Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

I replaced the drive shaft (singular) on the SPC this evening. First, I cleaned a new shaft with IPA then ran some thin cyano glue around the two dog clutches, in the hope that they will be secured more tightly to the shaft (there are splines at one end of the shaft but not the other - why?).

 

Next, I removed the remaining shaft at the van end, where the speaker mounting is, then found that the mounting got in the way when I tried to fit the replacement. I therefore fitted it at the saloon end where there is more room to get your fingers and/or tweezers in.

 

All was well using DecoderPro on the test track so I put the body back on.

 

Fingers crossed!

[5BarVT]

My Dapol SPCs seem to give a whine and seem a bit sluggish at some speeds. Is it easy to get in at the drive system to see if anything is catching/misaligned/etc?

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

My Dapol SPCs seem to give a whine and seem a bit sluggish at some speeds. Is it easy to get in at the drive system to see if anything is catching/misaligned/etc?

Paul.

It's fairly easy. Take the body off as per the instructions then remove the seating unit (4 screws) and the big PCB (2 screws - it will still be attached but you can shift it around). You'll then be able to see all the works. From the sound of it you might find it advantageous to remove one of the drive shafts as received wisdom is that they tend to "fight" each other.

 

There's a step-by-step guide somewhere on RMweb. I'll try to find it and post the link.

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

There's a step-by-step guide somewhere on RMweb. I'll try to find it and post the link.

Here it is - unfortunately without photos 🙁. The description should make sense if you have the model in front of you though.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

Earlier today I went over to Marcus' place, where he fitted a new command station upper board to my PH-PRO box. This has the latest firmware on board and, with luck, should see the end of the intermittent "system freeze" problem we've had over the past four years or so (although the system has been working fine since flipping over to use the SB5 as the command station, at some stage I'll probably want to flip back to make use of the PH-PRO's capacity for more throttles).

 

Later, I ballasted the rest of the triangle at Treloggan Junction including the point at the Polperran end. I'll let it set rock hard before starting the clean-up and tidy-up. After that, the plan is to go back to St Enodoc and install the signals, connect them to the lever frame, then build and commission the hand point/uncoupler control panel. Only then will I move on to the benchwork for Pentowan.

[5BarVT]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Here it is - unfortunately without photos 🙁. The description should make sense if you have the model in front of you though.

Many thanks for the link.  The associated explanation and tests make it sound like my problem. 
First one packed up with suitable tools for my modelling visit to WFRM tomorrow.  Feedback thereafter.

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

I scrubbed the excess ballast away, cleaned the rail heads, cleared the flangeways and freed up the point blades today, so the ballasting at St Enodoc and Treloggan Junction is now complete.

 

 

 

What to do next?

 

Well, St Enodoc signals are at the top of the list, so I got them all out of their box and tested them with a 1.5V battery. Surprisingly (to me, anyway) they all worked, so I thought I'd place some temporarily on the layout. The two fixed distants were easy, held in place with a small blob of Blu-Tak so that I can finalise their position later. Of the working signals, I could only place three as the rest need new holes drilling, either because their exact location has changed since St Enodoc Up end was double-tracked or because they need to go on one of the new sections of baseboard.

 

There are two dummy discs, which I also placed in position. The one at the exit from the Camping Coach siding will remain a dummy but I need to convert the other to a working version as it controls not only the route from the Loop to that siding but also to the Down Main (which I forgot about earlier, as it wasn't the case on the single-line version of the layout). I've got a spare actuator, so that shouldn't be too tricky.

 

I'd like to have all the signals in place, although almost certainly not working, for our next running session in three weeks' time.

[5BarVT]

On 26/08/2022 at 11:10, 5BarVT said:

Feedback thereafter.

Feedback not good.  Posted on my thread so as not to clog up this thread with my woes.

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

A relaxing afternoon at the workshop bench saw all the St Enodoc signals fitted with JST RCY plugs. The three signals that are in the same place as before are sitting in their holes on the layout, while the rest are here:

 

A lot of these were in use on the previous layout, some have been modified to different configurations and a few are new.

 

The only one left to do is the conversion of 12 disc to a working signal, which I started earlier this week.

[St Enodoc]

Well, the news I'd been expecting but hoping not to hear:

 

I will start restoring my images soon - but would you folks prefer me to start at the beginning or work backwards from June 2021?

[30368]

4 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

I will start restoring my images soon - but would you folks prefer me to start at the beginning or work backwards from June 2021?

 

Strikes me John that working back from June would mean that we would all see the most relavant first since things have moved on a great deal since the start of your thread. Just a thought.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[Harlequin]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Well, the news I'd been expecting but hoping not to hear:

 

I will start restoring my images soon - but would you folks prefer me to start at the beginning or work backwards from June 2021?

 

If you are using the "My activity" list to guide you, then note that it's sorted by date and every edit you make becomes the latest activity. The list will resort itself the next time you fetch it and the last changes you made jump to the top of the list.

 

So it pays to do the most recent first because then the older items won't change their positions in that list (or jump between pages). I.e. If you are looking at items ABCDEFG and you edit item D, the items will then be listed as DABCEFG in the activity list but critically, EFG are in the same positions and you know where you are.

 

I found this out the hard way when restoring oldest images first and now I have gaps in my restored images. So I've got to start again but I will start from the the most recent this time!

 

Did that make any sense? 🤪

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Harlequin

[Graham T]

<whisper>bubble sort</whisper>

 

Don't worry, I actually have no idea what I'm talking about.  I agree with Richard B, by the way - with a sprinkling of @Harlequin's methodology.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Sorry, another slight variation:
 

When I tried doing some of mine (for the known ‘missing period’) I found I did need to re-tell the stories moving forwards - it just took too much time checking back to the previous post each time to make sure I had the right photos.  So the compromise I went for was to do one page or build / sequence at a time, starting at the beginning of the most recent page or section and doing that forwards, then moving back to the page or section prior to that and doing that one forwards (till it caught up) and so on.

 

It all depends how our photos are stored, and how our brains are wired.  Keith.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke

[aardvark]

8 hours ago, Harlequin said:

 

If you are using the "My activity" list to guide you, ...

 

 

"My attachments" might be easier to follow.

 

[St Enodoc]

10 hours ago, Harlequin said:

 

If you are using the "My activity" list to guide you, then note that it's sorted by date and every edit you make becomes the latest activity. The list will resort itself the next time you fetch it and the last changes you made jump to the top of the list.

 

So it pays to do the most recent first because then the older items won't change their positions in that list (or jump between pages). I.e. If you are looking at items ABCDEFG and you edit item D, the items will then be listed as DABCEFG in the activity list but critically, EFG are in the same positions and you know where you are.

 

I found this out the hard way when restoring oldest images first and now I have gaps in my restored images. So I've got to start again but I will start from the the most recent this time!

 

Did that make any sense? 🤪

 

 

10 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Sorry, another slight variation:
 

When I tried doing some of mine (for the known ‘missing period’) I found I did need to re-tell the stories moving forwards - it just took too much time checking back to the previous post each time to make sure I had the right photos.  So the compromise I went for was to do one page or build / sequence at a time, starting at the beginning of the most recent page or section and doing that forwards, then moving back to the page or section prior to that and doing that one forwards (till it caught up) and so on.

 

It all depends how our photos are stored, and how our brains are wired.  Keith.

 

2 hours ago, aardvark said:

 

"My attachments" might be easier to follow.

 

Thanks for those suggestions. I'll probably stick to what I did for the June 2021 - March 2022 gap, namely just reload the relevant images direct from my hard drive into the corresponding posts. Simple and not too tedious, for an hour or so at a time anyway.

[aardvark]

My thanks to you and others with your mindset who are reconstructing RMWeb one brick at a time. It is tedious, but broken into small chunks and interspersed with something more joyful, is tolerable.

 

My heart goes out with the loss of material from masters like the late Allan Downes which can never be recovered.

 

[Clive Mortimore]

I did the missing ones from 2021, but the other day I found older threads are missing photos and drawings some of which have been archived. Not to sure if I can be bothered to redo them. 

[St Enodoc]

Being the first Saturday of the month, today was BRMA Sydney area group meeting day, so off we went to see @Jesse Sim's Woolmer Green layout. It was good to see it in the flesh and to see a fine selection of pre-war East Coast Main Line trains running.

 

Here's the proof that, as Cyril Freezer said, Railway Modelling is Fun.

 

 

During the meeting I collected another coach from the estate of an old friend, which is a Blacksmith A10 70' Toplight First. It's about 90% complete and finished in crimson-and-cream, so with not too much extra work it should soon take its place in the Mid-Cornwall. I think it will probably replace a Hornby Hawskworth FK in set 510.

 

I'll take a photo or two tomorrow in daylight.

[5BarVT]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Here's the proof that, as Cyril Freezer said, Railway Modelling is Fun.

You certainly look like you enjoyed it.

 

Following your offer of my services and Baz accepting it in my absence, I felt obliged to make myself known at Chapel today.  An enjoyable couple of hours ensued.

I like their Fell and Pullman ‘token’ circuit designed to ensure only one on show at any one time, even if I did forget to release it a number of times.

It has occurred to me that it would work nicely as your tokenless block and could be configured to auto release.  (Simple way upon clearing of the home signal to leave the block, more complicated, after replacement of the signal.)  Simple would allow the far end to start a second train before the first had fully cleared the section, complicated requires an extra relay at each end.

Paul.

[St Enodoc]

Here's the Blacksmith A10. I reckon it's suffered a bit in storage, with a few dints and knocks in the sides and roof that I'm sure wouldn't have been there when it was first built.

 

 

 

The sides are probably OK, although I might fit some transverse strips to stop them getting squeezed in, and I need to fit five more commode handles and of course the numbers.

 

The roof seems to have bowed a bit meaning that it will need a little help to sit in place. My guess is that it's supposed to be held in place by the toilet filler pipes but on their own these won't do the trick. I'm thinking of some long screws, Tri-ang style, fitted from below and screwing into nuts fixed inside the roof somehow.

 

The glazing just needs tidying up and the interior needs some bracing to keep it straight.

 

The underframe and bogies are fine and just need new couplings, while a bit of touch-up paint all round will finish the job.

 

I've never built a Blacksmith kit before and there are no instructions, so if anyone has a set of instructions that they could send me and/or any other thoughts on fettling the coach I'd appreciate that very much.

 

Thanks.

[Iain.d]

Hi John,

 

Nice looking vehicle! I think your thought process for tidying it up are sound, well, they’re what I’d be doing and have done similar in the past!

 

I haven’t done a Blacksmith model either, but there is a pedigree link to Roxey Coaches of today (I had a long phone conversation with Dave Hammersley on it a while back when he was helping me document some other carriages I had) and I’ve done a fair few Roxey's and encountered, to some degree, most of what you mention.

 

For this this type of roof I would consider a single bolt fixing pulling down from the centre of the vehicle. Something like this (apologies for the crude image, it was done a while ago, long before I ever considered showing work on RMWeb – I can do fresh if it helps):

 

 

It’s a short length of tube with a 10BA or a 12BA nut (can't remember exactly) soldered to one end. I made a plastic card base from a few layers of material, drilled a hole to take the tube and then filed a taper in the open end of the hole closest to the roof. I made a few score/cut marks on the plain end of the tube with a file and epoxied it in, lining it all up with the roof in place before the glue hardened. The taper and the scores prevent the tube being pulled out of the plastic base, when under tension.

 

Another method I have used is similar to the Triang one, where instead of a nut I’ve soldered in an off-cut of a bolt thread into the tube which passes through the carriage floor and a washer and nut under the floor do the fixing.  This works but I found it harder to line everything up (This is an Ian Kirk carriage rebuild). Securing the tube to the roof is the same method as above.

 

 

To pull sides in / push out, I have done this – a small loop soldered to each side of the coach and a piece of wire bent to the required length, the wire is removable so the interior can be fitted/removed as necessary. I appreciate you might not want to do this as you’ll not want to damage your paint finish, but to stop yours bending in, you could glue a piece of plastic with a hole drilled in it, to each side, and insert the wire. With everything in compression, friction will hold the wire in place.

 

 

Don't forget the First Class logos on the windows - have fun lining all those up!!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

Edited September 4, 2022 by Iain.d
add a bit.

[St Enodoc]

15 minutes ago, Iain.d said:

Hi John,

 

Nice looking vehicle! I think your thought process for tidying it up are sound, well, they’re what I’d be doing and have done similar in the past!

 

I haven’t done a Blacksmith model either, but there is a pedigree link to Roxey Coaches of today (I had a long phone conversation with Dave Hammersley on it a while back when he was helping me document some other carriages I had) and I’ve done a fair few Roxey's and encountered, to some degree, most of what you mention.

 

For this this type of roof I would consider a single bolt fixing pulling down from the centre of the vehicle. Something like this (apologies for the crude image, it was done a while ago, long before I ever considered showing work on RMWeb – I can do fresh if it helps):

 

 

It’s a short length of tube with a 10BA or a 12BA nut (can't remember exactly) soldered to one end. I made a plastic card base from a few layers of material, drilled a hole to take the tube and then filed a taper in the open end of the hole closest to the roof. I made a few score/cut marks on the plain end of the tube with a file and epoxied it in, lining it all up with the roof in place before the glue hardened. The taper and the scores prevent the tube being pulled out of the plastic base, when under tension.

 

Another method I have used is similar to the Triang one, where instead of a nut I’ve soldered in an off-cut of a bolt thread into the tube which passes through the carriage floor and a washer and nut under the floor do the fixing.  This works but I found it harder to line everything up (This is an Ian Kirk carriage rebuild). Securing the tube to the roof is the same method as above.

 

 

To pull sides in / push out, I have done this – a small loop soldered to each side of the coach and a piece of wire bent to the required length, the wire is removable so the interior can be fitted/removed as necessary. I appreciate you might not want to do this as you’ll not want to damage your paint finish, but to stop yours bending in, you could glue a piece of plastic with a hole drilled in it, to each side, and insert the wire. With everything in compression, friction will hold the wire in place.

 

 

Don't forget the First Class logos on the windows - have fun lining all those up!!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

Thanks Iain, that is most helpful.

 

Good point about getting the interior out.

 

I hadn't forgotten the first class logos - or the No Smoking signs...

[St Enodoc]

I had a (mostly) productive afternoon planting the St Enodoc signals. This involves drilling a 16mm or so diameter hole and making a short slot at one end to allow the choccy block connector to feed through. The slot is covered by the protrusion on the signal base where the ladder goes. Signals with two arms need two holes that are joined together to make an oval aperture.

 

Here are the temporary results, pending electrical work to connect them to the lever frame.

 

The bracketed Up Home (20/21) from the Wheal Veronica branch is missing. That's because one of the wires that operate the bracket arm fell out and I couldn't get it to go back in and stay in, so I'll have to make up some new wires with longer tails. The Up Home (27) from Treloggan Junction is rather close to the baseboard edge. Eventually it will be protected by some scenery but after I'd finished work today I removed it to avoid accidents.

 

Tucked behind the steps is the Down Starting signal (2/5), which will have a sighting board painted on the overbridge at some stage.

 

At the other end of the station, the Up Starting (26), the two backing signals (24/13) from the Down Main and the Goods signal (11) for trains starting from the Loop to Porthmellyn Road stand roughly side-by-side. In front of the Goods signal will be the disc (12) that I'm still fitting with an actuator. On the left are the discs for entering (14) and leaving (16) the goods yard.

 

Here's a platelayer's-eye view of the Down Home (1/4) and the disc (6) for moves from the Up Main back towards the station.

 

Finally another view of the Down end signals. When the bridge is built, this will probably be one of my favourite views of the station.

 

I haven't made the holes for the Up Advanced Starting (25) and Down Advanced Starting (3) signals yet, as I can't finalise the location of these until we've done more playing operating.

[acg5324]

Good old Airfix footbridge.