Footsteps of Former Trains in Far Cornwall

[cypherman]

Hi John,

This is what I used to have the honour of helping to build and playing with. It belonged to a friend of mine. We had hours of fun with it. Sadly it is now all sold off and gone.

Edited December 7, 2023 by cypherman

[cypherman]

Part 2,

Edited December 7, 2023 by cypherman

[Nearholmer]

^^^
 

i love this “pure tin toy” layout. It just shows how good any genre can look if put together by a person with a bit of artistic flair and a real feel for it. What he hasn’t done is attempt to fight the toyness by drifting towards ‘scale’, he’s embraced it.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Nearholmer

[John R Smith]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

It just shows how good any genre can look if put together by a person with a bit of artistic flair and a real feel for it

 

Yes indeed. We should also note how beautifully presented the whole thing is, with the pelmeted curtaining etc. The people putting it together must have had tremendous fun with it.

 

It is "pure tin toy", but that just goes to show how coarse scale O Gauge is actually a very broad church. Further still towards the toy spectrum was a lot of early Bing and Bub material, but then Bing did also make some very fine scale locomotives in the larger scales (Gauges One and Two). We should remember that coarse scale O also includes the higher end Bassett-Lowke output, Edward Exley's coaches and Hornby's own No 2 Special tender locos and the "Eton" of course. And I don't think anybody would have criticised Jack Ray's "Crewchester" or Norman Eagles' "Sherwood Section" for being too 'scale'.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by John R Smith

[John R Smith]

 

Perhaps it is time for another update from my tiny coarse scale O Gauge museum layout, which is rapidly becoming a rest home for elderly engines. When I started this mad enterprise I only had one loco (my B-L Compound), now we are up to six and counting. The youngest is in its late seventies, the oldest is now ninety, and so far they are all still functional. As they are also all clockwork, I am probably really tempting fate with that last statement.

 

Ho hum. One of the more recent acquisitions is not Bassett Lowke, but Hornby - the Hornby No 2 Special 4-4-2 tank, GWR version. The Number 2 Special was introduced by Hornby in 1929 to replace the No 2 tank (which was in many ways a lot nicer looking loco) and offered in LMS, LNER, GWR and SR liveries. In fact, this later version is to be frank, rather a hulking brute. Perhaps because of this, prices are quite reasonable with a plentiful supply in the marketplace. The usual problem to beware of is disintegrating wheels (both large and small) suffering from Mazak Rot. This is surprisingly common and an issue which some sellers are quite blind to. My example is a late version (circa 1936-40) with the GWR monogram and numbered 2221. When she arrived she was rather neglected, and the overall finish was dirty and dull, but there was no damage and everything was present and correct.

 

 

 

As it turns out, this Hornby No 2 Special mechanism is a real beauty and 2221 is one of the very best runners we have at Kingswell Street. She is heavy and very solid, and runs through the tight curves and turnouts as smooth as silk. One of the joys of clockwork is that it is silent, and so the noise is just the wonderful clatter of wheels thriough the joints and crossings in the track. She is also powerful and will shunt heavy old Exleys around at low speeds with the unstoppable assurance of the real thing. So it was time to clean her up and put a shine back on her paintwork. This took a couple of evenings of patient work, but she scrubbed up quite well. The process was helped by these engines being enamelled rather than litho tin-printed, which allows you a lot more options when it comes to refurbishment. So here she is now on a (very) short pick-up freight, 8.30 am to Gloucester -

 

 

 

Something I forgot to mention is that I am pretty sure she has had all new wheels, which is a real bonus. Strangely I now have three B-L locos, and three Hornby ones, not planned but just how things have turned out. More news to follow . . .

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by John R Smith

[Nearholmer]

No.2 Special Tanks do generally seem to be Really Useful Engines, but I’m afraid that I can’t get beyond their looks!

[cypherman]

On 03/12/2023 at 12:56, John R Smith said:

 

Yes indeed. We should also note how beautifully presented the whole thing is, with the pelmeted curtaining etc. The people putting it together must have had tremendous fun with it.

 

It is "pure tin toy", but that just goes to show how coarse scale O Gauge is actually a very broad church. Further still towards the toy spectrum was a lot of early Bing and Bub material, but then Bing did also make some very fine scale locomotives in the larger scales (Gauges One and Two). We should remember that coarse scale O also includes the higher end Bassett-Lowke output, Edward Exley's coaches and Hornby's own No 2 Special tender locos and the "Eton" of course. And I don't think anybody would have criticised Jack Ray's "Crewchester" or Norman Eagles' "Sherwood Section" for being too 'scale'.

 

 

Hi John,

Yes we had a great deal of fun planning, building and playing with this layout. Especially when we were trying to run the clockwork engines.

[cypherman]

On 05/12/2023 at 17:23, John R Smith said:

 

Perhaps it is time for another update from my tiny coarse scale O Gauge museum layout, which is rapidly becoming a rest home for elderly engines. When I started this mad enterprise I only had one loco (my B-L Compound), now we are up to six and counting. The youngest is in its late seventies, the oldest is now ninety, and so far they are all still functional. As they are also all clockwork, I am probably really tempting fate with that last statement.

 

Ho hum. One of the more recent acquisitions is not Bassett Lowke, but Hornby - the Hornby No 2 Special 4-4-2 tank, GWR version. The Number 2 Special was introduced by Hornby in 1929 to replace the No 2 tank (which was in many ways a lot nicer looking loco) and offered in LMS, LNER, GWR and SR liveries. In fact, this later version is to be frank, rather a hulking brute. Perhaps because of this, prices are quite reasonable with a plentiful supply in the marketplace. The usual problem to beware of is disintegrating wheels (both large and small) suffering from Mazak Rot. This is surprisingly common and an issue which some sellers are quite blind to. My example is a late version (circa 1936-40) with the GWR monogram and numbered 2221. When she arrived she was rather neglected, and the overall finish was dirty and dull, but there was no damage and everything was present and correct.

 

 

 

As it turns out, this Hornby No 2 Special mechanism is a real beauty and 2221 is one of the very best runners we have at Kingswell Street. She is heavy and very solid, and runs through the tight curves and turnouts as smooth as silk. One of the joys of clockwork is that it is silent, and so the noise is just the wonderful clatter of wheels thriough the joints and crossings in the track. She is also powerful and will shunt heavy old Exleys around at low speeds with the unstoppable assurance of the real thing. So it was time to clean her up and put a shine back on her paintwork. This took a couple of evenings of patient work, but she scrubbed up quite well. The process was helped by these engines being enamelled rather than litho tin-printed, which allows you a lot more options when it comes to refurbishment. So here she is now on a (very) short pick-up freight, 8.30 am to Gloucester -

 

 

 

Something I forgot to mention is that I am pretty sure she has had all new wheels, which is a real bonus. Strangely I now have three B-L locos, and three Hornby ones, not planned but just how things have turned out. More news to follow . . .

 

 

 

Hi John. If you look at the top left photo of the terminus there is the electric LNER version of this loco pulling 2 Pullman coaches.

 

[5050]

On 05/11/2023 at 15:29, Pete Haitch said:

My on-going resto project - 1947 Waller hill climb bike all the way from exotic Hackney. Currently mulling over whether to put a coat of clear over the remaining original paint, use neutral polish to preserve it, or even the proverbial oily rag.

Very nice.  Major Taylor stem as well.  Don't respray it, a good clean and polish will be perfect.  After all, it only has its original paintwork once!  Saying that, some of mine were resprayed but they didn't have original paint anyway.  I have bikes from 70's onwards.  I time trialled on some earlier this century.  The look on some of the younger riders with their tri-bars and pointy helmets was worth seeing.

 

 

 

 

[Pete Haitch]

15 hours ago, 5050 said:

Very nice.  Major Taylor stem as well.  Don't respray it, a good clean and polish will be perfect.  After all, it only has its original paintwork once!  Saying that, some of mine were resprayed but they didn't have original paint anyway.  I have bikes from 70's onwards.  I time trialled on some earlier this century.  The look on some of the younger riders with their tri-bars and pointy helmets was worth seeing.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice.  I can see you were well on the way towards adopting Francesco Moser's 'Praying Mantis' position.  

The stem on the Waller bike is quite corroded and pitted - my head says re-chrome but then I hear my heart screaming at the very idea.  Being an early Waller (although sadly without home fabricated forks) the paint is all military surplus and hand lined. Pure 1946/47 chic that is impossible to replace.

 

[cypherman]

Hi all,

In my last post I said that the tinplate layout was eventually dismantled and sold off. This is what replaced it. Sad to say though that even this has all gone and now passed in to history and is no more. It was dismantled just before Covid and turned back into a garden. On a more technical note you will see a large number of point levers. They all work the points and signals. The points and the signals were all fully functional and interlocked. The levers actuating both the point and relevant signals. Please enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed helping with this railway..... 😭

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by cypherman

[Nearholmer]

Brave chap that builds a rockery in his loft.

[cypherman]

 

 

As I said the tinplate layout was eventually sold off. This is what came next. All that is left of this railway are the pictures I took to document its construction and history. Enjoy.

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by cypherman

[cypherman]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by cypherman

[cypherman]

Edited December 15, 2023 by cypherman