cornish trains jez

Hi Pete, Thank you for your comments and tips! I'll order up some sculptamould today. Haven't used the weathering powders yet but I'm always up for trying out new stuff! Best regards, Jeremy

Thanks for your comment Dave! I used this ballasting and weathering technique on my previous swiss layout for the first time and it seemed to work. So thought I would use it again.

Thanks Mark! I can't take credit for 37672 as this was a professional renumbering with etched plates and weathering. However 37206 is my own work, using a Farish re-tooled class 37. As you say, just need that 2mm John Vaughan taking a picture or two on the platform!!

Good afternoon all, I have managed to progress board 3 of the layout (or the London end of Par station) over the last week or so. Ballasting has taken place and the track has been painted. I first painted the rails in Phoenix "rusty rails" colour, then a week wash of track dirt to take the sheen off the sleepers and blend the rusty rails a little. The ballast is a 70/30 mix of Woodland scenics buff and brown. I used this successfully on my swiss layout and having studied the many photos of Par during the 80's, this colour seems to fit nicely. Once the ballast was dry, I then dry brushed sleeper grime across the tops of the rails and ballast on each side, giving the ballast a subtle weathering and again blending in the rusty rails and the earlier wash of track dirt. Below are some photos with some stock appropriately positioned to add a little realism. Almost forgot to say, I have also started building up the embankment next to the bridge with some polystyrene blocks, which have been carved to shape. More to come and a separate blog on that one to follow soon. Early progress shots Ballasting finished and painted (Class 37206 lurks in the background! ) View from the other angle Overall view From the bridge looking West My "work in progress" weathered 37206 emerging from underneath the road bridge. 37672 on CDA's bound for St. Blazey Peak leaving with cross country service Paved section on platform now painted. Still needs some weathering, any tips would be greatly welcome. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Pete, That's coming along nicely! Looking forward to seeing the end result with the static grass. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Pete, I am very similar, I tend to leave all the small bits and then all of a sudden I have a spurge of enthusiasm and get them done. Some great progress there and certainly an inspiration for me to get stuck into some little bits I have been putting off. May well crack on tonight!! I agree with Mark, that FGW 153 certainly is a lovely model. Best regards, Jeremy

Haven't got a FGW 153 yet, but I have got a FGW 57 which was resprayed for me. Looks a bit out of place amongst by BR blue liveried locos but the livery is growing on me too.

Good afternoon all. Had a week's holiday down in Devon last week and I couldn't resist heading down my favourite station to capture a bit of cornish action on camera. I decided to get down to Par early in order to photograph the down "beds" heading for Penzance. Here are some of my pictures. 57602 "Restormel Castle" on the Penzance sleeper just after 6:30am. Shortly after 7am, a 66 arrived in the island platform from St Blazey, ran round its load and headed down towards possibly Burngullow (I would assume) some 20 minutes later. A selection of early morning Glasgow and Penzance bound voyagers and Paddington bound expresses also arrived. Also had the pleasure of spotting 2 more China clay workings. All before 10:30am!! The first one took me by surprise as I was standing on the road bridge at the time, so I "legged it" down to the platform to grab a nice picture! And finally, the 9:17am Newquay bound local pair of class 153 and a Penzance bound stopper. All in all, a fun few hours first thing in the morning. Well worth getting up at 4:30am in the morning to make the trip down there!! Best regards, Jeremy

Looks fantastic Tom! Really goes to show the level of detail that can be achieved in 2mm scale. Keep up the good work! Best regards, Jeremy

Excellent find! Some great pictures worth viewing and a class 31 at Par in Cornwall!!!

Thanks mate. I'll be off to Devon in a weeks time so think I might be getting in a sneaky visit to Par! I've been keeping an eye on the railways of cornwall section, there's a good abundance of info and pictures there.

Cheers! Hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more done over the bank holiday weekend.

Good afternoon all, It's been a while since i've been able to post a bit more progress on my layout. Work commitments still getting in the way of the project, but i've managed to make a little bit more progress over the last few days. I've laid some of the very realistic ratio concrete trunking which i was initially going to build from thick pieces of card, but having sampled the ratio product, I decided to use it instead. I still need to paint it and add some weathering though. Progress on the platforms has taken place and, thankfully to the abundance of photos of this station on this website and various other websites, I've managed to start to make some accurate representations. I've used ratio platform edging (which still needs some more painting and weathering added) and thick pieces of card to make the platforms themselves. I've scribed the card to represent the paved areas and this will need painting in due course which hopefully will happen over the next few days. Watch this space! The relay boxes are modified ratio products with a thin sheet of pasticard added to the backs as the ones at Par seem to be slightly deeper than the ratio products themselves. These have beed primed and are now ready for the top coat of grey. The scratch built signal is still work in progress. The overbridge, which is still coming along slowly, requires some pointing (in model form of course!) before being painted with a mixture of colours using acrylic paints and photos which I took a couple of years ago. The stone faces are from the Faller range which I discovered when building my previous swiss railway layout. The embankments will be built from polystyrene but I haven't got round to this bit yet as I wanted to concentrate on getting the overbridge right first. Anyway, here is a selection of photos showing the progress. As always, all comments welcome. Best regards, Jeremy A view from the Newquay side of the station. 37206 heads into the station with a short speedlink working. My scribed card on the platform to represent the paved area. Still quite a bit to go.

Hi Pete, Really clever idea that with the balls! Will you buy the trees or make them from scratch? Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Tom, You've nailed it! Track work looks great! Really wished I had been brave enough to build my layout based on Par using the finescale track work, it makes such a difference. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Steven, I've just over coated the transfers with some Klear and I think i've got away with it!! The carrier film is much less visible now. In terms of the brass buffers, I got them from N-Brass. They do make a difference to the appearance of the buffer beam area. Looking forward to seeing your petroleum sector 37! Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Pete, I raised the bogies on this one. Did you apply the Klear on first on your 37's and then put the decal on whilst the Klear was still wet? Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Pete, This is coming along nicely. The great thing with this board is that you can run stock from all eras as I presume none of the buildings have changed much in the last few decades. Looking forward to seeing those low level shots through the trees!! Best regards, Jeremy

Good afternoon everyone, Just thought I would update on the progress of this model I have now primed and painted the etched brass buffers, snowploughs and added the buffer beam detailing. I have also added the number transfers and just need to add the Johnsons Klear which, hopefully, will hide the decal slide film. Having not used this product before, I am a bit green on this one. Is it best to leave the transfers 24 hours before applying the Klear with a paint brush? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Here are a selection of photos of the model before i start attacking it with the dirty paint brush!!! All comments greatly appreciated. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Tom, I've been watching your layout progress and this is really starting to look amazing. I think the attention to detail is so important, especially in this scale. Fantastic! Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Ian, The card template did work well. It took several attempts though to get the arch looking right, which i drew out on paper first then transferred to card to install on the layout. Once I was happy with the look and, most importantly, the clearance for the locos and rolling stock to run underneath, I transferred this onto ply wood. Best regards, Jeremy

Hi Pete, Thank you for your kind comments. Glad you like the bridge, I feel it's an important part to get right as its quite a prominent piece of architecture. I'm thinking of using the stone foam sheets supplied by faller to cover it, which once painted should look the part. I'll check out MSE's website. Thanks for the tip! Best regards, Jeremy