Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[Andrew P]

Nice Video mate, and always good to put a face to a name, especially when your not around the corner, great work so far and working well.

[St Enodoc]

Nice Video mate, and always good to put a face to a name, especially when your not around the corner, great work so far and working well.

Thanks Andy, although I suppose that depends on the face...

[bgman]

Hi John,

 

As Stu says, the video makes you engineering work more credible, having followed the written explanation some time ago in the posts it really is an excellent solution. Thank you for posting it.

 

Your mention of how easily the number tranfers came off is slightly concerning. May I ask if you treated / painted the coach end with gloss paint or varnish prior to applying them, as this would make a difference I'm sure.

 

Still very much liking the layout progress please keep it coming.

 

All the best

 

Grahame

Edited May 21, 2017 by bgman

[Mulgabill]

Charles has done the business and here is yesterday's video. Two for the price of one in fact, as the first half is the requested demonstration by yours truly of the lifting flap being lowered and raised, with a bonus shot of the railbus scuttling from Tregissey towards Porthmellyn Road.

 

The second half is a short sequence of the Down Goods Loop in action, with the late-running 2145 class D goods from Bristol West Depot to Penzance being put inside at Porthmellyn Road to allow the 2210 Paddington to Penzance Down Postal to overtake it. After a decent interval the goods proceeds on its way.

 

As always, many thanks to Charles for taking, editing and posting the video for me.

 

Back to some other matters arising.

 

20170521 002 set number small.JPG

After the gang had left, I took the milk train brake van indoors and changed the set number. I was a bit surprised to find that the previous numbers, made from Modelmaster transfers, just lifted off with no effort at all. This didn't look too good, so I decided to use some tried and tested Pressfix loco numbers instead, in the smallest size this time. I think they look much better, so I will stick to this size now. Whether I continue with Pressfix is another question. As each sheet only contains eight sets of numbers at this size, I would need to order a number of new sheets just for those, which seems a bit extravagant. I think I will use as many Pressfix numbers as I can and in the meantime experiment with the Modelmaster ones to find a way that they will a) stick properly and b) not leave a visible carrier. I might try some Fox ones as well. As always, I will report back.

 

20170521 003 viaduct guard rail dual trial piece.JPG

 

20170521 004 viaduct guard rail dual trial piece.JPG

I also made up a second guard rail using the C&L chairs. To be honest, these weren't as easy to use as I had expected as not only did they need to be trimmed to length but there was no natural "seat" for the rail and nor is there any impression of the brackets supporting it. To me the rail looks more like a strange form of conductor rail than a viaduct guard rail. Furthermore, as Tony (Mulgabill) suggested the guard rail isn't high enough compared to the running rails to give the right visual effect. Consequently, on the basis of the trial I will use the Evergreen styrene brackets for Nancegwithey Viaduct.

I agree with Andy, it's good to see who you are!

 

With regard to the set numbers, I think they look much better, but was there a reason for their having tranfered (no pun) to the other side of the gangway?

[St Enodoc]

Hi John,

 

As Stu says, the video makes you engineering work more credible, having followed the written explanation some time ago in the posts it really is an excellent solution. Thank you for posting it.

 

Your mention of how easily the number tranfers came off is slightly concerning. May I ask if you treated / painted the coach end with gloss paint or varnish prior to applying them, as this would make a difference I'm sure.

 

Still very much liking the layout progress please keep it coming.

 

All the best

 

Grahame

Thanks Grahame. No, I didn't touch the paint on the coach end, which may well be part of the problem. I want to minimise the amount of effort I have to put into this exercise as I have rather a lot of sets to number. I prefer Pressfix anyway (actually I prefer Methfix when I can get them) but I bought some Modelmaster sheets in one of their discount offers. Possibly a false economy...

[St Enodoc]

I agree with Andy, it's good to see who you are!

 

With regard to the set numbers, I think they look much better, but was there a reason for their having tranfered (no pun) to the other side of the gangway?

Well spotted Tony.

 

The set numbers are on the nearest side of the coach to the operators at each end, so they are on the left of the gangway at one end and the right of the gangway at the other. This is so that they are easily visible even when they are, for example, 12 tracks away. Not entirely prototypical but a justifiable concession to ease of operating (a bit like automatic couplings too I suppose!).

[St Enodoc]

The Porthmellyn Road lever frame kit is on its way from sunny Queensland.

 

Very exciting but also slightly scary...

[St Enodoc]

Exciting times this week - three parcels arrived.

 

The first was from Liverpool and contained a second-hand Hornby class 08 D3509 and a Fordhampton footbridge kit.

 

D3509 was shedded at Truro in 1959, was transferred briefly to St Blazey in 1960 and then back to Truro in 1961, so it just fits into the timeframe for the Mid-Cornwall Lines. I have decided that it will become the Pentowan station pilot. First, however, it needs a decoder and DG couplings to be fitted. It also needs the wasp stripes painted out, as my understanding is that these did not appear until the 1960s.

 

I already had an old Hornby GWR footbridge kit, which I opened up the other week to see how easy it would be to build it with the stairs at each end pointing opposite ways, like the one at Par. The answer was "not very", due to the way the mouldings themselves are handed. The easiest way seemed to be to get another kit and use the relevant parts from each. It will of course also be lowered to a more sensible height for platform mounting.

 

The other parcels were from Modratec and contained the Porthmellyn Road lever frame kit.

 

The large wooden case weighs 12 kg and includes all the metal parts and some of the electrical bits, while the small box contains the switches and relays. I also printed off the customised instruction manual - all 50 pages of it. As I said in a previous post, hours of fun ahead.

 

Allocation dates edited

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[bgman]

Sometimes it's better than Christmas eh John !

 

I hope all goes well with the frame build it'll be interesting to see it in progress.

 

The footbridge is a useful model too although admittedly I went for the brass version from Scalelink ( which is still in the box !) and will make that up sometime.

 

All the best,

 

Grahame

[Andrew P]

Hi John, I looked at he Modrotec Frame for Pencarne but it was way over my head for buidability,  but having seen what you've achieved so far it looks easy peasy for you to build.

 

The Footbridge and the Level Crossings are  2 of the best Fordhampton Kits, enjoy.

[St Enodoc]

Sometimes it's better than Christmas eh John !

 

I hope all goes well with the frame build it'll be interesting to see it in progress.

 

The footbridge is a useful model too although admittedly I went for the brass version from Scalelink ( which is still in the box !) and will make that up sometime.

 

All the best,

 

Grahame

Thanks Grahame. We have something down here called Christmas in July, when the hotels and resorts in places like the Blue Mountains serve festive cheer in the cold. Personally I don't get it - I have got very used to Christmas dinner wearing shorts.

 

Don't hold your breath with the frame - it's going to be many weeks or even months before it's complete.

 

Par didn't have one of the elaborate covered footbridges but I like them so Porthmellyn Road will!

[St Enodoc]

Hi John, I looked at he Modrotec Frame for Pencarne but it was way over my head for buidability,  but having seen what you've achieved so far it looks easy peasy for you to build.

 

The Footbridge and the Level Crossings are  2 of the best Fordhampton Kits, enjoy.

Thanks Andy. I don't think it will be easy-peasy at all, particularly as I am going to build it back to front so that the levers are next to the baseboard edge with the interlocking behind them hidden under the boards. With 54 levers and 29 locking bars it will also be quite repetitive - then I need to build and mount the auxiliary switch units as well.

[Barry O]

Fitting dgs to the 08 is a doddle. The coupling base is at just the right height. They are a s@d to fit sound too bso it's popular for my clients.

 

Interlocking lever frames look nice..good luck with the build ..will it be ready for January 2018?

 

Baz

 

PS the lifting bridge reminds me of a certain bridge built by the late DNE Smith, functional and smart

[Mulgabill]

Exciting times this week - three parcels arrived.

 

The first was from Liverpool and contained a second-hand Hornby class 08 D3509 and a Fordhampton footbridge kit.

 

D3509 was shedded at Truro in 1959, was transferred briefly to St Blazey in 1960 and then back to Truro in 1961, so it just fits into the timeframe for the Mid-Cornwall Lines. I have decided that it will become the Pentowan station pilot. First, however, it needs a decoder and DG couplings to be fitted. It also needs the wasp stripes painted out, as my understanding is that these did not appear until the 1960s.

 

I already had an old Hornby GWR footbridge kit, which I opened up the other week to see how easy it would be to build it with the stairs at each end pointing opposite ways, like the one at Par. The answer was "not very", due to the way the mouldings themselves are handed. The easiest way seemed to be to get another kit and use the relevant parts from each. It will of course also be lowered to a more sensible height for platform mounting.

 

The other parcels were from Modratec and contained the Porthmellyn Road lever frame kit.

 

20170527 001 PM lever frame kit and manual.JPG

The large wooden case weighs 12 kg and includes all the metal parts and some of the electrical bits, while the small box contains the switches and relays. I also printed off the customised instruction manual - all 50 pages of it. As I said in a previous post, hours of fun ahead.

 

Allocation dates edited

Hi  John

 

Sometimes repeating it to yourself helps fix the thought - You WILL have hour of fun!

 

Also it may be a bit too late to help, but I got an e-mail this week from L Cut (who produced  my doors windows) re their new GWR footbridge kit.

Might be a bit easier to bash about. 

http://www.lcut.co.uk/index.php?product=B%2000-31&title=B%2000-31

 

Look forward to next weeks update, to see how the levr frame has progressed.

[St Enodoc]

Fitting dgs to the 08 is a doddle. The coupling base is at just the right height. They are a s@d to fit sound too bso it's popular for my clients.

 

Interlocking lever frames look nice..good luck with the build ..will it be ready for January 2018?

 

Baz

 

PS the lifting bridge reminds me of a certain bridge built by the late DNE Smith, functional and smart

Thanks for the tip Baz. I don't use sound as you know so my usual 8-pin plug-in should do the trick. I hope the frame is finished by January but even if it is not we can still play trains.

 

Perhaps I should inscribe "I K Brunel, Engineer, 1859" on the flap in memory of Dave...

[St Enodoc]

Hi  John

 

Sometimes repeating it to yourself helps fix the thought - You WILL have hour of fun!

 

Also it may be a bit too late to help, but I got an e-mail this week from L Cut (who produced  my doors windows) re their new GWR footbridge kit.

Might be a bit easier to bash about. 

http://www.lcut.co.uk/index.php?product=B%2000-31&title=B%2000-31

 

Look forward to next weeks update, to see how the levr frame has progressed.

Thanks for the support Tony. That bridge does look nice but I've made up my mind that the Hornby/Fordhampton kit is the one for me.

 

I don't think the lever frame will have got very far by next weekend! Getting the bits out of the box, counting them and putting them back might be about it.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Hi  John

 

Sometimes repeating it to yourself helps fix the thought - You WILL have hour of fun!

 

Also it may be a bit too late to help, but I got an e-mail this week from L Cut (who produced  my doors windows) re their new GWR footbridge kit.

Might be a bit easier to bash about. 

http://www.lcut.co.uk/index.php?product=B%2000-31&title=B%2000-31

 

Look forward to next weeks update, to see how the levr frame has progressed.

That LCut bridge kit looks very impressive and a real bargain at that price.

[St Enodoc]

At our running session two weeks ago we decided that the position of the Paddington and Penzance LED entry signals wasn't quite right, as the LEDs couldn't be seen clearly from all angles. Consequently, today I remounted the signals at 45 degrees to the wall.

 

 

The aspects can now be read from all round the room.

 

While I was doing this I had plugged in the soldering iron to heat up, as we also found at the running session that some vehicles were still derailing at 216 points. These are the facing points from the Up Main into the Paddington Down end throat so every Up train needs to pass over them.

 

Clearly my previous tweaking hadn't worked so it was time to go back to basics. Out came the verynears and I found that the right-hand route was wide to gauge by up to 0.3 mm most of the way through the point and certainly at the crossing. By melting the solder joints between the right-hand stock rail and the timbers, one timber at a time, I was able to ease the rail closer to the corresponding switch rail and to the crossing. I pushed a couple of coaches (coaches with self-centring close couplings had given most of the trouble) very fast over the point with no derailments. I then powered up the layout and ran a few trains, passenger and goods, at ridiculously high speeds across the point. Again all was well, although as is the way of things the gremlins that I banished today will no doubt return for July's running session.

 

After all that excitement I decided to "Open the Box", as Michael Miles used to say, and have a look at the contents of the Porthmellyn Road Modratec lever frame kit. Everything was present and correct - not that I had ever had any doubt in this regard! I took all the electrical bits and put them to one side in a separate box and then took the Perspex lock cover over to Porthmellyn Road to try it in its eventual location. It fitted well, so there will be no problem locating the lever frame directly in line with the model signal box on the layout, at the Down end of the platforms.

 

Next weekend is the Queen's Birthday long weekend which means that it is time for Epping Model Railway Club's annual show at Thornleigh. I missed the show last year, as we were away, but I plan to go this time and buy some odds and ends, including some new files for the lever frame kit with luck.

 

Soon I will start to build the first of the double slips to see how easy or complicated it will be. I have had some very valuable tips from my old friend Mike Edge of Leeds, not least to use four motors instead of two. That will mean Tortoises not Cobalts in order to keep the current consumption below the 100 mA limit for the Modratec switches (lever 22 works a crossover, both ends of which are double slips). I am going to try Norman Solomon-style flexible joints between the blades and the tiebars. I may well also fit  loose-heel switches. Watch this space.

Edited July 20, 2023 by St Enodoc
images restored

[The Fatadder]

4 motors for a double slip rather than two, might give that a go myself and see if it works better for me

[St Enodoc]

4 motors for a double slip rather than two, might give that a go myself and see if it works better for me

Rich, the idea as Mike explained it to me is to avoid stresses due to the two sets of blades at each end moving at right angles to their respective stock rails and not parallel with each other. A glance at a template makes this obvious and, as I understand it, prototype double slips were driven by two stretchers at each end for the same reason. A bonus is that it saves you having to make sure two blades fit up properly at the same time.

[The Stationmaster]

Rich, the idea as Mike explained it to me is to avoid stresses due to the two sets of blades at each end moving at right angles to their respective stock rails and not parallel with each other. A glance at a template makes this obvious and, as I understand it, prototype double slips were driven by two stretchers at each end for the same reason. A bonus is that it saves you having to make sure two blades fit up properly at the same time.

 

Makes the locking a lot simpler too (oops - we're past that, er, point) but it will make any power switching simpler as well.

[St Enodoc]

Sitting in my hotel room after a very nice Italian meal, I've just finished chopping a length of laminated Evergreen sections into 2 mm long slices for the viaduct guard rail support brackets. If I do the same again next week (the meal and the chopping) I'll have made enough for Nancegwithey.

[Andrew P]

Sitting in my hotel room after a very nice Italian meal, I've just finished chopping a length of laminated Evergreen sections into 2 mm long slices for the viaduct guard rail support brackets. If I do the same again next week (the meal and the chopping) I'll have made enough for Nancegwithey.

Lucky old Nancy, that's what I say .

[St Enodoc]

Lucky old Nancy, that's what I say .

Lucky old me more like.

[St Enodoc]

Exciting times this week - three parcels arrived.

 

The first was from Liverpool and contained a second-hand Hornby class 08 D3509 and a Fordhampton footbridge kit.

 

D3509 was shedded at Truro in 1959, was transferred briefly to St Blazey in 1960 and then back to Truro in 1961, so it just fits into the timeframe for the Mid-Cornwall Lines. I have decided that it will become the Pentowan station pilot. First, however, it needs a decoder and DG couplings to be fitted. It also needs the wasp stripes painted out, as my understanding is that these did not appear until the 1960s.

 

I already had an old Hornby GWR footbridge kit, which I opened up the other week to see how easy it would be to build it with the stairs at each end pointing opposite ways, like the one at Par. The answer was "not very", due to the way the mouldings themselves are handed. The easiest way seemed to be to get another kit and use the relevant parts from each. It will of course also be lowered to a more sensible height for platform mounting.

 

The other parcels were from Modratec and contained the Porthmellyn Road lever frame kit.

 

20170527 001 PM lever frame kit and manual.JPG

The large wooden case weighs 12 kg and includes all the metal parts and some of the electrical bits, while the small box contains the switches and relays. I also printed off the customised instruction manual - all 50 pages of it. As I said in a previous post, hours of fun ahead.

 

Allocation dates edited

When I had a closer look at D3509 I realised that it was modelled in later condition, with air-brake hoses, some lamp brackets removed, and so on. So, when I noticed on my daily browse through Hatton's second-hand listings a nearly-new R3484 in plain green livery at about a 40% discount on the new price I decided to go for that instead. Changing the number from 13363 to D3509 will be a lot easier than faffing around with the wasp stripes and all.

 

Anyone want a second-hand R2933 - only two (probably) careful owners?

Edited June 10, 2017 by St Enodoc