Helston Revisited

[MJI]

On 29/02/2024 at 14:02, KeithMacdonald said:

 

Thanks for the mentions of the proposed route to the Lizard.

I have a vague memory of a scheme to connect to Penryn as well.

Was it via Gweek and Constantine?

 

 

Constantine is not very big, Gweek small, but Argal dam was not built them AFAIK. That hill out of Argal is definitely a full throttle one when towing.

 

Would have been very scenic.

[Andy Keane]

The villa at 52/54 Godolphin road is beginning to take up its place at Helston:

I am not sure what colour to use for the rather pretty barge boards. I think black would rather harsh so maybe white with white gutters and down-pipes?

 

Edited March 1 by Andy Keane

[Graham T]

That's going to look great Andy.  Not much danger of the roof collapsing by the look of it!

[Andy Keane]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

Not much danger of the roof collapsing by the look of it

Thanks Graham. The solid roof support is to try and ensure a flat set of slates - we shall see!

[Harlequin]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

The villa at 52/54 Godolphin road is beginning to take up its place at Helston:

I am not sure what colour to use for the rather pretty barge boards. I think black would rather harsh so maybe white with white gutters and down-pipes?

 

 

Probably not bright white either, pre-war. They had more limited colours and strange tastes back then... Just look at the GWR Standard Tints! 😉

 

In Cornwall the exposure to salt-laden Atlantic gales might have restricted the usable colours even further.

 

How about green to match the gate?

 

 

[Andy Keane]

1 minute ago, Harlequin said:

How about green to match the gate

Nice idea. Currently one gate is green and one blue, but I could match the boards the same which would be fun.

[MrWolf]

Great job on the villa, it looks very precise and accurate.

As others have said, woodwork is more likely to be green, brown or blue.

I remember years back some random discussion with my father about his parent's house which was built 1896. Back in the forties it had mid green doors, window frames and barge boards, with cream door panels and window sashes.

Next door where my grandfather's brother lived was brown with gold/tan trim. Neither had been painted since before the war and remained in sombre colours until the early sixties when they were modernised with indoor bathrooms. 

White paint began replacing dark wood in the interior of upper middle class houses around 1900, but it was pretty uncommon as the main exterior colour on ordinary houses until the sixties.

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by MrWolf

[Andy Keane]

I plan wooden floors and panelling up to waist height downstairs, with a few rugs. I have some furniture to go in and will cut up some posters to make some pictures. Because there will be lights and some windows are large the interior will be quite visible.

[Andy Keane]

I have been reading the GWRJ number 69 (winter 2009) and it has a nice article on Newtown, Montgomeryshire. In particular it has some interesting details on the goods trade. Rabbits being shipped out on mail trains "in crates, the rabbits being hung by a stick attached to their legs" and collected from farms and then crated by a local dealer. Sheep skins were handled in sheeted open wagons. Also milk traffic being loaded into brake compartments rather than dedicated vans, and cattle being walked on the hoof to the loading dock. Details like this I find fascinating - a world completely now lost.

[Andy Keane]

I have been looking at what sort of paving the paths to the front doors of the Godolphin Road villa would have been and Google shows this for 2009 before the villas were done up:

Might this be original? a diamond tile pattern to the edges with some form of textured paving block between? Has anyone seen similar elsewhere?  I know the Victorians used these: https://www.hadley-reclaimed.co.uk/paving-stones-slabs/diamond-pavers-1/ for example.

The gatepost stone certainly looks aged and has a nice cruciform top.

Edited March 4 by Andy Keane

[Nick C]

2 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

I have been looking at what sort of paving the paths to the front doors of the Godolphin Road villa would have been and Google shows this for 2009 before the villas were done up:

Might this be original? a diamond tile pattern to the edges with some form of textured paving block between? Has anyone seen similar elsewhere?  I know the Victorians used these: https://www.hadley-reclaimed.co.uk/paving-stones-slabs/diamond-pavers-1/ for example.

The gatepost stone certainly looks aged and has a nice cruciform top.

The Victorian terrace I used to live in had a diamond pattern path like the ones on the left there. Each tile was 3" square iirc, and the whole path around 3' wide (the full width of the porch)

[Andy Keane]

Making progress on my 517 kit at Missenden:

[Andy Keane]

A bit more progress on the 517.

[Neal Ball]

That loco is looking very good Andy.

[Andy Keane]

56 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

That loco is looking very good Andy.

Thanks Neal. It is at the limit of me patience and current eyesight but a nice challenge for the weekends at Missenden.

It is destined for one of the new auto coaches when they get shipped.

[Andy Keane]

This is where I got to by the end - the brake gear is now all there along with the lamp irons, sandbox levers, etc. I just need to fit the rear spectacle plate window grills and then prep it for primer. I have still to decide on couplings but if I just limit myself to a single auto-coach I could add a three link to the front and some form of bar coupler at the back.

[OwenTheSignal]

Saw it on the bench at Missenden, that 517 is looking very nice. Good to meet you there and good chat about matters Romsey.  Missenden first-timer, and it's interesting to catch up afterwards here on RMWeb to put a project to a face to a name

[5BarVT]

Received my MERG Journal last week, noticed a front cover leader to “An Arduino based interlocking signal lever frame’ and thought “I’ll have to read that “.

Opened it today and flicked through from back to front (just ‘cos I was holding it in my right hand), missed the locking table on page 9, flicked to pg 6 . . .

I recognise that Box diagram!

 

I’m going to have to go back and read it properly now!

 

Paul.

[Andy Keane]

38 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

I’m going to have to go back and read it properly now!

I am now working on the follow on article about my block instruments!

[Nick C]

Funnily enough I was just looking at that same cover thinking I'd read it this evening! 

 

I didn't know that you were at Southampton Andy - I studied there (rather scarily, 20 years ago...)

[Andy Keane]

6 minutes ago, Nick C said:

rather scarily, 20 years ago...

If you read mech eng or aero eng, even more scarily, you would probably have been taught by me - I have been there 27 years!

[Nick C]

4 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

If you read mech eng or aero eng, even more scarily, you would probably have been taught by me - I have been there 27 years!

I was over in ECS doing Computer Engineering (2/3 computer science, 2/3 electronics, as we used to joke at the time...) - I knew quite a few mech and aero students though.

[Andy Keane]

I have not built many kits for locos and rolling stock but each time I do I struggle with trying to fit couplings. While modern RTR stuff pretty much always now has a NEM pocket, most kits seem to have little provision built in. I like to fit Kadee couplers to my stuff so am currently trying to fit a pair to my Mallard 517 kit. With Kadees it seems the arm that protrudes forwards has to be pretty close up to the underside of the buffer beam to get things at the right height. On  my 517 I can just about squeeze in a standard coupler with its little plastic box at the front, but at the rear I have had to cut the box down. I have it working but it feels rather precarious. It makes me wonder if anyone has ever found or made metal boxes for Kadee whisker couplings - if I had one in brass it would be much better and I may set to and make one to replace my current botch job on the plastic box - note the little plastic bits that stick out beyond the buffer beam are to accommodate the whisker springs which are just about visible in my phot:

[Neal Ball]

2 hours ago, Andy Keane said:

I have not built many kits for locos and rolling stock but each time I do I struggle with trying to fit couplings. While modern RTR stuff pretty much always now has a NEM pocket, most kits seem to have little provision built in. I like to fit Kadee couplers to my stuff so am currently trying to fit a pair to my Mallard 517 kit. With Kadees it seems the arm that protrudes forwards has to be pretty close up to the underside of the buffer beam to get things at the right height. On  my 517 I can just about squeeze in a standard coupler with its little plastic box at the front, but at the rear I have had to cut the box down. I have it working but it feels rather precarious. It makes me wonder if anyone has ever found or made metal boxes for Kadee whisker couplings - if I had one in brass it would be much better and I may set to and make one to replace my current botch job on the plastic box - note the little plastic bits that stick out beyond the buffer beam are to accommodate the whisker springs which are just about visible in my phot:

Have you tried the Dart castings brass fittings? I’ve started to use them on my carriage bogies to good effect.

 

You then fit the Kadee NEM couplers in and so far they have been very good.

 

https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/2580.php

 

Hopefully that will work for a loco - might need some adapting.

 

Good luck, Neal.

[Andy Keane]

9 hours ago, Neal Ball said:

Have you tried the Dart castings brass fittings? I’ve started to use them on my carriage bogies to good effect.

 

You then fit the Kadee NEM couplers in and so far they have been very good.

 

https://www.dartcastings.co.uk/mjt/2580.php

 

Hopefully that will work for a loco - might need some adapting.

 

Good luck, Neal.

Neal, that’s exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks for the link.

regards

andy