Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

We had a BRMA meeting yesterday afternoon, viewing and operating a dual gauge LSWR/GWR branch line. This is set in Dorset in about 1890 and is built to EM standards both for the standard and broad gauges. Despite the heat, the layout behaved well and so did the members.

 

Today was even hotter (41 deg C just after lunch), so I retreated to the cool of the railway room and did a little bit of work on the Paddington point control panel.

 

This picture probably shows the extended length of the panel more clearly than the one I posted yesterday morning.

 

After I took the photo, I unplugged the connections from the layout and removed the entire panel from the wall. Then I removed the pushbuttons and the Mini Panel, keeping all the connecting wires in place. I also removed the "Paddington" totem. I'm pleased to say that this came away in one piece with no distortion or damage, so I will be able to use it again on the new front panel.

 

Once that was done I cut the front panel away from the frame, leaving in place the parts that were glued to the frame itself and to the mounting blocks for the magnetic catches and the Mini Panel.

 

The remains of the old front panel are only fit for the bin I'm afraid.

 

Next, I cut some narrow strips of MDF to fit on the frame extensions, before I glued them and the new front panel into place. I weighted it all down and left the assembly for the glue to dry, ready to mark and drill it next weekend with luck.

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

Yesterday I made a short fly-in-fly-out trip to Brisbane for a BRMA National Committee meeting. Due to other commitments I had to be back in Sydney today, otherwise I would have stopped over to a) catch up with some mates and play trains on a few layouts and b) watch the inaugural Global Rugby Tens tournament. As it was, my fellow committee members and I enjoyed a couple of hours playing trains on our host's layout, after the meeting and an excellent BBQ lunch.

 

On that layout, wagons are semi-permanently formed in cuts of three, each of which has a number on the end that forms part of the shunting procedures. This number was quite unobtrusive yet easily seen and read, which has helped with my decision on how to label the coaching stock sets on the Mid-Cornwall Lines. I have decided to use numbers on the vehicle ends, so I am going to take advantage of Modelmaster's discount sale and order some suitable number transfers.

 

Back home today I was busy this morning, so I only managed a couple of hours this afternoon in the railway room.

 

 

 

During that time I drilled the new Paddington control panel front face, having marked it out during the week, and stuck the wiring labels inside. I also ran a fillet of PVA round the inside edge where the new face is stuck to the front face, as some of the bonding had come adrift while I was drilling.

 

The panel is now ready to be lined and for the push buttons to be fitted.

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Andrew P]

Bloomin shame about that panel, it looked so good, all the best this time.

[St Enodoc]

Bloomin shame about that panel, it looked so good, all the best this time.

Thanks Andy. I hope the new one looks just as good! I only had to change it because of the reconfiguration of the loops that I did back in August/September last year. I'd been running with a temporary modification to the old panel but it looked a little untidy. Wait a week or so and the new one should be in service.

 

It will probably take me that long, as now I am back at work I can only spend less than 10% of the time on the layout that I could while I was at home all day . I need a big lottery win...

[Barry O]

yep the earning of the odd crust gets in the way of modelling....

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

I finished the Paddington point control panel today.

 

I only needed to modify the wiring to one existing push button and one new one. The existing one, in the extreme top left corner of this view, is slightly further away from the Mini Panel than it was on the temporary panel, so it needed a new yellow wire. The grey common wire was long enough.

 

The new button is on the right, labelled 8 (PD 14B). This is wired in parallel with button 8 (PD 14A) that sets the route through the new bypass road. I needed a long yellow wire to connect back to the existing button and a short grey wire to loop the common to another nearby button.

 

The scraps of masking tape are temporary labels that i used to identify the push buttons when I took them out of the old panel. I decided to leave them where they were.

 

After mounting the panel back on the wall temporarily I tested it and all was fine, so I took it down and put it back on the bench for labelling.

 

Here is the final result. Andy P, I think you can see that it looks a little neater than the previous temporary version as far as the flow of the lines is concerned.

 

Tomorrow I plan to screw into place some loose joists under Penzance, after which this initial stage of the project really will be complete. Then I can start on point construction and track laying in the scenic area through Porthmellyn Road.

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

A gentle afternoon of odds and ends today.

 

First I fixed five loose joists under the Penzance loops both to the L-girders and the baseboard tops. The rest will wait until the pointwork for the remaining loops is installed.

 

Then I decided to have a go at some fouling point markers for Paddington.

 

There are made from a variety of cocktail stick or skewer, which has a shaped flat piece at the top ideal for sticking a label to.

 

I trimmed the pointed end off the sticks, stuck the labels on, drilled 4 mm holes in the baseboard and placed the markers in the holes. I thought I would have to glue them but in fact they turned out to be a nice friction fit. Each marker stands behind the track to which it refers.

 

The marker for the Tregissey siding stands in splendid isolation.

 

The fouling point markers are staggered according to the different clear lengths of each loop.

 

I trimmed the markers for loop 1 a little shorter and fixed them to the wall with Blu-Tak, without a hole.

 

I also fitted markers to locate the centre of each loop.

 

I won't fit the Penzance markers until the final six loops are laid, to avoid having to reach round or past them.

 

In other matters, the next section of track to be laid will be the Porthmellyn Road Down Goods Loop. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, that will complete the tracklaying across the lifting flap, which I will then box in on the underside to protect the wiring and make it easier to lift up. Secondly, the loop only needs two more-or-less standard points, rather than jumping straight in at the deep end with double and single slips.

 

Now, at the entry and exit of the loop there are of course safety points. At the Up (entry) end these are shown on the signal box diagram as "spring points" and are not worked by a lever. At the Down (exit) end they form half of 31 crossover. At the moment I haven't been able to track down any photos of the entry to the loop. I have one of the exit at Par that I took in 2010, long after the track was remodelled and relayed. Consequently, I'm not sure what form the safety points took.

 

Unless someone can come up with any evidence to the contrary, I plan to make the Up end point a single-tongue type (Type B according to David J Smith's book) and the Down end point a double-tongue Type G, which is what it appears to be in my photo.

 

I would appreciate any assistance in confirming which type the safety points at Par were/are.

 

Finally for today, some feedback on the new tin of Fluxite.

 

The contents are paler in colour than before, a sort of "Caramello" colour rather than the "dark chocolate" of the old tin. It also doesn't seem to fizz and boil so much when it is heated. Having said that, it seemed to work well enough when I used it yesterday for the new connections in the Paddington point control panel.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Andrew P]

I finished the Paddington point control panel today.

 

20170218 003 Paddington point control panel open.JPG

I only needed to modify the wiring to one existing push button and one new one. The existing one, in the extreme top left corner of this view, is slightly further away from the Mini Panel than it was on the temporary panel, so it needed a new yellow wire. The grey common wire was long enough.

 

The new button is on the right, labelled 8 (PD 14B). This is wired in parallel with button 8 (PD 14A) that sets the route through the new bypass road. I needed a long yellow wire to connect back to the existing button and a short grey wire to loop the common to another nearby button.

 

The scraps of masking tape are temporary labels that i used to identify the push buttons when I took them out of the old panel. I decided to leave them where they were.

 

After mounting the panel back on the wall temporarily I tested it and all was fine, so I took it down and put it back on the bench for labelling.

 

20170218 004 Paddington point control panel closed.JPG

Here is the final result. Andy P, I think you can see that it looks a little neater than the previous temporary version as far as the flow of the lines is concerned.

 

Tomorrow I plan to screw into place some loose joists under Penzance, after which this initial stage of the project really will be complete. Then I can start on point construction and track laying in the scenic area through Porthmellyn Road.

Ahh yes, much better and neater, well worth the change mate.

[The Stationmaster]

The traps at the running-on end of GWR loops were almost invariably single tongue type.  The running out end tended to vary a lot more but many were double tongue, especially on loops (in comparison with refuge sidings) so I think what you intend would be just right. 

[St Enodoc]

The traps at the running-on end of GWR loops were almost invariably single tongue type.  The running out end tended to vary a lot more but many were double tongue, especially on loops (in comparison with refuge sidings) so I think what you intend would be just right. 

Thanks Mike, good to have my guesswork confirmed.

 

What I should add is that to save on point motors they will all be dummies anyway, as are the existing ones at St Enodoc station. 

[St Enodoc]

Regular readers will recall that back in October last year, with the considerable help of Mike the Stationmaster, I finalised the Porthmellyn Road signal box diagram:

 

Since then I have been working intermittently on finalising the interlocking design for the Modratec lever frame, using that firm's SigScribe and associated Interlocking Table File software. This was a major task requiring significant effort and again I must thank not only Harold Fanshawe of Modratec but especially Graeme Lewis, a fellow BRMA member who has built and installed several Modratec frames for his own layouts (see http://modratec.com/article16.php) for their tremendous support and assistance.

 

After about 15 iterations, and some testing using SigScribe to try to find ways to beat the interlocking (we found a few and corrected them), we have reached a compromise between strict prototype fidelity and the ability to manufacture and build a workable frame. Because we are not dealing with matters of life or death in 4 mm scale we have been able to be less rigorous in a number of areas than would have been the case on the prototype, most notably where conditional locking is concerned. Even so, the frame will be rather a beast with 54 levers and 14 conditional slots, to use Modratec's terminology.

 

Anyway, the final(?) version is now with Harold. Once he has completed the move to his new home and workshop and given the interlocking the final once-over I will be able to place a firm order.

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[acg5324]

I'm surprised you don't want to replicate the great Springfield Parkway pway gang massacre when a passenger train was wrongly routed into the occupied goods loop and the resulting collision wiped out the whole of the pway gang working there!

[St Enodoc]

I'm surprised you don't want to replicate the great Springfield Parkway pway gang massacre when a passenger train was wrongly routed into the occupied goods loop and the resulting collision wiped out the whole of the pway gang working there!

I'd forgotten about that!

[treggyman]

Hi St Enodoc

 

Don't know if this is what you're after but this is the trap point at the London end of Par station dated 2006....

 

 

& this is the one on the other side of the bridge on the down loop in 2012

 

 

Cheers Bill

 

 

[St Enodoc]

Hi St Enodoc

 

Don't know if this is what you're after but this is the trap point at the London end of Par station dated 2006....

 

par 019.resized.jpg

 

& this is the one on the other side of the bridge on the down loop in 2012

 

img_5746.resized.jpg

 

Cheers Bill

Thanks Bill, that's very helpful. Both are Type Gs (or in the case of the Down Goods Loop the flat-bottomed equivalent), which is what I surmised and what Mike the Stationmaster confirmed was the most likely configuration, so that is what I will build for the exit from the DGL. The entry to the DGL is far more elusive but unless anyone comes up with firm evidence to the contrary I will make that one a Type B.

[The Stationmaster]

The one at the London end of Par station on the Up side is in any case a relatively modern innovation as it post dates the 1974 rationalisation.  This is what the real layout at Par looked like, complete with the buildings on the Up platform too -

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/8176804361

[St Enodoc]

The one at the London end of Par station on the Up side is in any case a relatively modern innovation as it post dates the 1974 rationalisation.  This is what the real layout at Par looked like, complete with the buildings on the Up platform too -

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/8176804361

Thanks Mike. I've seen that photo before - a wealth of useful detail, even though there has already been some rationalisation in the goods yard for the Freightliner terminal. It still doesn't show the DGL traps though! Before anyone asks, I'm not planning to build the two Plassers...

[St Enodoc]

Thanks Mike. I've seen that photo before - a wealth of useful detail, even though there has already been some rationalisation in the goods yard for the Freightliner terminal. It still doesn't show the DGL traps though! Before anyone asks, I'm not planning to build the two Plassers...

In the same album is a photo of the exit from the DGL at Lostwithiel, which shows what looks to me like a Type G in bullhead, so that's enough confirmation for me on that front:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/6775643032/in/album-72157626541004141/.

 

There's also what might well be a Type B at the entry to the loop at Aberbeeg:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/8284975991/in/album-72157626541004141/.

 

I think I'll stick at that unless anything different turns up.

[St Enodoc]

In the same album is a photo of the exit from the DGL at Lostwithiel, which shows what looks to me like a Type G in bullhead, so that's enough confirmation for me on that front:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/6775643032/in/album-72157626541004141/.

 

There's also what might well be a Type B at the entry to the loop at Aberbeeg:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/8284975991/in/album-72157626541004141/.

 

I think I'll stick at that unless anything different turns up.

Confirmation of the Lostwithiel arrangement in this cracking shot by winterbournecm of this parish:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/77763496@N04/16474436028/in/pool-cornishclaytrains/

 

and a photo of Par post-rationalisation but pre-relaying so still in bullhead. This one's not absolutely clear but I'm still going for a Type G:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/45603744@N06/8290361009/in/pool-cornishclaytrains/.

[St Enodoc]

One of the things we found at the running session last month was that drivers need to know when they are clear to leave the scenic area and enter the Paddington or Penzance loops. A simple signal operated by the respective yardmaster, which the drivers can see from a distance, seems to be the best idea and they don't come much simpler than this:

 

 

 

A free Tim Tam to the first person to recognise the provenance of this near-scale model.

 

Although it moves in the wrong direction for a proper signal, it has the characteristic GWR droop when it is On although it doesn't stop the train automatically.

 

I bought some bits today to make a manually-operated LED signal/indicator for each of Paddington and Penzance but in case I don't get a chance to make those up in time the semaphores will do for the next running session in three weeks' time.

 

In other news, one pair of decoders on the ADS8fx at Penzance Up end seems to have packed up entirely. Neither of the outputs will throw in either direction, even when using the "Momentary" contacts. The other six on the same board are fine, the motors are fine on direct DC power and the DCC power is getting to the decoders.

 

I've ordered an ADS2fx to replace the two defective decoders, which I hope will arrive before the next running session. In time I will replace the whole ADS8fx and send it back to DCC Concepts for investigation. In the meantime, has anyone else experienced a sudden failure of this kind, and if so what was the diagnosis and what was the cure?

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Barry O]

Big big train signal....

 

All you need is the Hymek...

 

How about a big led red/green light on a pole?

 

Baz

[acg5324]

Beaten to it....those colours it's a Big Big train.

[St Enodoc]

Big big train signal....

 

All you need is the Hymek...

 

How about a big led red/green light on a pole?

 

Baz

Well done. You can claim your Tim Tam next January. I've got the Hymek (two, actually) as you will recall from an earlier post.

 

The LED version won't be on a pole but it will probably be mounted on the end of the point control panel.

[St Enodoc]

Beaten to it....those colours it's a Big Big train.

Correct. Treat yourself to a Kit-Kat (are they still made in York? I have a feeling that they're not). The Paddington Up Home signal has a blue arm, not red.

[acg5324]

Correct. Treat yourself to a Kit-Kat (are they still made in York? I have a feeling that they're not). The Paddington Up Home signal has a blue arm, not red.

There is still a Kit Kat production line in York.