End of the Line-Padstow

[autocoach]

Southern National OB's are en-route. I have two on order. One will be modified with open doors to stand behind Padstow station in the station court with the destination blind marked "CONSTANTINE" per photo in Branch Line to Padstow. Pix when it is ready. I may have to remove the station to a diorama location so I can get the photo from the right angle. I now have an abundance of vehicles to fill the station court and dirt road to the goods shed. I added trackage for coal bagging and loading per St. Merryn and built a coal unloading steps. Now if only we had wagon sides that dropped.

 

Otherwise working on the English China Clay wagon fleet (10 Cambrian C61 RCH China Clay Wagons.) I am playing around with barrels for clay. Currently have a bunch of Grandt Line 1:87 barrels being assembled that are large enough but need more info on when clay was shipped by barrel in open wagons . I am guessing it must have been the finer grades of clay and that this was later bagged and shipped in vans. The Wenfordbridge dries module is in preliminary cogitation stage with some Code 75 turnouts arranged alongside two Kernow clay dries to test an 8 X 2 separate module. It may go up to 12 X2 and include a very shortened Wenford terminus.

 

I know it is a pipe dream but I have suggested a Kernow/Bachmann version of Padstow station as it may be demolished soon.

[Piskey]

Hello Ken,

 

Been a bit quiet since you posted last - on my birthday!

 

Otherwise working on the English China Clay wagon fleet (10 Cambrian C61 RCH China Clay Wagons.)

 

I've "invested" in a few Parkside Dundas PC25 LNER 12 ton 5 plank wagons as to my mind apart from the tarpaulin hooks they replicate the Eastern Region and Southern Region wagons in the Chris Knowles-Thomas photos I post to the China Clay Group last year.  Well, they're good enough for me!  CCTransfers has, at my request, produced some transfers for these wagons, BL125 and BL126. These are, of course, only good for the BR era.  As John said, living in Bodmin he could hardly not produce these transfers!

 

Work progresses exruciatingly slowly on my representation of Boscarne Junction.  After eleven months I have just reached the stage where some track can be laid - once I've bought some, of course!  I've been asked to post some photos of progress so suppose it's time to get brave and show my efforts to the world!  A job for this afternoon......

Edited January 27, 2013 by Piskey

[autocoach]

My model railways addiction has been somewhat in remission for a while. I am working on the RCH clay wagons at a rate of one every two or three weeks. A cold but mostly rainless January with mostly cloudless skies has had me out and about instead.

 

More postings on the Cornish Clay Railways Yahoo group has led me to conclude that the ECC wagons would barely be recognizable with little of the bright red livery remaining in the 1945-48 period if any were actually returned to ECLP clay service after being requisitioned during WWII. Similar fate for the ECLP wagons from the later 30's which were apparently a light grey rather than red.

 

I have no plans for decals transfers yet, but my guess is that the wagons, assuming they were returned would have been lettered with a simple ECLP and wagon number on the lower left planks. I have no photographic evidence for this as yet. Hmmmm, I think I may repeat part of this post on the china clay railway group to see if there are any answers. In the meantime my wagons remain unlettered pending further information.

 

On a sweeter sounding note, I am awaiting imminent delivery (I hope) of a sound equipped BWT 3314 from a special run by Kernow using unsold 3314/30387 models and a sound decoder from Olivia's trains. This will be my first foray into UK sound. I started a thread in DCC Sound on this and will report on the results hopefully in a week. If it works, I have a T9, a couple of N's and possibly my new Bachmann SECR C (that is masquerading as an ex LSWR Drummond 700 to run on the North Cornwall line) that will have sound projects added over time.

 

Still looking at a trip the UK this year after the Bluebell extension is operational. Will include a several day visit to the Bodmin/Wadebridge/Padstow area. I will visit Kernow and add pressure to my pipe dream of a cast Padstow station in the same manner as the recent clay dries......

 

Until then, best to all my "thousands" of RMWEB end of the line fans...(all three of you know who you are.)

[autocoach]

Been a while since I put up a new pic or two

The engine crew were just blown away with the new TO......Actually I was holding the camera at an angle where I could not see the image on the screen....

 

Thats the sound equipped BWT in the distance along with some of the Cambrian RCH clay wagons I am working on.  More on that later.

 

 

Should have been washed before the up ACE on Summer Saturday...but that meant overtime for the wash crew...

 

I have been using some US weathering powders. Soot on the roof and a grey dust on the sides.

Edited June 25, 2013 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Musings and opinion...

 

I have just joined the Dead Rail Society.  Radio or WiFi communication with the locomotive. Battery power with DCC Decoders with sound. Eventually we will be able to add steam effects and the smell of coal burning in the firebox......I am sure the diesel boys will get there first with smoke and scents. Remember this is historical modelling and all pre-EPA or other environmental concerns.

 

How long until we can add these new dimensions to our modelling experience...I would say 5 years before a commercially viable solution is at hand and the NMRA sets standards for non-wired communication with model rail vehicles (including brake vans, cabooses and passenger car lights.) I expect some form of WiFi to get around radio frequency issues. Wireless handheld controllers communicating to a router/hub and routing through another WiFi connection to the locomotive receiver which connects to the decoder in the locomotive and controls all functions. A dead man cutoff of power to the motor when the locomotive is not in contact with a rail structure (pressure or optical detection?).  Hopefully the decoders won't gain enough autonomy that they unionize and go on strike. (4th data of the current Bay Area Rapid Transit strike with gridlock everywhere around San Francisco including to day when the traitors of 1776 are celebrated.)

 

And track....no wiring except for the recharge point by the coaling stage or oil column. Perhaps we will be able to custom design track formations and 3D print them. (I need an  ex LSWR style single slip right with 7 degree angle crossing......will paint to resemble metal). No loop reversing issues. But will still need some power for points routing where it is not controlled mechanically. Being historically accurate for Padstow it would be mechanical linkage from the levers replicating a signal box. For the SP local trackage brakemen with switch lock keys unlocking a switchstand and throwing manually. Manual throw links are available.

 

ideas they are coming fast

Edited July 5, 2013 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I angled a camera behind the Padstow Station with the Oxford OB in the forecourt. Not great modelling but more of a mood.

 

 

 

And yes I did file open the door on the bus. 

Edited August 11, 2013 by autocoach

[autocoach]

An additional view....Does anyone know the provenance of the building on the right.  It looks like it might have been a wartime lockup added to the platform. I have not found a clear picture of how the baggage area fencing was arranged with the lockup so this is just a guess.

Edited August 11, 2013 by autocoach

[tender]

Hi Ken,

Plate 115 in 'Branchlines to Padstow' describes the building as a lamp room. I can't find any picture of the baggage area but what you've done looks good to me.

Your a braver man than me, attacking the OB with a file.

 

Ray.

[autocoach]

Hi Ken,

Plate 115 in 'Branchlines to Padstow' describes the building as a lamp room. I can't find any picture of the baggage area but what you've done looks good to me.

Your a braver man than me, attacking the OB with a file.

 

Ray.

Ray

 

I believe the lamp shed was on the other side of the station building just before the platform ramp down to the signal box. The shed there was typical of many SR lamp sheds and the location was correct for putting lamps on a departing locomotive.  You can see it just behind the signal box and the Maunsell open in the pictures above

 

The concrete panel wall and corrugated metal roof of this building on the right of the station (facing from the track)  would indicate more recent construction similar to WWII period lockups added to many stations.

 

Speaking of the signal box, I have a Kernow Bachmann Bude brick box on order.  It has the staircase on the right side which is correct for Padstow instead of Wadebridge. I am looking at taking Plastruct thin sheet random stone wall and covering the brick to get a correct model of the Padstow box. This was occasioned by the announcement of the Kernow Bachmann Boscarne Junction signal box which I have also now duly ordered in Southern hue. One of these days I may actually win the lotto and have enough room to create a Padstow to Bodmin and Wendfordbridge layout. Oh give me a home where the BWT's roam....I live 25 miles away from the coast in California so the skies are not cloudy all day anyway.

Edited August 11, 2013 by autocoach

[tender]

Ray

 

I believe the lamp shed was on the other side of the station building just before the platform ramp down to the signal box.

Ooooops, sorry Ken getting my ends mixed up.

 

I did think of doing a cut and shut with the Wadebridge and Bude boxes but the roofs wouldn't line up correctly so I'm sticking with the Wadebridge box until I get time to scratch build a replacement.

 

Ray.

Edited August 11, 2013 by tender

[autocoach]

I purchased the ABM  Railcraft LSWR North Cornwall Station model reversed in SR colours to see if it could replace my hacked paper version of Padstow Station. I like the ABM Railcraft kit very much. It is an excellent representation of many of the stations on the North Cornwall line. However it is not Padstow which had modifications as the last station built at the end of the line from Waterloo. I am definitely keeping the kit as it may be used at some point to build another station up the line.

 

The Padstow station masters quarters in the building were the same width and height but longer in both Main house and the 90 degree section. The waiting room and baggage room were spot on. The sloped section of the building leading down to the men's lavatory was shaped differently.

 

So my current version of Padstow station will have to be rebuilt as the original stone paper and roof slate papers are starting to split from the cardboard and plastic walls. I have been looking for the right cut stone for years but have not found any that will really do. The Wills product has the stone in too much relief to match the effect I want. The same goes for the Chooch flexible stone wall  product. Plastruct wall was too small and irregular in both 3.5 mm and 1/48 scale.  I understand there is a new manufacturer in Spain that is making a cut stone plastic sheet from whom I will have to get a sample.  I will have to keep looking.  The irregular slate paper used for the roof slates will also be hard to match. 

 

Anyway here are now pics of my current effort. I took it into the dining room so I could get some brighter natural light and capture some angles that cannot be seen on the layout.

Edited November 18, 2013 by autocoach

[autocoach]

The chimney over the baggage room is the wrong way round so it did not fit correctly. The baggage carts got jostled so one is blocking the door to the baggage room.  I see numerous other things that should have been re-done but the sunlight was not lasting and I had no time to re-do any pics. 

 

I also think the lockup shed built during WW2 is too long. I had no dimensions to work from and had to scale it from pictures. 

 

I have had the material for a new stationmaster's garden for 2 years but have not completed it or worked on it in over a year.  Of course it's summer and there will be flowers, vegetables and a bit of grass. The platform is long enough for six coaches and a West Country pacific for Summer Saturday service.

 

Would the Dart Castings/Monty's bus drivers be too late for the 1945-48 period? I could see a driver and conductor standing next to the open door on the Bedford OB. And I know the license plate on the taxi is probably incorrect for Cornwall in that period.

 

In addition to the station, I scratched together the goods shed.

Edited November 18, 2013 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Need to do some re-roofing if I am not going to completely rebuild Padstow station. More baggage carts and the station master's garden.  Padstow II is being put off until retirement in 2015 along with Wenford Drys and Walnut Creek station.

[Jack P]

This is fantastic!

[autocoach]

On the matter of track on Padstow Mark 1

 

I have successfully used sheet 1/16 inch plastikard (sheet styrene to me readily available at US plastics shops in sizes up to 4 feet by 8 feet) as an underlay for RTL switches and track  The switches are glued to the styrene with Testors styene cement and then ballasted and tested off layout.  The roadbed is cut from sheets of Woodland Scenics HO foam underlay using Woodland Scenics scenery cement. Track pins in holes drilled anywhere in through the sheet plastic underlay secure the alignment.

 

Flex track is ballasted after being glued on the roadbed and blended into the switches. Feeders are soldered to the rails before ballasting and dropped through the plastic underlay and foam underlay to beneath the top of the bench work. (future track surface will be Illustrators Gatorboard.for strength and light weight.)

 

This method has allowed use of water based ballast glue techniques on a very porous cellotex fiber baseboard which has been highly braced with 1X2 timbers. Not ideal but the ideas just grew from necessity of building the 11X2 Padstow in my office.

 

Any pre-wiring for the frog and other parts of the switch can be done on the workbench rather than on the layout. Switches can be removed easily by cutting the ballast and taking the whole switch "off line".

 

Switches are currently all PECO Code 100.  My current flex track is an old style Atlas Code 100  that has a wider/fatter tie than more finescale HO track It also has a generic raised rail chair rather than US spike plates.  This has too change but is also one of the reasons for the delay in building Padstow Mark 2. There is a thread about 16.5 mm UK style track in the Products/Small Suppliers forum that includes my wishes and shows the frustrations of those of us who are not ready to completely build our own track or pay huge sums for craftsman products really designed for 4mm scale track gauge fanatics.

 

I have purchased some PECO Code 75 turnouts for the planned Wenford Dries module but am still not satisfied in their appearance.

Edited January 1, 2014 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Right now Padstow layout is hosting a trio of RTR HO Espee 40 foot GS gondolas from Red Caboose being switched by a tiger stripe Alco S2 with sound  Well they do have "Southern" in the name.

 

Summer is here and not much activity in the way of modelling Padstow.Summer Saturdays are otherwise occupied.

Edited June 27, 2014 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Time for a quarterly comment even if nothing is happening. 

 

Right now the platform track has 2 2BIL and a 2HAL in a DCC consist to run together. No third rail  of course so Rule 1 applies. 

 

On the locomotive scene a new T9 has arrived and has been set up and renumbered 703 for the Wadebridge shedded prototype.

 

A pair of Kernow/DJM O2's are awaited early next year to complete my base of engines that were common at Padstow in 1947.

 

A Drummond  700 will be added to the collection although I do not know if any visited Padstow 1945-December 1947. 

 

Now if Golden Arrow would only make the original air smoothed version of a West Country light pacific the way they have with the MN. I can't expect this in RTR.

 

Kernow has announced the LSWR/SR 1541 brake van so at least one will join my Smallwood Studio version. 

 

So where does that leave me in my private wish list for plastic kit or RTR. 

 

Cambrian to get on with the SR/LSWR 1543 20 Ton Brake van which was used on the clay trains to Wenford dries. 

 

Cambrian to get their  LSWR 1410 Van to market before someone snatches it up for RTR and a two year wait.

 

With the demise of Northstar Models before I knew they existed i no longer have a source for the unique rebuilt LSWR coaches used on the Padstow Bodmin (SR) service. Kernow/DJM LSWR gated stock would make an interesting substitute under RULE 1. But I long for the correct Cornish coaching stock behind my O2. I know there are brass coach kits available but my hands are getting too shaky for undertaking such a project.  I have a hard time tolerating the odor of solder. I can't afford a custom builder these days. They don't even appear in the wishlist poll..

[autocoach]

Two new pictures showing T9 703, shedded at Wadebridge until 1948 on the 13.10 stopping train to Exeter. The newspaper van is being returned as head end.

 

 

 

The T9 has not yet been weathered to reflect 4-5 years since last major overhaul and painting in wartime black in 1942.

 

Ooops no route disks.

Edited October 19, 2014 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Absolutely no change on the layout except thicker layers of dust.  The sidings (yard tracks) are thick with Southern Pacific boxcars as the other side/coast of my interests has surfaced.  Kit building and bashing appears to be undergoing a resurgence in North America and I am caught up in RPM stuff with the quest for the ultimate SP B-50-25 40 foot box car as liveried 1952-54.  I did make one change in the last 9 months replacing the painted crumpled foil representing the excavated rock face in back of Padstow station with  the excellent Woodland Scenics shaper sheet material. But it is now as white as the cliffs of Dover until I get into coloring it. I will have to find the camera and take a pick.  A newly announced Dapol LSWR/SR Lattice signal is now on order to replace the Ration LNER lattice signal kitbash I have been using for the Padstow starter for the last 4 years.

 

I still have some relevant UK RTR steam on order including the Hornby SR 700 and Kernow/DJM O2. Awaited RTR rolling stock is the Bachmann PLV and Kernow/DJM LSWR brake van. I wish Cambrian would get on with their proposed kits for the LSWR/SR 1410 van and 1543 brake van.

 

And I have taken a deviation up the line past Boscarne Junction to rebuild a Hornby R 3125 5205 2-8-0 into 1946-7 condition after it had the drivers go out of quarter on it's first test run 2 years ago. I have the Brassmasters detail kit and new coupling rods and am agonizing over whether to get a full set of Gibson 00 wheels for the rods rather than try to turn down the main Hornby crank-pin. The last few days have seen me experimenting with creating mid chrome green to repaint the tank sides after the Hornby triple stamped GREAT WESTERN was removed with some damage to the underlying paint. Being at the very far end of a long supply route for UK supplies and the unwillingness of postal authorities to transport small tins of paint via the mails I have resorted to mix it yourself as every GWR shed painter did.  I found a good formula using Tamiya deep green with added Tamiya flat black. It still didn't look quite right so I brushed on diluted Microscale Crystal Clear. It brought out the greenness but now I have to go over the whole locomotive to remove the blue tint in the Hornby GWR loco green.  And the engine should have been in black anyway for my 1946-47 UK time period. 

 

Its rather pleasant day here in the Creek with breezy clear skies (a curse in California) and a pleasant 18-20 C temperature. I have to take a significant dip in temperature and go into San Francisco about noon and meet my son.

Edited June 6, 2015 by autocoach

[rab]

Just found this thread and have spent an interesting 20 main reading through it.

Brought back many childhood memories for me.

Think I may have shared before on another thread (apologies if so for repetition)

I grew up in Wadebridge in a house overlooking the Padstow line.

One of my memories was seeing the West country from the down ACE, after returning to Wadebridge from Padstow, being used on the last train of the day, a single coach train.

The loco was longer than the coach!!!

 

You mention Padstow being renamed Padstien. Another variation I have heard is Richenstien.

Quite appropriate as I read in a local paper there recently that Padstow is now one of the most expensive places to live in the UK.

 

Better stop there before I get on my soapbox about incomers.

 

A very interesting thread about a very promising layout.

Keep up the good work.

[autocoach]

I have finally done something about the fish sheds that stood between the fishing harbor and the track.  Not much mind you.  I just worked on the stand in mock up to extend it to the two shed model I am planning to build at some time in the hazy future. The real shed structure on the right was much longer.  It will be about 40 C today and for the next 2-3 days in parched California.  Won't be trying much modelling as the house heats up in the baking sun.

 

Notice mixed media. Sheet plastic on left and cardboard/wood on right. 

Edited July 28, 2015 by autocoach

[autocoach]

More fishy business...

 

You will notice a yard crane in the back of the fish sheds in the above thumbnail.  This is a Ratio kit stand in for the real Padstow goods yard crane.

 

The real yard crane is pictured in photo (plate?) 108 of Middleton Press Branch Line to Padstow. It is a two ton capacity two wheel crane mounted on a rather high concrete plinth. The boom of the crane appears to be a multi-sided tapered creation that owes more to a ship's boom than a railway crane.  As there were several nearby small shipyards it would have been easy to have it locally built. 

 

If anyone has any more information about this (and I would therefore assume you have a copy of the book and can view it. I am not violating any copyrights.) I would appreciate your information.  If anyone has modeled it or even more surprisingly knows of a kit for this crane I would appreciate that even more. 

 

By the way this photo 108 also shows how the fish shed was an open building. The fish merchants in the building just behind the crane bought and sold from fishermen and forwarded the catch to markets in London and the north of England.

Edited July 28, 2015 by autocoach

[brianusa]

As another who has just found this thread, I am particularly interested in the railways anywhere west of Plymouth, the area I'm most familiar with.  I've always had a soft spot for the Southern in this region, as they were always eclipsed by the GW, so its always good to see another Southern layout.

 

Sadly like yourself its hot here in WA although not quite as bad so I shall turn on the A/C and play trains.

 

Brian.

[autocoach]

Lend Lease 1954 

 

 

[autocoach]

Lend Lease 1954 

5204 is an old/new Baldwin DRS-66-15 bought new by the ESPEE in 1949 and just repainted in 1954 black widow road switcher scheme. It is operated long hood first due to the cab engineers seats and controls set up that way.  That's why the wings are on the long hood.  

 

I bought the original Stewart model about 1986-7. It had been in storage ever since. I found it recently and tried to DCC the old 1980's style Athearn chassis but had to give up as the motor and pickups could not be properly isolated. Obtained new DCC sound chassis from Bowser who took over Stewart.  

 

So here is my here is my current operating 1954 SP diesel fleet in a time and location warp at Padstow in 1947.  The SD9 is from Walthers and the S2 from Bachmann. All three are DCC sound fitted. Unfortunately the sound CV settings for each are different so you have to use a cheat sheet when operating to get the lights, bell, horn and engine sounds turned on correctly. Bell and engine on all three running at same time makes quite a racket.

Edited July 29, 2015 by autocoach