Port Penare

[TangmereTornado]

I've waited a while to post my layout topic on here - guess I was a little worried of jinxing things if I posted before I actually had something to show. But with plans relatively finalised, and baseboard construction underway, I figured now might be the time to finally reveal my plans behind my debut in model railway building.

 

So here goes with the backstory: Port Penare (that name might still change) is a heritage railway station on the South coast of Cornwall, just over 10 miles south-west down the coast from St Austell. The town of Penare grew from humble beginnings through the early 1800s into a decent-sized town, and this conicided with the growth and increase in traffic into the town's burdgeoning port. With the natural topography of the coast providing an ideal natural deepwater dock for ships, it grew to become a partial rival to the Penzance port, as well as the larger ports at Southampton and Liverpool. It's big trump card was berthing costs - a fraction of it's rivals, because of it's relatively smaller size.

 

Hence, through the 1800s, passenger liners and freight ships were in regular supply at the port. The Great Western Railway combined this with it's growing reputation as being an excellent transporter of perishable freight to locations far inland, and built a branch spur from St Austell, heading down to Penare. Unlike many other branches in the area, it was double-track, to cater for any increase in freight/passenger workings to the port.

 

Whilst services did grow steadily, the popularity of the port started to decline after WW2, with the rise in air and car travel, and slowly, its relevance faded. It remained a popular destination for spotters and rail enthusiasts, as whilst the main 12-coach expresses continued on to Penzance, most shorter trains that shedded coaches at Plymouth terminated in Penare, and it occasionally even gained it's own sleeper train, the Bayside Sleeper, to complement the early departing passenger cruise ships. So large express locomotives would often be seen in the station, with the catch being that they would often not be hauling a full-length express train - or rather, had been, up until Plymouth.

 

Predictably, Dr Beeching didn't see the romance in this story, and it was assigned for closure under his infamous cuts, with an initial closure date set of 1965. However, although the port had declined in usage, several local shipyard owners contested this decision, saying that the line was an important source of freight and materials for them in a rural location more difficult to access by road. Also, there was an emphasis still on mail/parcels traffic that remained a lifeblood to the town. So whilst passenger services were slashed to a bare minimum, freight traffic remained in regular supply, and in the summer, holiday services operated for holidaymakers heading to the seaside a mile or two up the coast. In the grand tradition, these were operated by mainline express trains - initially during the early 1970s by Class 52 'Westerns' handled the service, before being phased out and replaced by Class 50s.

 

The final death knell for the line came when the Parcels Sector began cutting back operations, meaning that the mail aspect of the line was rendered redundant. With most of the port also closing, the line was closed for good in 1979. However, due to the precarious nature of the line (with it's threat of closure having loomed for over a decade beforehand), a group of local businessmen and enthusiasts bandied together to ensure that the railway would enter private ownership upon closure, and the Cornish Riviera Railway was formed in early 1980. With the locomotive preservation movement now well underway, they quickly began sourcing locomotives, with the three first arrivals all coming from the Barry scrapyard, but as the 1980s wore on and diesel locomotives began to be phased out, the roster took diesel locomotives under their wing. Nowadays, all the services the line was popular for are now covered, plus some that never featured, including preserved EMUs on push-pull services. The station buildings along the line, including Port Penare, have pretty much been kept in the condition they were when the line closed, having remained in that state since the late 1950s anyway.

Right, that's the backstory done with (if any of you are thinking 'he's got too much time on his hands' you'd probably be right), now time to explain how things are going thus far. Two baseboards have been built, and the layout will take up two walls in an L shape, a fiddleyard-to-terminus format. There's no final trackplan drawn up yet, although I have a plan of four/five platforms, with one dedicated to freight/mail traffic, and the platforms will be about four coaches long. Carriage sidings will be included too, with stored stock in there, and it'll be assumed that any locomotives head up the line about a mile for a small engine shed/depot (much like Long Rock TMD) to be turned on a turntable up there off-scene, so there'll be no turntable on this layout.

 

I said I have no final trackplan drawn up, although I have a pencil sketch that is pretty close to the final deal. Here it is :

 

Overall plan:

 

 

Detail of the station area:

 

 

Detail of the station throat and carriage sidings. Note also the signal box on the far side of the layout:

 

 

Detail of the station throat and lead-in, including scenic break and fiddle yard.

 

 

NOTE: This sketch is only roughly to scale. I'm aware the fiddleyard and carriage sidings are a bit on the short side on that drawing

 

Now, I should add that I don't mind if the layout is slightly un-prototypical - Im predicating that yeah, a station such as this would be pretty unrealistic considering the presence of Penzance not far further West, but hey, I love the idea of it I do want it to follow relatively realistic railway practice. I invite you all to put forward any suggestions or improvements, and particularly anyone who is knowledgable in layout design software, I'd love to have some input from you folks.

 

More updates as and when they come up, stay tuned...

[Stubby47]

On a practical level, you have no release loops for your locos, and going by the approximate scale, no obvious siding long enough to pull out the coaches to release the loco ( presumably by a station pilot).

 

On a theoretical level, a double track mainline 'branch' (assuming Penzance is still the western terminous) maybe a tad over indulgent - all the existing / previous branches in mid to west Cornwall were only single track - including the major one, in it's heyday, to Newquay.

 

However, it's your trainset

 

Stu

[Kris]

As Stu has said, some form of loop provision at the end of at least one set of platforms would be good.

 

Regarding the name, change it. Places ending in "ton" are exceptionally rare in Cornwall (Launceston is the only one I found when looking quickly just now*) compared to much of the rest of England. Have a look at a map and you'll soon see what I mean about this.

 

 

*Not saying that there are not more just I didn't see any.

[RAY NORWOOD]

Hi Tangmere Tornado

 

The plan looks good, I think the name is not cornish.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

 

 

RAY70B

[Donw]

I always find it useful to work out the orientation of a layout. Is the plan loking south or west otherwise the line will probably have to curve round on itself. If its south then on the southern coast the sea will be in the backscene whereas on the northern coast the viewer is standing in it. I find once I start doing that I can get the feel of a place. As the others say consider a single track approach even with your projected story its like only a single line would be needed. Of course you could argue that it singles once the loco depot is reached. Have fun with it.

Don

[James]

It looks promising though I hope your fiddle yard isn't drawn to scale!

 

I love to see a properly thought out back story to layouts like these - I find it easier to view the layout in context. Which I hope doesn't sound pretencious! IMHO it's much more interesting than the usual 'somewhere in <insert chosen wide geographical region>'

[TangmereTornado]

Thanks very much for all the replies folks.

 

On a practical level, you have no release loops for your locos, and going by the approximate scale, no obvious siding long enough to pull out the coaches to release the loco ( presumably by a station pilot).

 

On a theoretical level, a double track mainline 'branch' (assuming Penzance is still the western terminous) maybe a tad over indulgent - all the existing / previous branches in mid to west Cornwall were only single track - including the major one, in it's heyday, to Newquay.

 

However, it's your trainset

 

Stu

 

On the subject of the release loops...duly noted, but I'm running on the assumption that either the station pilot would release the loco by taking the coaching stock out, or another loco would simply take the coaching stock out as the next train, releasing the incumbant loco in the bay. I may add one release loop in, like Penzance. And that sketch plan definitely isn't to scale - I'll make sure those sidings are long enough to handle coaching stock. The curved siding will probably handle the longer trains worth of coaching stock. Or I can always shunt coaching stock back into an empty platform bay, as often happened at Paddington.

 

Your point about the double-track branch is a good one...I'll admit it's a bit indulgant. I've had further thought, and I'll be tweaking the layout history to make the prospect a tad more plausible. I'm basing the format a fair bit on Ilfracombe, more for operatiing potential I'll admit

 

 

As Stu has said, some form of loop provision at the end of at least one set of platforms would be good.

 

Regarding the name, change it. Places ending in "ton" are exceptionally rare in Cornwall (Launceston is the only one I found when looking quickly just now*) compared to much of the rest of England. Have a look at a map and you'll soon see what I mean about this.

 

 

*Not saying that there are not more just I didn't see any.

 

Hi Tangmere Tornado

 

The plan looks good, I think the name is not cornish.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

 

 

RAY70B

 

Noted, folks. St. Calicston is an intial name. I've since come up with another one...Port Penare. Named after the small village of Penare about 10 miles south-west down the coast from St Austell. Once I've modified the backstory, it'll make more sense in context too.

 

I always find it useful to work out the orientation of a layout. Is the plan loking south or west otherwise the line will probably have to curve round on itself. If its south then on the southern coast the sea will be in the backscene whereas on the northern coast the viewer is standing in it. I find once I start doing that I can get the feel of a place. As the others say consider a single track approach even with your projected story its like only a single line would be needed. Of course you could argue that it singles once the loco depot is reached. Have fun with it.

Don

 

The plan as drawn above is looking south, so the coast and sea will dominate the backscene. The port area is assumed to be just off-scene and to the right of the station area.

 

I can understand that the double-track idea is a bit self-indulgant, but I like the operational potential, and the look of it - I don't mind admitting it's a bit of modeller's license The idea that it singles past the loco depot is a plausible one, I like that. At the moment Im going with the old chesnut of 'it was built double-track to cope with an increase in traffic that never came'.

 

 

It looks promising though I hope your fiddle yard isn't drawn to scale!

 

I love to see a properly thought out back story to layouts like these - I find it easier to view the layout in context. Which I hope doesn't sound pretencious! IMHO it's much more interesting than the usual 'somewhere in <insert chosen wide geographical region>'

 

Haha! Unless I have shortening coaches No, definitely not. The whole plan is only roughly to scale. The fiddleyard will definitely be longer in reality.

 

Yup, I'm a bit like that...Im a bit of a storywriter/aspiring novelist myself anyway, so I quite enjoy thinking up the backstory for things like this. It's gone through a change or two to make it more plausible. Thanks for the kind words

 

On that point...the backstory has been tweaked in the first post now. I won't claim to be an expert of the particular area, so a bit of modeller's license is being employed...I'm pretty sure someone with local knowledge will tell me that it's entirely unsuited to what Im imagining, haha!

 

 

[westerner]

You say the plan is not to scale yet there are measurements on the plan. I note 4ft and 6ft and some lines which may be 1ft intervals. How big is the layout going to be, ie how much room do you have.this will give members more chance to offer good advice.

[mopar]

Great back history, entirely plausible. I too prefer layouts that 'belong' somewhere, rather than the ' oh, somewhere over there...' approach.

I would love to see a slightly neater more to scale plan though.

As to the lack of release loops or run rounds, I wouldn't worry unduly. If your station has a reasonably busy timetable, and I'm assuming it will have, then

you will have at least one pilot and locos dropping back down from 'Long Rock' after a quick refuel etc. They will release the loco at the blocks.

I think it has the makings of an interesting and absorbing layout.

[TangmereTornado]

You say the plan is not to scale yet there are measurements on the plan. I note 4ft and 6ft and some lines which may be 1ft intervals. How big is the layout going to be, ie how much room do you have.this will give members more chance to offer good advice.

 

 

Yeah, the measurements on the plan are simply for my reference for baseboard sizes. Even they aren't exactly to scale on the page. If there are 1ft intervals on there they're certainly not intentional - they might just be erased old parts of the sketch. The back wall length (i.e. the run with the station/station throat) is 14ft 3in, and the left wall (ending in the fiddle yard) is 12ft 5in long. The baseboards are 20inches wide around the entire length, narrowing into 11inches for the fiddleyard, and slowly widening out in the station area to 33inches at the wall, if that makes sense.

 

Great back history, entirely plausible. I too prefer layouts that 'belong' somewhere, rather than the ' oh, somewhere over there...' approach.

I would love to see a slightly neater more to scale plan though.

As to the lack of release loops or run rounds, I wouldn't worry unduly. If your station has a reasonably busy timetable, and I'm assuming it will have, then

you will have at least one pilot and locos dropping back down from 'Long Rock' after a quick refuel etc. They will release the loco at the blocks.

I think it has the makings of an interesting and absorbing layout.

 

Thanks for the kind words, and welcome to the forums!

 

The scale plan is definitely on the way...I wanted to get something down to give myself and others an idea (if slightly vague) of what the layout would look like, the format, platforms, sidings etc. I might try to get my head around XtraCAD one evening, and I'll knock up a scale plan on there...I'll wager there's a how-to guide on that software on the forums somewhere?

 

Yeah...I might add one, just to have the option. But if one was good enough for Penzance, then one will be good enough for me. And you're right in your assumption that it will have a pretty busy timetable - this certainly won't be a 'one train every three hours' type service here So yeah, the idea is that the station pilot will manage coaches, or a new loco will take the coaching stock already in the platforms off on the next train back East. I'll have options covered, at least.

 

Cheers It'll do me...as I said earlier, I've been a little indulgent...mainly with the double-track idea. But hey...I'm striking a balance between being accurate/true to life and what will be fun and interesting for me to operate.

[mopar]

Thanks for the welcome, I'll be interested in seeing how this layout develops.

[Penlan]

Porthpenare, No spaces, but Gwiwer will be along soon to give his valued opinion...

[TangmereTornado]

Porthpenare, No spaces, but Gwiwer will be along soon to give his valued opinion...

 

Hmmm, I'll be awaiting his arrival with interest...

 

Nice idea...but I think I'll stick with Port Penare. I do like it though

[Penlan]

Is he Cornish then? id never noticed

I'm surprised he's not using the name 'Jack',

 

As the word/name Gwiwer is not that common, I'm wondering if it's some sort of Dyslexic GWR......

 

 

 

[westerner]

Thanks for that Tangmere, The plan now makes sense.

[RobR]

If you want double track, then go for it. The last three quarters of a mile of the Newquay branch was double track [from Tolcarn Junction] between 1946 and 1964. Other double track sections on the Newquay branch were St Dennis Junction to Tregoss Moore [almost two miles], Bugle to St Dennis Junction [about one mile], and St Blazey to Par. [source 'Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR by R A Cooke] So there is precedent for your layout to have a double track approach to the terminus.

Rob

[mopar]

Putting an 'H' on 'Port' would definitely make it sound more Cornish. Look at Google Maps and note how many 'Porth' names there are, such as Porthcurno, Porthleven and Perranporth.

 

David

 

Also Port Quin, Port Isaac and Port Gaverne

[westerner]

To me it's just ashame that the layout is not based in the early 60's, with Castles Counties, Halls, Granges and a host of tank engines plus Warships (both types) D63xxs and Westerns.

 

A "Proper Job"

[TangmereTornado]

If you want double track, then go for it. The last three quarters of a mile of the Newquay branch was double track [from Tolcarn Junction] between 1946 and 1964. Other double track sections on the Newquay branch were St Dennis Junction to Tregoss Moore [almost two miles], Bugle to St Dennis Junction [about one mile], and St Blazey to Par. [source 'Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR by R A Cooke] So there is precedent for your layout to have a double track approach to the terminus.

Rob

 

Thanks for that info Rob, much appreciated! That's excellent. I don't mind too much if the line further up (i.e. well off-scene and beyond the depot/stabling point) is single-track, but on-scene on my layout, I'm definitely going double-track. My personal precedent on that occasion was the Ilfracombe branch, having studied photos (from George Heiron's Southern Collection: Waterloo to Ilfracombe by Bruce Murray and Kevin Robertson) of the run down the hill to Ilfracombe station and seen it's double-track. I understand this is a Southern railway line, but still, I saw it could be done.

 

To me it's just ashame that the layout is not based in the early 60's, with Castles Counties, Halls, Granges and a host of tank engines plus Warships (both types) D63xxs and Westerns.

 

A "Proper Job"

 

I have good news for you then...because I'm hoping to gather together locos, including the ones you listed above, and have enough stock available to run 'period days'...for example, set a date of 1962, then run a selection of the things you mentioned above...plus some of the Bulleid Pacifics I have some affection for may guest. And conversely, I could say '1973' and run exclusively BR Blue stock, diesel-hydraulics, 47s etc.

 

I'm setting it in the preserved scene to give me flexibilty in what locos/rolling stock I collect and run. But I'd love to have the option of running period days like this...the 1960s-70s Western Region is probably my favourite area of British Railways operation, in terms of locos, settings and operation. I'm a massive fan of all of the locos you outlined above, and later on in the 1970s one of my favourite locos of all time arrived in the region - the Class 50

[westerner]

Excellent!!!