Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[Erudhalion]

If it's of any help, on my 2021 I fitted the brake shoes as close to the tread as I thought I could get away with, and the wheels are removeable, although it is quite fiddly.

 

With the newer etched chassis I had to fit the brake shoes quite far from the frames themselves on the ends 0.7mm wire "stalks" in order to clear the flanges when the wheels move side to side. This gives the shoes a degree of flexibility which eases the removal of the wheels.

 

Looking at your chassis, it occurres to me that I have forgotten the sanding gear completely. I don't think the instructions mention it at all, and I haven't come across any likely pieces in the kit. I'll have to make something up with brass rod.

[Siberian Snooper]

I have made my brake gear removable, if I remember tonight, I will take a photo or two of it. I have used Romford/ Markits wheels for initial construction, but I'll be fitting Gibson's when I have weathered the chassis.

 

 

[Michael Edge]

In my experience brake gear has to be very securely fastened, especially if the blocks are close to the wheels. It shouldn't be necessary to remove it.

[St Enodoc]

Thanks chaps. I'd certainly prefer the brake gear to be fixed firmly and I know the need to remove the wheels after the chassis is complete and painted is very unlikely but...

 

Anyway, last night, while browsing eBay, I found a pack of Gibson plastic brake blocks and a Mainly Trains MT175 generic brake fret for sale by a vendor here in Sydney. Both are now on their way to me, so I'll hold fire on the brake work until I've had a chance to see if/how they fit. Plan C is still to order the small GWR loco set from Wizard but if I go that way I'll try to boost up the order to make the cost of postage worthwhile.

[Siberian Snooper]

Well I remembered to get some photos, so here you go;-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry that they're a bit fuzzy, but I took them on the phone.

 

Any questions, please ask.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Siberian Snooper said:

Well I remembered to get some photos, so here you go;-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry that they're a bit fuzzy, but I took them on the phone.

 

Any questions, please ask.

 

 

Thanks, that's very clear.

 

May I ask what make the brake hangers and shoes are please?

[Chas Levin]

On 02/04/2024 at 11:08, drduncan said:

Do what Mike says! You could also solder brass tube across the frames where the hangers would be (say 0.7mm id) and then trim back to just inside the rear faces of the flange. Then just have a stub of 0.7mm wire from the brake shoe which located in the tube and you can spring the brake gear off.

Duncan

 

That's a very neat system - I've used it and it looks good, the brake gear slips off easily but it kept in place securely 👍

[Siberian Snooper]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Thanks, that's very clear.

 

May I ask what make the brake hangers and shoes are please?

 

The brake hangers are on the Branchlines chassis etch.  Each is in 3 parts and making sure you have the outers of the correct hand was a bit of a faff, I had to re-do some of them. I used one of the parts as a template and drilled holes in a block of wood and fitted short lengths of wire in the holes, fitted the etches and soldered the top two.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

11 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

 

The brake hangers are on the Branchlines chassis etch.  Each is in 3 parts and making sure you have the outers of the correct hand was a bit of a faff, I had to re-do some of them. I used one of the parts as a template and drilled holes in a block of wood and fitted short lengths of wire in the holes, fitted the etches and soldered the top two.

 

 

Thanks, that's very helpful.

[St Enodoc]

On 31/03/2024 at 15:38, St Enodoc said:

I'll order some more from Train World, who seem to be the only people in the country that have it in stock

Arrived today, so I now almost certainly have more low-melt solder than I shall ever need...

[St Enodoc]

Many followers of the Mid-Cornwall Lines will also know of @TrevorP1's fine Burngullow Lane layout. If so, you will also probably know that he has recently started a new layout project, Pendoggett Road, which is still located in Cornwall but is based on the North Cornwall line built by the Other Railway.

 

 

 

Now, as you all know, on the Mid-Cornwall Lines, at Porthmellyn Road Down end the main line tracks disappear off the scenic section, into the Penzance loops, under an overbridge. At the moment the road over that bridge has no name.

 

So, given that the Burngullow Lane layout is no more, and that Porthmellyn Road is located theoretically at Burngullow, Trevor has graciously given me permission to name the road Burngullow Lane, to perpetuate the memory of a fine layout that I've always enjoyed reading about. Trevor also pointed out that real life the road is actually called Burngullow Lane, which makes a neat closing of the loop.

 

So, henceforth, the bridge in question will be known as Burngullow Lane bridge.

 

Thanks Trevor.

[TrevorP1]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Many followers of the Mid-Cornwall Lines will also know of @TrevorP1's fine Burngullow Lane layout. If so, you will also probably know that he has recently started a new layout project, Pendoggett Road, which is still located in Cornwall but is based on the North Cornwall line built by the Other Railway.

 

 

 

Now, as you all know, on the Mid-Cornwall Lines, at Porthmellyn Road Down end the main line tracks disappear off the scenic section, into the Penzance loops, under an overbridge. At the moment the road over that bridge has no name.

 

So, given that the Burngullow Lane layout is no more, and that Porthmellyn Road is located theoretically at Burngullow, Trevor has graciously given me permission to name the road Burngullow Lane, to perpetuate the memory of a fine layout that I've always enjoyed reading about. Trevor also pointed out that real life the road is actually called Burngullow Lane, which makes a neat closing of the loop.

 

So, henceforth, the bridge in question will be known as Burngullow Lane bridge.

 

Thanks Trevor.

 

Thank you John!

 

Do be careful with the buses though... As we know from the famous photo, buses got to the north side of the bridge but I'm not sure about over it! On the south side there is an impossible (for a bus) hairpin turn or a lane that becomes pretty narrow and tight even in car. There again, Cornish bus drivers are pretty intrepid fellows. 😀

[St Enodoc]

25 minutes ago, TrevorP1 said:

 

Thank you John!

 

Do be careful with the buses though... As we know from the famous photo, buses got to the north side of the bridge but I'm not sure about over it! On the south side there is an impossible (for a bus) hairpin turn or a lane that becomes pretty narrow and tight even in car. There again, Cornish bus drivers are pretty intrepid fellows. 😀

Don't worry. As we know, the laws of physics are slightly different in Mid-Cornwall from the rest of the known universe.

 

I'll try to remember to put the Bristol single-decker there in due course!

[franciswilliamwebb]

6 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

As we know, the laws of physics are slightly different in Mid-Cornwall from the rest of the known universe.

 

It's all the Higgs Boson research in old tin mines that does it.  Years ahead of their time.

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, franciswilliamwebb said:

 

It's all the Higgs Boson research in old tin mines that does it.  Years ahead of their time.

That would be Ken Higgs, the Lancashire/Leicestershire/England fast bowler?

[ian]

26 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

That would be Ken Higgs, the Lancashire/Leicestershire/England fast bowler?

No, Jethro Higgs the Pentowan lifeboat bos'n. He was some sort of secret research wallah during the war...

[Clive Mortimore]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Don't worry. As we know, the laws of physics are slightly different in Mid-Cornwall from the rest of the known universe.

 

I'll try to remember to put the Bristol single-decker there in due course!

Wot U need is a Bristol SUS

http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/tmb/kits/nigel_roberts_models.htm

I wonder if he will do another run of these little buses.

Edited April 5 by Clive Mortimore

[St Enodoc]

19 minutes ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Wot U need is a Bristol SUS

http://www.modelbuszone.co.uk/tmb/kits/nigel_roberts_models.htm

I wonder if he will do another run of these little buses.

The bus in the "famous photo" is an LWL (can't post it here for copyright reasons), which we've discussed before on these pages. The SUS is slightly too modern for the MCL, being supplied to WN/SN in 1960 according to that link.

 

I've got an old Little Bus Company Dennis Mace kit, that was given to me by my late friend and colleague Tony Swift. One day I'll build it in his memory.

 

http://www.little-bus.com/bus-kits/mace1.html

[Siberian Snooper]

Going back a bit, I noted your trepidation about using the DCC Concepts 100 degree solder, I ordered some earlier this week, because I forgot to tin the nickelsilver rear cab piece of the 2021 kit and I didn't want to try and take it out.

 

It was delivered yesterday and I used it this morning, I found it a delight to use, at 250°C on a temperature controlled soldering station, not only on the job that I bought it for, but soldering small delicate whitemetal components to larger whitemetal castings, it just flows a lot better than ordinary lowmelt solder.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

17 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

Going back a bit, I noted your trepidation about using the DCC Concepts 100 degree solder, I ordered some earlier this week, because I forgot to tin the nickelsilver rear cab piece of the 2021 kit and I didn't want to try and take it out.

 

It was delivered yesterday and I used it this morning, I found it a delight to use, at 250°C on a temperature controlled soldering station, not only on the job that I bought it for, but soldering small delicate whitemetal components to larger whitemetal castings, it just flows a lot better than ordinary lowmelt solder.

 

 

Well done - but I won't be putting an iron set to 250 degrees anywhere near any whitemetal castings! I run mine at 155 to 165 for 70 deg solder.

[Siberian Snooper]

I have run at up to 300 degrees with lowmelt when soldering large castings together.

 

 

[BWsTrains]

I guess this is more about thermal energy stored / required than temperature per se. One ice cube is not enough to chill a decent G&T.

 

For a big substrate to be soldered a single drop of solder has a lot to heat up and still flow, it would quickly cool down if not warm enough. It would make sense that for a given drop of solder a higher temperature and hence more stored energy would be needed on a bigger substrate.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Siberian Snooper said:

I have run at up to 300 degrees with lowmelt when soldering large castings together.

 

 

Well, 300deg F is about 150deg C... (just kidding).

 

1 hour ago, BWsTrains said:

I guess this is more about thermal energy stored / required than temperature per se. One ice cube is not enough to chill a decent G&T.

 

For a big substrate to be soldered a single drop of solder has a lot to heat up and still flow, it would quickly cool down if not warm enough. It would make sense that for a given drop of solder a higher temperature and hence more stored energy would be needed on a bigger substrate.

 

 

I agree, Colin, in the sense that a bigger/more powerful iron will have a higher thermal capacity. You need the iron to get the heat into the parent metal as well as the solder.

 

Generally (and I know all generalisations are false) I find a big iron at a lower temperature trumps a small iron at a higher temperature.

[aardvark]

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Well, 300deg F is about 150deg C... (just kidding).

 

Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius died in 1744 aged 43, though his rival Daniel Fahrenheit was convinced he was 109.

 

[St Enodoc]

On 03/04/2024 at 09:49, St Enodoc said:

Thanks chaps. I'd certainly prefer the brake gear to be fixed firmly and I know the need to remove the wheels after the chassis is complete and painted is very unlikely but...

 

Anyway, last night, while browsing eBay, I found a pack of Gibson plastic brake blocks and a Mainly Trains MT175 generic brake fret for sale by a vendor here in Sydney. Both are now on their way to me, so I'll hold fire on the brake work until I've had a chance to see if/how they fit. Plan C is still to order the small GWR loco set from Wizard but if I go that way I'll try to boost up the order to make the cost of postage worthwhile.

The brake gear from eBay arrived today. The Gibson plastic hangers and blocks look nice but appear to be designed for locos with larger wheels.

 

At first sight, though, the MT175 etches look promising. I'll have a little play and report back.