Camel Quay - A North Cornwall inspired layout in 4mm

[tender]

Just returned from Rainhill MRE with Camel Quay and must say we had a really enjoyable weekend with the hospitality of the Rainhill club members being top notch.
The layout behaved impeccably (apart from and un-scheduled wheel clean on the M7) and seemed to generate a lot of interest.
One booking already confirmed for later this year (Warrington) and three other expressions of interest.
Visitors kept us on our toes so little time for photos, but hopefully someone will have a few to post here or on the exhibition thread.
Did get this one of the fiddle yard with T9 and its portion of the ACE train and a local service headed by the BWT waiting their turn to be reversed onto the sector plate before making an appearance on the layout.



And M7 with its pull/push set approaching the station while Class 22 awaits in the siding with its load of clay wagons.



Thanks to Ken Ball on his architectural modelling demo I now know what the inside of the signal box should look like so can make a start installing the Springside kit I bought a few weeks ago.



He also supplied us with a few items for the quayside and some rigging twine for the trawler.

Ray.

Edited March 3, 2014 by tender

[tender]

I wish I could pop over and see CQ in the flesh and catch up with you guys again. Have a good weekend and please send lots of pics and VIDEOS.

 

Andy

 

Just for you Andy, a video, forgot I'd taken this.

 

 

 

Local passenger service Beattie Well tank arrives at Camel Quay with its 2P set of Maunsel coaches.

 

Ray.

[MartinWales]

One of these days I'll actually get to see your lovely little creation Ray, that is when work and other commitments don't get in the way that is!

BTW How's the P4 Seaton project coming along?

[tender]

Now the shows over it's back to finishing off all the little bits, and some more major ones that never got done before the weekend.

 

One that did make it was the colouring of the spectacles on the signal.

 

Before the 'Glue & glaze' had dried (remember this)

 

 

After with a bit of acrylic colouring.

 

 

For the ground signals I was going to use some MSE SR versions, but as these make up into working units and I have no intention of making them work on Camel Quay I'm going to save them for the next layout.

So for CQ I found these Dart casting SR versions.

 

 

Which when mounted on a base and painted up should do nicely.

 

Ray.

[Andrew P]

Just for you Andy, a video, forgot I'd taken this.

 

 

 

Local passenger service Beattie Well tank arrives at Camel Quay with its 2P set of Maunsel coaches.

 

Ray.

Hi Ray, I did watch this the other days, so Thanks but I forgot to post to say I liked it so here I am now.

 

Great :locomotive: :locomotive:

Cheers,

 

Andy

[tender]

Now I have the ground signals and hand levers I thought I'd make a start on getting these painted up and fitted to the layout.

Looking back at Mikes (Stationmaster) signalling diagram

 

 

It shows a ground signal on the platform side of the crossover (1).

Polly in her usual 'research' mode has just come up with a picture of that end of the line which clearly shows the outer crossover point being operated by a hand lever. (Atlantic Coast Express, Stephen Austin).

This being the case, presumably the inner crossover point would thus also be operated by a hand lever(?).

So one wonders if a ground signal is required as shown at point 1 in the diagram?

 

Ray.

Edited March 7, 2014 by tender

[The Stationmaster]

It was definitely a handpoint at Padstow early one and probably until the line closed.  But the essential difference there was that the point was beyond the platform end originally and didn't have trains passing over it - whether that remained the case after various platform extensions which seem to have happened I can't say but it isn't listed in the 1930s period Appendix which suggests that it was probably still handpoints then.

 

With your much shorter platform the crossover would need t be signalbox (or ground frame) worked in my view as passenger trans could pass over it on the platform line.

[georgeT]

Morning Ray, l think the signals really bring the layout to life, very interesting read.

 

George

[tender]

It was definitely a handpoint at Padstow early one and probably until the line closed. But the essential difference there was that the point was beyond the platform end originally and didn't have trains passing over it - whether that remained the case after various platform extensions which seem to have happened I can't say but it isn't listed in the 1930s period Appendix which suggests that it was probably still handpoints then.

 

With your much shorter platform the crossover would need t be signalbox (or ground frame) worked in my view as passenger trans could pass over it on the platform line.

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for your advice re the signalling. I guess in trying to take the prototypical approach we can forget the compromises we have made along the way to make a workable layout in the space available.

Like you say, the difference here is the shorter platform, so with that in mind I'll stick to the original signal plan you presented, and having the crossover worked from the signal box.

 

So the next thing to workout is how many levers to put on the 'Springside' lever frame in the box. Not that you would see all of it through the windows, at least I'd have the satisfaction knowing that is was correct.

 

I'm going to have a stab at this, hopefully someone will put me right along the way.

 

1,2 and 3,6 operated from a single lever, so that's 2

Additional trap at 5, another 1

4 and 5, another 2

FLP at 5,6, another 2

 

Then there's the signals

Starter, Home (off scene), 2

And ground signals, 6

 

So my educated guess is 15.

Any advances?

 

Hum mm. I'm going to need a bigger frame!

 

Ray.

Edited March 8, 2014 by tender

[The Stationmaster]

Ray-

 

Lever totals working off the above plan -

Black levers (working points)  one for ends numbered 1 & 2 , one for end end numbered 5 and the trap working with it, one for ends numbered 3 & 6, one for end numbered 4

Total - 4 levers painted black.

 

Blue Lever one working FPLs for point ends numbered 5 & 6

Total - 1 lever painted blue

 

Red Levers - 2 for the two running signals (the Home and the Starter), 7 for the ground shunting signals assuming no push/pull levers and no selection by points

Total - 9 levers maximum painted red.

 

The 'box might still have a working Distant Signal so possibly add 1 lever painted yellow

 

Total number of levers with no spares or spaces would be 4 + 1 + 9 + 1 = 15, you could get away with 14 with no trouble.  Next task is to arrange them in an order which looks correct/believable

[tender]

Thanks Mike,

Knowing very little about signalling I'm surprised I got the number somewhere near right, even if the type (colour) was a bit out.

Ray.

[The Stationmaster]

Thanks Mike,

Knowing very little about signalling I'm surprised I got the number somewhere near right, even if the type (colour) was a bit out.

Ray.

You learn as you go along Ray - it's just like a series of building blocks to which you gradually add knowledge about the basics - the awkward bit is the way things changed over the years (but a lot didn't) and oddities about the way some Companies did (or didn't) do things.

[tender]

The first of the Dart castings Southern ground signal has been painted.

 

Firstly I drilled a 0.7mm hole in up in the base and soldered in a brass pin to make holding while painting a bit easier, It will also be used for mounting by drilling a 0.7mm hole in the baseboard.

Firslty sprayed with etch primer, painted black with white disc, weathered with a bit of rust and finally red line painted.

 

 

This is only a few mm tall so the photo is pretty cruel, but it looks ok at normal viewing distance.

 

Two done but i'm still waiting for another 4 in the post so will be a few days before they get fitted to the layout.

 

Ray.

 

[class"66"]

very nice modeling Ray!!!

[tender]

Couldn't wait to see what the ground signals look like on the layout so here's a view with the first two temporarily in place.

 

 

Ray.

[7APT7]

Hi Ray

 

Excellent mate, signal box and signal is looking good.

 

Look forward to coming over to see it and run some sound loco's on it....

 

Jamie

PS: cant wait till Friday for our next trip out

[tender]

The other Dart castings ground signals arrived today so that's a painting job for this evening.

 

In the meantime I tried placing a bit of the Wills point Rodding on the layout just as an idea of what it might look like.

 

 

It's been suggested in the Products section that it's a bit over scale and for the Southern I think it should be round rodding but the alternative (soldered brass) would be a lot more complicated to build. I'm not sure I want to go that far. I guess the squareness of the rods could be cut back with a light sanding or scraping with a knife. I'd appreciate some opinions on this before going any further.

 

Ray

Edited March 10, 2014 by tender

[The Stationmaster]

I do wonder if the overscale nature of the rodding is being emphasised by it standing so high in that pic Ray - I think it might not look so obvious if it could be lower down in relation to the track?

[tender]

I do wonder if the overscale nature of the rodding is being emphasised by it standing so high in that pic Ray - I think it might not look so obvious if it could be lower down in relation to the track?

Your right Mike, it's currently just sitting on top of the ballast. If I decide to go ahead and use it, I'll dig the ballast out around the stools so it sits lower down. Of course, the interesting bit will be working out how many rods, cranks etc are required and where to put them.

 

Ray.

[The Stationmaster]

Your right Mike, it's currently just sitting on top of the ballast. If I decide to go ahead and use it, I'll dig the ballast out around the stools so it sits lower down. Of course, the interesting bit will be working out how many rods, cranks etc are required and where to put them.

 

Ray.

Simple thing to remember with point rodding is that as far as possible the 'push' in a rodding run equals the 'pull'.  On shorter distances this can often be achieved by arranging the cranks in such a way as to equalise the two, over longer distances it is necessary to insert compensator cranks to do that.  Try also to cross through track at as near to a right angle as you can achieve.

[Castle]

Hi All,

 

I agree with Mike here about the height and I would also add that applying some paint and weathering to help it blend in a lot more would also detract from any over scale features of the mouldings.

 

This is a great looking layout - I hope I get to see it for real soon!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[Stubby47]

You could use the stools with thinner, round microstrip, rather than the supplied square rods.

[The Stationmaster]

You could use the stools with thinner, round microstrip, rather than the supplied square rods.

If you're going to dismantle them to that extent Stu you might as well start from scratch - it would be easier! 

[tender]

Hi All,

 

I agree with Mike here about the height and I would also add that applying some paint and weathering to help it blend in a lot more would also detract from any over scale features of the mouldings.

 

This is a great looking layout - I hope I get to see it for real soon!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

 

 

You could use the stools with thinner, round microstrip, rather than the supplied square rods.

 

 

If you're going to dismantle them to that extent Stu you might as well start from scratch - it would be easier! 

 

All good advice, think I'll have a look bedding the stools down in the ballast and apply some paint/weathering before making any decision to look at alternatives.

 

So. this is where i think the runs should go:

 

 

But i have two questions for those of you in the know.

 

1. The rodding off to the right for the crossover would be controlled by a single lever, so does that mean one rod splitting at the turnouts or two individual rods?

 

2. The tandem has a FPL (5,6) -  again one (splitting) or two rods for the FPL's?

 

If the answer is 'two' for questions 1 and 2, i'm going to need some more rodding.

 

Ray.

Edited March 11, 2014 by tender

[Coombe Barton]

Would not the rodding you have in the 6ft not have been run in the same set of stool foundations as the other line to the tandem and cross the track where the kink is for the tandem?? Would mean fewer foundations to put in.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Coombe Barton