo was just a trial version. The counterweights are indeed dummies. I also replace the plastic arms with etched ones, usually from Scalelink, but keep the plastic ladders. Here are some on the last layout:

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, manna said:

G'Day Folks

 

New Somersaults for Finchley Central !!

 

manna

They were long gone by 1962 (fortunately)!

[RudderC]

G'Day St Enodoc,

Have a bunch of the required pens (about 25) from when I was heading down this path and memory wire as well. 

So if you run short...

[St Enodoc]

24 minutes ago, RudderC said:

G'Day St Enodoc,

Have a bunch of the required pens (about 25) from when I was heading down this path and memory wire as well. 

So if you run short...

Thanks, I might hold you to that! I did get a short length of memory wire from you a few years ago. That was the American stuff if I recall correctly. I should have enough now unless I mess up too many actuators while I'm making them (not difficult...). I just need to make sure I don't spoil too many crimps too. I've got plenty of pens I think - I bought the entire shelf stock from IGA Haymarket a while back when I was working at that end of the city.

[St Enodoc]

This morning I glazed the E147 and applied the "First" and "No Smoking" transfers. Now, there is only one first-class compartment on this coach, so was it for smokers or non-smokers? A look through Russell suggested that when formed as B-Set pairs one coach is a smoker and the other a non-smoker. I could have tossed a coin but in the end I hedged my bets and applied the "No Smoking" transfers to just one side of the coach!

 

After lunch I assembled the nine actuators that I made the parts for yesterday.

 

First I drilled some No 65 holes, one right through the "clear" end of the barrel and one right through the "cut" end of the piston, to suit the paper-clip wire anchors for the memory wire itself.

 

Then I made up the memory wire assemblies.

 

The jig is just some headless panel pins in a piece of wood. The wire is fixed with brass crimps as you can't solder it without destroying its metallurgical properties. The wire is 0.125mm in diameter and to get the amount of contraction I need the working length needs to be about 70mm, so with the crimps being about 8mm long I make the loops 85mm apart.

 

To prevent the wire slipping, I loop it round and through the crimp again. I put the end of a piece of thin flex into the crimps as well, to feed the 250mA (max) supply.

 

Next, I feed the flex and memory wire into the piston so they emerge from the cut end. An un-bent paper clip forms the anchor to hold these in place. It also forms the rod that will be attached to the signal later. Getting this anchor in is the fiddliest part of the whole exercise.

 

At the other end, I thread the memory wire through the spring and the barrel using a long wire with a hook on the end. Another short piece of paper-clip wire anchors this end.

 

The whole thing looks like this once it's assembled. To test it, I connect a 1.5V battery to the flex and watch the piston move into the barrel by about 2mm as the memory wire heats up and contracts. Removing the battery lets the wire cool and the spring pushes the piston back out.

 

I think I'll make some signals for these actuators to actuate next. Although Par had a number of tubular post signals, I'm going to use the Ratio square post kits initially as they are easier to make work. In time I might replace some with tubular posts, especially the characteristic bracket at the end of the branch platform behind the signal box.

Edited July 17, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Stubby47]

A couple of questions:

 

What part of the pen is the piston made from?

I thought the spring, in the pen, acted between the narrowed end of the clear barrel and pips on the ink tube - what is the non-piston end of the spring fixed to in the modified barrel ?

 

Ta

[St Enodoc]

45 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

A couple of questions:

 

What part of the pen is the piston made from?

I thought the spring, in the pen, acted between the narrowed end of the clear barrel and pips on the ink tube - what is the non-piston end of the spring fixed to in the modified barrel ?

 

Ta

The pen, as supplied, has five parts:

 

- the barrel, which includes the pocket clip;

- the ink tube;

- the spring;

- the operating button; and

- the piston.

 

The piston is inside the barrel at the opposite end to the point. The operating button pushes the piston which in turn pushes the ink tube out of the barrel. The operating button latches through the little slot on the side of the barrel. When you push the button in at the side, the spring pushes the operating button back out and draws the ink tube, which is a friction fit in the piston, back in.

 

There are no pips on the ink tube. The spring reacts on the piston at one end and a ledge between the clear and coloured sections of the barrel at the other. That remains the case for the modified pen.

 

Hope that makes sense.

[Stubby47]

Yes it does, so I can see now how the alterations use the same mechanics.

[St Enodoc]

This morning I had my annual check-up with my cardiologist. He says he wants to see me again in 12 months' time, so I'll take that as a win.

 

When I got home I had a choice of fitting the door furniture on the E147 or doing my tax return. I chose the E147 as I thought it would be more fun...

 

Well, it's done now but it does look a little rough. There are two reasons for this. One is my general incompetence, not having done this kind of job for about 30 years (if it gives you a clue, the half-finished pack of Comet T-handles I found came from Dick Buckley's in Wakefield and cost GBP 1.00). Once I got into the groove it wasn't too bad though. The other, and main, reason is that the coach wasn't in great shape to begin with, as you'll know if you've been following this saga. For example, when I drill a coach side for handles and handrails I use a little jig that sits in the window opening so all the holes are in the right place. This coach had been pre-drilled (good) but without using a jig (bad). I've done the best I can but it's not as neat as I would like.

 

Anyway, the wretched thing is done now. All I need to do is put the chassis and body back together and that's it. I'll do that tomorrow and take a couple of photos - only the grade B-minus side though. The other is probably grade D, or C-minus if I'm being generous. Then it can go into service as set 760, replacing a Bachmann BR standard 57' composite.

 

No more coaches for a little while - back to signal action next.

[aardvark]

17 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

This morning I had my annual check-up with my cardiologist. He says he wants to see me again in 12 months' time, so I'll take that as a win.

 

... when the next payment on his Porsche is due.

[St Enodoc]

57 minutes ago, aardvark said:

 

... when the next payment on his Porsche is due.

Quite possibly! At least he thinks I'm going to last that long.

[St Enodoc]

Here is the slightly-better-than-the-other side of the E147.

 

 

From the solebars down, I don't think it's too bad. The bodysides themselves aren't bad either, except for the inconsistent position of the handrails that I mentioned yesterday. I'm not sure that the horizontal handles at the van ends should be there at all but, as the holes were pre-drilled, it was easier to fit them than to fill the holes.

 

The glazing doesn't sit as flush as I'd like at the compartment end because of the thick glue fillets I had to apply to stop the whole thing disassembling itself. The body/roof join isn't great either but is as good as I could get, for similar reasons.

 

Anyway, it is what it is and will do its job.

 

I've got two more of these to build but in that case from their component parts so I think (hope) they'll turn out a bit better.

 

Lastly, today we commemorate and reflect on the final end of the Second World War, being the 75th anniversary of what is known in many countries as VJ Day but here in Australia as VP (Victory in the Pacific) Day.

 

Lest we forget.

Edited July 17, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[5BarVT]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Anyway, it is what it is and will do its job.

Hopefully it passes the 3’ Rule.

 

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Lest we forget.

Agreed.

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

9 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

Hopefully it passes the 3’ Rule.

In the dark...

[simontaylor484]

I was reading yesterday about a very brave Aussie sailor who has finale been awarded the VC . He had strapped himself to an anti aircraft gun and carried on firing even as he went underwater 

 

My Grandad finished the war in the Pacific on an aircraft carrier although it was late1946 when he got home his ship HMS Ranee was talking aircraft round and then was returned to the USA

[TrevorP1]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Lastly, today we commemorate and reflect on the final end of the Second World War, being the 75th anniversary of what is known in many countries as VJ Day but here in Australia as VP (Victory in the Pacific) Day.

 

Lest we forget.

My Dad was in Burma. He saw action in the Arakan and the ‘Railway Corridor’ from Myitkyina.
 

He told me about some of his railway travels in India from Bombay and also the ‘Jeep trains’ near Myitkyina. There were other things. The memories of which he never spoke of but which gave him nightmares till the day he died.  
 

Never forget.

[Clive Mortimore]

After the Japanese surrender it wasn't over for many. There was the British involvement in the suppression of the Indonesian  uprising against the Dutch, until they could return in force.

 

My father who was in the navy was sent to Vietnam because various factions, same clan factions that started fighting each other after the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975, had started to fight each other. The French were not in a position to police the country so British army and navy personnel were in command of small groups of Japanese soldiers to try and keep law and order. He came home early 1947, he was a hostilities only serviceman. 

 

In India the bulk of the army came home quite soon after the war ended. Not the RAF, some thought that the air force could suppress any uprisings before independence. The hostilities only airmen went on strike because they were not being discharged.  

[Tallpaul69]

1 hour ago, TrevorP1 said:

My Dad was in Burma. He saw action in the Arakan and the ‘Railway Corridor’ from Myitkyina.
 

He told me about some of his railway travels in India from Bombay and also the ‘Jeep trains’ near Myitkyina. There were other things. The memories of which he never spoke of but which gave him nightmares till the day he died.  
 

Never forget.

My Dad was also in Burma as a Chindit. That was the one part of his war service that also saw him in the Middle East, Italy and Germany, that he never talked about.

I think it certainly contributed to his relatively early death aged 66, although whether it was the stress and food shortage that did for him or the amount he smoked while there, who knows!

 

It is unfortunate that those times are now so sufficiently distant in the nation's memory that apart from November 11th, we are only reminded of what we owe that generation at the Big anniversaries.

 

Meanwhile, back in our (mainly) war free model world I think the E147 should be appreciated more than its builder would think. Without our attention being drawn to the door handles and the roof joint, I for one would not have noticed them. Of course it could just be my poor eyesight!!??

 

Keep up the good work, I say!

 

Cheers

Paul 

 

 

[Nick Gough]

My father-in-law had reached Australia, with the RN, when the rumour began to circulate, subsequently confirmed, that the war was over. He was part of a MONABAS, supporting the Fleet Air Arm for the British Pacific Fleet:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Naval_Air_Base

This was after performing duties as a signaller on a Tank Landing Ship on D-Day. 

 

We visited him, this week, for the first time since lockdown as he lives 160 miles away. When I told him we broke the journey at the Army Air Museum, Middle Wallop, he spoke of his disappointment that the museum had no mention of the time when his MONABAS was formed up there.

[TrevorP1]

1 hour ago, Nick Gough said:

My father-in-law had reached Australia, with the RN, when the rumour began to circulate, subsequently confirmed, that the war was over. He was part of a MONABAS, supporting the Fleet Air Arm for the British Pacific Fleet:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Naval_Air_Base

This was after performing duties as a signaller on a Tank Landing Ship on D-Day. 

 

We visited him, this week, for the first time since lockdown as he lives 160 miles away. When I told him we broke the journey at the Army Air Museum, Middle Wallop, he spoke of his disappointment that the museum had no mention of the time when his MONABAS was formed up there.

At the time of the war’s end my Father’s regiment had returned to India where  preparations were being made for a beach assault on Malaya. As it happened the landings took place (operation Zipper I think) but in reduced numbers in a kind of policing function in which Dad wasn’t involved.

 

Had the war not ended, there were plans for an invasion of Japan to take place in 1946. All nations were to be involved and no doubt my father and your father-in-law would have been there. What might have occurred doesn’t bear thinking about. 

 

Most people will be aware of the Stephen Spielberg series ‘Band of Brothers’. Spielberg - whose father was in the American Air Force in Burma - did another series, ‘The Pacific’ which culminates in the actions at Okinawa. It’s surely a wonder that any of them came home sane .

 

However imperfect this world is, we still have a lot to be grateful for. We truly should ‘Never Forget’.

Edited August 15, 2020 by TrevorP1
Typo

[manna]

G'Day Folk

 

My Dad joined the Navy in 1943, being employed as a Air Mechanic on HMS Perseus and later HMS Glory ( both Carriers) based in Australia, then they dropped the 'Bomb' which saved him getting involved in the invasion of Japan. He enjoyed himself in Australia so much, the whole family emigrated in 1964.  He's still with us at 94.

 

manna

[KymN]

On 15/08/2020 at 22:07, TrevorP1 said:

My Dad was in Burma. He saw action in the Arakan and the ‘Railway Corridor’ from Myitkyina.
There were other things. The memories of which he never spoke of but which gave him nightmares till the day he died.  
 

Never forget.

 

My Dad had a similar story.  He served on HMAS Perth and saw action in the Mediterranean and then in the Pacific.  Perth fought in the Battle of the Java Sea and then, with USS Houston, was sunk by an overwhelming Japanese force in the Battle of Java Strait. Dad spent the rest of the war in Changi prison and then on the Burma Railway. He too had nightmares until the day he died.  Two thirds of the crews of the Perth and the Houston never survived the war.  Neither captain survived the battle. There is just one foreign ships company commemorated in America's Arlington Cemetery.  That is HMAS Perth.