Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[LNER4479]

1 hour ago, acg5324 said:

Plus one parked outside each station.

... plus one held up at the roadworks, with the LED flashing lights, wisp of smoke coming from the 'ole in the ground with the servo-operated arm on the end of a shovel going up and down, right outside the church with the wedding going on at the front (another bus needed to take the friends and families to the reception) and funeral going on round the back, right next to the field with the foxhunt in full swing (another bus needed to take the hooray Henrys to the local for a knees up afterwards)

 

Oh, did I mention the crashed aeroplane across the road?

[Oldddudders]

8 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

... plus one held up at the roadworks, with the LED flashing lights, wisp of smoke coming from the 'ole in the ground with the servo-operated arm on the end of a shovel going up and down, right outside the church with the wedding going on at the front (another bus needed to take the friends and families to the reception) and funeral going on round the back, right next to the field with the foxhunt in full swing (another bus needed to take the hooray Henrys to the local for a knees up afterwards)

 

Oh, did I mention the crashed aeroplane across the road?

Do I infer that the trains are the only actors you are interested in watching? 

[FarrMan]

6 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

... plus one held up at the roadworks, with the LED flashing lights, wisp of smoke coming from the 'ole in the ground with the servo-operated arm on the end of a shovel going up and down, right outside the church with the wedding going on at the front (another bus needed to take the friends and families to the reception) and funeral going on round the back, right next to the field with the foxhunt in full swing (another bus needed to take the hooray Henrys to the local for a knees up afterwards)

 

Oh, did I mention the crashed aeroplane across the road?

You missed out the fun fare, circus, hot air balloon and UFO landed in the field. But then you would not want to make it look rediculous, would you?

 

Lloyd

[St Enodoc]

44 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

i do have a copy somewhere....

Unfortunately I don't. I once had a cassette recorded unlawfully from a friend's LP but that's long gone.

[St Enodoc]

29 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

funeral going on round the back

There was a layout on the exhibition circuit some years ago where, through some sort of detector and relay circuit, the corpse popped up to have a look every time a train went past.

[KeithMacdonald]

1 hour ago, FarrMan said:

You missed out the fun fare, circus, hot air balloon and UFO landed in the field. But then you would not want to make it look rediculous, would you?

 

I'm sure someone has posted a pic somewhere on RMWeb of their layout with a funfare and a UFO (?)

[LNER4479]

A bit like this, you mean?

 

 

One day, it might actually get finished.

 

All of which has absolutely NOTHING to do with buses on bridges in deepest, darkest Cornwall.

 

[ian]

No, no, no.

 

You need a road network with working vehicles and the buses running to a timetable so that they can leave the stations just before the train arrives.

[acg5324]

2 hours ago, FarrMan said:

You missed out the fun fare, circus, hot air balloon and UFO landed in the field. But then you would not want to make it look rediculous, would you?

 

Lloyd

.......and Dr Who’s TARDIS!

[FarrMan]

34 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

.......and Dr Who’s TARDIS!

Oops. Forgot that. Now where can I put it?

 

Lloyd

[Clive Mortimore]

53 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

.......and Dr Who’s TARDIS!

Doesn't every layout have one?

[Clive Mortimore]

3 hours ago, LNER4479 said:

... plus one held up at the roadworks, with the LED flashing lights, wisp of smoke coming from the 'ole in the ground with the servo-operated arm on the end of a shovel going up and down, right outside the church with the wedding going on at the front (another bus needed to take the friends and families to the reception) and funeral going on round the back, right next to the field with the foxhunt in full swing (another bus needed to take the hooray Henrys to the local for a knees up afterwards)

 

Oh, did I mention the crashed aeroplane across the road?

Hi Graham

 

I will looking out for these new additions to Grantham next time I see it.

[LNER4479]

Working road vehicles and a traffic light that changes is as far as it goes. Wouldn't want to distract too much from the main actors ...

[Barry O]

but there are no trams.. 

 

good fun though!

 

Baz

[ian]

13 minutes ago, Barry O said:

but there are no trams..

 

The Cornish don't quite grasp the concept of trams...

 

 

[acg5324]

Or elsewhere in Cornwall.....

[St Enodoc]

I had an hour or so free today, so I made Porthmellyn Road 40 points, the dummy safety points.

 

I stripped out six plastic sleepers and replaced them with six copperclad timbers, the fourth of which is slightly longer. This matches the configuration in Smith's GWR trackwork book. I soldered the far rail to the timbers, clamped the dummy blade to the outside of the near rail and soldered those to the timbers too.

 

I also had time to complete the wiring Porthmellyn Road 41 points, connecting them to the lever frame and the power supply. They both worked in the correct sense first time, which was good. Trackwork at Porthmellyn Road is, therefore, now complete.

 

At St Enodoc 7 points I connected the return wires to the blue bus wire and completed the wiring from the choc blocks to the motors. I can't fit the brown feed wire until I've built a temporary control panel though, which won't be until after a few more points have been laid.

Edited June 28, 2023 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[St Enodoc]

Bachmann have announced a modified Modified Hall, with what looks like the proper front end.

 

 

It sounds a bit steep at nearly 200 quid though. I'll have to do some serious thinking about how long my existing split-frame versions might last.

[TrevorP1]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Bachmann have announced a modified Modified Hall, with what looks like the proper front end.

 

 

It sounds a bit steep at nearly 200 quid though. I'll have to do some serious thinking about how long my existing split-frame versions might last.

 

Typical as I redid mine with a Brassmasters etch last year! No worries I'm very happy with the one I have.

 

However... It may be the angle of the photo but the cylinders on the new Bachmann one look a bit dubious to me. They should have a small vertical section at the top near the running plate, something which they got right on the 'wrong' version.

 

 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

1 hour ago, TrevorP1 said:

Typical as I redid mine with a Brassmasters etch last year! No worries I'm very happy with the one I have.

 

However... It may be the angle of the photo but the cylinders on the new Bachmann one look a bit dubious to me. They should have a small vertical section at the top near the running plate, something which they got right on the 'wrong' version.

 

Having done the same rebuild to get my Modified Hall needs fulfilled, I wont be rushing out to get another.  I think my ebay purchased model, the brassmasters kit, new plates and new transfers still came in at less than half the price of the new one! 

Very surprised that they still havent done a mod hall in Great Western livery with either version of the new tooling.  

[St Enodoc]

On 30/01/2021 at 18:13, St Enodoc said:

Finally, I tested the new track, first with a light engine and then with the long china-clay train. That was interesting, as the 42xx could not lift the train up the 1 in 110 gradient on the 30" radius curve. I had guessed that this might happen, given how light these locos are. I will need to add some weight, for which there is not much room. The cab seems the most likely place, sitting as it does between the two rearmost coupled axles. I think I'll start with some lead under the roof and on the floor. The cab is dark enough inside for that not to show. As and when I fit crews they will have to have their legs amputated below the knee, I'm afraid.

I added some lead to 4206 and 4247 today. There really isn't much room for this but I managed to fill the bunkers, put a bit under the roofs and raise the cab floors to the level of the top of the firehole door. That totalled about 30g each. I'll try them on the layout again over the weekend. If I need more I'll try to squeeze some into the smokebox, round the decoder. I might be able to stick some very thin strips under the running plate and that's about it.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

I added some lead to 4206 and 4247 today. There really isn't much room for this but I managed to fill the bunkers, put a bit under the roofs and raise the cab floors to the level of the top of the firehole door. That totalled about 30g each. I'll try them on the layout again over the weekend. If I need more I'll try to squeeze some into the smokebox, round the decoder. I might be able to stick some very thin strips under the running plate and that's about it.

Oh sh!t. The roofs are very thin and the UHU I used to stick the lead on has partially dissolved and distorted them. Buqqer. I'll have to get the filler out when the glue's dried.

[Michael Edge]

I use Plastic Padding to fix lead in locos.

[Denbridge]

4 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I added some lead to 4206 and 4247 today. There really isn't much room for this but I managed to fill the bunkers, put a bit under the roofs and raise the cab floors to the level of the top of the firehole door. That totalled about 30g each. I'll try them on the layout again over the weekend. If I need more I'll try to squeeze some into the smokebox, round the decoder. I might be able to stick some very thin strips under the running plate and that's about it.

Looking at your trackplan, do you really need gradients at all?

Ive found they can cause nothing but hassle, especially with rtr steam locomotives and/or heavy kitbuilt stock.

[St Enodoc]

8 hours ago, Denbridge said:

Looking at your trackplan, do you really need gradients at all?

Ive found they can cause nothing but hassle, especially with rtr steam locomotives and/or heavy kitbuilt stock.

In theory, no. I decided to have shallow gradients between Porthmellyn Road and St Enodoc, and between St Enodoc and Treloggan Junction, purely for visual reasons. In those planning days my 42xx was an ancient Cotswold kit, which weighed more than two Hornby models put together and on a previous layout could pull the same train up a 1 in 50 incline round 30" reverse curves without breaking sweat.

 

I'm fairly sure that the added lead will do the trick, as I simulated some extra weight by balancing various things on top of the roof and firebox when I was testing the other day. Another possible option might be to turn the locos round so that the weight transfer is towards the back not the front.

 

I'll know tomorrow!

 

Passenger trains shouldn't be a problem as, following the prototype, longer/heavier trains will be double-headed.