Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

Thanks.

Is that for the narrow windows? It sounds a bit small for what I need.

 

The spaces I've got to fill are 16mm tall by 27mm wide which would be for a pair of windows between each of the upright posts.

Ah, I thought you meant the small ones that arrived yesterday. I'll check the big ones tonight.

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Ah, I thought you meant the small ones that arrived yesterday. I'll check the big ones tonight.

Right, Nick, here we go.

 

The long windows (with five sets of panes - a double, a single and a double) are 87mm long overall. The double sets are each 34.5mm and the single is 18mm long.

 

The short windows with one double set of panes are 34mm wide, because the upright at one end is narrower than the other.

 

The narrow windows with one double set of condensed panes are 19.5mm wide. Again, the upright at one end is narrower than the other.

 

All the windows are 21mm tall.

 

Hope that helps.

 

I've no idea whether you can buy these separately from the kit though - best ask Peco direct.

[Nick Gough]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Right, Nick, here we go.

 

The long windows (with five sets of panes - a double, a single and a double) are 87mm long overall. The double sets are each 34.5mm and the single is 18mm long.

 

The short windows with one double set of panes are 34mm wide, because the upright at one end is narrower than the other.

 

The narrow windows with one double set of condensed panes are 19.5mm wide. Again, the upright at one end is narrower than the other.

 

All the windows are 21mm tall.

 

Hope that helps.

 

I've no idea whether you can buy these separately from the kit though - best ask Peco direct.

Thank you. That's very helpful.

 

I will try printing out your photo to those dimensions and see how it fits.

 

I suspect the Ratio windows are probably to the more common window sizes for GWR signal boxes whereas those for Cholsey were a few inches narrower. Anyway it's worth a look. 

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

Thank you. That's very helpful.

 

I will try printing out your photo to those dimensions and see how it fits.

 

I suspect the Ratio windows are probably to the more common window sizes for GWR signal boxes whereas those for Cholsey were a few inches narrower. Anyway it's worth a look. 

The Ratio 552 GWR signal box kit was, as far as I know, designed round the existing Midland Railway kit roof moulding so it may well be that the window sizes are something of a hybrid as a result.

 

The sketches were all drawn on 1mm graph paper so that might be a more accurate way to scale your prints.

Edited March 3, 2021 by St Enodoc

[Nick Gough]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

The Ratio 552 GWR signal box kit was, as far as I know, designed round the existing Midland Railway kit roof moulding so it may well be that the window sizes are something of a hybrid as a result.

 

The sketches were all drawn on 1mm graph paper so that might be a more accurate way to scale your prints.

Thanks.

 

I would like to give the Ratio ones a try but I suspect I will end up creating the windows with my Silhouette cutter (once I get that going).

[Mallard60022]

Hi dude. Have you encountered these little gems?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/fairpricemodels

 

Hope you don't mind? I have used these and they are ACE; inexpensive, simples to fit and look great.

Stay safe.

Phil

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

Hi dude. Have you encountered these little gems?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/fairpricemodels

 

Hope you don't mind? I have used these and they are ACE; inexpensive, simples to fit and look great.

Stay safe.

Phil

Thanks Phil. I was aware of their corridor connections through reading other topics here but I didn't know they did all that other stuff. Filed for future reference.

[St Enodoc]

A very busy and enjoyable day today.

 

It started early, at 0700 our time, with a Zoom meeting of the Leeds MRS CIO, which began with Mike Edge talking about his latest Wentworth Junction layout.

 

The discussion later degenerated into the usual ribaldry with occasional mention of model railways.

 

Next, I went to the Post Office to dispatch a consignment of bulk salt in two Airfix Presflo wagons from Porthmellyn Road to Leeds (London Road), where they will be of more use (as they will on Chapel-en-le-Frith too). I originally built these in the mid-1980s for the Leeds club's Hartford Junction layout but they never ran on it.

 

I then drove on to Marcus' place, where he had a good poke around in the PH Box but found nothing obviously wrong. He gave everything a good clean out, which may or may not make a difference. He did say that occasional loss of control is quite common in PH Boxes, so if it happens more frequently he would change one or other of the boards, but at the moment there was no point spending money on that as the new board(s) might not be any better. He also gave me a guided tour of his NSWGR Main North layout, which I hope to visit again when he starts his running sessions again.

 

http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn/index.htm

 

After lunch, I decided to install the last Porthmellyn Road signals now that the branch trackwork there is complete. Four structures with six arms and associated actuators just needed their holes to be drilled, the signals planted and the actuators connected to the relay boards.

 

39 disc protects the safety points on the short link between the Loop and the Up Branch. This link provides an alternative way to run round trains in Platform 3.

 

 

9 is the Down Branch Advanced Starting signal, which has the St Enodoc Down Distant (fixed at caution) below it, so there's only one actuator for this structure. 51 is the Up Branch Home and 45 is the Up Branch Home Calling-On. Both these arms lead from the Up Branch into Platform 3. Below these two arms is 43 Disc, which leads from the Up Branch to the Loop.

 

We won't be able to use 9 signal properly until St Enodoc is commissioned, as it has to be released by the yet-to-be-installed Line Clear switch there, but I might put a temporary jumper on its relay to allow it to be pulled Off in the meantime.

 

Finally, tomorrow sees the first BRMA Sydney area meeting for exactly a year, since last year's Forestville show. It will be good to see everyone face-to-face again.

Edited June 28, 2023 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[St Enodoc]

With all that going on I clean forgot that yesterday was St Piran's Day. So I will, belatedly, wish one and all:

 

"Gool Peran Lowen Onen Hag Oll"

 

(shamelessly copied from the Kernow MRC newsletter - apologies to Hayley).

Edited March 6, 2021 by St Enodoc

[St Enodoc]

I had a good session today tidying up and cleaning the railway room - the reason being that, barring any adverse changes to Government restrictions and guidelines in the meantime, our next scheduled running session, on Saturday 20/3/21, will go ahead.

 

I'm not going to count my chickens other than to say that, having attended yesterday the first BRMA Sydney area meeting for exactly a year (since the 2020 Forestville show, which I believe was the last live exhibition in Australia), it's clear that we are all itching to assuage our pent-up thirst to play trains.

 

As part of my tidy-up I repaired my venerable Tri-ang Wheel Cleaning Brush, which had been out of action for several years, and cleaned some loco wheels. I also graphited the new Branch track, so I think we are now good to go.

 

 

[Mikkel]

That's very encouraging to hear. Fingers crossed you all get to scratch the itch (the model railway one, that is!)

[Barry O]

Sorry I can't be there.. hope it goes as well as the last one.. hopefully thecoperators will enjoy the new operational opportunities.

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

Good news in yesterday's emails - the Modratec lever frame for St Enodoc is on its way South from Queensland.

 

Overall, it's got about half the components of the Porthmellyn Road frame, so in theory it should take about half as long to build. However, it's now three years since I built the earlier one and I've forgotten much of how I did it, so who knows?

 

Anyway, I need to complete the trackwork at at Enodoc first, so I suspect that I'm unlikely to get the frame built and installed before the end of the year.

 

In other news, I started measuring up for Porthmellyn Road platforms this afternoon. I've done a fair bit of homework poring over old photos to see how the buildings and station furniture at Par related to each other and I've translated that to an initial plan. Given that Porthmellyn Road is not a replica of Par; that it's compressed lengthwise; and that I intend to use Rick @Gwiwer's old Treheligan Junction station buildings I think that the first try has gone quite well. I've set out the main buildings temporarily on the layout and we'll see what the team thinks next weekend at our running session. In the meantime, I might make a card mock-up of the signal box to complete the picture.

[St Enodoc]

A pleasant afternoon testing (yes, really) today. I ran every train that's already made up at Paddington and Penzance, plus the long china-clay train that's currently parked on the branch, together with all the spare locos. I ran  them for at least one full circuit in each case. Everything worked pretty well and only a few locos needed wheel-cleaning. A smaller number also needed their pickups tweaking - now that the Tri-ang brush is back in use I can test the pickups on every axle by pushing each wheelset to the limits of its lateral motion, to check that it doesn't lose continuity. A couple did but they don't now.

 

The other purpose of the testing was to see whether the loss of control from the command station recurred. It didn't - over about three hours - which is very encouraging.

 

With that out of the way I'm now looking forward to a cleansing ale, a nice drop of wine with dinner, then the Brumbies and Reds in Super Rugby AU and finally the highlights of today's America's Cup races (so no spoilers please!).

[Mikkel]

Sounds like the perfect day. In fact I'm going to copy it (but no rugby here, will watch Paris-Nice instead, although I'm sure you consider it soppy ).

 

I was going to complain at the lack of photos from your session, but I know how taking photos can disturb the pleasure of just running trains.

[Therealnips]

I have spent the past two weeks reading up on your thread and layout: I love it! I haven't even started my layout yet, but if it turns out even half as good as yours ill be happy. By the way, I'm from Eastbourne where around page 100 somewhere you said you used to live here! Keep up the good work, cant wait to see the new lever frame and some scenery going down 

[Killybegs]

1 hour ago, Mikkel said:

Sounds like the perfect day. In fact I'm going to copy it (but no rugby here, will watch Paris-Nice instead, although I'm sure you consider it soppy ).

 

 

Six Nations Rugby this afternoon, highlights of Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico this evening!

[St Enodoc]

29 minutes ago, Killybegs said:

 

Six Nations Rugby this afternoon, highlights of Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico this evening!

Yes, John, I didn't mention that I will record the Six Nations overnight and watch tomorrow morning - so definitely no spoilers there please!

 

By the way, I think that this post carries the number of the fastest steam loco in the world so here's a shout out to my virtual mate Phil @Mallard60022.

[5BarVT]

I’m hoping for a basketball score in Rome to maintain the unexpected but very pleasant position in the table!

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

Today I made a simple card mock-up of Porthmellyn Road signal box. The key dimensions are the length and width, to suit the Ratio roof mouldings.

 

 

Here are two views from the Down side, showing the long window along the whole length with the door at one end and the full-width window at the other.

 

The base of the mock-up is at cork level and the next line up marks the level of the platform surface. Although overall the model is shorter than the prototype at Par, I think it conveys the right impression.

 

 

These two views show all the main Porthmellyn Road structures except the footbridge, which goes between the main station building and the island platform shelter. Even without the full length of the platforms (2m between the tops of the ramps) I'm quite happy with how this looks. I'll see what the team thinks on Saturday but I don't think much needs to change by more than a few millimetres.

 

After that, something peculiar happened. I thought I'd better check that the "Next Train" display was working, so I turned on the computer and monitor. However, there was no response either to the wireless mouse or wireless keyboard. Aha, I thought - they need new batteries, so I changed them. No difference.

 

Then I noticed that the little wireless receiver wasn't in the USB port on the computer. Now, last year when I started working from home I played around with the railway computer and my work computer to see whether two different mice would communicate with the same computer (they wouldn't). No problem. I must have put it in a safe place. You're getting ahead of me here...

 

After searching everywhere I could think of in the railway room, the workshop and indoors, I gave up. No doubt after I've bought a replacement wireless keyboard and mouse set the old receiver will turn up.

 

Don't we just love computers?

Edited June 28, 2023 by St Enodoc
Images restored

[Stubby47]

Is it in the mouse ?

[5BarVT]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

The base of the mock-up is at cork level and the next line up marks the level of the platform surface. Although overall the model is shorter than the prototype at Par, I think it conveys the right impression.

So do I. It has that slightly squat feeling making it different to the normal ‘type 7’ box.

Paul

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Stubby47 said:

Is it in the mouse ?

Nope. It's a little square thing that plugs directly into the USB socket on the laptop.

[St Enodoc]

32 minutes ago, 5BarVT said:

So do I. It has that slightly squat feeling making it different to the normal ‘type 7’ box.

Paul

Thanks Paul. It's the "squat" look that I'm after. I think that once it's set into the platform it will look about right.

 

Oh, and well done on making the Flying Scotsman post. A few more and it will be Graham @LNER4479's turn...

[Stubby47]

8 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Nope. It's a little square thing that plugs directly into the USB socket on the laptop.

 

Yes, and there is a space in the mouse to store it...