Porthgarrow : a mixed-gauge show layout on a single board

[Gwiwer]

It gives me great pleasure to announce the next project following the vastness of Penhayle Bay, the tiny travel-bag sized Boghouses and the bedroom-wall Waddlemarsh layouts.

 

Porthgarrow - Cornish for "rough beach" when the words porth and garow are combined and Anglicised - will feature both OO and OO-9 on a single board designed to fit beneath the current Waddlemarsh layout and able to be lifted out of a very tight spot for transport to and from exhibitions.  Multiple levels will be a feature as will my trademark inclusion of a water scene.  

 

Some parts reclaimed from Penhayle Bay will be re-purposed.  Some new ones have been arriving in recent weeks to begin assembling the "kit of parts" which needs to be built into the modelled whole in coming months.  

 

Operation will be DC powered by two independent Gaugemaster Combi units, one for each gauge, and with one or two visual tricks employed to simulate realistic operations.  

 

The theoretical location is the North Cornish coast perhaps near to Crackington Haven.  A small coastal quarry sends crushed rock to the jetty by narrow-gauge train for  export.  A minor passenger branch line hugs the clifftops above.  And there will be a rough beach, yes.  Boulders and weed-strewn sand.  

 

The time period is mid-1960s.  

 

The board is already built but will be modified to achieve the required levels whilst not becoming too heavy to lift to shoulder height; that being required to carry it from and to the room it will be built and live in. The first showing of what will be, at that stage, a work in progress, is already booked for the Twickenham & District MRC Open Day in July 2023.  

 

I had better get on with it!  

[Gwiwer]

Some of the rolling stock for the narrow-gauge line posed in Waddlemarsh goods yard. 
 

Two of the skips are already weathered and, in one case, quite well battered.  A couple of bogie wagons are kept for moving heavy machinery when required and the “Director’s Saloon” has all the luxury of wooden bench seats. 
 

Two rakes of six skips will be used; one loaded the other empty.  Skip denting is done by carefully nibbling the plastic with Xuron cutters before weathering. 

 

 

 

 

[hayfield]

Sounds a very interesting project and one I look forward to reading, the skips look good once modified

[dcordingley]

I like your skips - ex_Peco "ruggas", I think. I used these as a starting point for ash-disposal wagons in my 4mm scale mpd. I laid a length of 9mm gauge track, inset into a representation of concrete, running alongside the ash-disposal road and through the ash plant itself, intended to replicate the facilities seen at many larger ex-LMS depots. I filed away the "lips" on the skips to make them more representative of those you can see in, for example, images of the ash plant at Camden and elsewhere. I'm not sure whether there was ever a standard design for these, but they look OK to me!

 

David

 

   

[Gwiwer]

On 11/12/2022 at 17:44, dcordingley said:

I like your skips - ex_Peco "ruggas", I think.

Peco "Rugga" V-skips, yes.  Some of the OO9 is Peco, some Bachmann.  At a typical viewing distance they blend nicely enough together.  A loaded rake of six skips is well within the loco's ability; the unladen rake is heavy enough to run without dragging off or jumping.  

 

Currently awaiting some legs for the layout; the folding brackets have arrived.  I shall also need some level-adjuster feet but not immediately.  Once I have the basic woodwork sorted the build can get under way in earnest.  

[Gwiwer]

Four legs cut. Four adjustable feet fitted.  That should accommodate the average exhibition-hall floor and a few accidental bumps.  Supervised by our resident dragon, Gulval. 
 

 

[Rob K]

On 11/12/2022 at 17:11, Gwiwer said:

It gives me great pleasure to announce the next project following the vastness of Penhayle Bay, the tiny travel-bag sized Boghouses and the bedroom-wall Waddlemarsh layouts.

 

Porthgarrow - Cornish for "rough beach" when the words porth and garow are combined and Anglicised - will feature both OO and OO-9 on a single board designed to fit beneath the current Waddlemarsh layout and able to be lifted out of a very tight spot for transport to and from exhibitions.  Multiple levels will be a feature as will my trademark inclusion of a water scene.  

 

Some parts reclaimed from Penhayle Bay will be re-purposed.  Some new ones have been arriving in recent weeks to begin assembling the "kit of parts" which needs to be built into the modelled whole in coming months.  

 

Operation will be DC powered by two independent Gaugemaster Combi units, one for each gauge, and with one or two visual tricks employed to simulate realistic operations.  

 

The theoretical location is the North Cornish coast perhaps near to Crackington Haven.  A small coastal quarry sends crushed rock to the jetty by narrow-gauge train for  export.  A minor passenger branch line hugs the clifftops above.  And there will be a rough beach, yes.  Boulders and weed-strewn sand.  

 

The time period is mid-1960s.  

 

The board is already built but will be modified to achieve the required levels whilst not becoming too heavy to lift to shoulder height; that being required to carry it from and to the room it will be built and live in. The first showing of what will be, at that stage, a work in progress, is already booked for the Twickenham & District MRC Open Day in July 2023.  

 

I had better get on with it!  

This sounds great. I’d love to see the track plan

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Rob K said:

This sounds great. I’d love to see the track plan

I’ll have to work on that. But it will be very simple!  The OO line is probably going to be a single line - not even a point. Train comes in - train goes out. 

[Gwiwer]

Another hour’s work with some basic tools and a few bits and we have four fold-away legs fitted to the baseboard. 

 

As can be seen this is all being built in a small space on the bedroom floor alongside the Waddlemarsh layout. There’s nowhere else I can use. 
 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

More bits ready to add as the project develops. Dock walls, loading gear, winding gear, narrow gauge engine shed and a car graveyard.  Also out of shot are two Kernow MRC “Cornish cottages” which will find a home here. 
 

Tracksidesigns has supplied the usual station decoration. 
 

Space restricts where I can keep stuff so it’s parked on the yard at Waddlemarsh for now. 
 

 

[Artless Bodger]

I like your underboard wiring, at least I'm in good company!

 

I shall follow your new project with interest as I'm tinkering in OO again (N gauge getting frustrating) and rather like the NG skips etc too, shades of quarry and sand pit railways around my home town.

 

https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW038101   Aylesford Sand Co wharf, plenty of skips.

[Gwiwer]

23 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said:

 

I like your underboard wiring, at least I'm in good company!

 

It may look a mess but it’s all labelled and is almost ready for its final-fit which will almost conceal it all beneath the boards. The choc-blocks will be screwed in place, more cable ties than are already in use will tidy up any trailing wires, anything seriously over-length will be cut back and the space cleared will become home to the legs-folded Porthgarrow 

[F-UnitMad]

17 hours ago, Artless Bodger said:

I like your underboard wiring, at least I'm in good company!

Beat me to it!! The insides of some of my DCC diesels are very similar, too. 🙄😳🤦‍♂️

[Gwiwer]

The boards are in the process of being greened. 
 

Not of the scatter or static grass variety but of the wood-protecting kind. 
 

 

[Gwiwer]

Most of the track has arrived. The OO points are not yet available (bullhead medium radius) but are on back-order. 
 

The board was erected and a proof-of-concept track arrangement set out. Some of the structures add a bit of context. A wagon turntable adds a bit of interest. 
 

Several thoughts occur. The board is probably a tad too high for exhibitions. There isn’t a standard height but what do the knowing among us suggest?  Currently 1200mm but I think take it down to the even metre. 
 

The car graveyard, cottages and OO track will be uphill from the narrow gauge line and partially above its concealed off-scene loop. 
 

All of the sea wall, harbour walls and beach area will be mounted on a bolt-on outrigger board. This will allow for the significant difference in levels required without introducing a lot of weight on the main board.  Not only in terms of geography (plastercloth can become quite heavy even if  laid over foam block) but the weight of the resin components would make one-person movement of the board nearly impossible. 
 

Loco and stock have been tested and will cope with the narrow gauge radii.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

The legs have been cut down by 5cm because I felt the board was too high. It still feels high to me but bearing in mind it would be viewed from a metre or so away and that both upper and lower levels will add scale and depth I am hoping this will be enough. 
 

It was with some sense of excitement that I began laying the OO-9 track today. The radii are fierce but workable. 
 

And with senses of both excitement and trepidation, at 15.45 as the afternoon light started to fade, the very first train moved under its 1fp (finger-power) traction unit. Porthgarrow comes alive!!! 
 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

With a little more somewhat fiddly work the track ended today with a complete circuit and able to accept a powered test run right round.  

 

There is work to do where the loco hesitates over the dead section of the unifrog points.  I could fit switches and have them work as live-frogs or I could simply have the whole lot live and be darned; there will only be one loco on the line so do shorts really matter?  Otherwise some very intricate work will be needed to fit the leading wagon with pickups and run a live link through the coupler.  The top corners need the radii easing if I can manage it although everything goes round. 

 

The OO-9 line is mostly now laid.  The shed road, and its adjacent washout line outside, will be bottom left with the points showing the way.  The line leading top left off the diamond will be the "dead road" ending in a wagon turntable which will give access to a road (dirt track) for the removal or delivery of rail items.  It might not be practicable to have road access to the shed, or it might have to be off-scene.  

 

Looking at the planned train length I can probably manage 9 rather than 6 wagons per train as expected.  Not only more prototypical (the ones I have in mind from my childhood had 10 - 12 on) but creating more visual interest to the viewer as well.  

 

 

[Gwiwer]

A general arrangement set-out for the two track gauges plus some buildings. The standard-gauge line features a short headshunt and part of a run-round loop. The other end will be off-scene. My train plan is to run either a 2-coach push-pull set or a 1 or 2-car DMU so the loop will be available but not in regular use. 
 

 

 

[5BarVT]

Will there be a height difference or do you need a mixed gauge curved diamond where they cross?

Paul.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, 5BarVT said:

Will there be a height difference or do you need a mixed gauge curved diamond where they cross?

Paul.

There will be a height difference.  Land will slope up from the front, where the ng line will be immediately above a quayside and beach, with the sg station somewhat higher and land rising further behind that.  

 

The trick will be to keep it as light as possible given that I have to be able to lift, carry, erect and dismantle the board single-handed for (currently) construction and (eventually) exhibition purposes.  It has always been intended as a one-person operation to sit alongside my weathering demonstrations in public or as a stand-alone show layout.

 

***** 

 

Test running today has established that I can run up to nine skips reliably in the train.  This will be hauled laden from quarry to quay and propelled back empty so the maximum consist has to run reliably both ways.  Propelling empty wagons is the trickier part as they are much lighter; being so small there is virtually no option to add increased weight on the frames.  They run well anyway but there's a limit on how many can be pushed around curves and through points.  

 

I also need to investigate power issues.  The points are unifrog but the diamond is electrofrog.  As can be seen the frog wires are connected to nothing right now meaning the points operate as insulfrogs and the loco pauses (and sometimes stalls) at slower speeds when it reaches the unpowered frog.  But no power at all seems to be getting through the diamond.  I had thought that it would be live all rails but perhaps I need to feed current to the centre as with a double-slip.  

 

Is there a way to get these points to behave as electrofrogs (i.e. with live frogs) other than using a switch?  Can the frog wire be connected to the running rails?  Can the plastic boss be clipped out or bridged?  If I can get the frogs live the train will run smoothly at any speed.  As a single-loco operation shorts are not going to be an issue.  

[5BarVT]

12 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I also need to investigate power issues.  The points are unifrog but the diamond is electrofrog.  As can be seen the frog wires are connected to nothing right now meaning the points operate as insulfrogs and the loco pauses (and sometimes stalls) at slower speeds when it reaches the unpowered frog.  But no power at all seems to be getting through the diamond.  I had thought that it would be live all rails but perhaps I need to feed current to the centre as with a double-slip.

Hi Peter,

I use electrofrogs in 00 and I am wiring a diamond as an electrofrog so have had to give some thought to the issue!  It would be possible to ‘switch’ the diamond power without ‘real’ switches using electrofrogs so should also be possible with unifrog as far as I know.  (I am assuming that they are similar to the Farish live frog points from the 70s.)    It would rely on using the point blades as power switches rather defeating one of the alleged benefits of unifrogs.

 

Could you post close up photos above and below of a point and the diamond to see what connections and gaps/insulations are present please.

 

With my solution in mind there will be an operational restriction in shunting over the diamond: the ‘main line’ point must be set and the other one not set.

 

Paul.

[OnTheBranchline]

Mixed gauge is such an undermodelled area - thank you for having the imagination to do it for our enjoyment.

[Gwiwer]

Thinking pause over.  I have bitten some bullets and invested in a few bits of electronickery.  
 

Gaugemaster DCC80 Autofrog units will be fitted to the narrow-gauge points to control polarity.  This also means I have to fit N-scale power joiners at the toes of the points as a more practical alternative to soldering feeds onto tiny rails.  A somewhat fiddly job as the track was already pinned and we all know what it's like unpinning / repinning the final link in the circuit.  

The standard gauge points will have Seep motors fitted (Gaugemaster part GMC-PM1) which will control polarity and flick the points as well.  The narrow gauge points will remain hand-worked.  I have a couple of levers handy which will be used for point / signal control as required although the standard gauge line will be quite minimal with only a part of the run-round loop and platform actually "on-scene".  

The diamond has reverted to the electrofrog model and will be controlled via a DPDT switch.  It has been re-installed with the required insulated joiners fitted.  

Hopefully that lot should resolve the electrical issues and allow me to crack on with building the scenery.  

[Gwiwer]

More fiddling and frustration has finally got me to a position I am happy enough with. 
 

The on-scene unifrog points have been replaced with electrofrogs.  These are not frog-switched as the layout is DC and “one engine in steam” so any backfeeds are immaterial. 
 

The diamond is also electrofrog and has its insulated joiners fitted. The frog / power wires will run back to a DPDT switch which awaits fitting. 
 

The remaining unifrog points do cause the loco to peck or stall and may be replaced with electrofrogs in due course if no other way can be found to operate them with live frogs. 
 

So the OO-9 track is complete. The wagon turntable (which does rotate but is not powered) has been fitted. The loco has been tested with a rake of 9 skips which I now intend to be the standard. 
 

Onwards …..  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

The loco propels nine empty skips. The quayside loader will be top left. Loaded trains will be hauled. Off-scene the loaded wagons will be run to one of the loop roads and the loco will collect the empty rake from the other one. And the reverse when it pushes the empty rake into the loop and collects the full rake once more. 
 

Edit. I am trying to get tge clip to play. RMW says it does not support the format

 

https://gwiwer.smugmug.com/ModelRailway-1/Porthgarrow/i-3KfDjrN

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by Gwiwer