cornish trains jez

Thanks Andy. I'm hoping to get this the footbridge finished in the next few weeks. Then I can turn my attention back to the station building and hopefully finish all the little details.

Thanks mate! I'll PM you about the mesh.

Thanks Pete. Once its painted up, It will certainly look the part on the layout.

If it doesn't look quite right, always best to start again.

Good evening all, I have been making some progress over the last week or so with the footbridge for Par station. I have still to find a suitable mesh to complete the side railings on the steps up to the bridge and I am hoping that I will find something that will work well when I visit the Warley show at the NEC in Birmingham in a couple of weeks. The footbridge ends are now complete, the second end being a complete nightmare to build as the structure somehow would not glue together straight and I ended up ripping it apart and starting again. The main structure is now complete (almost) and I may have a bash at applying some rivet transfers (as per TomE's water tower on Ropley) as I feel this would add a new dimension to the bridge. Once this is done. I will then paint the footbridge black and then add the mesh. Below are a few shots of the footbridge, it's not perfect but I feel it's becoming a fair representation of the real structure. As always, all comments are most welcome. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Graham, Don't worry about your lack of progress due to work. I've done nothing for almost 2 weeks now due to work being so busy. We need to stop work but still get paid so we can thrive in our hobbies!! Best regards, Jeremy

Hi, Once the track is glued down, I first used a thin wash of Phoenix precision paints sleeper grime to take the sheen off the plastic sleepers. Then I ballasted the track with a 70/30 mix of grey and brown ballast. Once it had set, I painted the rail sides in Phoenix paints light rust, being careful not to get it on the sleepers. Once dry, I dry brushed over the tops of the rails with sleeper grime so as to leave a small deposit over the sides of the sleepers and ballast. This will also add extra colour variance to the rail sides. Hope this helps. Best regards, Jeremy

Thanks mate! The cable tray is from the Ratio range. I painted it and then dry brush weathered it. Sorry for the late reply. Best regards, Jeremy

Thanks guys for your advice. I'll see if I can get the wheels reprofiled first then if that fails, have a bash at a scratchbuilt chassis. However I have never done this before so will be a challenge for me.

Thanks Kris. Is it more of a long job to replace the wheels? Or is it just really tricky?

Hi eveyone, Just a quick question. Does anyone know if the Dapol A3/A4 and Farish A1 will require rewheeling to run on easitrac. I am just contemplating dipping my feet into 2FS and building a very small test track with a motive power shed based on East Coast operations late 50's. (alongside building my long term cornish N scale layout! I must be mad! ) Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Graham, I used polyfilla to represent concrete on my very first layout that I built (I think I was about 12 or 13 at the time). I used it in the depot area of the layout and if I can remember rightly, there was no evidence of rusting to the rails. Can't remember if the rails were steel or nickel silver though. However, I managed to get a super smooth finish on the polyfilla (which was mixed to a creamy consistency) and once painted really looked the part. May even have an old photo or two kicking around somewhere. Best regards, Jeremy Edit: Just thought I would add in that once the mixture was level, I used a scraper dipped in water and ran it over the top of the polyfilla, leaving a nice smooth finish.

Thanks Graham! I have now primed and painted the buffers. Also added the air pipes, cables and dummy screwlink coupling. It really looks the part now and this will be the subject of my next blog once I have carried out a bit of weathering. How are those CDA's coming along? Best regards, Jeremy

Hi, Any ideas yet on which period and location you will be modelling? Best regards, Jeremy

Very neat wiring Pete. Looking good.

Thanks Mark. Still not sure if it made it down to Moorswater though.

Hi Pete, I have a feeling it will be a permanent guest on the layout. I really would like to have it pulling the sleeper service as it deputised for a class 47 I think. (great picture of it at Par in JV's Cornish Mainline book) Just think, if these trials had have proved successful, 56's may have still been operating in Cornwall today! No invasion of class 66's!! I bet you are looking forward to collecting your 56, it is such a great model and definitely Dapol's best to date. Best regards, Jeremy

Good evening all, A couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I would dedicate a blog to my Dapol class 56. There are very few photos of the loco in Cornwall but thankfully the legendary John Vaughan has several photos published in one or two of his books which were used as reference material. There is also a nice colour one taken by Craig in the Cornish Railways section of this site which will come in handy to get the weathering accurate at the time of the visit. I also have found some rare footage on one of my DVD's which has also come in handy. To represent the model accurately, I purchased some Toton etched depot plaques and BR arrows from Shawplan and some loco oval brass buffers from N Brass. I will also be detailing one of the buffer beams. First off I removed the round buffers from one end of the loco as this class 56 had round buffers to one end and oval buffers to the other when it visited Cornwall. Rather unusual, not sure if this was modified specifically for the Cornish China Clay trials. Next I fixed the depot plaques and arrows to the cab ends using photos of the prototype. These were fixed in place using Klear. The brass buffers were then added once the holes in the buffer beam had been enlarged to accommodate them. These were super glued in place once I was happy with the positioning. Next job is to prime the buffers and fix in the jumper cables and dummy screw link coupling to the buffer beam. Some light weathering will also be added and I'll cover the finished item in part 2 of this entry hopefully by the weekend. (He says!!! ) Anyway here are some progress shots and as always, all comments and tips are most welcome. The 56 straight out of the box Depot plaques and arrows added Original round buffers to one end with Toton depot plaque added Round buffers removed and brass oval buffers added Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Graham, Like the extra detailing on the CDA's. I've got a few close up shots of them at Par and Lostwithiel, if you would like them I'll email them over to you. Just PM me your address. Will you be weathering them too? Best regards, Jeremy

Nice shot mate! Some nice weathering there too. You can just hear her idling as she awaits her next turn of duty. Best regards, Jeremy

I agree!!

Apparently this is ok on a Sunday!!