Jump to content
 

Treamble Branch Line & Penhale Military Camp


Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

More progress today.

 

First fix of greenery around the track has gone down, plus some tweaks to the ballast where needed. The platform has had its first coat of paint, one buffer stop is in.

Next will be to fully errect the layout and position the feed in track correctly so the bridging piece can be easily used.

 

Wagons are selected, just need to add the uncoupling staples this evening.

 

Neither layout will be 100% complete, or even where I'd hoped they'd be, but they are presentable and do work !

Edited by Stubby47
  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Contact has been made !!

 

Through running from Treamble to Shepherds Halt has commenced today. Despite a slight incline issue, the connection has gone as planned and works very well.

A start has been made on the facia, to try to give some sort of reasonable look to the layout. The conduit frame is a little unsteady, but further work is planned to remedy this and to provide a better support for the backscene.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Thanks Chris,

 

Shame you can't make it.  Are you south-west based?

 

More photos will be added after the weekend, and as I prepare for the Hayle show at the end of May.  It's getting there, but taking too long. For example, I'm adding staples to the coupling hooks, at the average speed of 1 every 15 minutes !!

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

From the right hand end, these pics show the layout in stages.

 

(Can't seem to add pictures in the post, so they'll be attachments).

 

First is the right hand end, showing the open wagon under where the chutes will be, the prairie and van in the head shunt and the switches for the points.

 

Second pic is mdi-way along the layout, showing the military platform.

 

Third pic shows the lead in point and the loco siding. The wires will, of course be buried and the track ballasted, though perhaps not for this weekend.

 

Pic 4 shows the switches again, from a different angle. The choc-blocs are being used to hold the tube in place, leaving enough slip for the wire to move inside. The other choc-block is the main power feed for the controller.

 

Lastly, a general view along the layout, from Treamble to Shepherds.

post-7025-0-15759400-1398468069_thumb.jpg

post-7025-0-58758000-1398468075_thumb.jpg

post-7025-0-93985900-1398468080_thumb.jpg

post-7025-0-41113700-1398468087_thumb.jpg

post-7025-0-15470300-1398468095_thumb.jpg

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Chris,

 

Shame you can't make it.  Are you south-west based?

 

More photos will be added after the weekend, and as I prepare for the Hayle show at the end of May.  It's getting there, but taking too long. For example, I'm adding staples to the coupling hooks, at the average speed of 1 every 15 minutes !!

I know the feeling all thumbs in my case ,looking at photos ,very nice :)

Tel

Edited by Tel2010
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

As always, some wonderful modelling. There appears to be a slight dogleg at the joint between this board and the old one. Is this just a photographic anomaly or is it something that needs to be sorted out with some track realignment?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Thanks Andy.

 

The dog leg is not so apparent when I line the tracks up properly...  The Treamble board can move lengthwise within the sub-frame - a design feature so I can add-in the joining 4" long track and then push the board closer to fully engage the fishplates. However, at the time of the photo, there was also some front-to-back movement, so the track was slightly kinked.

I also need to fix down the left end of the Treamble board track, once I've decided on the correct angle of curvature.

 

Today's progress has seen the start of some half-relief buildings for the area between the rock outcrop and the left end. These will be a motley collection of styles, the first being a granite warehouse-type. Also planned (!) is a full height corrugated iron clad shed (full height being high enough to be used for the intended high level tramway...), a semi-clad wood-framed open shed and a row of cart arches under a dressed stone offices block. Other sheds, lean-to's etc. may also be added as necessary. 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

This is the granite warehouse. It needs window sills and the roof needs painting, plus the hoist and guttering adding, then it's done.

 

 

 

 

post-7025-0-01595300-1399488199_thumb.jpg

  • Like 13
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

We had a 'Team Lunch' today - basically this mean the Co. gets the sarnies from Tesco and then we all sit & chat for a bit, then the management team give us an update on what's happening.

 

For me, it's an hour and a half of free time to do some modelling (whilst listening, of course...)

 

So I built the woodshop to go next to the warehouse.

 

It still needs a final roof covering and the door & window frame painting, plus some details in the workshop area, but I'm quite pleased how it looks so far.

 

post-7025-0-08504200-1399569666_thumb.jpg

 

As you can see, I've also painted the roof of the warehouse and added the guttering, the missing piece of which will be left missing, so some moss can be added to the wall.

Edited by Stubby47
  • Like 9
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Stu,

Is this card or plastic?  Your speed of work amazes me and it looks fantastic.

 

Do you sit at the back and do this or at the front and annoy them?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Chris,

It's mount card, lightly scribed, then painted with a thin, patchy coat of Humbrol grey enamel.

 

I sat next to a window for some natural light. Everyone in work knows I model ( thee are only 30 in the company, all in one large office) and no-one minds, including the MD & directors.

 

I've promised to take Shepherds & Treamble into work after the show later this month to really show them what I do.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Stu,

It sounds like a nice place to work.

 

I am always unsure about card as it can look quite flat but yours never seems to.  When I get to that stage perhaps I will have to try one or two to see how it goes.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

If you look at most buildings, there are always adornments that break up the flat walls - all I try to do is add some extra strips to do the same. If you've not seen them, have a close look at Allan Downes' Tudor buildings - a lot of the effect is by use of simple plastic strips, often more than one of different dimensions.

As for using card, cereal packets are really cheap, and can be laminated to increase strength.
Stu

Edited by Stubby47
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

In 1831, William Bickford and his son-in-law George Smith produced the world's first safety fuse.  This was made in a factory in Tuckingmill, in the heart of the Cornish mining area. The fuse greatly improved safety in the mines and indirectly led to the invention of dynamite

 

The factory was situated alongside the Redruth to Camborne Tramway, which carried passengers and freight between the two great mining centres.  Both centres, of course, had a railway station on the main GWR Paddington to Penzance line.  This line, of course, passed through Chacewater, which had a branch to Newquay, which went through Shepherds, which had a branch to Treamble, which is where the Iron Ore mines were.  It was also where the military had a secret camp, dedicated to training for undercover operations and sabotage, which of course, amongst other equipment, needed safety fuses...

 

Now, as has previously been shown, the Bickford- Smith factory had a distinctive circular adornment over a gateway.  The company decided to build a smaller factory at Treamble which, to display that this factory was part of the Bickford-Smith company, had a large stone circle built into the front façade. Officially, the factory was there to to serve the mines in the area, but in reality it was a cover to allow research into and development of better, military-grade, quick-acting, water-proof fuses.  

 

Operationally, some goods were passed between the factories, using the rail and tramway connections. This was mainly rope and gunpowder, but occasionally there were anonymous crates carried in un-marked wagons.

 

 

This is a picture of what the factory might have looked like (taken during construction, using some very dubious materials and methods...).

 

post-7025-0-36966000-1399727926_thumb.jpg

 

The factory was situated next to the mine's woodwork shop and warehouse

 

post-7025-0-35344300-1399727967_thumb.jpg

Edited by Stubby47
  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Some more work on the buildings.

 

From the right we have the warehouse. the woodwork shop, the Bickford-Smith factory, another non-descript building which will have the lean-to, open-sided loco shed, then at the end of the military platform is the shell of the wooden shed for storing the various stores and munitions, before being taken by road to the camp.

 

post-7025-0-60510400-1400019167_thumb.jpg

 

The woodworkshop has had a door added and a new support post. Behind the shed is a new wall, representing a larger building behind what is now an extension on the front.

 

post-7025-0-93179400-1400019160_thumb.jpg

 

post-7025-0-77396100-1400019447_thumb.jpg

 

 

Not sure what this building was for, so no end door has been added yet. The far end will have a corrugated iron lean side extension, with the lean-to roof thus supported on two walls. The side will be left open for viewing the internal detail.

 

post-7025-0-08181600-1400019164_thumb.jpg

  • Like 10
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I am a little surprised no-one picked up the image in the background of the last photo in post #71....

 

Quite a bit more effort with Treamble today, most of the basic groundwork is now done, plus the buildings just need a final detailing before bedding in.

 

The non-descript buildiing has gained a lean-to shed, corrugated tin painted with black bitumen.

 

post-7025-0-28302300-1400364023_thumb.jpg

 

Bickford & Smith decided their factory was in the wrong place, so it's been moved to the other side of the woodwork shop.

 

post-7025-0-55191700-1400364029_thumb.jpg

 

Meanwhile, at the other end, the cutting into the rock has been finishd off and some grass laid.

 

post-7025-0-79312200-1400364036_thumb.jpg

Edited by Stubby47
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

H -1 !!

Here we go then, one day till the public debut.

Today I will be taking Treamble to work, so I can plant the buildings I've finishing off.

I also need to install the mineral chute over the long siding and the new loco coaling platform.

Then tonight it will be fitting the backscene for Shepherds and the electrics for the FY point motors and any last minute scenics.

Delivery & set up on Friday, then two days of enjoyment.

Hope to see some of you there - please stop & say Hello.

Edited by Stubby47
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

First day at the Hayle May Exhibition didn't go too bad. Some minor coupling issues (staples falling off) and one w-i-t point sometimes not fully changing, but overall fair.

 

Some pictures of both Shepherds & Treamble - first up is the train weathered by Barry O :

 

post-7025-0-07516800-1400969858_thumb.jpg

 

A cabbage train trundles through Shepherds

post-7025-0-04707600-1400969861_thumb.jpg

 

A wagon waits under the mineral chute at Treamble

post-7025-0-76423600-1400969866_thumb.jpg

 

 

A view across from the military siding to the Treamble buildings.

post-7025-0-99231900-1400969863_thumb.jpg

  • Like 8
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...