Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[Barry O]

And Cisk is still available on Malta...

[FarrMan]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

My late Dad spent the last third of his career with The Distillers Company (hence our family move to Edinburgh in 1972). There was, therefore, never a shortage of the Water of Life in our house - which led to my continuing love of the peaty single malts from the islands, especially Islay.

Reminds me of a long time ago when my son went to a dance along with most of the rest of his class, after they had received exam results. We had to go 20 or 30 miles away to collect him in the middle of the night, as he was drunk, and the lift that he had would not bring him back drunk. He was used to blended whiskeys, but not to malts. I suggested it was our fault for not giving him malts at home before! It was also a wet night, and the dead flies on my windscreen were getting quite bad, and with the rain, they washed off quite nicely. For a while after that, I would wind him up whenever the dead flies in the windscreen were getting bad, by suggesting that he had better go to another dance and get pissed! We knew that we didn't need to tell him off at all - the hangover was enough.

 

Lloyd

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

And Cisk is still available on Malta...

Vaut le détour?

 

G Batty (aka Michelin Man)

[St Enodoc]

Today I decided to start sorting out some of the remaining coaching stock that will start the sequence at Pentowan. I didn't get all that far, for several reasons:

 

- some of the stock isn't built yet.

- some of the stock is standing in for other stock that isn't built yet.

- some of the stock needs couplings changing to get DGs at the outer ends of each set.

 

Nevertheless, I've now got just over 20 more coaches on the layout, as you can see here:

 

Nearest the camera is a temporary formation for set 706. Eventually, this will include a mixture of Hornby RTR, BSL, Comet and Slaters kits but for the time being I've pressed my old Lima Mk1 set into service. In due course this will be a spare set that will be used to represent the Amateur Photographer special in 1958, hauled by 3440 City of Truro. Some of the flushglazing will need fixing before that.

 

On the same road, nearer the stop block, is part of set 743, with three Hornby and one Bachmann Collett. The full set will also include another (Mainline) Collett SK and an Airfix Centenary CK (which just need their couplings changing), plus a Bachmann/Comet CK (yet to be built).

 

Looking the other way, set 748 is in the future Platform 1. This is an Airfix ex-LMS set that I flushglazed, rewheeled and repainted many years ago. I think these coaches still look good, as long as they aren't parked next to the more recent Hornby models.

 

Behind that are set 91, a Bachmann Mk1 S that will be replaced by a BSL or Westdale version, and set 98, a Hornby B Set that's been close-coupled and detailed slightly. Both of these are for the branch service to and from Porthmellyn Road and were previously stabled in the Chapel Sidings there.

 

Finally, nearer the stop block is set 721, a 5-car set of Hornby, Bachmann and Slaters coaches with an extra Bachmann SK at the near end as a coupling converter.

 

You can also see the temporary signal box diagram in this photo.

Edited March 11, 2023 by St Enodoc
721 not 521

[Coach bogie]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 I didn't get all that far, for several reasons:

 

- some of the stock isn't built yet.

 

I can appreciate this. I have a very empty looking layout back in Britain waiting for the mass stock building going on down here. Very different conditions to the UK (-2 and snow at the moment) with painting being a major challenge with heat. I can only line out coaches early in the morning, usually when we have to get up at 03.30 for my wife to catch a flight, when temperatures are low enough for paint not to dry in the pen. On the plus side, mid day is a good time to be soldering when the solder runs much more freely than in the UK resulting in several unpainted coach bodies. 

 

The carriage and wagon works will be on annual 'GWR trip' season soon, as I am expecting an invasion from the UK prior to going on mass to the Melbourne Grand Prix.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

[St Enodoc]

11 minutes ago, Coach bogie said:

I can appreciate this. I have a very empty looking layout back in Britain waiting for the mass stock building going on down here. Very different conditions to the UK (-2 and snow at the moment) with painting being a major challenge with heat. I can only line out coaches early in the morning, usually when we have to get up at 03.30 for my wife to catch a flight, when temperatures are low enough for paint not to dry in the pen. On the plus side, mid day is a good time to be soldering when the solder runs much more freely than in the UK resulting in several unpainted coach bodies. 

 

The carriage and wagon works will be on annual 'GWR trip' season soon, as I am expecting an invasion from the UK prior to going on mass to the Melbourne Grand Prix.

 

Mike Wiltshire

 

One of my challenges is that I prefer operating the layout to building stock, so that tends to get left until there is no alternative! When Pentowan is functional (not complete) I'll make a start on some of the simpler additions, such as Comet sides on RTR bodies and then the Slaters and complete Comet kits. After that, with a bit of luck, there'll be more RTR choices, so I won't have to face the challenge of BSL/Phoenix, MTK and Westdale (don't mention the Mailcoach K22s...) (or the Nu-Cast 2021...).

Edited March 11, 2023 by St Enodoc
speling

[St Enodoc]

Random thought for the day:

 

Timbering up a 00 A5 turnout takes almost exactly 4ft 8.5in of copperclad strip...

[St Enodoc]

Today I tidied up the railway room and checked that things were still working, ready for next weekend's running session. One signal wire at St Enodoc had fallen off its relay, so I soldered that back in place, but otherwise everything seems to be working OK.

 

I picked up some interesting bits and pieces at last week's Forestville show, not from the bring-and-buy, but from one of the traders who had a big box of "new old stock". I bought a selection of Coopercraft and Ratio lineside accessories and these two kits, which I haven't seen examples of for more than 40 years:

 

I'll build these end-to-end to make the platform at Indian Queens Halt. I'll probably retain the Bachmann resin pagoda hut and use the John Day ones somewhere else on the layout. A nice find.

[drduncan]

14 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Random thought for the day:

 

Timbering up a 00 A5 turnout takes almost exactly 4ft 8.5in of copperclad strip...

8ft 6 or 9 foot plan track sleepers at each end? Given your period I imagine 8'6...

D

[St Enodoc]

16 hours ago, drduncan said:

8ft 6 or 9 foot plan track sleepers at each end? Given your period I imagine 8'6...

D

Ah, that's an interesting question, Duncan!

 

SMP 00 track has sleepers 32mm (scale 8') long. Why so short? Because, visually, what you notice is the projection of the sleeper outside the rails. Hence 32mm sleepers in 00 are equivalent to 34mm (8' 6") in P4, so they look right even though they're wrong. Likewise, on the C&L templates I use, the short timbers that connect to the adjoining plain track are also 32mm long, with the longer timbers in proportion.

 

This saves me about 60mm of copperclad per point...

[St Enodoc]

A very good running session today, by the end of which we'd managed to finish the sequence just in time for tea.

 

We also ran a few trial/demo trains up and down the branch, which was good fun and a taste of things to come. By next time I expect to have more track laid at Pentowan but probably not enough to switch over to the full main plus branch sequence. Consequently, we’ll carry on with the main lines and china-clay trains for the time being but when everything’s ready we’ll rewind to train 1 in the full sequence.

 

That's something to look forward to!

[St Enodoc]

Mr & Mrs @Barry O are with us for a few days at the end of their Australasian holiday, so today we went off to the Thirlmere Festival of Steam, on a scorching autumn day. Thirlmere is the home of the NSW Rail Museum and this weekend there were half-a dozen locos in steam, running not only on the usual Thirlmere/Buxton trains but also to Picton and back.

 

We had booked for one of the latter, topped and tailed by 3642 at the downhill end and 3801 at the uphill end. Our seats were in the leading coach on the return trip so there was lots of noise and lots of smuts. On its final trip R766 joined 3801 so they double-headed the train back up the hill from Picton to Thirlmere.

 

Here are some pictures of what we saw, all taken at Thirlmere, which I think are self-explanatory.

 

 

 

 

 

The Garratt, 6029, was in light steam having been rostered on yesterday's trains, while the final loco on the Buxton service was 3526, which I couldn't get a decent shot of.

 

A grand day out!

[St Enodoc]

The @Barry Os are now on their way home after a very enjoyable stay. As well as Thirlmere, we took them to the Blue Mountains, where they couldn't see anything because of low cloud and fog, and to Wollongong, where we also visited the Sydney Tramway Museum on the way.

 

Always good to see old friends and we hope it's not another three years before we catch up with them again.

[5BarVT]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

we took them to the Blue Mountains, where they couldn't see anything because of low cloud and fog,

A photo to help. :-)

 

And something Vivid to cheer you all up.

 

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

It was NSW State Election day today so, after dropping Veronica at the station to go shopping in the city and have a long lunch with an old colleague, I did my duty and rewarded myself with a democracy sausage for lunch. Afterwards, I resumed tracklaying at Pentowan. I hand-shunted all the coaches and the station pilot to Polperran, then lifted the temporary track and laid three points and four yards of track.

 

I started with hand points D, the middle of the three here, to fix the alignment of the Loop and the correct spacing to Carriage Siding 2. Everything else will follow from this. I laid some copperclad timbers at the toe end, as there will be a slight curve into the double slip to accommodate the difference in angle between 1 in 6 and 1 in 5. I haven't soldered the rails to the timbers yet. After that, I laid hand points E, on the right, which lead to Carriage Sidings 1 and 2, and also needed some copperclad timbers, interlaced with the others. I followed up with hand points F, on the left, which didn't.

 

Next, I laid the first two yards each of Carriage Sidings 1 and 2, which rounded off a good day's work.

 

I could lay 45 points next, the crossover between the Loop and Platform 1, but I think I'll wait until I've built and laid two more points in the Loop itself so that I don't have to wrangle a length of plain track into place between two fixed points. I've done that before and it doesn't always turn out well...

[St Enodoc]

I soldered the rails to the copperclad timbers and gapped them today, then decided to come indoors and build hand points H and J, which will complete the Loop and Platform 1. These were the last two "kits" from Forestville, with the templates timbered up and the vees and switches filed. Consequently, they only took about an hour each to assemble. Once I've cleaned them up, I should be able to gap them, spray them and lay them next weekend.

 

Once I've done that I think I'll fit the point motors and wire up the bits of Pentowan that I've laid so far.

 

Only six more points to build now - the end is nigh!

[ian]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Only six more points to build now - the end is nigh!

 

Then it's on to the Shackleton...

[1466]

5 hours ago, ian said:

 

Then it's on to the Shackleton...

That brings back memories of 220 squadron Shackletons climbing out of St. Mawgan over Cornish beaches  in the 1960s . 4 Rolls Royce Griffons labouring under load  with an almost imperceptible rate of climb . I believe they used a rocket or jet assisted take off to lift enough fuel for a 10 or 12 hour sortie . Heroes all .

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, ian said:

 

Then it's on to the Shackleton...

Oi! Watch it...

[Chamby]

19 hours ago, ian said:

 

Then it's on to the Shackleton...

 

And scenery.....🤭

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Chamby said:

 

And scenery.....🤭

Indeed. Once everything is running as it should, with ballast, signals and so on, I'll be building more stock - then it will be on to platforms and buildings. After that I'll have to pluck up courage to start the S word (followed, eventually, by the other S word).

[Barry O]

He really needs a Gannet as well.. the Shack will be lonely otherwise..

Baz

[St Enodoc]

1 minute ago, Barry O said:

He really needs a Gannet as well.. the Shack will be lonely otherwise..

Baz

As far as I know, Gannets were only operated by the Fleet Air Arm, mostly from carriers, and not by the RAF. If there were any in Cornwall, though, they would have been based at Culdrose. A pity, as they were a wonderfully ugly aircraft.

[31A]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

He really needs a Gannet as well.. the Shack will be lonely otherwise..

Baz

 

53 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

As far as I know, Gannets were only operated by the Fleet Air Arm, mostly from carriers, and not by the RAF. If there were any in Cornwall, though, they would have been based at Culdrose. A pity, as they were a wonderfully ugly aircraft.

 

No no, a Gannet like this one:

 

 

 

[Chamby]

Apart from Shackletons, which were also supported by a few venerable Lancaster’s, the other squadron based out of St Mawgan was No.22 squadron from June 1956, flying Westland Whirlwinds.