Fal Vale – 00 Southern Railway in the Antipodes

[KymN]

It's confession time.  I seem to have dropped the ball on Fal Vale this year. I'm not sure why, but the world, or South Australia at least, has stopped.  We have opened up our borders, but there are fewer people venturing out.  The streets are empty.  Meetings of British Railway Modellers are not happening, and that is true of my local group too.

I have shifted my modelling focus to the scenery, but all I have done is to carve some polystyrene foam.

It is all the worse because I have not seen any British magazines for weeks.  I did get a delivery of a LSWR T9 through Amazon.  It arrived in just 8 days after placing the order.  I had been equivocating on this for months, but bought it on price - $AUD 250 compared to $350 from the major retailers.  In the meantime I have yet to see the Improved Precedent that Rails delayed to give preference to domestic orders for Christmas.  Bah Humbug.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, KymN said:

It's confession time.  I seem to have dropped the ball on Fal Vale this year. I'm not sure why, but the world, or South Australia at least, has stopped.  We have opened up our borders, but there are fewer people venturing out.  The streets are empty.  Meetings of British Railway Modellers are not happening, and that is true of my local group too.

I have shifted my modelling focus to the scenery, but all I have done is to carve some polystyrene foam.

It is all the worse because I have not seen any British magazines for weeks.  I did get a delivery of a LSWR T9 through Amazon.  It arrived in just 8 days after placing the order.  I had been equivocating on this for months, but bought it on price - $AUD 250 compared to $350 from the major retailers.  In the meantime I have yet to see the Improved Precedent that Rails delayed to give preference to domestic orders for Christmas.  Bah Humbug.

Well you'd better pick the ball up coz I expect to see some trains running in September!

 

It's true that your state (and the next one to the left) have some catching up to do but you will, sooner or later, and then you'll get back in the swing of it all.

[RobinofLoxley]

I have only just discovered this thread and it has been an extremely enjoyable read.

[KymN]

17 hours ago, KymN said:

I seem to have dropped the ball on Fal Vale this year.

 

The local Hills paper's explanation:

 

 

15 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Well you'd better pick the ball up coz I expect to see some trains running in September!

 

Yes Sir!

 

 

 

I got a similar message from Rodney of South Abminga fame.  He has even volunteered to fix the Fal Vale Yard track damaged in the move!

[Oldddudders]

Don't despair, Kym. Worldwide many, many people have lost heart because of societal changes wrought by Covid. Depression and disorientation are widespread - even without the virus having either infected us or worse still taken someone close to us. That cartoon sums it up for many, sadly. 

 

We - you, me and most others - will live to see some version of normality return to our lives, and there may be early signs of that in some countries, where WFH is now being discontinued and masks are increasingly optional. Being triple-jabbed helps reassure, but I am aware Oz wasn't first out of the blocks on that. I hope you all catch up soon, and you can start to enjoy what I believe is a holiday season Down Under.

 

Bon courage, as the locals say here.

[KymN]

13 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I am aware Oz wasn't first out of the blocks on that.

 

At least we have caught up on that.  I had my third jab a couple of weeks ago, as have others close to me.  Thank you for your kind, and wise, words.

[KymN]

On 12/12/2021 at 12:54, St Enodoc said:

Kym, is that XPS foam? If so, how do you cut it and does it make much mess?

The latest issue of Australian Model Railway Magazine (February 2022) has an article on using foam (boards and cans) to make scenery. It's a bit all over the place but it does highlight some errors that can be made.  The author seems to prefer knives to hot wire tools.

 

There is also a good article by Gavin Thrum on customising the Peco turntable.  Gavin is a BRMA member and a superb modeller in both British and South Australian spaces.

Edited February 4, 2022 by KymN
Correction

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, KymN said:

The latest issue of Australian Railway Magazine (February 2022) has an article on using foam (boards and cans) to make scenery. It's a bit all over the place but it does highlight some errors that can be made.  The author seems to prefer knives to hot wire tools.

 

There is also a good article by Gavin Thrum on customising the Peco turntable.  Gavin is a BRMA member and a superb modeller in both British and South Australian spaces.

Yes, they appear to be using the B******s rubbish with expanding foam spray as well. All seemed a bit complicated although the end results looked good.

 

Agree regarding Gav - he's very fast too (not just in the Mustang).

Edited February 4, 2022 by St Enodoc

[KymN]

Just starting to move the layout along again after my 'TIBMINS*' period.  I did a little ballasting of the link line.  A bit rough, but it's a start.  

 

 

I also resurrected the local control for the wharf yard.  Now to figure out how to resurrect the wiring.  This panel is at least 15 years old.  The holes are the remnants of a homemade CDU.  I still have the capacitor, but I'll replace it with a Peco one that will be neater.  The switch machines are solenoids, except for one leading to what will be the clay dries.  That's a tortoise (with the blue switch).

 

 

I then bravely checked out the wiring underneath Fal Vale Yard.  I haven't a clue what I did then, but there are lot of wires.  I even found a temporary control panel that I had totally forgotten.  I think that it was to change to polarity of the frogs pending fitting switches connecting with the planned wire-in-tube connections to the Modratec interlocking. 

 

 

 

* TIBMINS = Thumb in Bum, Mind in Neutral.  An expression I learned from a Cambridge-educated colleague.

[KymN]

Fal Vale – progress March 2022 - wiring

 

After considerable f**ting about the wiring at Brighton Cross Wharf has nearly been restored and reconnected to its control panel.  This section of the layout is about 20 years old, the first complete section.  It was built as a shunting plank before the plans for Fal Vale were even thought about. It comprises just a loop and a siding serving a wharf on the abandoned wharf at Brighton Cross.    Even so it has performed a useful role as a diorama for the pictures of the layout, and readers of this tome, should you exist, will recognise these scenes.

 

The wiring was not designed for DCC, but followed quite good practice so it should be OK I hope. Points are live frog, with polarity of the frog switched by micro switch. However I discovered that I had no idea as to what the objectives were.  It appears that it was set out for cab control, with the option of a choice of two cabs and the ability to isolate the mainline, loop and siding as needed.  Each of the (3) original points were powered by solenoids.  A fourth allowed a branch to a small industrial yard.  Just by way of experiment it was powered with a tortoise motor.

 

 

 

I discovered that the wiring was carefully colour-coded, and had been very neatly executed.  However the convention bore no resemblance to Fal Vale Yard, or for that matter any more recent work.  So, by a process of trial and error, multi-meter probes and checks, the work is nearly done.  Unfortunately the connections are not as robust as I would like, so I can’t say that it is reliable.  But I have an active yard, with the old yard control resurrected and working. I have discovered that it takes more time than I would like to recharge the CDU, and this is frustrating.  It seemed that I had a fault, but it is probably just down to slow recharge.  More work needed here.

 

The clay dries

 

The wiring has been extended in anticipation of an extension to what will be the clay dries yard.  This will include a loco shed, mainly so that I can isolate one engine and separate a DCC one from DC.  Provision is there for the second cab by default, but this will remain unconnected for the time being.  The clay dries are the Kernow Scenecraft ready to plonk models, given/sold to me by a fellow BRMA member who was moving back to Australian prototype.  He was embarrassingly generous, and included some modern clay wagons plus several GWR brake van.  I already had more than enough given that I had to have the Oxford 6-wheelers.  I now have a plague of Toads. This may get worse given that Rapido UK is marketing their Titfield W&U tramcar/buffet with the matching TOAD. Another must have.

 

Opening Day

 

A suitable opening event was needed.  It seems that the local management had heard about the new and improved ‘World Beating Northern Powerhouse’ technologies from other parts of England.  They were to have been secret, but evidently not.  It was decided that, in the interest of environmental management these may be useful in Cornwall.

•  “Fuelled by hot air, the all-new ‘cattle class’ accommodation for those who haven’t booked in advance via an app, sports a low-cost ventilation system designed to remove pathogens in under five seconds (subject to train speed).” [Nevard, C. Model Rail 295, p18]

 

 

The Fal Vale implementation added several more innovations. As a another means to address climate change, the Fal Vale Division management has added a Motorail service, designed to reduce car travel.  This is available to first class travellers.  Unfortunately there is no first class accommodation available on the train at present, so it is recommended that motorail passengers might like to provide their own.  On this opening service, the customer chose to do this by bringing her caravan.

 

The keenly observant among you may have noticed an odd coach in the consist. This was brought to Cornwall by a German company – the Ungewöhnlicherzverarbeitung Gesellschaft.  This has been mentioned previously (July 11, 2020) for those that have been paying rapt attention.  Unfortunately the Germans were no longer welcome after the skirmish that started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry.  At least Baldrick figured it that way.

 

 

Motive power is provided by the same means as the Northern Powerhouse initiative – ie. An ex GER J70.  As regular readers may have noticed the motive power at Fal Vale is widely varied, although centred on Southern types.  In this case, in order to emulate the technology used in the experiment further north, it was possible to borrow the J70 from Sir Topham Hatt and the North Western Region.

[5BarVT]

On 01/04/2022 at 06:14, KymN said:

I have discovered that it takes more time than I would like to recharge the CDU, and this is frustrating. 

Is it bought or built?  There is a fairly simple circuit involving a power transistor e.g.2N3055 (showing my age, at least I didn't say OC26) and a resistor that gives rapid recharge (<0.5s).

I'd point to it if I knew where it was, but if useful I could look for my homebuilt CDU and reverse engineer it. 

Paul.

[KymN]

5 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Is it bought or built? 

I bought this one - the Peco PL-35 Capacitor Discharge Unit.  I am wondering whether the problem is the power supply rather than the CDU itself.  I'm using the 15 VAC outlet on an ancient unit, but it may not have the current needed. I wouldn't recommend the Peco unit, principally because of the electrical connections that will only take single wire leads, and then only with persuasion and much fiddling.  But it will do the job, and looks better than the one I built decades ago!

[St Enodoc]

21 minutes ago, KymN said:

I bought this one - the Peco PL-35 Capacitor Discharge Unit.  I am wondering whether the problem is the power supply rather than the CDU itself.  I'm using the 15 VAC outlet on an ancient unit, but it may not have the current needed. I wouldn't recommend the Peco unit, principally because of the electrical connections that will only take single wire leads, and then only with persuasion and much fiddling.  But it will do the job, and looks better than the one I built decades ago!

Kym, based on what I read in various magazines over 40 years ago, I'd recommend about 1500 microfarads per point motor coil that needs to be thrown at the same time.

 

I'll send you by email a sketch of the ones I built around that time.

[KymN]

I am pleased relieved to note that I have made the final tweaks to the basic wiring of Brighton Cross yard - the canal wharf siding.  There was one section that was dead.  The wiring still needs tidying up, but it is now fully operational.  I have even been able to perform some shunting!  Even though it was originally wired for DC cab control, DCC seems to work very happily. 

 

I very much appreciate the advice from several  people on my slow-acting CDU, but I will live with that for the time being.  I just have to be a bit patient.  The plan is now to progress the Clay Dries siding that branches off Brighton Cross.  It will give me the opportunity to create a little scenery and give me and my aging back a rest from crawling under the benchwork.  Once this is done it will extend the yard limit to avoid the constraint that presently exists at the up end of the yard.

 

All the best,

Kym.

[KymN]

Further to my post extolling my progress on Brighton Cross, I had planned on starting on the Clay Dries siding yesterday.   I dealt with a section of my wiring that was still playing up (actually it was dead).  It is now working, although the wiring (and the garage) need tidying up.  Instead I played trains.  

 

The old Brighton Cross (a real place in Cornwall) yard is now working rather well.  Any concerns that I had regarding using DCC with old wiring for DC cab control seem to be unfounded.  I ran shunting moves at a crawl on DCC.  The only issue was a one Kadee coupler that needs adjustment, but even then they worked well, just a few mit finger-pocken to deal with a bit of track dirt.  I can understand why micro-layouts are now so popular - Brighton Cross in its original form would have been described as a micro-layout - just 1400mm by 380mm.  Shunting, perforce, is at a crawl, and was a real pleasure.

I also had a few new wagons arrive from the UK in record time - just 12 days.  These are Rapido products and are of top quality.  I had noted that the latest Bachmann wagons are much improved, particularly in their chassis detail.  It seems that Bachmann have responded to the quality of the likes of Rapido and Accurascale. 

 

I love Rapido's approach to marketing to 'train nuts' - see the pic below of the obverse of one of their boxes. They have since fixed the typo.

 

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, KymN said:

Further to my post extolling my progress on Brighton Cross, I had planned on starting on the Clay Dries siding yesterday.   I dealt with a section of my wiring that was still playing up (actually it was dead).  It is now working, although the wiring (and the garage) need tidying up.  Instead I played trains.  

 

The old Brighton Cross (a real place in Cornwall) yard is now working rather well.  Any concerns that I had regarding using DCC with old wiring for DC cab control seem to be unfounded.  I ran shunting moves at a crawl on DCC.  The only issue was a one Kadee coupler that needs adjustment, but even then they worked well, just a few mit finger-pocken to deal with a bit of track dirt.  I can understand why micro-layouts are now so popular - Brighton Cross in its original form would have been described as a micro-layout - just 1400mm by 380mm.  Shunting, perforce, is at a crawl, and was a real pleasure.

I also had a few new wagons arrive from the UK in record time - just 12 days.  These are Rapido products and are of top quality.  I had noted that the latest Bachmann wagons are much improved, particularly in their chassis detail.  It seems that Bachmann have responded to the quality of the likes of Rapido and Accurascale. 

 

I love Rapido's approach to marketing to 'train nuts' - see the pic below of the obverse of one of their boxes. They have since fixed the typo.

 

That was just to see whether anybody actually read it.

[KymN]

It is going to be a quiet Easter, so I will try and pick up the pace on Fal Vale.  The plan is to progress the clay dries that adjoin Brighton Cross Wharf.  I have most of the material.  The benchwork is there and the junction (i.e. one Y-turnout) laid.  I have the dries from Kernow via a BRMA friend.  It will just be a loop to facilitate shunting, with an engine shed.  As I mentioned before the shed is mainly to allow DC locos to be isolated.  The rough set-out is shown in the pic.

 

 

I have the track from an earlier failed layout.  Two of the three turnouts are Code 100, but I bought some matching joiners today and a length of track to finish the yard - I have a couple of transition pieces.  Much of this yard will be either paved or buried, so I can disguise the heavier rail.

[KymN]

Given the issues with RMweb lately, when this popped up I couldn't resist.  Thanks to Dilbert.

 

[ikcdab]

On 04/02/2022 at 04:32, St Enodoc said:

Yes, they appear to be using the B******s rubbish with expanding foam spray as well. All seemed a bit complicated although the end results looked good.

 

Agree regarding Gav - he's very fast too (not just in the Mustang).

I haven't seen the article but I find spray foam fearsome stuff.  It expands far more than I ever think and gets everywhere.  It's a real pain to clean up and the can nozzle is a "use once" thing....however do you clean that.   I have used it around the house for gap filling, but I would never allow it near the railway...

Ian

[KymN]

I did pick up the pace on Fal Vale over Easter, but there were a few distractions.  Here is the story so far.

 

The Brighton Cross Dries

 

A sub-branch (perhaps siding would be more accurate) of the Brighton Cross Wharf area serves clay dries, as previously noted  The approach to Fal Vale yard from the south; i.e. from Truro, is on this baseboard as well.  This double track mainline is complete and wired, although switched locally. The Dries are at the lower level.

 

The bench work for this area has been complete for many years.  The only work done since moving to Adelaide has been raising the baseboard operating height, described previously.  I managed to make a start over Easter to develop this part of the layout further.  This was to involve laying the track in the Dries yard, wiring it, constructing the landscape and placing the buildings.  The plan was to start from the back (i.e. the verge of the mainline) and to work to the front.  This did not happen, and the time frame has blown out.  So what's new.  You'll have to pardon the blow by blow description, but I like to keep a record for when I forget and need to do it again.

 

The Rear Embankment

 

As with all my benchwork, a mostly open frame is used.  While the Dries yard itself utilises a flat board, the area between it and the mainline is open.  The first step has been to bridge this.  I have used profile pieces cut from 50mm foam insulation board using a hot wire tool.  They are placed vertically, glued to the lower (Dries) board and to the mainline board above.

 

Towards the top of the picture below, what looks like the White Cliffs of Dover shows my other means to construct embankments – simply recycling packing foam.  Also visible at the base of the insulation foam profiles are the temporary switches for the mainline power supply.  These will simply be snipped out when the wiring is brought together.

 

 

The insulation foam profiles then support mesh supplied  for art work ‘sculpture’. This is a fine aluminium wire mesh that can be shaped.  I used Flex-it Mesh by Zart from art suppliers.  It can be cut with scissors – I used my kitchen scissors, which  can get away with now I don't have a wife.  I stapled it to the old Canite boards (which hold it) and to the foam (which doesn’t).  It is then fixed using hot glue.  This is shown in the second picture.

 

 

After the mesh is fixed, it is covered with plaster cloth.  Again I got mine from art suppliers,  by Mont Marte, because it is cheaper than Woodland Scenics.  Various articles and videos recommend that at least two layers are applied.  I learned that it is best not to leave it too long between the layers, as it dries quickly.  Applying the second layer before the first has gone off allows you to work the two together with your fingers.  This forces the plaster into the holes and smooths the surface.  This is the result, with the plonk buildings added.

 

 

 

The next step is possibly unnecessary, but I like to paint a thin layer of coloured plaster on top off the cloth to start building the base up and to fill any remaining gaps.  Adding some plaster filler is useful near the edges of the plaster structure to bond it to the boards.  A coat of matt acrylic household paint will then be used to seal the work so far.  I will use my collection of sample pots from my decorating indecision.

 

A Few of the Distractions

 

Just before Easter, the next tranche of my house renovation 'program' came to life.  This the long-planned renovation of my bathroom.  It is not absolutely necessary, but the bathroom is so very badly designed that it upsets my zen ( I learned about zen from my new cleaning lady - my disconnected socks upset her zen).  While it will not involve a great deal of physical work on my part, there are a bunch of administrative matters to deal with.

 

Then I discovered that if I am to convert certain Rapido UK items (the new SECR brake vans and the Lion locomotive) to my preferred Kadee couplers, they will need either surgery or an adapter.  They use the NEM 363 'receiver', as Kadee calls it.  Very few people have even heard of the NEM 363 (including Kadee).  Vitrains used it, as has Roco.  I have embarked on a crusade to raise awareness.  This is the Lion NEM 363 fixing on the tender that no doubt you will recognise as the Bachmann (and others') means to mount the NEM 362 on 4-wheel wagons. 

 

I have assumed that my crusade will fail and have ordered some adapters from a French source.  At least I think so as I do not speak French. Finally on Tuesday night I watched the new ABC program 'Tiny Oz', about modelling ('miniaturisation') of historic events.  It is quite good, if a little silly. I recognised some of the products and techniques that we use, and I recognised a friend.  If I have this right, one of Adelaide's best railway modellers, Gavin Thrum, appears in a future episode.  For Australians it is on ABC TV at 8:30 on Tuesdays, or streamed on iView.

[KymN]

I had planned on making substantial progress with the clay dries siding/yard over Easter and Anzac Day.  Instead I have been spending my time dealing with   bureaucracies, both public and private.  In the private case it has been through a broker who could not even get my gender right.  I shall have to apply to finance a sex change operation by the look of it.  In the public case they told me that I needed to make an application that their system would not allow.  Why?  Because they had not updated my records and they were at least four months out of date.  Bah humbug.

 

OK, now I have got that off my chest I have made some progress, albeit not 'substantial'.  The last coat of plaster is on the embankment behind the dries, the cork road bed for yard is down, just 600mm of track has been laid with dropper wires, and I rewired a turnout for DCC.  In addition the NEM 363 adapters have arrived from France,  and Rails of Sheffield continue with their policy of leaving me until last with their deliveries.  There is a 3D printed model of Buggleskelly station (as per the film) from Tom Marshall on the way.  He is doing about six per week.

 

[Oldddudders]

On 21/04/2022 at 11:27, KymN said:

 I learned about zen from my new cleaning lady - my disconnected socks upset her zen

Music to my ears! My cleaner Alison is definitely on the spectrum where pairing socks is concerned. She cannot and will not permit non-matching socks to be paired, and that's that. I am presented with a neatly-folded pile of pairs, and neatly-folded pile of unmatchable orphans. The fact that most are plain black, and thus no-one will ever spot the cross-matching, is neither here nor there. 

[KymN]

Some progress on Fal Vale!

 

I have now laid track to make what has become known as the Wheal Sophie Clay Dries, after my granddaughter.  I hesitated to name it after her younger brother Harry, who his mother calls Hazmat.  Wheal Hazmat doesn't seem quite right. 

 

 

 

The track is recycled from past failures, and is a mix of Code 100 and Code 75.  The old turnouts have been modified for DCC.  All sections have dropper wires attached, but I still need to connect them back to the control panel.  The only isolating section is the loco siding, so that I can isolate a DC loco when running DCC and vice versa.  The layout was partly dictated by what was available.  I use No More Nails fast bond to lay the track, with no pins.  It just needs to be held in place for about 15 minutes to stay put, held down by screws through Tracksetta guides or whatever's handy.

 

 

The next jobs are to wire the droppers back to the controls that are shared with the Wharf yard, paint the track and add ballast.  I have decorated the scene for the photos with the same plonk-down buildings that I have used previously for pics.  Some will find their way into the permanent scene.

 

I hadn't been able to resist the Hornby St Piran flag liveried 08.  It was built in the right period, even if the livery was applied in 2018 😜. It arrived a few days ago, but unfortunately it is faulty - it only moves at an almost imperceptible crawl, and then for about half a revolution of the wheels.  I really don't want to have to return it to the UK, so any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

 

 

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, KymN said:

Wheal Sophie Clay Dries, after my granddaughter

Factories, mines and works were traditionally named for female members of the owner's family, so you are on safe ground here.

 

3 hours ago, KymN said:

I really don't want to have to return it to the UK, so any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Have a word with Andrew E (@Woodcock29 of this parish).

[KymN]

My latest scenic acquisition - a 3D printed model of the Buggleskelly station building, as depicted in the 1937 film 'Oh, Mr Porter!' starring Will Hay.  It comes as a single piece, unpainted, but with a card of suitable posters and a Buggleskelly chocolate.  It was made by Tom Marshall of Photographix in the UK.  Tom is also the convenor of the Will Hay Appreciation Society.

 

 

 

 

Tom is also making the signal box from the film, complete with interior fittings.  In the first scenes showing the box, it has washing strung from a nearby signal.