Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

On 29/12/2021 at 10:29, St Enodoc said:

Do you remember the Tri-ang miniature railway at Swanpool Beach (next to the crazy golf)?

 

On 29/12/2021 at 19:27, TrevorP1 said:

Now that you’ve mentioned it John yes but funnily enough only vaguely. 

 Found these while doing nothing in particular, waiting for glue and paint to dry:

 

http://cornishmemory.com/item/MISC_176

 

https://wpehs.org.uk/falmouth-swanpool-beach

 

https://issuu.com/tmnrtimes/docs/tmnrtimes23issuu (page 19, also front and back cover)

[St Enodoc]

Happy New Year everyone.

 

Today I finished City of Truro.

 

The usual detailing - some of the Bachmann bits, crew, coal and lamps, plus a reporting number from the Roger Smith range (cut and shut from two different numbers) held on by Black Tack.

 

I've just noticed that I refitted the bogie the wrong way round. I'll fix that another time.

 

As I've mentioned before, this model will let me replicate an Amateur Photographer special from Exeter to Penzance on Sunday 25 May 1958, as photographed on Dainton Bank by Dick Blenkinsop.

Edited June 20, 2022 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[Nick Gough]

19 hours ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Currently, in UK, well South Bedfordshire anyway, we could be forgiven for thinking we were in Australia with 16 degrees outside!

 

Much colder than that here Paul:

 

Well actually Lapland for a, much delayed, family visit.

 

Best wishes all for 2022.

[FarrMan]

2 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

 

Much colder than that here Paul:

 

Well actually Lapland for a, much delayed, family visit.

 

Best wishes all for 2022.

That's not proper snow - the branches are still horizontal!

 

A Happy New Year and successful modelling to sainty and all the helpful folk on this forum.

 

Lloyd

[Nick Gough]

3 hours ago, FarrMan said:

That's not proper snow

 

Probably isn't.

It hasn't brought everything to a grinding halt, like it does back home.

[TrevorP1]

13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

 Found these while doing nothing in particular, waiting for glue and paint to dry:

 

http://cornishmemory.com/item/MISC_176

 

https://wpehs.org.uk/falmouth-swanpool-beach

 

https://issuu.com/tmnrtimes/docs/tmnrtimes23issuu (page 19, also front and back cover)

 

Thank you John. Back home now and I've had a look at those links. I definitely remember the railway - the pictures proved I was 'remembering the right thing' -  but I've no recollection of riding on it. Perhaps by the time it got going I was too old...

 

It's interesting the things I do remember though. We stayed in Falmouth in 1961/2/3 & 4 at 2 Melville Road in a B&B run by Jack Powdrill and his wife. I turned 10 on our 1964 holiday.  Jack was a local councillor I think. Our room overlooked the railway, so you can guess what interested me! In 1961 the branch goods was still steam worked - I copped 6854 and 6870 on that! I believe the branch passenger went to DMU for the summer season so I missed that. We visited Falmouth Model Railway Club, although whether that was a public event or something arranged by Jack Powdrill I don't know. He and Dad got on well so that may be...

 

Here I am recalling events from 1961 when I was 6 or 7 but ask me about something from last week....

 

The house in Melville Road is still there, empty and in a mess but up for sale. A couple of years ago we pulled up outside for this silly old fool to indulge his memories. There was the iron front gate, rusty but still proudly carrying the name 'Chesterton'. It's a mighty good job we were in a car and not something bigger or I might have saved it from being turned into baked bean tins!

[TrevorP1]

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Happy New Year everyone.

 

Today I finished City of Truro.

 

The usual detailing - some of the Bachmann bits, crew, coal and lamps, plus a reporting number from the Roger Smith range (cut and shut from two different numbers) held on by Black Tack.

 

I've just noticed that I refitted the bogie the wrong way round. I'll fix that another time.

 

As I've mentioned before, this model will let me replicate an Amateur Photographer special from Exeter to Penzance on Sunday 25 May 1958, as photographed on Dainton Bank by Dick Blenkinsop.

 

That's making me want one too! Take 1000 lines: "You don't want need City of Truro, You don't..."

 

On a serious(ish) not. I didn't fancy drilling holes in 18000 to take the magnetic head code but I've used it on D807 and it looks pretty reasonable. Not strictly correct for day to day use in Cornwall but Rule 1 and all that.

 

 

[gwrrob]

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Today I finished City of Truro.

As I've mentioned before, this model will let me replicate an Amateur Photographer special from Exeter to Penzance on Sunday 25 May 1958, as photographed on Dainton Bank by Dick Blenkinsop.

 

Very nice too and I'd be interested in seeing that photo myself.

[St Enodoc]

On 02/01/2022 at 05:52, TrevorP1 said:

 

Thank you John. Back home now and I've had a look at those links. I definitely remember the railway - the pictures proved I was 'remembering the right thing' -  but I've no recollection of riding on it. Perhaps by the time it got going I was too old...

 

It's interesting the things I do remember though. We stayed in Falmouth in 1961/2/3 & 4 at 2 Melville Road in a B&B run by Jack Powdrill and his wife. I turned 10 on our 1964 holiday.  Jack was a local councillor I think. Our room overlooked the railway, so you can guess what interested me! In 1961 the branch goods was still steam worked - I copped 6854 and 6870 on that! I believe the branch passenger went to DMU for the summer season so I missed that. We visited Falmouth Model Railway Club, although whether that was a public event or something arranged by Jack Powdrill I don't know. He and Dad got on well so that may be...

 

Here I am recalling events from 1961 when I was 6 or 7 but ask me about something from last week....

 

The house in Melville Road is still there, empty and in a mess but up for sale. A couple of years ago we pulled up outside for this silly old fool to indulge his memories. There was the iron front gate, rusty but still proudly carrying the name 'Chesterton'. It's a mighty good job we were in a car and not something bigger or I might have saved it from being turned into baked bean tins!

I rode on it, in about 1966 1968, with my brother. I was 10 12 then and also probably too old but so what?! I know Dad captured us on cine but I'm not sure whether there is a still slide. If I find one I'll scan it.

 

On 02/01/2022 at 05:58, TrevorP1 said:

 

That's making me want one too! Take 1000 lines: "You don't want need City of Truro, You don't..."

 

On a serious(ish) not. I didn't fancy drilling holes in 18000 to take the magnetic head code but I've used it on D807 and it looks pretty reasonable. Not strictly correct for day to day use in Cornwall but Rule 1 and all that.

 

 

I thought about using 18000's reporting numbers on 3440 but when I looked closer they seem very chunky and I certainly didn't need the magnetic facility. If I fit them to 18000 I'll probably use my favourite Black Tack.

Edited January 3, 2022 by St Enodoc
Evidence of year found - no photo yet though

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, gwrrob said:

 

Very nice too and I'd be interested in seeing that photo myself.

Rob, it's copyright of course but you'll find it in "Reflections of the Great Western" and also the later compendium volume "Great Western Cameraman 1951 - 1962".

[St Enodoc]

This morning Veronica had a Pilates session so in a spirit of goodwill I took her there by car rather than leave her to grapple  with the vagaries of the Sunday bus service. That left me 45 minutes before I needed to pick her up and Bunnings is only 10 minutes further away, so...

 

I went to see whether they'd got any 9mm marine ply and yes they had! Moreover, the nice chap with the saw was able to cut it for me so I came back with three pieces of wood, two big ones that will go to Pentowan in due course and one smaller one that, together with some offcuts I already had, will finish off the Polperran baseboard top. Success!

 

After lunch I cut the Polperran tops and their supporting joists to size and laid them in place to check the fit. All was well, so I fixed the joists to the baseboard structure.

 

I left the joists over-length pending the final design of the Pentowan approach and scenic sea wall/beach/sea area. Easier to chop them back later than to add bits on.

 

Separately, one of my ancient Mainline/Bachmann panniers stopped working a while ago. I opened it up last night and found that a couple of wires had snapped off the decoder - not sure why, so I tried soldering them back without success. Today I removed the decoder from my old Mainline/Bachmann Mogul (which, having been replaced by the Dapol one, is now enjoying a second life as a useful source of spare bits for split-frame chassis). I'll change the decoders over and reprogram the replacement so that 7715 can go back into service.

Edited June 20, 2022 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[TrevorP1]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

I thought about using 18000's reporting numbers on 3440 but when I looked closer they seem very chunky and I certainly didn't need the magnetic facility. If I fit them to 18000 I'll probably use my favourite Black Tack.

Yes you’re probably right John, too chunky  for a steam loco. On a diesel more a case of being able to get away with it.

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I'll change the decoders over and reprogram the replacement so that 7715 can go back into service.

Hmm, that didn't work. The chassis itself seems to have failed, with the clamping bushes broken and the motor running only intermittently.

 

I've got another chassis, from the old Lima/Bachmann 94xx, which I'll try another time.

[Tankerman]

On 01/01/2022 at 18:52, TrevorP1 said:

 

Thank you John. Back home now and I've had a look at those links. I definitely remember the railway - the pictures proved I was 'remembering the right thing' -  but I've no recollection of riding on it. Perhaps by the time it got going I was too old...

 

It's interesting the things I do remember though. We stayed in Falmouth in 1961/2/3 & 4 at 2 Melville Road in a B&B run by Jack Powdrill and his wife. I turned 10 on our 1964 holiday.  Jack was a local councillor I think. Our room overlooked the railway, so you can guess what interested me! In 1961 the branch goods was still steam worked - I copped 6854 and 6870 on that! I believe the branch passenger went to DMU for the summer season so I missed that. We visited Falmouth Model Railway Club, although whether that was a public event or something arranged by Jack Powdrill I don't know. He and Dad got on well so that may be...

 

Here I am recalling events from 1961 when I was 6 or 7 but ask me about something from last week....

 

The house in Melville Road is still there, empty and in a mess but up for sale. A couple of years ago we pulled up outside for this silly old fool to indulge his memories. There was the iron front gate, rusty but still proudly carrying the name 'Chesterton'. It's a mighty good job we were in a car and not something bigger or I might have saved it from being turned into baked bean tins!

 

Your mentioning visiting FMC brought back a lot of happy memories. I was a member of FMC between 1960 and 1968, after which I visited when on leave from the Merchant Navy until I moved away in 1968. If your visits were in the August of those years, then your visit was almost certainly when the annual exhibition was being held.

 

We were lucky because at that time we had the use of a large shed accessed by a door from Arwenack Avenue in which there was a permanent oval layout. The main station was laid out like Totnes with the platform lines on loops from the main lines and a branch line coming off one of the loops to a branch terminus over the hidden sidings on the other side. I always volunteered to work the branch terminus as I enjoyed shunting the goods trains and chatting to the visitors.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Tankerman
typo

[TrevorP1]

27 minutes ago, Tankerman said:

 

Your mentioning visiting FMC brought back a lot of happy memories. I was a member of FMC between 1960 and 1968, after which I visited when on leave from the Merchant Navy until I moved away in 1968. If your visits were in the August of those years, then your visit was almost certainly when the annual exhibition was being held.

 

 

Could well have been early August. We always went on the first two weeks of the school summer holidays. Dad was a carpet weaver on a 12' broadloom for Axminster and Wilton in Southampton and this is when the factory shut down.

[Tankerman]

2 hours ago, TrevorP1 said:

 

Could well have been early August. We always went on the first two weeks of the school summer holidays. Dad was a carpet weaver on a 12' broadloom for Axminster and Wilton in Southampton and this is when the factory shut down.

 

It that case it was almost certainly a special visit as, IIRC, our exhibition was always held over the August Bank Holiday weekend to ensure we had enough people to run it and get the highest number of visitors.

[St Enodoc]

4 hours ago, Tankerman said:

 

It that case it was almost certainly a special visit as, IIRC, our exhibition was always held over the August Bank Holiday weekend to ensure we had enough people to run it and get the highest number of visitors.

I would have missed the show too. We usually had our holidays in the second and third weeks of August. I think Dad chose those dates specifically to avoid the bank holiday!

[TrevorP1]

6 hours ago, Tankerman said:

 

It that case it was almost certainly a special visit as, IIRC, our exhibition was always held over the August Bank Holiday weekend to ensure we had enough people to run it and get the highest number of visitors.

 

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I would have missed the show too. We usually had our holidays in the second and third weeks of August. I think Dad chose those dates specifically to avoid the bank holiday!

Just thinking… wasn’t August Bank Holiday earlier in the month in those days?

[Oldddudders]

Yes, the first weekend of the month. The carnage on the roads was awful, so it was deferred to the end of the month instead. 

[St Enodoc]

Today I screwed down the Polperran baseboard tops and glued the cork on top. I'll take a couple of photos when the glue's dried, I've trimmed the cork edges and marked out the track centre lines.

 

Not such good progress with 7715. Its own chassis and the spare from 8412 seem OK electrically but very stiff - probably because neither has been used for many years. I'll try lubricating the drive train and see how that goes. I'd be reluctant to write off 7715 as it was the first decent pannier I had.

 

Here it is, on Dave Peacey's Highworth-Hannington Branch layout at a Swindon (I think) exhibition in September 1983. The Airfix B Set is also still in service on the Mid-Cornwall Lines.

Edited June 20, 2022 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Today I screwed down the Polperran baseboard tops and glued the cork on top. I'll take a couple of photos when the glue's dried, I've trimmed the cork edges and marked out the track centre lines.

 

Not such good progress with 7715. Its own chassis and the spare from 8412 seem OK electrically but very stiff - probably because neither has been used for many years. I'll try lubricating the drive train and see how that goes. I'd be reluctant to write off 7715 as it was the first decent pannier I had.

 

Here it is, on Dave Peacey's Highworth-Hannington Branch layout at a Swindon (I think) exhibition in September 1983. The Airfix B Set is also still in service on the Mid-Cornwall Lines.

Lummy.. that takes me back a bit! (Both the layout and the show!)

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Not such good progress with 7715. Its own chassis and the spare from 8412 seem OK electrically but very stiff - probably because neither has been used for many years. I'll try lubricating the drive train and see how that goes. I'd be reluctant to write off 7715 as it was the first decent pannier I had.

I went back to basics and stripped 7715 down, including the split chassis, tonight. The problem turned out to be electro-mechanical - after all, my electrical engineering friends tell me that all electrical problems are really mechanical - namely very poor commutation. The brushes had almost seized up in their holders so weren't actually contacting the commutator firmly enough to make the motor go. I don't know exactly how to adjust the brushes but some very gentle persuasion and a bit of cleaning up seems to have done the trick. I also lubricated the motor bearings and the gear train. After testing on DC, I fitted the redundant decoder from the old 6305 and reprogrammed it, so now the loco can go back into service. It's a little noisy and lumpy, as befits such a poor old thing, but it waddles along well enough and you can certainly tell whether it's moving even with your eyes shut.

 

8412's motor was suffering the same way but I couldn't get that one working - no matter, as, having been superseded by the new Bachmann 8485, 8412 has been withdrawn anyway and is now another source of spares.

[Tankerman]

14 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Yes, the first weekend of the month. The carnage on the roads was awful, so it was deferred to the end of the month instead. 

 

I had completely forgotten that.  I've looked it up and it was changed in 1965.

[5BarVT]

1 hour ago, Tankerman said:

 

I had completely forgotten that.  I've looked it up and it was changed in 1965.

I didn’t know that.  What an erudite place RMWeb is.

Or maybe it’s just the people that hang out here are as pedantic as I am!

Paul.

[Tankerman]

3 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

I didn’t know that.  What an erudite place RMWeb is.

Or maybe it’s just the people that hang out here are as pedantic as I am!

Paul.

 

Not pedantic, just a life long need to know the answer to trivial questions.