Penhayle Bay

[Gwiwer]

Very much still running thanks Peter. The weather hasn't done too many favours but I have the main lines in good order and should have the rest running reliably again any day soon. How's shed life treating you? I drop in to Llanbourne quite often for your updates.

 

Jeff has also alerted me to Saturday which I may be able to attend though we are in the midst of a roof replacement job so I may need to be on site here.

[Gwiwer]

Beside a fair bit of maintenance to keep things looking presentable there have been plenty of short running sessions as the evenings steadily get lighter.

 

In Virgin Trains livery a class 221 "Super Voyager" set pictured in what could be a scene from a sleepy rural branch but is actually on the main line at Penhayle Bay

 

 

Just up the line the 221 emerges from the "up" bore of Nansglaw Tunnel with low sunlight at the far end showing through the down tunnel.

 

 

A rear-on view of a freight at Penhayle Bay shows that all the wagons in this rake have had light weathering applied over the winter though I am a bit suspicious as to why one seems to have fingerprints on the roof! The 37 will be growling away on full bore as it squeals around the reverse curves and lifts its load up the short sharp 1:36 gradient to the summit.

 

 

The loco is a ViTrains class 37 bought to use as a test-bed for weathering and has also been dirtied slightly as seen better here.

 

 

High on the viaduct a class 158 dmu is pictured crossing with a Regional Railways service.

 

 

While to prove it is always summer, on the layout at least, here's that Voyager set again heading through the sand dunes under a fair sky.

 

[Etched Pixels]

Lovely stuff - it's one of those layouts that just reeks atmosphere. Pity there are no facilities to teleport it to exhibitions 8)

 

I shall watch for the Kernow am Byth graffiti to appear on the vans next 8)

[Guest oldlugger]

Yes I agree with Etched Pixels, a really lovely layout Rick, and hard to believe it's in Oz. You've really captured that essential 1970's west country main line atmosphere extremely well... that's why it's so hard to imagine that you've built it so far from it's home area!

 

All the best

Simon

[Lee m22]

What a fantastic layout!

 

It's nice to see layous that have several scenes and areas to keep the eyes busy and amused! Could watch the train rolling by for hours here.

 

Brilliant

regards

 

Lee

[Gwiwer]

Thanks gents for your encouragement and support. It is always appreciated.

 

Today being fine and warm I have taken the opportunity to do some work on the water at the cliff end and around the Penhayle river mouth. This has had one pour down for quite some time. I have now added another two pours, more white water froth and added a few spots of white farther out to sea representing perhaps breaking spots of water over submerged rocks or maybe just crests foaming in the breeze.

 

The secluded beach has never had detail added to the water before other than a fine line of white paint where water met sand. That has now changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last image also just shows the positioning of some of the Bachmann bollards I featured last week from the workbench. They have replaced ugly and over-scale scraps of sprue down the steep jetty approach in an area also undergoing refreshing in time for the coming season.

[jukebox]

Did those sunbathers move closer under the cliff to get out of the line of sight of the peeping Tom up on the cliff top? ;-)

[Gwiwer]

Did those sunbathers move closer under the cliff to get out of the line of sight of the peeping Tom up on the cliff top? ;-)

 

That's no way to talk about one of Penhayle's regular backpackers!

 

But well spotted. The sunbathing couple moved from one side of the beach to the other when the moving sun shaded their first spot. Well actually they obligingly moved over to give some scale to the waves and froth in the close-up image!

[Gwiwer]

The weather has taken a turn for the worse.

 

A class 42 "Warship" coasts down the steep St. Agnes branch under a stormy sky and through a heavy shower.

 

 

The top â…” of the sky in that image is over a metre farther back than the rest. How is this so?

 

Here is the unedited version of the same image which shows a horizontal line marking the top of the running area back scene

 

 

The fiddle yard is concealed behind the low-level back scene but in order to give more depth and continuity I have fitted sky-blue panels along the fence behind the fiddle yard. In the area shown above they have had the stormy sky overpainted and iPhoto's editing suite has almost removed all trace of the join as well as the vertical joint in the woodwork from the first image. The next pictures illustrate the set-up:

 

 

 

While a rear three-quarters view of the train also gives a tantalising glimpse of an equally stormy sea out beyond the headland.

 

[Oldddudders]

Did those sunbathers move closer under the cliff to get out of the line of sight of the peeping Tom up on the cliff top? ;-)

While the sunbathers' activity is entirely within the bounds of common decency (by C21 standards, anyway), I was surprised to note on ebay the other day that one of the regular HO figure manufacturers is now offering HO and N model couples having a very nice time indeed. You seemed to have a choice of bed or sofa as the setting - but the image only shows the box, not the contents! I suppose it might promote more modelling of interiors in buildings - just to be able to show how human your models really are!

[Gwiwer]

You can get those figures (the "Lovers in Action" range) in many poses from armchair to office desk top!!!!! Quite why those might be required for a model railway is beyond me.

[Gwiwer]

Question: How do you install wiring years after you have built a scene which was never originally intended to have it?

Answer : You dig a trench!

 

 

Penhayle Bay station has been equipped with working Viessmann platform lighting adding to the already colourful scene created by the illuminated festoons along the beach. Street and interior cottage lighting will follow when time allows with the wiring now largely in place.

 

As the platform was cut to install the wires it had to be restored. The plain grey painted MDF has given way to a coating of fine grey Noch ballast mixed randomly with a tiny amount of Woodland Scenics "mine run" coal ground down almost to powder. This gives a nicely uneven shade of grey which has been glued to the old surface with dilute PVA. The black panel will have a new WR brown running in board attached; the old one lasted five years outside which is not bad for a strip of printed card.

 

 

With a train coming through it starts to look reasonable though the wiring on the opposite platform cannot be completed until a replacement for one defective lamp arrives. Each platform has five lamps wired in parallel. The effect is a warm glow rather than a harsh white.

 

 

And for fans of more recent traction here's a wider view of the work still in progress and which also includes the latest work to upgrade the appearance of the stone jetty and river mouth and weather the fishing boats.

 

[Gwiwer]

Both platforms now fitted with working lights, resurfacing almost complete and re-application of detail under way. The totem requires attention from the spirit level

 

 

[Guest oldlugger]

Very nice Rick; you've captured the lovely SW seaside mainline atmosphere perfectly!

 

Cheers

Simon

[Gwiwer]

Another weekend another working session

 

A large amount of renovation work is under way at Treheligan station where the island platforms have now been fitted with the new Wills plastic stone surfaces and brick facings. Not a lot to show as yet but the work has necessitated the realignment of the track through all platforms by the proverbial 2mm and I have therefore had to reballast as well. I took the opportunity of having platform 4 (down platform loop) completed to then weather the track and took a couple of test shots to see how it looks.

 

 

 

I have added the wiring to allow the Penhayle Bay cottages to be lit in due course. This will be done with some LEDs fitted inside the buildings (some of which are still at the construction stage) and will require some detailing including curtained windows to be added.

 

That wiring link also powers two street lights up the hill behind the railway viaduct.

 

The wiring previously installed along the down platform has been extended down beside the viaduct and also now powers two street lights in the car park.

 

Using one of my regular test locos (a "Clayton" class 17 of a type which never ran in Cornwall) here's a view across the viaduct. One of the two street lamps can be seen perched on the steep slope of land to the right and shows that the wiring to these is surface-mounted and will be concealed in vegetation.

 

 

This might even be a Scottish scene rather than Cornish. Just alter the accent you're thinking in!

 

 

Down in the car park bus passengers no longer have to wait in the dark (unlike real life much of the time!)

 

 

The second new light is just visible next to the phone box and shining on the coach roof. The "uphill" one is shining through the trees at the platform end while the second one is out of shot right up against the back scene.

 

 

And a gratuitous shot of an approaching train for no other reason than I like it!

 

[Gwiwer]

A few "after dark" views. Actually taken with the strip lighting on tonight which gives a lower level of background than ambient daylight without the need to use tripod and flash or long exposures.

 

First one showing better the position of the four street lights fitted today with the one not shown in the previous post being right up at the backscene.

 

 

The near-empty car park, although buses still seem to run late in the day.

 

 

The footbridge has been temporarily repositioned and will be fully fitted once other works are completed. This image also shows that I have canted (super-elevated) the tracks around the curves through the station

 

 

And leaving up the short sharp 1:36 gradient lifting the line through the sand dunes to the rocky hillside and Nansglaw Tunnel.

 

[P.C.M]

Hi Rick,

You have been busy, the new lighting does look very good, it's something I will have to do on Llanbourne at some point.

 

Love the DMU blue grey NSE lash up.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

Cheers Peter.

 

The dmu lash-up is a cheat. As I run DC it's hard to have the train lights working with the thing not moving so it's the trailers from two sets coupled. If you look carefully you'll see there is no brake in the set!

[P.C.M]

Cheers Peter.

 

The dmu lash-up is a cheat. As I run DC it's hard to have the train lights working with the thing not moving so it's the trailers from two sets coupled. If you look carefully you'll see there is no brake in the set!

 

Hi Rick,

Yep you are right I didn't notice that, oops. Looks good though.

 

Cheers Peter.

[jukebox]

I do like the oily grime in the 4ft here:

 

 

One of my pet hates with the layout photography in Model Rail is that the lighting seems to be so harsh there are never any "black" blacks amongst the trackwork, when deposits of oil and grease that diesel locomotives inevitably seem to leave when they dwell are conspicuously dark, and "gooey" for want of a better word! Nice modelling!

[Gwiwer]

Yes I know it's a bus. But it's on the layout and I like the atmosphere.

 

[Temeraire]

Yes I know it's a bus. But it's on the layout and I like the atmosphere.

 

I think there's a law that says it should be on the bridge and not under it? :lol:

 

Great pics as always keep them coming.

Edited September 9, 2011 by Temeraire

[Gwiwer]

Down HST rolling through.

 

 

Plenty of work is under way on this layout for the upcoming southern hemisphere summer season. Tidying up and detailing of the station and beach area at Penhayle Bay, addition of a scratchbuilt lifeguard hut above the surf beach, finishing the sea with some waves and ripples over the existing glassy effect, major renovation of Treheligan station which will see it set a little earlier than the "banger blue" era with more older-style signage and just a few new ones and some minor track alterations to improve smooth operation.

 

The final panel of backscene is painted and drying on the workbench waiting to be fitted in the next few days. Then it's off to Ponsangwyn Yard to tidy up and sort out the non-conductivity issues in time for the arrival of a trio of Beattie well-tanks any week now.

 

Busy? Me? Naaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Gwiwer]

Another "night shoot" tonight.

 

The front of the HST can be seen in the distance with light glinting off the windows ...

 

 

Up HST rolls into Penhayle Bay

 

 

Trains passing in the station with the seaside illuminations and car park lighting all on.

 

 

Down in the harbour at midnight .....

 

[Gwiwer]

As I have featured the lighting around Penhayle Bay quite heavily of late I am redressing the balance somewhat today.

 

The yard east of Treheligan station has had its painted backscene brought to a more advanced stage. The industrial building will have a little more detail added including some form of signage. Random rolling stock storage in evidence includes a "Clayton" in the down loop and half a "Southern" class 171 unit on the down main!!!

 

 

Treheligan station itself has its new platforms fitted and all the five tracks (four platform roads and a run-round loop for the branch bay) all moved to accommodate the slightly different sizes. The track is all pinned but awaits completion of the platform colouring and detailing before being ballasted after which the platform furniture will go back on. The backscene here with the village on the hillside may not require much more done to it.

 

The down "beds" draws into the bare platform. Having done a small amount of work on these Hornby sleeping cars they will become surplus to my requirements as soon as the new Bachmann ones arrive.

 

 

An up train runs through the rain storm near Treheligan led by a pair of class 42 "Warship" hydraulics.

 

 

Looking at the second loco we can also see the choppy sea and distant cliffs. The visible area of sea here has been subtly altered to become a little more realistic - it no longer appears to climb up the cliffs!

 

 

Having called at Treheligan the same train is captured once more passing the array of signals which form Treheligan down outer home. The left arm admits trains to the down loop, the main arm controls trains approaching the station on the down main, the right-hand arm admits trains to the fiddle yard through a short tunnel while the small shunt arm and route indicator box allow trains to cross from the down main into Treheligan No.1 or No.2 Up sidings - the black box would show an illuminated 1 or 2 in reality when that arm was cleared.