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Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00


St Enodoc
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Ahh yes as I have said we can remember relatives and their service. One grandfather was regular army RAR, my grandmother was a WAAAF here in Melbourne and that is where they met. My other grandfather was 2nd/27 on Kokoda as a first aider.  Interesting they would never meet until my parents got together. Both were in PNG. One a regular army until after I was born in the 1970's The other discharged after 2 years but he never said anything about what happened, to the point he would argue that he was never there, how ever the unit history says he must have been. A Truely terrible experience to be shut out of his memory. 

 

Having worked in PNG in 1998 I was mostly in Rabaul, but spent time in both Lae and Port Moresby. One of the project was at the prison at Bomana which is next to the war graves. It is a difficult country to do much in due to the terrain, and weather. The war scars are still very apparent especially in Rabaul tanks etc still easily seen in undergrowth and other impacts. 

 

Any how as others have said "least we forget" 

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45 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

It's Long Tan anniversary right now isn't it? 

 

 

Yesterday. I was going to post something but couldn't while RMweb was down:

 

https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/commemoration/commemoration-days/vietnam-veterans-day

 

Several of my Australian friends served in Vietnam, including some RMwebbers, and I was thinking of them yesterday.

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I served 6 months attached to the Australian Army back in '87.  My SSM was a veteran.  Some of the RAR and RAA LE officers were also there as Gunners and Diggers.

 

Very humbling to hear their stories.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, M.I.B said:

Very humbling to hear their stories.

Indeed. Some of my American colleagues served too of course, including the Navy pilot who spent most of his time getting thoroughly bored on patrols, except for the odd occasion when the SAM went past close enough to read the number on the side (I don't think he was pulling my leg - he wasn't the type for that). Those were the times that he felt he'd actually earned his flying pay...

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14 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Yesterday. I was going to post something but couldn't while RMweb was down:

 

https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/commemoration/commemoration-days/vietnam-veterans-day

 

Several of my Australian friends served in Vietnam, including some RMwebbers, and I was thinking of them yesterday.

One story that came out of Long Tan was that officer in charge of the artillery, had served in Korea, - had a "feeling" the night before the battle, and ordered up twice the ordinary supply of  the ammunition which arrived shortly before action commenced. and yes some of my mates served there but not at Long Tan

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Last night I primed the assembled signal arms with grey etch primer. How I miss Railmatch white etch primer! It was good enough not to need a finishing coat for white areas but it isn't available any more. Now I have to start with grey primer, then an overall coat of white (except for the black areas, obviously), as red and yellow paint won't cover properly on the grey. Anyway, that's history. I got all the white done today so tomorrow I might manage the red and yellow but probably not the black.

 

The drying paint left lots of time for other things, so I did a couple of long-standing odd jobs in the railway room.

 

First, I dismantled all the legs from the old St Enodoc layout. That yielded a useful supply of 42mm x 19mm softwood in lengths of between two and four feet, which will come in very handy for joists and risers when I start the branch.

 

After that I turned to the two old St Enodoc station boards. I removed most of the wiring (leaving only the track feeds, which I will unsolder from the droppers another time), the point motors and Masterswitches and the inter-board connectors. I left the uncouplers, as nearly all of them are in the right place, and the current regulators for the signals (ditto). I also removed the old uncoupler control panel and the ex-telephone exchange key switch banks that made up the old lever frame.

 

Overall, a satisfying afternoon's work.

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Bracing! Pah!

 

Yesterday due to it chuckinitdarn (spasmodically) and lack of light we abandoned our game at 7:25pm as a fielder was hit by a ball ( could see it just but ...) it was about 15C.. High Summer?  Yeh right! as the TUI used to say!

 

Good work on the baseboards.. won't be long before you can get the rest of the layout started!

 

Baz

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32 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Bracing! Pah!

 

Yesterday due to it chuckinitdarn (spasmodically) and lack of light we abandoned our game at 7:25pm as a fielder was hit by a ball ( could see it just but ...) it was about 15C.. High Summer?  Yeh right! as the TUI used to say!

 

Good work on the baseboards.. won't be long before you can get the rest of the layout started!

 

Baz

Thanks Baz. Yes, I'll get the Porthmellyn Road signals done then I will start the branch. The L-girder frame for Polperran (the third fiddle yard) and St Enodoc will be the next bits of woodwork. The two St Enodoc boards will sit on top of that.

 

Then I might build some more trolleys and magazine shelves to clear a bit of floor space.

 

That sounds dangerously like a plan doesn't it?

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4 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

The one in the extreme lower right corner will be re-used at Polperran as I'm now only going to have one siding here, for the camping coach.

Silly me. No it won't. It will, of course, go to Wheal Veronica to form the two sidings at the china-clay dries - one for fulls and one for empties, just as we're emulating now with the two Chapel Sidings.

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I've finished painting the first batch of signal arms.

 

20200826001signalarmspainted.JPG.5c5dc2574730430cc75fde60f499f2df.JPG

We have:

 

- a 4ft fixed distant arm (with no spectacle plate)

- a 3ft arm which I made up and primed before realising I didn't need it for the first batch

- four standard 4ft stop arms

- a 3ft goods arm (with the ring)

- a 4ft worked distant arm.

 

The fixed distant will go on the same post as one of the stop arms to form the Porthmellyn Road Down Branch Advanced Starter (9) with St Enodoc Down Distant below it.

 

Adding stripes is next. I use short strips cut from waterslide transfers for this, as that makes it much easier to get a nice straight stripe. I've never done the stripes on a distant arm before, so I'll need to work out the best way to cut and fit them.

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I hope you’ve got a lamp case with a yellow lens for the fixed distant.

:-)

Paul.

P.S. I like the multi coloured signal posts.

Edited by 5BarVT
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1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

I hope you’ve got a lamp case with a yellow lens for the fixed distant.

:-)

Of course!

1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

P.S. I like the multi coloured signal posts.

Yes, makes them very easy to spot. I wonder whether they're a bit on the short side though.

 

Just painted the lamps on the real posts because I forgot last night while I had the black paint tin open.

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6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I've finished painting the first batch of signal arms.

 

1612520962_20200826001signalarmspainted.JPG.3bcee0c8375eb920d9ae006f88e2c0de.JPG

We have:

 

- a 4ft fixed distant arm (with no spectacle plate)

- a 3ft arm which I made up and primed before realising I didn't need it for the first batch

- four standard 4ft stop arms

- a 3ft goods arm (with the ring)

- a 4ft worked distant arm.

 

The fixed distant will go on the same post as one of the stop arms to form the Porthmellyn Road Down Branch Advanced Starter (9) with St Enodoc Down Distant below it.

 

Adding stripes is next. I use short strips cut from waterslide transfers for this, as that makes it much easier to get a nice straight stripe. I've never done the stripes on a distant arm before, so I'll need to work out the best way to cut and fit them.

I do like the multi-coloured signal post, very trendy.

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I'm halfway through reading the new book - 'GWR Signalling Practice' - a very thorough coverage of the subject and related items.

It's nice to find out how everything fits together and how it works. Then, of course, reading this thread, I can see how master modellers recreate it all in miniature.

 

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5 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

I'm halfway through reading the new book - 'GWR Signalling Practice' - a very thorough coverage of the subject and related items.

It's nice to find out how everything fits together and how it works. Then, of course, reading this thread, I can see how master modellers recreate it all in miniature.

 

Thanks Nick, but I'm not a master modeller (and certainly not of signals). If you want to see a real master signal modeller's work go here:

 

 

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Especially for Paul @5BarVT:

 

20200827001yellowlampforfixeddistant.JPG.1197b0ad846f0e4ced502bab5ea5f182.JPG

By the way, the pivot on the left of the post should also be black but I found in the past that, because it is rather overscale, it is better to leave it white as it doesn't stand out so much.

 

Both lamps, of course, are dummies.

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I've done all the black striping on the eight arms I made up before. That was easy enough for the stop arms - a strip of transfer 2mm wide for the 3ft arms and 3mm wide for the 4ft arms.

 

For the distants I used the actual fishtail on the etching as a cutting guide, which made things much easier than I had expected.

 

The stripes were fitted using Micro Set, water, more Micro Set and Micro Sol in that order then I left them to dry/harden overnight.

 

White stripes are next. These are all straight so shouldn't take too long. After that I can start assembling the signals.

 

No photos of this stage coz I forgot.

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15 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

Photos next time please so as I can give you “craftsmanship” gizmo.

Paul.

Possibly tomorrow, Paul. I'm letting the white stripes harden off overnight, then I can trim them and seal the whole lot with matt varnish. Watch this space.

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