37672

Thank you.

Evening, A few days off work as meant I've been able to make some more progress. The painting of the "steelwork" at East Kernick is complete, so I will be able to start the next stage of the structure soon. Shortly after this turned up for clearence tests. This is one of the Rail Express limited editions, which very rarely comes out of its box. Which brings me on to my next topic. I have decided to work on two locos for the layout, initially. These will be 50039 and 37672, the former having spent some time on clay duties during the late 80's. I think at the time 39 was restricted to local work from Laira. The condition that I am going to try and reproduce is as I photographed it during 1988 at Old Oak Common, shortly after it was reallocated from Laira, although it will probably be a bit more workstained. A second hand loco has been sourced. It's got a few bits of external damage here and there but nothing that can't be fixed, but mechanicaly it is sound - well it was. First job was to remove all detailing parts and strip back the paint to the plastic. I have a long list of things that I plan to do to (hopefully) improve the model, with the usual detailing parts from Shawplan, etc, but I also plan a few more unusual mods too. Most of the initial work has been on the bogies, but I have also started on the body. I've opened out the steps below the cab door, as I think these are too shallow, cut away where the hand brake lever will go and removed the lifting eyes. Also I have removed the sharp edge of the tumblehome below the cabside windows, as I think this is far to exagerated on the model. The bogies have replacement wheelsets of the correct diameter, and I have decided to completely change the way the bogies are held together to allow fitting of fine detail in the correct positions. All of the original representation of the brake shoes and rods have been removed, as have the secondary suspension springs. New brake gear from Penbits is being fitted, with one side of one bogie completed so far. The Penbits kit looks very fiddly, but I have to say the quality is very good and so far everything has gone together easily and it fits perfecty to the class 50 bogie frame. The reason for going to these lengths is because of the small size of my layout, every detail counts! So far I am very pleased with the Penbits kit, which is just as well as I have another kit waiting for the 37. Cheers, Kevin.

Hello, A couple of these turned up today... Along with some finescale wheels for a loco that will be used on the layout... I said I wouldn't be working on stock until the layout was finished, but it would be good to have at least one loco up and running for when it is done. I'll start another thread with info and progress on this new project. Today I have been mainly painting bits of the framework inside the East Kernick loading area. These areas will be pretty much inaccesible to a paint brush shortly, so it needs to be done now. I'll post some pictures when I've applied a couple of coats. Cheers. Kevin.

Hello, I've had a bit of a break from modelling recently while I finished a DIY project. Not much to report apart from the wiring for the lights that will be inside the loading areas and along walkways, etc. I've installed a power supply that will take DC or AC inputs and give 12 V DC output, perfect for the micro LEDs that I have ready to install. A couple of snaps below. The wiring on the layout side will be hidden inside the buildings or the covered conveyors that will eventually link them. I don't enjoy wiring so it's good to get this part done and out of the way. Cheers, Kevin.

Just a few shots showing slow progress on the layout. A view inside East Kernick linhay, checking how much headroom is needed for the loader... The perfect home for the loader when not in use... Progress on the conveyor that links across to a clay mill, the corner of which will form part of the scenic break at this end. The walls just placed here for now until an elevated walkway is built alongside the conveyor.

Thanks James. I'll post more updates as I go. Cheers, Kevin.

Cheers Wayne. How is your S-kits tiger coming on? I've bought some Kernow tigers but I also have a couple of kits waiting to be done sometime. Regards, Kevin.

Thank you Jeff. Regards, Kevin.

Hello, The frame for East Kernick store is taking shape. The tower to the left of the main building will eventually support two conveyors. I've also been experimenting with ways to represent weathered concret - I think there is still some work to do on that to get the right look. Cheers, Kevin.

Evening, A little progress with the Threthosa siding clay store... This is very loosely based on Treviscoe siding. I need to add details and do some painting before I can do any more of the roof. Cheers, Kevin.

Thanks Wayne. Hopefully I will be posting regular updates from now. Cheers, Kevin.

Hello, After an extended break I have at last been making some progress with the layout. I've been meaning to post an update for a while and this morning the first two of my Kernow clay tigers arrived so thought I'd post some pictures... Cheers, Kevin.

Thanks, I'll try! It's an Electrotren model. It was a good few years ago, but I seem to remember it was a limited edition, possibly from Kittle Hobby. Thank you There's a long way to go yet though.

Evening. Just a quick update showing a little bit of progress over the weekend. There has been some progress on one of the settling pits, and I've started work on the bulk clay loading wharves at Trethosa and East Kernick sidings. Today a Cargo Waggon turned up for clearance tests and loading trials Cheers, Kevin.

Thanks for the kind comments guys

Thank you Jon. The Transrail 37 (672) is straight out of the box. Eventually it will be reliveried, probably railfreight red stripe, and detailed, etc. Best wishes, Kevin.

Hi Pete, Thanks for your comments. The many different types of wagons, especially during the 80s and early 90s, is one of the things that I like about the clay traffic. I have quite a bit of stock in storage at the moment, some scratch built, some RTR that needs detailing and/or weathering (like the TSL polybulk), so there will be plenty of variety. Cheers, Kevin.

The station lights look mint Rich

I wonder who's idea that was?

Hi Mark, Thanks for your kind comments. I agree that low viewing angles work well when photographing model railways; which is one of the reasons I made the foreground lower than the rest of the layout. When I've completed a bit more I'll take some with my DSLR and better lighting; I may even try focus stacking. Yes, it's a shame the way rail freight in Cornwall has declined. But I suppose we should be grateful that in 2016 the clay trains are still running at all, and that the Drinnick Mill branch has stayed open despite the drop off in traffic. Thanks for letting me know about your photos, I'll take a look. My last trip to Cornwall was 2013, so I am well overdue a visit. Cheers, Kevin.

Introducing my OO fine-scale micro-layout project “Trethosa”. Trethosa is my interpretation of what might have been if things had turned out differently. In reality Trethosa siding was located to the south of the main Drinnick Mill branch, diverging near the present-day Kernick sidings. There is a 1930s photograph (plate 53) in Maurice Dart’s book “West Cornwall Mineral Railways”. It closed in 1948 due to expansion of Trethosa clay pit; but what if the geology had been different and the pit had expanded in a different direction, away from the railway? Similarly to Kernick and Treviscoe the sidings at Trethosa would most likely have been modernised during following years, and with expansion of the pit may have come increased output and the need for more loading sidings. My track layout is very similar to the east end of Treviscoe, with the addition of an extra connection between the sidings to allow increased operational flexibility. Like Treviscoe, and the majority of modern clay railheads, the sidings are all set in concrete, apart from the main running line. In my fictitious world, at the northern end of the complex is East Kernick siding, moving southward Trethosa is passed before reaching the terminus of this small branch line at Trethosa Wharf, which was a small public goods station similar to Nanpean Wharf. The current model depicts the area between East Kernick and Trethosa, with the option that an additional apa module containing Trethosa Wharf may be added as a future project. Apart from china clay, traffic on the branch includes household coal, calcified seaweed and the occasional cement delivery. Clay is loaded in bulk powder and bagged powder forms at Trethosa and East Kernick, with the occasional load of slurry transferred from lorries to rail wagons at Trethosa Wharf. The intention is that the model can be set in any period from the 1970s to present day, although I think I will focus on the late 80s and early 90s. I started the model at the end of March this year, with construction of a mini baseboard that sits inside the apa box. At the moment I am only working on the scenic section of the layout, the fiddle yards will come later; I didn’t want to be distracted by running trains while there is work to be done! The track within the apa box is complete and the sidings have been set in “concrete” (actually fine-grade filler). Plain track is C&L flexi-track, the point on the main branch is a C&L kit and the points under the concrete are modified Peco code 75 electro-frog, all but one of which I had already. The code 75 switch rails have had their tie bars removed and copper-clad sleeper tie bars installed, to allow the switch rails to be spaced in a more fine-scale way. The layout is wired with DCC in mind, and I have recently purchased a NCE Power Cab controller. Scenic work has so far been confined to the front area of the model, with spoil tip, settling pits and culverted stream currently taking shape. I have also begun to weather the main branch line. However, there is a lot left to do, not least the construction of the Trethosa and East Kernick loading sheds, pipe bridges, pedestrian bridges, pipelines, conveyors, etc, etc. I’ve attached some snaps taken with my phone and a basic plan. All stock will be detailed and weathered in due course, after the bulk of the layout work has been completed. Cheers, Kevin. In the foreground left to right a spoil tip, settling pits (one full, the other empty) and a culvert take shape. In the space to the extreme right of the culvert will be a building, design yet to be decided. 37175, an old Lima model fitted with dyna-drive, propels a calcified seaweed wagon towards Trethosa Wharf. 37672 is on Trethosa siding, the polybulk sits in the East Kernick headshunt.

Thank you Mark. Cheers, Kevin.

Introducing my OO fine-scale micro-layout project “Trethosa”. Apologies, yes, yet another china clay layout For many years now I have wanted to make a model railway, and have had a couple of false starts along the way. There were two things working against me; lack of space and lack of time. I don’t think I am alone in having these problems. Living as I do in a rather small house I found that I simply don’t have the space to dedicate a room, or even part of a room, permanently to a layout. Storage space is also at a premium, so even if I made a layout that could be folded away it would have to be unobtrusive, and I wouldn’t want to be spending much time assembling and disassembling it when I fancied playing trains. Working full time and having other interests away from railways I have found I tend run out of steam with larger projects that take longer to build. I enjoy modelling, but am less excited about the other aspects of building a layout such as baseboard construction, electrics, etc. What I do like is building as much detail as I can into small, non-repetitive projects. These constraints and preferences led me towards micro-layouts, and after following on-line a number of other people’s projects with interest I decided to base my layout on the Ikea “apa” storage box. Although many of the apa layouts I found on line were 2 mm scale, I thought it must be possible to do something reasonable in 4 mm as well. A couple of years ago I obtained three apa boxes, and until recently all of them were usefully employed providing storage while I worked out what I was going to do. Since 1991 I have had a keen interest in china clay railway operations in the south west, kindled whilst on holiday in Cornwall by the purchase of John Vaughan’s book “The Newquay Branch and its Branches”. Over the years this has led to several photographic trips and a number of official visits to clay sidings. During this time I also started to scratch build several different types of china clay wagon, so it was always likely that when I did build a layout it would be based on clay operations. Final persuasion for building a small clay layout came from “St Minions”, the scenic section of which is only slightly bigger than an apa box. This convinced me that it was indeed possible to build a very good model with operational interest in such a small space. Inspiration from the prototype came from the area between Kernick and Treviscoe sidings on the Drinnick Mill branch. I had always wanted to recreate a particular photo in the Newquay Branch book; for those of you that have it see page 144, plate 230, where large-logo 37 412 is seen reversing into the Treviscoe loading area to collect wagons. The track layout in this area is quite similar to that of St Minions, and this finally convinced me to start work. Trethosa is my interpretation of what might have been if things had turned out differently. Until 1948 there was a twelve inches to the foot scale Trethosa siding located to the south of the main Drinnick Mill branch, diverging near the present-day Kernick sidings. There is a 1930s photograph (plate 53) in Maurice Dart’s book “West Cornwall Mineral Railways”. It closed in 1948 due to expansion of Trethosa clay pit; but what if the geology had been different and the pit had expanded in a different direction, away from the railway? Like Kernick and Treviscoe the sidings at Trethosa would most likely have been modernised during following years, and with expansion of the pit may have come increased output and the need for more loading sidings. My track layout is very similar to the east end of Treviscoe, with the addition of an extra connection between the sidings to allow increased operational flexibility. Like Treviscoe, and the majority of modern clay railheads, the sidings are all set in concrete, apart from the main running line. In my fictitious world, at the northern end of the complex is East Kernick siding, moving southward Trethosa is passed before reaching the terminus of this small branch line at Trethosa Wharf, which was a small public goods station similar to Nanpean Wharf. The current model depicts the area between East Kernick and Trethosa, with the option that an additional apa module containing Trethosa Wharf may be added as a future project. Apart from china clay, traffic on the branch includes household coal, calcified seaweed and the occasional cement delivery. Clay is loaded in bulk powder and bagged powder forms at Trethosa and East Kernick, with the occasional load of slurry transferred from lorries to rail wagons at Trethosa Wharf. The intention is that the model can be set in any period from the 1970s to present day, although I think I will focus on the late 80s and early 90s as I am a particular fan of the railfreight red stripe livery worn by St Blazey’s 37 196, and later by its class 37/5s. However, I like the idea of being able to run 25s, 37s, 45s, 46s, 47s, 50s, 52s and of course 60s and 66s in the later years. Apart from modelling the sidings themselves I am also trying to reproduce some aspects of the clay landscape and infrastructure that surround the railway at places like Treviscoe, Drinnick Mill and the Rocks works at Goonbarrow Junction. Whilst I will not be staying faithful to any one particular prototype location I hope that by taking elements from each area and combining them I can recreate some of the atmosphere. I started the model at the end of March this year, with construction of a mini baseboard that sits inside the apa box. At the moment I am only working on the scenic section of the layout, the fiddle yards will come later; I didn’t want to be distracted by running trains while there is work to be done! The track within the apa box is complete and the sidings have been set in “concrete” (actually fine-grade filler). Plain track is C&L flexi-track, the point on the main branch is a C&L kit and the points under the concrete are modified Peco code 75 electro-frog, all but one of which I had already. The code 75 switch rails have had their tie bars removed and copper-clad sleeper tie bars installed, to allow the switch rails to be spaced in a more fine-scale way. Currently all points are switched by Gaugemaster PM4 self-latching point motors, mainly for their compactness to fit the limited space under the baseboard. I may modify the electrical switching on these to make them more reliable, as I find that the limited throw of fine-scale switch rails can sometimes mean the frog ends up dead, which is a problem when running shunters. The layout is wired with DCC in mind, and I have recently purchased a NCE Power Cab controller. Scenic work has so far been confined to the front area of the model, with spoil tip, settling pits and culverted stream currently taking shape. I have also begun to weather the main branch line. However, there is a lot left to do, not least the construction of the Trethosa and East Kernick loading sheds, pipe bridges, pedestrian bridges, pipelines, conveyors, etc, etc. I’ve included some snaps taken with my phone and a basic plan. The 37 and polybulk are placed to give a sense of scale. All stock will be detailed and weathered in due course, after the bulk of the layout work has been completed. I'll try and keep this blog updated, and promise not to make entries as long in future! Cheers, Kevin.