winterbournecm

Now that I have the signals done, I have started on the last scenic area of the layout. It is in an awkward spot, about 18 inches clearance infront of the plated over garage door. It is a recessed area, with the tracks some 10 inches high running over a bowl shaped harbour on a viaduct. The viaduct is almost set track curves so will be a wooden structure on piers (like Hayle - the town I grew up in). The scene with have a Cornish theme, with a slipway and buildings loosely based on St Ives. I dont have room for the Tate unfortunately!

The habour walls and some cottages are almost done, and I need to start constructing the layers of cliff / grass bank now. I brought some polystyrene ready carved cliff face when in California, and dad is planning to get me some more soon. It does look the business when painted.

I'm looking for accurate OO gauge yellow sand for the bay, any ideas?

Thankyou for the kind comments. I love the modern image tag, sometimes BR blue seems so retro these days. There were hardly any BR blue locos running at the recent WOE show at Carn Brea, so I wonder if we are a narrow band of guys modelling this era.

There's so much RTR bang up to date EWS freight vehicles that the BR range is a bit flat. Be nice to have a proper Freightliner flat, iron ore wagons etc...

I'll upload some recent running evening "visitors" from the future....

A Pendolino 390 sits in plat 2 at Mount Charles

Dorset Voyager runs into Mount Charles

57011 runs into the Reception at Sandy Hill with a freightliner service

A lovely arrival from Rails heralded the new Dapol silver bullets which sat well at home with 37671. Two weathered ones to follow:

Finding a bit of time to crack on with Tregrehan harbour & viaduct. Will post some pictures of that soon.

Only two for now, but two weathered ones in the bag as well. This is right at the extremes of my era... NICE though

Very pleased with them. Will I be tempted with the matt varnish & brown weathering powders though hmmmm

Hi there, I'm a Signalman in the area who also covers the Mobile Operations Manager role so have PTS. This area is regularly patrolled for the clip cupboards we have there. I was there officially!

It's difficult to get close ups without being inside the complex or railway side, which I why I grabbed them when I did!

Oops didnt realise they weren't the correct wagons

As promised - some close ups of the Silver bullet graveyard at Burngullow. A few points of note:

The wagons seem to be simply brake dust / running dirt - no clay residue at all. They weren;t absolutely filthy as the Kernow ones seem to imply.

I would suggest that a coat of matt varnish and some brown weathering powder would tone the ex works one nicely.

Note how the running numbers, ID plate have been cleaned at some point.

Who knows - these wagons may once again take Cornish white gold away from the Duchy!

I forgot to mention. There are U Tube clips of the layout. Follow the link from this one to find more - happy viewing!!

here are two exploded versions with some text added.

I have also added some construction shots to illustrate the dual level complexity of the layout.

The station before decorating began

The far corner Isis plant taking shape

How mad is this? The Sandy Hill area, which the lower levels had to be done before the "lid" of the yard was put on

Sandy Hill station baseboards

Platforms in

The plaster embankment being made

I have drawn a trackplan, but have omitted any writing on it to aid viewing it. I will do some exploded versions to show the detail up close. I havent drawn the hidden sidings under Mount Charles station for obvious reasons, but there are five long roads under the main station which can accomodate 6 coach rakes of coaches. The freight is mainly set up for each trip as required, though a MGR rake is pretty much permanently out on the layout. This simply uses the reception roads at Sandy Hill to run round (a bit like Didcot) and have a engine change from time to time.

I wanted a layout with a lot of operational interest. It combined some of my favourite features e.g. Alex Dock Jn Newport with its double ended yard. Bescot TMD with a little station in front of it. A 4 platformed terminus like Penzance, but with more freight handling. The new yard at Paddington for aggregate unloading has been included at Mount Charles. A branch to accomodate the units and give "newbies" a bit of experience without doing much damage! I also liked the idea of the locomotives needing a run to the shed for fuel or servicing, which is where the TMD being set away from the main station came in. it's always nice to see locos charging away from the platform ends to shed - a bit like Paddington - OOC or Kings Cross to FP. The shed turners are always busy.

The layout has two main operators, the main station and branch/yard. Both can work independently but need to be in constant communication for moves, especially fouling the main lines. Another controller is provided for the hidden sidings and a third person can set up or withdraw trains from the main layout as required. The hidden sidings are the layout's achillies heel, but a neccessity unfortunately.

The # symbol shows where the branch dives under the layout & re appears, and the * symbol shows where the main lines run underneath the layout to/from the storage area. The layout is essentially a squashed "S" shape. It's a difficult layout to draw actually!

Fantastic work there. As a Cornish Railwayman working around the district you've done wonders. Nice to seeit set in modern image too.

Thanks for the comments, I realised 50050 doesn't have the grab rails, but thought altering the front may be a disaster! The rockfaces are essentially plaster paris set in rubber moulds and then painted. I have a selection of shots of work in progress on my web site.

142's visit the weathering shops. The FGW is Yogi's...

Thanks Owen, I'll draw one up today and scan it in. The 37 and 47 fleet are the back bone of the layout really. Must upload more class 50 photos. Heres a couple

50050 Fearless waits with the Paddington

50035 with a stopper at Sandy Hill

Last ones for tonight!

A running night from last year, good turn out.

The terminus with semaphores at Bishops Bronescombe

Hopefully you've seen most angles of the layout. There's still a harbour & viaduct scene to do, but this gives a flavour of the layout, scenery, stock and locomotives that I run.

Sandy Hill yard, Low Level & Branch to Bishops Bronescombe:

Loco holding sidings:

Crane road, Jasmin Alan estate

Overview of area

General yard view including S&T compound:

25 on the branch

Arriva 150 passes the Panel box

The Bronescombe tripper 08799 does the honours:

The Low Level station:

Coronation Street around to Sandy Hill High Level:

47591 having backed off an incoming arrival

The Panel at Sandy Hill:

Looking back along the cutting at Coronation Street:

Cornish 37's in abundance. 37678 in the headshunt of the yard with 37670 & 671 departing with the cement.

Sandy Hill High Level station & MPD:

47148 assits a dead 56013 through Sandy Hill

The fuel roads:

The MPD on a Saturday - note books ready:

EWS day with brothers visiting locos

Home at last so here goes. The photos start with the buffers at the terminus and work around.

45104 sits in platform 4 with an arrival

The view at the platform ends. 47's rule

some more views of the station platform ends.

The yard & station throat:

40169 whistles away to itself putside the Dreary Hotel

25279 in the loco siding

Moving around to the carriage sidings and Coronation Street the "suburbs"

47537 nears journey end

More to follow....

Hi Stuart, many thanks for the reply. Will start an "onslaught" of pictures as soon as I can get back to the hard drive. Hopefully by 23.00 we'll be cooking with gas.

I have been submitting images to the gallery for some time, and had a thread on the old RM Web, and have decided to crank up a new topic for my layout which has been under construction for around 3 years and is 85% complete. It is an end to end layout, from hidden storage yard to 4 platform terminal (Mount Charles). The layout also has a TMD & Freight Yard (Sandy Hill). There is also a branch down to Bishops Bronescombe.

I have previously had continuous run layouts (Elm Park loft layout), but found that many services and locos simply visited the layout breifly before disappearing into hidden sidings. There are no short cuts on this layout, and so far I am enjoying the labour internsive nature of shunt releasing the loco hauled trains. The yard is a hub of Speedlink activity as well as bulk services, stone, oil, coal and Steel.

The layout is DC controlled and set in the glorious BR blue era 1979 to 1989. This allows NSE and Intercity liveries to appear alongside some second generation DMU's. Regular running evenings encourage pals to bring stock to run, and I must admit enjoy the garish liveries of todays DMU's sitting alongside the 1985 loco and five coach counterparts. I love the era of sheds like Bescot, Saltley & Severn Tunnel Jn bursting with a sea of blue & yellow, especially at weekends, and make no apology for a packed depot at times.

The layout has a WR theme, Barnt Green to Penzance, though I do love odd interloper, on Railtours etc.. I hoep you like following the thread, there's still much to do, and clolur light signals have recently bit wired in and lit. You may recognise some shots from my occasional Traction articles, and the former loft layout in Bristol appeared on BBC2's Home programme in 2006.

Please feel free to get in touch, I'm delighted to help in any way with people's modelling and pleased to say I've never stopped learning after 35 years modelling, and 20 years as a Signalman / Controller.

Greg from Kernow hoped the weathered ones will be available by mid April. THey will be master-class wagons for sure. They will no doubt start to make earlier wagons in the consist look toys like in comparison though. As for a Lima loco pulling them - hmmm

Amamzing - I said these locos will raise eyebrows clag wise. They look pretty good in action too. Here's 003/006 stabled over the weekend at Stoke Gifford.

The Carriage & wagon boys used to be based in Stoke Gifford yard by the MOM's. They used to regularly "spruce-up" just the ID boards, running numbers on vehicles and would often just touch up the white painted handrails and lamp brackets leaving everything else grubby.

This may have been an interim exam??

I understand the frustration, I tend to plan annually what my purchases will be these days and hardly ever "spot-buy". It is a bit of a pain to wait. We know how discerning today's modellers are, and the producers cant be blamed really.

Burngullow is near me and rather sadly a NACCO graveyard at present. I can obtain some close ups and broadside pictures if anyone would like them, or could add them to this thread - let me know.

I plan to purchase some, clean & weathered, a bit out of my 1979 - 1989 era - but worth having nonetheless.

Cheers Craig