End of the Line-Padstow

[autocoach]

It now appears I have acquired specimens of all of the  OO prototype locomotives classes in one form or another for my 1947 Padstow to cover North Cornwall and Bodmin traffic.

 

• Bulleid Pacifics although I would like the as built cab but have not resorted to bashing one of the Hornby WC Pacifics.
• N Class 2-6-0's
• O2 (need another mainland without push pull in Southern black with Sunshine Southern)
• T9's
• Beattie Well Tanks 

Any other locomotives to be acquired are covered under Operating Rule 1-It's my railway and I will run what I damn please.

 

New acquisitions planned when they become available and can be afforded include:

• Hornby Merchant Navy 21C1 in original green ( I just want it. And I would love accurate early Bulleid coaches to go with it. Just a few. I have enough Maunsell coaches for several trains.) 
• Manning Wardle 0-6-0 when DJM gets around to it (Wenford Drys needs it's own shunting loco. Pinch bars are to hard on the backs of the clay workers and animated horses are not yet available.)
• Bulleid 0-6-0 diesel. (Norwood Junction yard  is on the mind.)
• 4-SUB Original (one of my dream mini layouts is Penge East to remind me of my very early youth at my grandparents house on Mosslea Road. The station will be a real scratch building project.)
• 4-SUB Sheba (Late 1940's but still lettered SOUTHERN. This is needed to run with the 4-SUB original on the Victoria Orpington runs through Penge East and Kent House)
• An E-2 (just to show the kiddies what the real Thomas looked like.)
• Maybe an S-15 in Sunshine lettered Black
• Maybe a Hornby Bulleid Q1 just to complete my Bulleid steam collection.

Of course there are numerous wish list items for coaches wagons and vans that would be appropriate for Padstow (Cambrian, please get started on the LSWR 1410 Van and 20 ton LSWR Brake Van)

 

The Southern Pacific want list is much longer and belongs on another forum.

Edited September 15, 2016 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I am branching into other RMWEB locations for specific projects. For the Cambrian LSWR diagram 1410 goods vans I am building I set up a topic in Kitbuilding and Scratchbuilding. 

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/117690-cambrian-lswr-diagram-1410-or-140x-goods-vans/?p=2532073

 

For the other half of my hobby, Southern Pacific I set up a blogspot blog as there is no comparable forum to RMWEB that I have found in the US.  Here I am describing my efforts to replicate the Southern Pacific Type 18 Depot that served Walnut Creek as it would have been 1947-1954. This station was on the freight only by  1947 San Ramon 18 mile branch. There were 4 Type 18 depots at stations on the branch and several smaller depots. The depot in Walnut Creek still exists although moved and substantially altered. It currently houses a fairly decent steak house.  8 miles south the Danville station was saved, moved and beautifully restored. Walnut Creek had the freight house part of the depot on the left facing the depot from the tracks.  Danville was the mirror image with the freight house on the right. Minor difference did creep in over the years but it is very nice to a local instance to photograph.  I am working out how to model the multi pane windows and elaborate doors of the Queen Anne period architecture. That along with the elaborate siding on the second story (the station agent - station master in the UK's company provided quarters.) Traffic on the line was fairly sparse but in the late forties and fifties there was considerable inbound traffic in lumber, concrete and other building materials to build this extension to San Francisco suburbia.  In particular there was a large set of aggregate company bunkers for rock and cement.  I have seen pictures of up to 10 SP ballast hoppers with side discharge doors (like a UK SR Walrus) and cement carrying covered hoppers lined up in Walnut Creek waiting to move into position to discharge. 

 

Anyway here is the URL : http://srandsp.blogspot.com/

 

More updates sometime in the future. My Padstow is very quiet at the moment except for new rolling stock such as a pair of Hornby Bulleid Cattle wagons and now the ex-LSWR 10 ton vans. 

Edited December 12, 2016 by autocoach

[autocoach]

January and February are looking to be very expensive model railway months. Major acquisitions in pre-order now indicating delivery in the first two months of 2017.

• Hornby 21C1 Channel Packet
• Hattons/DJM 48xx/58xx/14xx 1420
• Rapido Budd RDC-1 SP #  10

 

 

 

[autocoach]

It's a rainy day here in SF SF Land ( not to be confused with LA LA Land) and I thought I would stage a Padstow post war roster shot.  All are DCC.

 

2 BWT's 3329 and 3314 (3314 does not work. It was purchased with sound installed from Kernow but neither they nor Olivia's want to help fix it without returning it. Not so easy from 8,000 miles away)

2 N's 1860 and 1406. 

1 T9 703 (the other two are in Maunsell Olive so not suited for post war pix)

1 WC 21C108 Padstow (No evidence it ever served it's namesake town. NCE is numeric only so I use #4008 as the DCC ID. There is another WC awaiting repair in pieces so not shwon.)

1 O2 200. ( A renumber of the only mainland version with no Push Pull plumbing. Unlikely but if Kernow/DJH make more we could use some more of this version. Not sure iff coal rails are correct.)

Edited September 8, 2018 by autocoach

[autocoach]

A new foobie has just arrived.

 

 

Dating from 1954 and definitely not on Lend Lease. Actually never served the San Ramon Valley line either. The SP San Ramon valley lost passenger service in the late 1920's but was served for a time by the ancestor of the RDC, an oil-electric McKeen car.  

 

It is on the 1954 Walnut Creek layout as a fan trip that never happened from Martinez to Livermore.

 

The Rapido RDC SP #10 is exquisite even though theTrain Indicator Number boards are not lighted. SP train numbers are supplied including NWP numbers.

Edited February 2, 2017 by autocoach

[Ozexpatriate]

The SP San Ramon valley lost passenger service in the late 1920's but was served for a time by the ancestor of the RDC, an oil-electric McKean car. 

Those McKeen cars got around.  Nothing looked like them. They look like something from Buck Rogers but existed before that whole genre.

 

I don't suppose anyone made an H0 model of one? The Wikipedia page rather hopefully blocked out a section for one. Unusually for Wikipedia there are two pages for them. The first I found was rail car and the second motor car.

 

I vaguely remember of a picture of a model somewhere and Google obliges with some 0 gauge and H0 brass.

 

(Clearly an opportunity for merging topics.)

 

Of course I would want H0m. They were used on Queensland Railways 3'6" gauge.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Ozexpatriate

[autocoach]

Those McKeen cars got around.  Nothing looked like them. They look like something from Buck Rogers but existed before that whole genre.

 

I don't suppose anyone made an H0 model of one? The Wikipedia page rather hopefully blocked out a section for one. Unusually for Wikipedia there are two pages for them. The first I found was rail car and the second motor car.

 

I vaguely remember of a picture of a model somewhere and Google obliges with some 0 gauge and H0 brass.

 

(Clearly an opportunity for merging topics.)

 

Of course I would want H0m. They were used on Queensland Railways 3'6" gauge.

I think I saw an HO brass model of a McKeen car advertised some time ago.  Definitely nothing in plastic kit or modern RTR. There was a long article on their SP use in the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society Trainline some time ago.

 

The Fall 2015 of the Trainline Issue #125 had good discussion of the Southern Pacific's lone RDC car. Interestingly Rapido indicated that the SP 10 was their most ordered version.  And to top it off, the actual SP 10 was rescued from decaying away in Galveston Texas in December and is now in Winters California sufficiently covered and protected awaiting cosmetic restoration. Unfortunately the motors and drive shafts were inundated by a hurricane in Galveston several years ago and it is unlikely it will be restored as operational unless a millionaire donor provides for it. See https://www.facebook.com/SPRDC10/ for the story.

Edited February 2, 2017 by autocoach

[Jack P]

What an excellent thread, I've enjoyed reading this while wasting time at work.

 

Any updates?

[autocoach]

Bulleid 21C1 Channel Packet somehow got past the Civil Engineer's prohibition on running over Meldon Viaduct and made it to Padstow.  The layout is looking a little grungy these days as it is not my current focus.  Bulleid 21C1 had only 3 feet to the left to run. Tomorrow it will get a full workout on the Local Hobby Shop 300 foot loop.  My next post will be interesting to those of you who like US railroad adventures.

Edited April 10, 2017 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I told you there would be more about a adventure that is not about the Southern Railway in the UK. It is more about the Southern Pacific and a trip down the California coast on the SP Daylight (for the most part) route in a private business car on the end of a regular Amtrak train. For more and lots of pix see my blog at http://srandsp.blogspot.com/2017/04/an-11-scale-adventure.html. There may be more such trips in the future.

 

[Piskey]

1 WC 21C108 Padstow (No evidence it ever served it's namesake town. NCE is numeric only so I use #4008 as the DCC ID. There is another WC awaiting repair in pieces so not shwon.)

 

 

Hello Ken.   21C 108 certainly did go to Padstow - she was named there on 31st October 1945 (same day 21C107 Wadebridge was named at Wadebridge) and as she was shedded at Exmouth Junction until 1951 it is inconceivable that her duties would not have taken her to Padstow on numerous occasions.

 

Peter

[autocoach]

Move along folks.  Nothing here (new) to see.

[autocoach]

Move along folks.  Nothing here (new) to see.

I have been mostly involved with US prototype of late.  Rebuilding close to accurate PFE ice refrigerator cars from old Athearn kits.  And this past weekend taking another trip to Los Angeles riding in my friends 1923 Santa Fe business car on the back of the Amtrak Coast Starlight. It is a 12 hour ride with lots of delays en-route. But the weather was hot and mostly clear.

 

The narrative blog of the trip with more pix is now at http://srandsp.blogspot.com

 

Also an update to the previous blog on my workbench and PFE R-40-14 bashing from old Athearn blue box reefers showing some rather blurred photos of the final product.  I have had a touch of reefer madness this year and it has nothing to do with pot legalization in California.

 

The photo below was taken just below Santa Barbara.

Edited August 11, 2017 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I am currently on the disabled list. But just before I broke the bones at the base of my left hand/wrist I completed an SP flat car project described here:

http://srandsp.blogspot.com/2017/10/a-little-flat-note.html.

Edited October 13, 2017 by autocoach

[autocoach]

Merry/Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night......

 

Will get back to my model railway and railroad sometime in the new year......

[autocoach]

Do I want a Hornby Lord Nelson? Obviously never made it to Padstow heading an ACE as the Chief Engineer would never have allowed it over Meldon Viaduct. May not be covered by Rule 1.  Same as the MN 21C1, Schools Class and King Arthur I already own and the S-15 I will not be buying. I am on the other hand doing a theoretical collection for a future Penge East layout with 4-Subs and continental boat trains. 1947-49 I lived often with my grandparents on Mosslea Road one street down from the Penge East station. I still have fleeting memories as a five year old of MN or WC's roaring out of Sydenham Hill tunnel on the way to the coast with a boat train from Victoria.

 

The Hornby Maunsell Restaurant first is of course on order. I already have a Maunsell open third to go with it.  I have ordered the BR(S) green and will either repaint or just add Southern lettering as I did the open third.  If Hornby brings out a Southern "Malachite" version some time in the future it will probably be the same hue of green as the BR(S) version anyway. 

 

I did order a Hattons SECR P in Southern Black with Sunshine "Southern".  My Rule 1 mythology says the SECR class P was tried out on the Wenford branch for some time in 1947 moving EC&P clay wagons to Padstow pier for loading into small coastal freighters that could manage the Camel River Doom bar.

 

I am mostly building and playing with Southern Pacific equipment these days. Three totally wrong plastic Harriman arch roof passenger cars arrived this month from an importer who apparently copied a toy O scale version. I'll put something about these on the blog sometime when I get over my frustration. GBP 60 each for the cars too. They couldn't get the car length correct and totally missed the very prominent rivets holding together the sections of the roof. The window glaze has a coke bottle bottom effect and the LED lighting was so bright they looked like a moving Times Square. Not fit for purpose as would be said in the UK but not enforceable in the US where caveat emptor reigns even for pre-orders.  On the other hand I have completed an Owl Mountain Models SP F-50-12 flat car that is an exquisite reproduction of it's prototype. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I thought I might add a note here to point out that I am still here on the far western shore of the North American continent. My Padstow modeling has slowed considerably as there has been little new in RTR or kit that is applicable to my narrow UK interest and excites me. I do have a Hatton's P class on order. I can't believe I succumbed to its almost terminal "cuteness" but I did and I may also order a Dapol B4 in the same vein. 

 

Most activity is in the US freight car building front and I have become a list owner/moderator at https://plasticfreightcarbuiilders.groups.io (yes that is misspelled) devoted to highly accurate plastic kits and bashes of kit and RTR kits to build accurate models.  There is a parallel group at https://groups.io/g/ResinFreightCarBuilders and I am starting on a resin Westerfield Southern Pacific B-50-15 kit as it would have been liveried about 1950. 

 

These days I enjoy kit building freight cars as I have no room to set up a replacement for the 2 foot X 11 foot Padstow terminal plank. I am currently repurposing this layout in theory as the trackage at the Southern Pacific Avon (Contra Costa County, California) junction of the San Ramon branch with the  SP San Joaquin line. This is an interesting location. Most of the yard trackage still exists according to Google Maps but is buried deep in an enormous oil refinery and inaccessible. This location is also just over a mile west of the large military sea transportation facility of the US Navy at Port Chicago.  This is infamous for the July 17, 1944 explosion which leveled the base and nearby community. The subsequent court-martial of black sailors who refused to work as almost slaves loading munitions unless safety improved has given the site a historical significance.  Out of that explosion came the need to replace many of the box cars used to transport material within the base from warehouses to waiting ships. The desperate US Navy bought a series of Denver and Rio Grande Western 36 foot wood sided steel end and roof cars as replacements.  Now to the modeling bit. The US manufacturer Accurail (not to be confused with the new Irish Accurascale) has recently (2017) released a series of excellent but simple kits to model similar cars. I have acquired an unlettered pair of said models (Accurail #1497) and am in the process of of turning them into models of Navy box cars as they would have been seen about 1950. My whimsy is that for some moves they would need to be switched/shunted at the Avon yard.  The cars lasted a long time and were in use until the 1960's. Two are preserved at the Western Railroad Museum located in Rio Vista about 25 miles from my residence. At least one has been repainted in boxcar red (In Navy service they were an off white with black lettering) but this was done at the museum and I should be able get information on the Navy paint scheme. (Phew that was a long paragraph.)

 

After all that US stuff, I should add that I plan to be in the UK October 5 through October 9, 2018 after a 9 day Agratourism  vacation at a villa near Verona Italy (visiting wineries and restaurants in the area) and short visit to Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. I will be based in London and will finally get to the Bluebell. If all things go right I will make a dash for one night in Padstow at the Metropole hotel and Rick Stein's fish and chips shop. Of course a ride on the Bodmin and Wenford will be included.  I have a cousin in York that I may visit. And if there is an exhibition with UK traders I can get too, will try to include that. That's a lot for 5 days but all my remaining UK family have moved from London to various parts of "the country".

Edited March 5, 2018 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I don't update this topic very much as most of my recent activity has been Southern Pacific oriented. 

 

However, I did receive my Hornby Kitchen Restaurant first and am in the process of trying to locate information on the malachite livery pre-BR. So here is the setup.  I placed the 3rd Open at the kitchen end of the Kitchen Restaurant assuming it would be run this way so the waiters would not trundle the 3rd class meals through the dining first. 

 

 

[autocoach]

My UK modeling is in deep remission. Even my US HO modeling has slowed considerably of late.  It has taken me 5 months to build a resin kit for a Southern Pacific B-50-15 steel sided outside braced box car and it is only about 98% complete with more end decals and lower end brake levers and air hose fittings to go. And there is nothing much exciting on the US or UK horizon that excites me to plunk down any vast sum of scarce lucre.  I have blogged a bit about my latest modeling endeavors at SRandSP.blogspot.com so will not repeat them here. 

 

And it all comes to a screeching halt on September 19 when I board a plane for London and then Italy for 20 days. 

 

Due to an outage of the night train from Paris to Verona Italy on Saturday the 22, I am forced to stay in London an extra day and fly to Milan on Sunday morning to meet up with my tour group in Italy. So I now have a choice for which day to visit the Bluebell: Friday the 21st or Saturday the 22nd. I am thinking that the Friday would would be preferable as it might be less crowded. On the other hand if any of  RMWeb readers of this blog or members of SEMG might be willing to meet me on the Bluebell me either day, I would also be willing to go down to East Grinstead on the 22nd. PM me or contact at smadanek@gmail.com if you are interested.  I will be taking the a train about 9 AM from Victoria to East Grinstead. Recommendations for lunch and dinner are welcome. 

 

After the Italian adventure is concluded I will be returning to London from Naples on October 4 (via Paris and Eurostar) and not flying home to the San Francisco area until October 10. During that time I will be puttering about London and meeting up with my remaining English cousins when they decide when and where. Hopefully it will be in York so I can include a visit to the NRM. I was last there in 2009. If there are any model railway exhibitions within easy train travel distance of London on the weekend of October 6-7 please point them out so I can try and include them in my plans.

 

I haven't been in UK since 2009. I do wish to see it so I can remember the UK as it was before the end of March 2019.

 

UPDATE: I chose to go down to the Bluebell on Friday 21/9. Have bought tickets. Now it looks like rain. Oh well, bringing an umbrella.

 

UPDATE: Off on the evening plane today (SF time)....London at noon tomorrow (UK DT). Forecast of rain may have cleared up for Friday.  

 

best to all....

Edited September 19, 2018 by autocoach

[autocoach]

I have returned to the US from Italy and the UK.  The decision to stick with 21/9 at the Bluebell was fortuitous as it rained on 22/9. I had a lovely time even though there was only one service train operating. I thought their coach restoration facility at Horsted Keynes was outstanding. After Italy I came back to the UK to visit family and took a train from Padstow to Stroud. My cousin and her husband live near Miserden (close enough to walk to the Carpenter's Arms in the village.) I had a delightful time there despite catching a bit of cold from the sudden dampness and  cold spell on 6/10.

 

The train to Stroud and back was a GWR "class 43" and MK? stock. Quite comfortable in Standard Class. No problems with equipment or industrial actions.  I remember them from 1985 in the BR "Executive" scheme. I think I still have an old Hornby InterCity 125 I bought then somewhere in a box under the stairs with longer Lima coaches. Not that much different than the TrenItalia I took from Milan to Naples. I think the Italian train was a little faster. Later I took an evening EuroStar on 4/10 from Paris to St. Pancras but it was held up for almost an hour by signal problems before Calais. 

 

I didn't make it down to Padstow as originally hoped. But I did enjoy myself. 

 

And The Thomas Cubitt on Elizabeth street in Belgravia was an outstandingly interesting/good restaurant. It seems they specialize in goat during October. It was around the corner from my first hotel. But then I am a foodie too. After Italy I was not interested in wine but remembered that England has wonderful ciders which I sampled at every opportunity. 

 

I have hundreds of pictures from the trip but this is not the appropriate forum for them. 

[autocoach]

Change of my picture to an actual picture of me taken January 15, 1950 in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. I had been in the US all of six weeks and had immediately acquired long pants/jeans as soon as I could to replace my English scratchy wool shorts and long socks. The diesel in the photo was part of a miniature railroad in what is now Train Town in Griffith Park. The previous summer (1949) my father had taken me to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway before we emigrated. Obvious I have been enamored with smaller trains most of my life.  Unfortunately I have been confined to the smaller scales for my own versions/modeling than the two ride-able miniature railroads. However I did spend 3 years in the early 1970's working for a company called Pacific Fruit Express, the refrigerator car line jointly owned by Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads. At that point they owned over 40,000 refrigerator cars both ice cooled and mechanical (diesel generator and refrigeration unit in one end.) I was in the accounting offices and in 1973 I did part of the calculations to write off any residual value of the ice cars as that service was ended. Obviously I still enjoy modeling UK prototype so am a member of this forum. (Although not in completely good standing......)

[autocoach]

The 2019 Hornby announcement has come as a a much welcome news as I model the summer of 1947 SR at Padstow and the Bachmann 64' coaches would not really be correct. 

 

The Bulleid coaches and the the diagram 1543 van just about complete my Padstow collection. 

 

The only thing missing from my (unpublished) wish list is an early full cab West Country. I would even take a resin shell casting/3 D print for a Hornby mechanism for that.

 

What would be next on my British Isles list. A Scottish theme with a Wick or Thurso in 1920 layout? From one end of the isle to the other.  Looks like kit building is going to concentrate on these far Pacific shores.

[Ben Alder]

 

 

 

"What would be next on my British Isles list. A Scottish theme with a Wick or Thurso in 1920 layout? From one end of the isle to the other.  Looks like kit building is going to concentrate on these far Pacific shores."

 

Good luck with that one ! :paint:It'll be more a case of scratch than kit - the few around tend to be scarce Nucast or Jidenco - with nothing approaching current standards. You'd be easier modelling around Invergordon during the war - Radials, Terriers and a GW railmotor all showed their faces there - and I don't think most of us here will still be around when the first HR Jones 4-4-0 hits the shelves.. Even copping out and doing the back end of steam still relies on mostly discontinued CR  kits. I know the HR is not the only neglected company, but an awful  lot of modellers don't know how well served they are by the present rush of new releases. 

[autocoach]

Added to see if new content will change sort order for topic. 

 

[edit] it didn't.

 

I follow Little Muddle as I love how Kevin has created a marvelous small miniature world in limited space. (see 

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by autocoach

[autocoach]

This us an update about the Port Chicago (California) US Navy Box Car:

 

Ooops problem inserting attachment.

 

https://srandsp.blogspot.com/2018/12/us-navy-box-car-from-port-chicago.html

 

I finally finished it. 

Edited February 4, 2019 by autocoach