Penhallick Junction

[treggyman]

Does mid-Cornwall lie on a geological fault line!!

 

Seriously, very nice modelling looking forward to seeing more. Have you tested the new bridge with your CDAs? I'd never have thought to check both sides either!

 

 

Hi TomJ,

 

Thanks for the reply,&,yes I have tested the CDA's both ways round & they run fine...The clearance seems big enough that I shouldn't now have a problem.Famous last words.....

 

There's a lot of mining subsidence in Cornwall,mainly in East & West though;

 

I wonder what could have been mined in Mid Cornwall ?

 

Could it have been the long lost Great Wheal Pasty mine ?

 

Cheers Bill

[B954673]

great day today, how did your photos come out?

 

I know you have finished you track work, but thought this picture was worth including, as you pointed it out...

 

 

10 points for anyone who can guess where this actually is

[treggyman]

great day today, how did your photos come out?

 

I know you have finished you track work, but thought this picture was worth including, as you pointed it out...

 

 

10 points for anyone who can guess where this actually is

 

Hi B954673

 

Yep it was a good day.

 

Photo's came out fine....There are some quite good ones & Tom's got his copy.

 

As to the track...I probably have one or two laid like that.....deliberate of course

 

Cheers Bill

[treggyman]

Hi All

 

Had a bit of time today, so bit the bullet & built the slurry loading point.

 

It's made out of plasticard & brass.

 

Stated by cutting a 50x50mm square of thin plasticard & then framing the underside with evergreen no 263 channel:

 

Next step was to cut 4 legs;these are cut from evergreen no 283 H column

 

 

A word of caution.The clearances are very tight.As far as I can judge without a site visit prototypically so.I have included the ruler to give constructional dimensions.However,CHECK that whatever rolling stock you propose to run through the loading point will fit.

My stock does but it is VERY TIGHT.Deliberately so.

 

The next job is to glue on the angle braces & fabricate the railings.The braces are made from the smallest plastruct angle (don't know the reference as twas an offcut).

The railings were made from K&S Engineering brass section,0.81mm for the uprights & 0.51mm for the horizontal railings,this latter size also being used for the safety rail behind the ladder.The thicker section is used for the ladder uprights & the thinner for the rungs.

 

The last two photo's show the loader placed on the layout in a coat of grey primer,ready for final painting & fitting.The final touches will be the fitting of the tap handle & the operating crew.

The model is based on the one at Par Docks,previously modelled on Deviock Dock

 

 

Cheers for tonight,next up is the cleaning shed & some more scenics....

 

Bill

[treggyman]

Hi all

 

Today I gave the slurry loader a first coat of paint.

 

The black of the warning stripes needs to be added,as do the tap handle & operating crew.

 

I drilled the baseboard so now it is loosely fitted on the baseboard & everything I have tried has run through it no problem.

 

I also loose fitted the slurry tank washing plant,based on the one at Burngullow.Pictures taken from a speeding HST.

Again needs more work to finish but you get the impression.I actually built this over Christmas before I had built the baseboards & had a heck of a job getting the track to fit so the stock would run through,but I could still have the 'flow' of the track as I wanted it to look.

 

 

 

 

I also had a play with my Grasstech II Static grass machine that I bought from Greenscenes at Ally Pally 18 months ago.

I had had a go with it before but here was the opportunity to give it a go on a fresh area with no existing flocking or grassing done.

I painted the base layer brown,covered it when dry with flock of various colours & then tried the Machine.

I had previously had an issue with getting the grass to stand up,so I added an extension to the metal bolt that 'aims' the static electricity with a piece of brass tube loosely screwed on.The effect was too drastic,so I removed it.The ELECTRIC SHOCK I got was something else.My finger is still slightly numb 24 hrs later.I've had a shock from the mains & an electric fencer(I have previously worked on a farm)but this was far far worse,& as its D C it doesn't kick your hand away.BE WARNED. Used as it says on the machine ,no problem,adapt as I did ,be it at your own peril !!!!!

 

Anyway a few photos of the effect;the cows are not fixed yet & I plan to try to get a more 'textured' effect to the grass.

 

Also I think I went a bit over the top in the headshunt.

 

 

 

 

[mudmagnet]

Coming along very nicely there Bill.

Having static applied grass really makes a difference. It transformed the appearance of Orchard Road. A couple of hints that Darren01 showed me though (it was his Grassmaster that I borrowed), was to lightly vacuum over the grass when applied, whilst the glue is still wet, which helps to bring the fibres upwards and when dry, a further layer or patches can be applied over the top. Flick some watered PVA onto the grass (an old tooth brush is useful) and then apply more fibres on top - a lighter shade works well.

 

The slurry loader and shed look great.

 

Look forward to seeing more progress!

[treggyman]

Coming along very nicely there Bill.

Having static applied grass really makes a difference. It transformed the appearance of Orchard Road. A couple of hints that Darren01 showed me though (it was his Grassmaster that I borrowed), was to lightly vacuum over the grass when applied, whilst the glue is still wet, which helps to bring the fibres upwards and when dry, a further layer or patches can be applied over the top. Flick some watered PVA onto the grass (an old tooth brush is useful) and then apply more fibres on top - a lighter shade works well.

 

The slurry loader and shed look great.

 

Look forward to seeing more progress!

 

Hi Richard

 

Thanks for the advice,I will give it a go & see how I get on.

 

By watered how strong do you mean? About 50/50? That's about the mix I use for ballasting/flocking which seems to work.

I had experimented making clumps with neat PVA but seemed a bit strong & also the colour variation wasn't enough to make it stand out.

Does any one else apart from Greenscene or Noch supply long fibres.I've found a few sources of static grass on Ebay but they all appear to be short.

 

As always any help/advice is always welcome.Thanks again.

 

Cheers Bill

[bcnPete]

Try International Models...I have got 6mm from them before...is that what you mean by long?

 

EDIT...6.5mm looking at it...http://www.internationalmodels.net/acatalog/Grass_Fibres.html

[mudmagnet]

Hi Bill,

 

Glad to help.

As Pete has suggested - try International Models.

I can't remember the exact mix, but something like 70/30 PVA / H2O seems about right.

[treggyman]

Hi All,

 

Just a bit of Cornish liquid sunshine today so I took the opportunity to make a start on the Linhay (dry clay storage/loading building)

 

Just a shell at present.Based on the one at Treviscoe.

 

Also fixed that ends backscene in place....can no longer drive trains off the end of the layout....Some would say shame!!!!

 

A couple of pics....

 

 

 

Cheers for now

 

Bill

[Ramblin Rich]

I really like the look of this, thought Deviock Dock was pretty special & this seems to be shaping up very nicely too. You seem to have all the essential ingredients & all the atmosphere for a convincing Cornish location.

 

Afraid I couldn't resist this comment from earlier:

 

 

Had a bit of time today, so bit the bullet & built the slurry loading point.

 

... that would be the silver bullet then? (I'll get me coat...)

[treggyman]

I really like the look of this, thought Deviock Dock was pretty special & this seems to be shaping up very nicely too. You seem to have all the essential ingredients & all the atmosphere for a convincing Cornish location.

 

Afraid I couldn't resist this comment from earlier:

 

 

 

... that would be the silver bullet then? (I'll get me coat...)

 

Hi Rabmlin Rich

 

I wish it could be

Thanks for the comment 'cos I'd certainly get me coat if it were

 

Cheers Bill

[treggyman]

Hi bcnpete & mudmagnet

 

Thanks for the info,I'll give them a go.

 

Around 6mm seems to be the longest; that's the length shown on Noch's long pack,but the price seems to double that for the shorter length !! Perhaps it was miss priced where I looked.

Thanks for their address

 

Cheers Bill

[artizen]

Polak make a range of thirteen colours in 6mm length as well. Should be easily available from a retailer in the EU countries.

 

This is the 4.5mm page but the same range is available in 1mm, 2mm and 6mm legnths - http://www.polakmodel.com/en/vyrobky/main/FLOCKDEKOR-long/

[treggyman]

Polak make a range of thirteen colours in 6mm length as well. Should be easily available from a retailer in the EU countries.

 

This is the 4.5mm page but the same range is available in 1mm, 2mm and 6mm legnths - http://www.polakmode...LOCKDEKOR-long/

 

 

Hi artizen,

 

Thanks for that.The really short lengths are also of interest,freshly mown grass,new growth etc.

 

Thanks again , cheers Bill

[treggyman]

Hi ALL

 

Last day of my holiday today so did a bit more to the Linhay.

 

The yellow is fine grade sandpaper which to my eyes ,when painted gives a reasonable representation of a cement rendered wall.The brown is Slater's block wall sheet.

 

 

I then added the Slater's corrugated sheet to the roof & made up the canopies out of more Slater's sheet braced with Evergreen channel section with some 1/2 round section to represent the gutters.

 

It's not obvious yet,but the corrugated sheet on the gable ends are set at an angle as on the prototype,not vertically as is usual practice.

 

 

 

Hopefully when finished it will look a bit like this;

 

 

That's all for now

 

Cheers Bill

[winterbournecm]

Hi Bill

 

Popped up to Goonbarrow for the steam today and took a couple of pics inside the box. Here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

The work is coming along well.

[treggyman]

Hi Bill

 

Popped up to Goonbarrow for the steam today and took a couple of pics inside the box. Here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

The work is coming along well.

 

 

Hi winterbournecm,

 

Thanks for the fantastic pictures;good to see your colleague with duster poised to keep the handles spotless & gleaming.

 

The pictures bring back so many memories of when I was between 8 & 10,(the line closed in '64 when I was 10), when I used to spend hours in Langport West signal box on the Taunton to Yeovil line with signalmen Percy Goddard, Mr Glanville & the relief Derek Whybrow. SO MUCH IS THE SAME!!!!The levers,the instrument shelf & track diagram, the metal rings to lock the levers,the handles for the tablets.... I could go on.......

 

Absolutely brilliant,it is much appreciated.

 

The main differences are the electronic 'gadgets' & the form of heating,no longer a roaring coal fire but gas I presume.

 

I see there are what I assume two tablet machines,the red one by the door full of tokens,& the brown one at the other end of the 'Box which seems empty.Surely this would still be needed to give Drivers the authority to proceed to Newquay,or is this now done by radio, or does the red one do both?

 

Many thanks again,

 

Cheers Bill

[winterbournecm]

Hi Bill - I'm glad you liked them. The Machine at the far end of the box is for the Goonbarrow - Newquay staff. This is only one staff (or token) which is out for the Steam train returning from Newquay. The Electric Token (ET) equipment was retained as the train staff as it interlocks with the signals.

 

And the heating / air conditioning is gas supplied - give me a Romesse stove as replacement any day though. Happy memories of those.

[treggyman]

Hi Bill - I'm glad you liked them. The Machine at the far end of the box is for the Goonbarrow - Newquay staff. This is only one staff (or token) which is out for the Steam train returning from Newquay. The Electric Token (ET) equipment was retained as the train staff as it interlocks with the signals.

 

And the heating / air conditioning is gas supplied - give me a Romesse stove as replacement any day though. Happy memories of those.

 

 

Hi

 

Thanks for that;I'd forgotten about a train being in the Goonbarrow/Newquay section although the setting of the signal levers shows an impending arrival.

 

Probably a silly question; but why is there only one staff for Goonbarrow/Newquay when there seem to be several for the Goonbarrow/StBlazey section? Is it anything to do with StBlazey being manned & Newquay not?

 

Cheers Bill

[winterbournecm]

Mickey is right - It's due to the Newquay branch being train staff - one train in section. Whilst the Goonbarrow - St Blazey section may have multiple trains in either direction. So the passenger train could be followed by a freight etc... One token would be no use - though the amount we have is slightly excessive maybe!

Edited September 7, 2011 by winterbournecm

[treggyman]

Its cos there are only the passenger trains go past Goonbarrow, whereas there are clay trains up and down to Goonbarrow - Not sure how many run these days though

Mickey is right - It's due to the Newquay branch being train staff - one train in section. Whilst the Goonbarrow - St Blazey section may have multiple trains in either direction. So the passenger train could be followed by a freight etc... One token would be no use - though the amount we have is slightly excessive maybe!

 

 

Hi Mickey & winterbournecm,

 

Thanks to both of you for clearing that up.

 

Obvious when you know the answer.Although I have a reasonable knowledge of the traffic on the line I don't know much of the operating practices & how the trains are controlled.

 

Thanks again

 

Cheers Bill

[treggyman]

Hi All

 

Done a bit more over the last few days.

 

Made the steps for the slurry tank wash out building.Not fixed down yet as it all needs more detailed painting & weathering....

 

 

Also did a bit more to the Linhay.Fitted the gutters,drain pipes,doors,barge boards etc.Got the internals to do plus the retaining metalwork in front of the doors & the loading bay.....

 

 

Well that's all for today

 

Cheers Bill

[mudmagnet]

Well Bill, you have been busy! Looking great though! Looking forward to seeing this develop.

[winterbournecm]

Hi Bill - the buildings are coming along well, how do you hope to achieve the corugated absestos weathered look? Its like a mottled finish. Maybe dry brushing will get the result you need?