Pontsmill

[Rods_of_Revolution]

That's an interesting idea Stoker!

 

I spent the last hour drawing up and then cutting out some inlays on the Silhouette, they are just card for the moment to test fit them. The enventual plan is to paint the sleepers and chairs white to help hide them, hopefully it will look convincing enough despite the trade off required to keep such small points functional.

 

 

I have a question for you Stoker, or anyone else who may know. ECC's corporate colour seems to be blue; logos, trucks, signs etc seem to be blue but I notice quite a few buildings use a sea green colour on timber and metal work, is this a standard ECC colour? The I've noticed the sea green colour at Pontsmill, Drinnick Mill, Treviscoe and Kernick.

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

 

[Stoker]

The "sea green" colour was actually just regular green, which with time and sun exposure would weather to a sort of turquoise, or teal, or sea green... it depended on how weathered it was. It was a lead based paint that ECLP used on all exposed wood and steel surfaces, including doors, fascia boards, guttering, windows, steel columns, and a number of other things (like the Parkandillack engine house, whose original colour was red). It would seem that the company had this paint in absolutely massive quantity because pretty much everything prior to 1980 was painted this colour.

 

 

Here it is on the first floor window of the laboratory block at the former Rockhill dryer near Stenalees, which was built in 1939. This is near enough the original colour.

 

The company appears to have also had a few other shades, including sky blue, and a sort of cream-beige-grey, but these were much less common. The loading doors at "crugwallins" were painted in the creamy colour.

 

Hope this helps!

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Thanks Stoker, I knew you'd have the answer. Crugwallins seems to have quite a mix, as well as the cream coloured doors, there's also sky blue doors, window frames and railings as well as new paint that seems to be a red oxide colour. Pontsmill also seems to have a few metal doors with the red oxide colour, though it could be iron oxide!

 

 

There wasnt that many paint colours around backalong, though I had wondered if the "green" was an early ECLP (or even before them!) "house colour", so that another bit of useful info

 

Oh and Jack that point will short-out summat rotten with that file on it

 

That's nothing, I once thought I was being clever soldering up a rail built bufferstop using Peco rail which I then placed at the end of a siding, took me about an hour to realise why the layout had started shorting-out!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[CME and Bottlewasher]

That's an interesting idea Stoker!

 

I spent the last hour drawing up and then cutting out some inlays on the Silhouette, they are just card for the moment to test fit them. The enventual plan is to paint the sleepers and chairs white to help hide them, hopefully it will look convincing enough despite the trade off required to keep such small points functional.

 

Pontsmill_Points_01.jpg

 

I have a question for you Stoker, or anyone else who may know. ECC's corporate colour seems to be blue; logos, trucks, signs etc seem to be blue but I notice quite a few buildings use a sea green colour on timber and metal work, is this a standard ECC colour? The I've noticed the sea green colour at Pontsmill, Drinnick Mill, Treviscoe and Kernick.

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

Hello Jack,

 

Craig Tiley did some nice work in OO (in RM) recently - Weymouth Stylee (maybe worth a look too).

 

Kind regards,

 

CME

[Stoker]

Thanks Stoker, I knew you'd have the answer. Crugwallins seems to have quite a mix, as well as the cream coloured doors, there's also sky blue doors, window frames and railings as well as new paint that seems to be a red oxide colour. Pontsmill also seems to have a few metal doors with the red oxide colour, though it could be iron oxide!

 

The red oxide was an ECCI era colour! I think they just bought a surplus supply of whatever was going cheap at the time, but red oxide definitely dates stuff to the late 80's onward.

 

 

A rather strange mixture of very faded sky blue and the red oxide in question.

 

 

And here it is at Rocks on a settling tank catwalk!

 

 

Also at Rocks on the staff room.

 

 

And at Treviscoe on... well... just about everything.

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Thanks for the photographs and information, especially the staff room, that would make an simple but authentic scratchbuilt/kitbashed feature on any china clay layout.

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Update time!

 

I have laid the tracks for the works, so I decided to experiment with a short section of filler.

 

I'm using "Unibond Flexible Decorators Filler". Firstly I masked the track, covering the railhead.

 

 

Next I squeezed out the filler into the gap and smoothed it over with an offcut of plasitcard. I then removed the masking tape, almost imediately.

 

 

The question is, will it fall apart, crack, or grow exponentially and fill my dining room with a giant unibond monster. Only time (24-48hrs) will tell...

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[Stoker]

Looks interesting, I like your method of laying your track so that it's rail-height with the baseboard, that's a really good idea. It will be interesting to see how this pans out as I may well try this method myself. What did you use to level off the filler, and how easy did you find it to do?

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Hi Stoker,

 

I just used an offcut of plasticard to smooth it over, pretty much anything would do so long as it is a straight edge. 3mm thick MDF or Hardboard is approximately the height of Peco track, which is useful when it comes to laying it in a channel. I'm sure foamboard or cork would work also.

 

It seems straight forward to do, the filler was easy to work with. Once dry hopefully the flexible nature of it will allow it put up with the board and track slightly expanding and contracting in the warm of an exhibition hall.

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Update time!

 

Had a bit of a disaster whilst rubbing back the the filler. Whilst it's possible to rub it back quite effectively whilst it has not fully cured, once it's cured it becomes additionally rubbery, making it tricky to rub back. Whilst most of it I had rubbed back whilst it was partially cured there were a couple of bits I left and came back to a couple of days later.

 

The filler looked smoother until I sprayed it with this texture paint, it actually looks quite nice and simulates the texture of concrete quite well but it did highlight the lack of smoothness.

 

I was worried about the texture paint collecting fluff but luckily the cap of the spray can is sprayed with the paint so you can have a feel in the shop. I checked it wouldn't collect fluff by rubbing it on my thigh, though the woman working in Homebase gave me a dirty look when she glaced down the isle to see me vigoursly rubbing a paint tin worryingly close to my nether reigons!

 

 

This rough area by the loader I'm hoping a clay spill will hide.

 

 

This area around the point is mostly hidden under the canopy and the retaining wall by the canal, but I'm sure I can add some extra weeds to hide it.

 

 

Overall it doesn't look too bad, I think I'm better off carrying on and hiding the dodgey bits as I know if I opt to redo it all I'll probably loose the enthusiasm.

 

 

The next job is to clear the rail head and check it works. Then lay the branch track!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

 

 

 

 

 

[Stoker]

It is a little rough, but then so is the prototype in places, and track set in concrete is pretty difficult to do in 2mm. I think you're right about the losing enthusiasm thing. Until one of the track manufacturers come out with a "track in concrete" product we're all going to have to struggle with it and find a good enough compromise.

 

I wonder if it would be possible to make 3D printed track in concrete? Just slide in some peco rail, or lay it on top of the existing track. Obviously that would only be possible with set track and straight sections though.

[Steadfast]

Good to see more progress there Jack.

The texture looks great, and, as a worst case scenario, even the rougher bits once fully weathered in I think will pass for damaged concrete. Failing that, there's always some Woodland Scenics "Kermit" green bits  Don't forget as well, the photo you've shared is up close and in harsh light

 

jo

[Stoker]

 

 

 

Take a little look at the concrete at Drinnick, it wasn't exactly silky smooth. There were piles of sand, and sections that had been patched up, as well as weeds.

[bcnPete]

Nice project Jack - can't believe how I missed it

 

As for the inlaid track, I had two cracks on mine and 'cocked it up royale' so am not the best to offer advice on that.

 

Keep up the great work though...the buildings look nice and Denise rocks

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Thanks Jo, I always imagined Woodland Scenics having a factory somewhere full of chained up Kermits being perpetually shaved!

 

Thanks for those photos Stoker, it certainly makes me feel better about the concrete! If I ever do a model of Drinnick Mill I'll have to build my own track and use your suggestion of 3D printing concreted points, I'm sure it's possible and certainly required with that many points!

 

Thanks Pete for the compliments, it means a lot coming from an excellent fellow modeller of the clay country!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[tender]

I used DAS clay for the infill of my quayside track scraped of level with the top of the rails while still soft. I then used a modified track gauge to 'roll' grooves for the wheel flanges. When dry, I scrapped these down to the chairs with the back of a blade.

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Another update!

 

I actually got these little items the other day, but I only took some pictures this evening. I also have the OBA to OEA conversion piece, but I'll do another post once I've taken the Dremel to the side of my Farish OBA!

 

First up is the loader, I've propped it up in the correct location. I'm going to put a figure on it, as there is a chap stood on it in the Mauric Darts photograph I drew inspiration from.

 

 

Next up is the shunting tractor I showed the renders of further back in the thread. The back buffer plate fell of in transit so it'll have to be stuck back on at some point!

 

 

And in context...

 

 

I really must finish that Polybulk!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

 

 

 

[tender]

Wow, that 3D printing is amazing, where do you get it done?

[stivesnick]

Regarding N Gauge tram type track - this is made by Tomix.

 

Not sure about UK stockists, but Modellbahn Union in Germany sell it and they attend the international N Gauge show at Leamington Spa each year.

[Rods_of_Revolution]

Wow, that 3D printing is amazing, where do you get it done?

 

Thanks, I use Shapeways, The material is Frosted Ultra Detail. I was impressed with the quality of the printing of the tyre tread, especially as I wasn't sure how well they'd come out.

 

 

Regarding N Gauge tram type track - this is made by Tomix.

 

Not sure about UK stockists, but Modellbahn Union in Germany sell it and they attend the international N Gauge show at Leamington Spa each year.

 

Do they produce points/turnouts of a reasonable radius? I remember seeing some a couple of years ago but the points were a very tight radius. Certainly something to consider for the future!

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[Stoker]

The reason there was a chap standing on the loader platform was because he had the very important job of shouting to another chap inside the dry to put a plank of wood across the conveyor belt to sweep the clay onto the loader conveyor.

 

I'm not even joking. Sophisticated technology in those old dryers.

 

Here's proof:

 

[Rods_of_Revolution]

I didn't realise that it would be such a simple operation! Which dries is that photograph taken in?

 

Do you know why conveyor loading wasn't used frequently at clay dries and why front loading tractors seemed to be the prefered method?

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[Stoker]

I didn't realise that it would be such a simple operation! Which dries is that photograph taken in?

 

Do you know why conveyor loading wasn't used frequently at clay dries and why front loading tractors seemed to be the prefered method?

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

 

The same method was used for most conveyor belts. A "linhay shift" would consist of placing the boards to form neat piles of clay in the correct bays corresponding to the grade (if the dryer was one that handled different grades at different times) and being responsible for the operation of the conveyors as well as keeping the area tidy. It was a pretty boring job for the people who had to do it, and came with a whole load of health and safety crap about not falling off of edges, not mangling your hand in conveyor belts, and not breathing in large amounts of dust, along with a whole load of other darwin award candidates. The photograph was taken at one of the Par Moor kilns - the clay was from a rotary dryer, you can tell because it's in little pellets. That wire below the conveyor operated the emergency stop, otherwise known as the "jailbait" rope. Nice to look at but don't touch. Drop a board on that wire and you'll stop the conveyor, causing a huge pile up at the feed end and a very cross supervisor!

 

Yes - the reason why "loaders" of any sort weren't very popular, was because of their high capital cost and high labour cost combined with the awkward operation. They require that the wagon be slowly moved under the loader while it is checked for load distribution. The feed must be shut on and shut off in coordination with the shunting of the wagon, and the whole thing is pretty impractical. A front end loader can spread the load in a wagon but requires space to operate. The reason it was done at Pontsmill was because the polybulk and PRA wagons were too tall to be loaded from the linhay dock by a front end loader. I do believe that the majority of the traffic from Pontsmill was actually on lorries, so it was just easier and more sensible for them to add a loading conveyor rather than build extended height loading doors onto the linhay.

 

This issue was encountered at Crugwallins when CDAs were introduced. None of the existing loading doors could be used anymore because the CDAs were far too tall, so a new loading area had to be built, and because this was only at one end of the linhay, the sentinel (denise) had to be brought down from Rocks to move wagons through the loading dock.

 

The most favourable method of loading is to just position the entire train in front of a single long loading dock, and load the whole thing in situ, or at least with a minimum amount of movement. The industry spent a fortune modifying old buildings to make them less of a problem, but in the end the best answer was to close them and concentrate production on larger modern sites. Imerys continued this by shutting down older plants, such as Burngullow Tube Press at Crugwallins, and moving the production to a newer unit at Rocks.

[Rods_of_Revolution]

That's interesting! Certainly sounds like a tedious and dusty job!

 

One thing I've noticed at Crugwallins is that the existing loading face of the linhay seems to have been supplimented with several larger height loading doors, though they wouldn't offer the same clearence as the section of linhay you describe where it looks like a large section of roof was cut out and covered over.

 

I'm painting the canal today on Pontsmill, I know that rivers at some point ran white with clay before the clay companies were told to clean their acts up. Do you know when this happened and would the river have been cloudy white at Pontsmill or clean (brown)?

 

Cheers,

 

Jack

[CME and Bottlewasher]

Hello Jack,

 

Nice work (as always) and great progress.

 

Further filling/fine work can be done - in the yard - with Deluxe Materials' acrylic filler and or when painting mix the paint with some Pound shop talc.

 

I use a lot of talc for texture on my wagons et al - of course I am working in a larger scale but for groundwork in the smaller scales I would have thought that when mixed with paint, it would be ideal. For such a large area a tester pot or two  - from one of the sheds - would be the most cost effective and experdient mehtod to cover the area.

 

Hope that I am not teaching anyone to suck eggs.

 

Kind regards,

 

CME