Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

Super Rugby started this weekend and I have to say that in the three games I watched on TV all the teams looked pretty rusty and, I'm sorry to say, so did one or two of the referees. Things can only improve, as they already have for the Australian cricket team in India. The home side's ploy of preparing a huge Bunsen backfired spectacularly.

 

I drilled the holes in the plastic boxes for the LED signals today and fitted the LEDs and switches to make sure all was in order.

 

The boxes are handed, as one will go on the right-hand end of the Paddington point control panel and the other on the left-hand end of the Penzance panel. The signals will be self-contained, powered by a 9V battery so the switches are centre-off types.

 

All I did today apart from that was to spend some time cleaning up the BRMA display cases and sorting out some stock to take to next weekend's North Shore Exhibition at Forestville.

 

http://www.nsrma.com.au/exhibition.htm

 

I will be dividing my time between operating Uley Junction, the GWR 0 gauge branch terminus inspired by Bodmin General and built by RudderC of this parish, and remonstrating (sic). I plan (hope) to build some points during the course of the weekend.

 

I recommend the show to anyone who is in the area and if you do come along please say hello.

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

There is still a Kit Kat production line in York.

Thanks Andy. No longer despatched in air-braked vans from the Foss Islands branch though unfortunately.

[St Enodoc]

A happy St Piran's Day to one and all.

 

As I mentioned before, this weekend saw the annual Forestville Model Railway Show, run by the North Shore Railway Modellers' Association. A number of RMwebbers were there, either as visitors or exhibitors, and it was good to catch up with some old friends and also make some new ones.

 

While I was on the BRMA demo table I managed to build the first of the scenic points for Porthmellyn Road. It was gratifying to see people's interest in this and their surprise at how straightforward building copperclad points is. Perhaps one or two of them might try it for themselves.

 

As part of this exercise I had another go with the blade filing jig. I found that using the jig to file the front of the blade, where it protects the foot from being filed away, worked well but I still found it hard to file the back of the blade in the jig. I actually took the blades out and filed the back on the bench in the old way.

 

While at the show I bought another NCE Mini Panel, which will form part of the control system for the Porhtmellyn Road points. More on this another time.

 

The DCC Concepts ADS-2fx arrived this week so next weekend I will wire this in to replace the defective ADS-8fx module at Penzance, ready for the running session in two weeks' time.

 

Finally, I've swapped the two Big Big Train signals round, so that the blue one controls Down trains travelling to Penzance and the red one controls Up trains travelling to Paddington. This now corresponds to the colour code on the timetable spreadsheet, which should help the operators a little.

[Stubby47]

My fear about building points is the lack of ability to file the rails correctly. The frog needs to be perfect, the blades too, to ensure faultless running and I'd be forever frustrated if I couldn't achieve that.

 

Yes, practice makes perfect, and if I don't try I'll never know, but I'm happy to use rtr stuff for the time being as I can at least get things moving.

 

All credit to those who do built track - it always looks fantastic.

[St Enodoc]

My fear about building points is the lack of ability to file the rails correctly. The frog needs to be perfect, the blades too, to ensure faultless running and I'd be forever frustrated if I couldn't achieve that.

 

Yes, practice makes perfect, and if I don't try I'll never know, but I'm happy to use rtr stuff for the time being as I can at least get things moving.

 

All credit to those who do built track - it always looks fantastic.

Stu, the frog is easier than you think as you can fill any gaps with solder. I agree that the blades are a bit more challenging but as you will have picked up from previous posts I find that more a case of tedium rather than difficulty.

 

As I said to a young bloke today, your first point will probably be rubbish. Your second will work but might not look too good. Your third will be fine and after that you will never look back.

 

Having said all that, I have never - yet - built a slip, so I might have to eat my words in coming weeks...

[Gwiwer]

A happy St. Piran's Day to one and all

Gool Peran Lowen onen hag oll

[Mallard60022]

Stu, the frog is easier than you think as you can fill any gaps with solder. I agree that the blades are a bit more challenging but as you will have picked up from previous posts I find that more a case of tedium rather than difficulty.

 

As I said to a young bloke today, your first point will probably be rubbish. Your second will work but might not look too good. Your third will be fine and after that you will never look back.

 

Having said all that, I have never - yet - built a slip, so I might have to eat my words in coming weeks...

 

My fear about building points is the lack of ability to file the rails correctly. The frog needs to be perfect, the blades too, to ensure faultless running and I'd be forever frustrated if I couldn't achieve that.

 

Yes, practice makes perfect, and if I don't try I'll never know, but I'm happy to use rtr stuff for the time being as I can at least get things moving.

 

All credit to those who do built track - it always looks fantastic.

Stu, if I can build a decent point then you most certainly can. May I suggest you purchase some ready made 'blades' and then you can use them or have them as guides to your filing. PM me about some 'tools' I have to assist point building. St Eno is absolutely right, except strangley I actually made a good one first off, however I was under tuition from Norman Soloman at the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Philth

Edited March 6, 2017 by Mallard60022

[Mallard60022]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Building+a+Double+Slip&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=670&tbm=isch&imgil=lAwYLiwAQrrjmM%253A%253Bvzbsu_rVH7635M%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.scalefour.org%25252Fforum%25252Fviewtopic.php%25253Ft%2525253D4766&source=iu&pf=m&fir=lAwYLiwAQrrjmM%253A%252Cvzbsu_rVH7635M%252C_&usg=__3FLtnfuIRmK3C32Tfh9Gby1zGb4%3D&ved=0ahUKEwipx_-SgMDSAhWoIcAKHSs4C0AQyjcIJQ&ei=31m8WOnbM6jDgAar8KyABA#imgrc=lAwYLiwAQrrjmM:

 

Plenty of info out there dear heart. With your history of construction on the layout I suspect you will get one done quite easily.

ATB

phil

[bgman]

My fear about building points is the lack of ability to file the rails correctly. The frog needs to be perfect, the blades too, to ensure faultless running and I'd be forever frustrated if I couldn't achieve that.

 

Yes, practice makes perfect, and if I don't try I'll never know, but I'm happy to use rtr stuff for the time being as I can at least get things moving.

 

All credit to those who do built track - it always looks fantastic.

 

Stu,

 

I hope John doesn't mind me posting this here.

 

I've started to build some ( not done it for many a year ) and I'm using the DCC Concepts pre tinned sleepers which makes it easier ? for me plus they aren't as expensive as the ( excellent ) C & L stuff, saves a lot of time too, although I have made a cross-over using that method recently. They may not be totally prototypical but they work which is what I'm aiming for.

 

Go on jump in dear boy, if I can I'm sure you can with your skills.

 

 

John, still very much enjoying your work keep it up mate.

 

Grahame

[St Enodoc]

Stu, if I can build a decent point then you most certainly can. May I suggest you purchase some ready made 'blades' and then you can use them or have them as guides to your filing. PM me about some 'tools' I have to assist point building. St Eno is absolutely right, except strangley I acyually made a good one first off, however I was under tuition from Norman Soloman at the time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Philth

St Eno? That's a new one. Makes me sound like some sort of indigestion cure.

[St Enodoc]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Building+a+Double+Slip&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=670&tbm=isch&imgil=lAwYLiwAQrrjmM%253A%253Bvzbsu_rVH7635M%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.scalefour.org%25252Fforum%25252Fviewtopic.php%25253Ft%2525253D4766&source=iu&pf=m&fir=lAwYLiwAQrrjmM%253A%252Cvzbsu_rVH7635M%252C_&usg=__3FLtnfuIRmK3C32Tfh9Gby1zGb4%3D&ved=0ahUKEwipx_-SgMDSAhWoIcAKHSs4C0AQyjcIJQ&ei=31m8WOnbM6jDgAar8KyABA#imgrc=lAwYLiwAQrrjmM:

 

Plenty of info out there dear heart. With your history of construction on the layout I suspect you will get one done quite easily.

ATB

phil

Thanks Phil. I'm sure it will be OK. I've just got to get used to the different shapes and sizes of the bits and putting them together in a different order.

Edited March 5, 2017 by St Enodoc

[St Enodoc]

Stu,

 

I hope John doesn't mind me posting this here.

 

I've started to build some ( not done it for many a year ) and I'm using the DCC Concepts pre tinned sleepers which makes it easier ? for me plus they aren't as expensive as the ( excellent ) C & L stuff, saves a lot of time too, although I have made a cross-over using that method recently. They may not be totally prototypical but they work which is what I'm aiming for.

 

Go on jump in dear boy, if I can I'm sure you can with your skills.

 

fullsizeoutput_e1a.jpeg

 

John, still very much enjoying your work keep it up mate.

 

Grahame

No problem Grahame, the more the merrier as far as I am concerned. Those points look good to me.

[brianusa]

Gool Peran Lowen onen hag oll

 

Lowena dhywgh

 

Brian.

[St Enodoc]

Pyth yw "I don't speak Cornish" yn Kernewek?

Edited March 6, 2017 by St Enodoc

[St Enodoc]

I know I'm tempting fate by saying this but after wiring in the replacement point decoder today all the points and routes are working, ready for next Saturday's running session. I now just need to print off some tailored schedule sheets, which only show the information needed by the Paddington and Penzance yardmasters and the drivers.

 

During the week I had confirmation from Harold at Modratec that the interlocking for Porthmellyn Road looks OK to him, so once he is up and running in his new workshop he will be able to manufacture my lever frame kit. That means I will need to build some more points for it to operate. All very exciting.

 

Finally, I couldn't resist this, which I found in the new project office I'm working in at the moment:

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[Barry O]

Just goes to show that Stu gets everywhere!!!

Baz

[brianusa]

 

Pyth yw "I don't speak Cornish" yn Kernewek?

I'm only half Cornish and English is my other half.

 

Brian.

[St Enodoc]

No layout work to report at all today, the reason being that Peter the Cornishman, Mrs Peter the Cornishman (who isn't Cornish), Veronica and I went on an awayday.

 

On a beautiful autumn day we sailed in a large catamaran ferry down the coast South of Sydney

 

passing Bondi Beach,

 

the Royal National Park

 

and the Sea Cliff Bridge on the way to Wollongong.

 

After an excellent lunch we boarded a heritage steam train back to Sydney,

 

hauled by NSWGR C36 class 4-6-0 no 3642, seen here after arriving at Sydney Central. Unfortunately the train was platformed with the sun on the wrong side.

 

A grand day out.

Edited July 21, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[St Enodoc]

Today we held the first of our regular, scheduled, running sessions. There were seven of us in total, which made the session quite intensive and as such flushed out a few matters that need changing or fixing.

 

I decided to take the role of Fat Controller. I thought that this would be a good idea for the first session while people started to get used to the layout, the sequence and so on but having got through the session I now think this will be an important role anyway. The main reason is that the drivers, left to their own devices, can't tell easily who will be driving the next train(s) and so there was confusion about who was doing what. With just two drivers back in January this was trivial but today we had three and there was a lot of Q&A between them and occasionally conflicting moves. As the number of drivers increases this would only get worse.

 

I have mentioned before the display screen that we will use to show the number of the next train in the sequence. I had intended this to be operated by the drivers, using a command station macro to drive a decoder that would generate a pulse and close a relay momentarily to create a mouse click. I now think that this will be a job for the Fat Controller, which will simplify things too as he can use the mouse itself. When a driver finishes his move, he will be able to look at the screen and see at a glance which train to pick up next.

 

Peter and David were the yardmasters today, and their fresh approach to the layout highlighted a couple of things that I had taken for granted up till now.

 

First, there was confusion between the Up and Down ends of each storage loop. Given that Paddington is at the Up end of the line, it seemed odd that Paddington loops each had an Up and Down end. I will fix this for both Paddington and Penzance by changing Up and Down to Left and Right respectively.

 

Secondly, the loop numbers on the point control panel sit between the track they relate to and the track above. This also caused confusion, so I will change these so that the numbers are on the tracks themselves and closer to the relevant push buttons. I also need to label more tracks, particularly the through by-pass tracks that let trains continue back to their starting point.

 

Over tea and biscuits we discussed the location of the set numbers on the stock. The consensus is that putting them on the ends, SR style, will be the least obtrusive even though not quite prototypical. This will be an ongoing task over the next few months I think.

 

Finally as far as operation was concerned, I will put back some of the information that I had removed from the yardmasters' sequence sheets to help them with remarshalling trains ready for their next move.

 

Despite my thorough (as I thought) efforts, one of the Paddington fouling point markers turned out to be in the wrong place and actually fouled the trains as they passed, so this will need to be repositioned. I will recheck the others in the corresponding positions too.

 

Another ADS8-fx decoder seems to be misbehaving too, in what appears to be exactly the same way as the one that went wrong a few weeks ago. This is a bit worrying, as I don't believe in coincidences, so I need to investigate a bit further and then probably call DCC Concepts for their comments.Time will tell.

 

The seventh member of the team today was Charles, who acted as videographer. Once he has edited his footage and posted it on his YouTube channel I will put a link here.

 

All in all a good day. The second half of the sequence ran far better than the first, as the new operators found their feet, and everyone said they were keen to come back for more, so it seems that the Mid-Cornwall Lines are now open for business.

[Mulgabill]

Today we held the first of our regular, scheduled, running sessions. There were seven of us in total, which made the session quite intensive and as such flushed out a few matters that need changing or fixing.

 

I decided to take the role of Fat Controller. I thought that this would be a good idea for the first session while people started to get used to the layout, the sequence and so on but having got through the session I now think this will be an important role anyway. The main reason is that the drivers, left to their own devices, can't tell easily who will be driving the next train(s) and so there was confusion about who was doing what. With just two drivers back in January this was trivial but today we had three and there was a lot of Q&A between them and occasionally conflicting moves. As the number of drivers increases this would only get worse.

 

I have mentioned before the display screen that we will use to show the number of the next train in the sequence. I had intended this to be operated by the drivers, using a command station macro to drive a decoder that would generate a pulse and close a relay momentarily to create a mouse click. I now think that this will be a job for the Fat Controller, which will simplify things too as he can use the mouse itself. When a driver finishes his move, he will be able to look at the screen and see at a glance which train to pick up next.

 

Peter and David were the yardmasters today, and their fresh approach to the layout highlighted a couple of things that I had taken for granted up till now.

 

First, there was confusion between the Up and Down ends of each storage loop. Given that Paddington is at the Up end of the line, it seemed odd that Paddington loops each had an Up and Down end. I will fix this for both Paddington and Penzance by changing Up and Down to Left and Right respectively.

 

Secondly, the loop numbers on the point control panel sit between the track they relate to and the track above. This also caused confusion, so I will change these so that the numbers are on the tracks themselves and closer to the relevant push buttons. I also need to label more tracks, particularly the through by-pass tracks that let trains continue back to their starting point.

 

Over tea and biscuits we discussed the location of the set numbers on the stock. The consensus is that putting them on the ends, SR style, will be the least obtrusive even though not quite prototypical. This will be an ongoing task over the next few months I think.

 

Finally as far as operation was concerned, I will put back some of the information that I had removed from the yardmasters' sequence sheets to help them with remarshalling trains ready for their next move.

 

Despite my thorough (as I thought) efforts, one of the Paddington fouling point markers turned out to be in the wrong place and actually fouled the trains as they passed, so this will need to be repositioned. I will recheck the others in the corresponding positions too.

 

Another ADS8-fx decoder seems to be misbehaving too, in what appears to be exactly the same way as the one that went wrong a few weeks ago. This is a bit worrying, as I don't believe in coincidences, so I need to investigate a bit further and then probably call DCC Concepts for their comments.Time will tell.

 

The seventh member of the team today was Charles, who acted as videographer. Once he has edited his footage and posted it on his YouTube channel I will put a link here.

 

All in all a good day. The second half of the sequence ran far better than the first, as the new operators found their feet, and everyone said they were keen to come back for more, so it seems that the Mid-Cornwall Lines are now open for business.

Having followed your progress for some time, reading this today really feels like you've reached a landmark.

 

Congratulations, I only wish I had your powers of planning and detail.

 

All the best

[St Enodoc]

Having followed your progress for some time, reading this today really feels like you've reached a landmark.

 

Congratulations, I only wish I had your powers of planning and detail.

 

All the best

Thanks Tony - yes, it was a great afternoon. I hope it won't be too long until you reach the same point.

[Barry O]

mmmh... "Fat Controller"...... some of us are still loosing weight.... now back to Uni Prop forward weight...

 

baz

[St Enodoc]

mmmh... "Fat Controller"...... some of us are still loosing weight.... now back to Uni Prop forward weight...

 

baz

Still fat then...

 

I suppose that as I am using narrow gauge (00) track I could be the Thin Controller.

[St Enodoc]

I used up this weekend's ration of time in the railway room yesterday, so today I just did a little bit of desk work on the sequence sheets.

 

A simple 'find and replace' sorted out the Up-Down/Left-Right question and I added some comments to help the yardmasters in particular with what they need to do with each train after it arrives and before it goes out again.

 

wtt mid cornwall 1952-1957-1958 draft 9 initial only master.xls

This is the master sheet, from which all the others are derived by deleting or hiding information that is not relevant to the role concerned. For example, the drivers don't need to know the loco and set workings but they do need to know where their train is coming from and going to. Similarly, the yardmasters only need to know what is going on in their local storage loops, not the other set.

 

As well as fixing the problems identified yesterday, I want to build some more points and lay them although until the Modratec lever frame arrives and gets built they will be clipped and padlocked for the main lines.

 

I also need to decide how I will power the scenic area points, as I haven't got enough H&Ms and SEEPs to do more than the remaining storage loops and the Polperran fiddle yard. At the moment slow action motors in analogue mode look favourite, although I will discuss with Charles how he uses servos and Megapoints controllers before making my final decision.

 

I will also complete the LED 'signals' that will replace the Big-Big Train semaphores - which worked brilliantly by the way - to control entry to the Paddington and Penzance loops. There might also be a case for another set to control exit from the loops as well - I think we'll discuss this within the team next time. I intend to get the display screen working, at least on a temporary basis, before the May session too.

Edited March 19, 2017 by St Enodoc

[The Stationmaster]

The master WTT is rather impressive to say the very least - definitely a top class example of how to produce such a document