Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

After spraying 4247 last weekend I did some running trials yesterday, mainly to make sure that the pony truck didn't jump off at any of the points, as it's only held down by its own weight and I was slightly worried that the pull of the couplings might lift it up a little.

 

 

All was well, so I carried on with the finishing off.

 

 

 

 

Everything's done now expect the motion brackets, the power group letter E and the 83E shed plate.

 

The motion brackets fell off in transit from Queensland and the slidebars are shorter than scale, so I will probably reattach them at the extreme rear ends of the slidebars. They're conspicuous on the real thing, so I reckon it will be better to fit them in the wrong place than not at all. Charles is bringing an old Pressfix sheet with him later which should solve the E problem. I have some Modelmasters shed plate transfers in stock and some etched ones too. I don't find Modelmasters transfers easy to work with, and the raised characters on the etched ones will be polished metal rather than white, so I'll cogitate a little more before I decide which way to go there.

 

In the meantime, 4247 can now take its place in the roster for this afternoon's running session.

 

Speaking of which, it's now time to go out and get my democracy sausage and buy some cakes for afternoon tea. Oh, and I suppose I'd better vote too while I'm at it...

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by St Enodoc

[Barry O]

Enjoy the running session. 

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Enjoy the running session. 

 

Baz

Thanks Baz.

 

Yes, we had a good session, with ten of us on duty this afternoon.

 

Things got off to a shaky start when Dave, working at Penzance for the first time, pressed a button to set the route for the first train and both blades on the Down Main king point came away from their tiebar. Fortunately the tiebar hadn't delaminated, so I soldered it all back together, which took about 10 minutes, and away we went. After that we ran 24 trains so about par for the course. Highlights were two long clay trains, the second of which featured 4247, and a short clay train, which David T drove from St Blazey and shunted at Wheal Veronica - the first time we've done this as part of the sequence, as the short clay trains don't run on Saturdays.

 

No other major problems, so we're all looking forward now to the July session.

[FarrMan]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Oh, and I suppose I'd better vo

Remember the famous slogan - 'Vote early and vote often'

 

Lloyd

[Coach bogie]

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

Speaking of which, it's now time to go out and get my democracy sausage and buy some cakes for afternoon tea. Oh, and I suppose I'd better vote too while I'm at it...

 

 After a lifetime of UK politics I am enjoying the Australian elections. I love the  way you get the results so quick here, whereas in the UK we have to sit up all night awaiting results.

 

Seeing your 42xx making me a little homesick for my layout back in Yorkshire.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

 After a lifetime of UK politics I am enjoying the Australian elections. I love the  way you get the results so quick here, whereas in the UK we have to sit up all night awaiting results.

 

Seeing your 42xx making me a little homesick for my layout back in Yorkshire.

 

Mike Wiltshire

Thanks Mike. Wait until you start looking at the subtle differences between different State/Territory and Federal election rules; voting above or below the line; exhausting or not exhausting preferences; etc., etc. Sometimes I get a little nostalgic for the old-fashioned idea of putting one X in one box...

 

Yes, 4247 has turned out nicely. Perhaps @Barry O will bring his white weathering ink with him next time he comes.

 

PS the democracy cakes were good - a dozen little Mars Bar slices for a dollar apiece. Very popular with the operating team.

[Barry O]

Yes, I can being it or buy some there. A bitnof weathering powder, a soft make up brush and.. job can be done..

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

Just now, Barry O said:

Yes, I can being it or buy some there. A bitnof weathering powder, a soft make up brush and.. job can be done..

 

Baz

I have some but it's a bit old. I'll check whether it's still liquid.

[Barry O]

No problemo.. not sure how the security staff will take a whitish/cream powder and a white liquid...

 

Baz

[St Enodoc]

As I mentioned yesterday, Charles brought over a sheet of HMRS GWR insignia but unfortunately, on closer inspection, the power group letters run only from A to D (why?).

 

What to do? Cut a sliver off a B and use that of course - which I did and, considering you can barely see the thing, I don't think it looks too bad.

 

In the end, I decided to use a Modelmasters 83E transfer for the shedplate, which I've also applied. Once this has hardened off, I'll dab on some Micro Set and/or Micro Sol to help it stay stuck.

 

The motion brackets are ready to refit as well - Zap-A-Gap will do the trick I think - but that's for another day.

 

Photos once it's all done.

 

Memo to self - order a suite of shedplates and route/power discs from Steve at @railtec-models for future use.

[5BarVT]

12 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Thanks Mike. Wait until you start looking at the subtle differences between different State/Territory and Federal election rules; voting above or below the line; exhausting or not exhausting preferences; etc., etc. Sometimes I get a little nostalgic for the old-fashioned idea of putting one X in one box...

You’ve been away from Bonnie Scotland for too long.  Here in the U.K. we have different ‘state’ (devolved Parliament) and ‘federal’ (U.K. Gov) rules!

Paul.

[Regularity]

7 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

You’ve been away from Bonnie Scotland for too long.  Here in the U.K. we have different ‘state’ (devolved Parliament) and ‘federal’ (U.K. Gov) rules!

Paul.

Only if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

For the majority of the residents in the UK, we don’t have a devolved Parliament, just the goons that operate at a “federal” level.

[St Enodoc]

14 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

You’ve been away from Bonnie Scotland for too long.  Here in the U.K. we have different ‘state’ (devolved Parliament) and ‘federal’ (U.K. Gov) rules!

Paul.

True enough. I left North Britain long before devolution!

[St Enodoc]

Motion brackets duly fitted and painted - and yes, I've checked that the connecting rods and crossheads don't foul them...

 

 

[St Enodoc]

I won two coach kits on eBay last night - both Toplight brake thirds, one by Slaters and the other by Blacksmith and both at not-too-silly prices. In due course they'll probably replace a couple of BSL/Phoenix versions.

[Tim Dubya]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I won two coach kits on eBay last night - both Toplight brake thirds, one by Slaters and the other by Blacksmith and both at not-too-silly prices. In due course they'll probably replace a couple of BSL/Phoenix versions.

 

I was looking at the Blacksmith Toplight when it was about £30, I wasn't bidding on it but I always like to see what's what.

[St Enodoc]

11 hours ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

I was looking at the Blacksmith Toplight when it was about £30, I wasn't bidding on it but I always like to see what's what.

Tim, a big factor for me was that the seller is in Australia so I didn't have to consider the ridiculous GSP costs.

[Coach bogie]

19 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I won two coach kits on eBay last night - both Toplight brake thirds, one by Slaters and the other by Blacksmith and both at not-too-silly prices. In due course they'll probably replace a couple of BSL/Phoenix versions.

Or run them all. First rule of GWR trains - no two coaches alike in a train.

 

Mike Wiltshire

[St Enodoc]

3 hours ago, Coach bogie said:

Or run them all. First rule of GWR trains - no two coaches alike in a train.

 

Mike Wiltshire

That's true, Mike. However, I already have more kits than I really need and many of them are BSL/Phoenix/Westdale flush-sided pressings. I reckon that the Slaters will definitely be quicker easier to build to a good standard, while the Blacksmith might not be quicker but I think the end result will be nicer.

[St Enodoc]

I'm very happy to say that I'm now an RMweb Premium member.

[Barry O]

I will be soon but have been away with some mutual friends. Veronica has some photos. Yet again the Leeds Mob drank a hotel out of a particular wine!!

 

Bsz

[St Enodoc]

42 minutes ago, Barry O said:

I will be soon but have been away with some mutual friends. Veronica has some photos. Yet again the Leeds Mob drank a hotel out of a particular wine!!

 

Bsz

Yes we saw those. Glad to see that the Leeds Uni Eating & Drinking Society is maintaining its usual standards. A bit of a shock to realise that the Young Master has become the Old Master...

Edited May 26, 2022 by St Enodoc

[KymN]

17 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Glad to see that the Leeds Uni Eating & Drinking Society is maintaining its usual standards. 

 Brings back some old memories.  I had the privilege of working with Chris Nash (Now Professor Nash) from the Leeds University Institute for Transport Studies back in the early eighties.  It was here in Australia.  I've never been to Leeds. 

 

I was a bit surprised that IfTS is in the Environment Faculty, whereas here transport is typically treated as an engineering discipline. 

[St Enodoc]

26 minutes ago, KymN said:

 Brings back some old memories.  I had the privilege of working with Chris Nash (Now Professor Nash) from the Leeds University Institute for Transport Studies back in the early eighties.  It was here in Australia.  I've never been to Leeds. 

 

I was a bit surprised that IfTS is in the Environment Faculty, whereas here transport is typically treated as an engineering discipline. 

Interesting, isn't it. The only thing that I can think of is that in this context Transport Studies refers to working out why people/things need to move from place to place, whereas we engineers come in later to work out how to move them. A bit empirical, though.

[St Enodoc]

Today I took some photos of 4247 now that it's complete.

 

This shows the cobbled-up E on the route disc, which doesn't look too bad.

 

The shed plate still has some resideue around it though. I think I'll leave it now until it's varnished and weathered (not necessarily in that order).

 

After tidying up a bit after last Saturday's running session, and doing a few quick minor repairs, I remembered that Stephen had asked for a "pulling list" to help him work Porthmellyn Road signal box. I hadn't bothered before, because having built and installed the thing I was fairly familiar with the locking and thought everyone else would pick it up quite quickly too. Nevertheless, I had a go and realised that Stephen was right - there are some 41 signalled moves, which surprised me. I therefore worked through these at the lever frame and I'll type up the list ready for our next session. I'll share it here too for the benefit of those who like such things.

 

Veronica's cousin and her family arrive from Singapore tomorrow for a week's holiday, so there won't be much MCL action while they're here. They do, however, like trains, so weather and travel-weariness permitting we'll all (including little Nate (2) and little Nick (5 months)) head over to Thirlmere on Sunday for a steam train ride. I'm sure they'll be introduced to life in Mid-Cornwall too during their stay.