Gwiwer

Thanks for the info Dave.

there will not be any more clean or even dirty ones with these running numbers

The Devil, they say, is in the detail. Or in this case in my italics. Nothing there to say or even hint that there won't be future issues with different numbers

Kernow also has some very suitable locos for pulling them to order or in stock including some limited edition specials.

Thanks Ian. About 16" width there so yes, a very restricted space.

Cornwall wouldn't be Cornwall without the clay trains .....

And also without the sandy beaches, rocky headlands and the trains which take you to them .....

Added a few images of a "Warship" double-header during today's running ...

... and a scratch rake of stock in the BR sector era, but which sector is running the train?

Yes modelling is getting more expensive but only in response to two factors. First is the forces of supply and demand; we the modellers are demanding ever more (quality and variety) and it costs proportionately more to supply that demand. Second is the shift towards RtR which really goes hand in hand with the first. We have embraced the technological and international changes over the years which make superb quality RtR items the norm. This both drives more demand for further items and diminishes the need for scratch building. Instant gratification is a known phenomenon of the current generation but plethora of items - including the superb offerings now coming from Dapol as well as the other big suppliers - which can simply be taken from the box and run more or less convincingly is drawing those of older generations away from their workbenches and back to the catalogues and websites of the manufacturers and retailers.

Modelling - as opposed to the simple purchase and running of a train set - is actually cheaper in real terms than it was 50 and even 25 years ago.

What Australian standard gauge diesel locos were not represented?

Most, actually. Varied though the parade was it didn't include a good many SG types such as ALF, ALP, AN, BL, CLF, CLP, DL, EL, FL, HL, KL, PL, NR, Y, 48, 80, 90, 91 nor any of the recent QRN deliveries. And there will be some I've missed from that list as well.

Nickel-plated Hymeks? Nice thought but ......................

The silver bullets do look really nice and the weathered ones (which sold out on advance orders) look to be stunners. Six ordered here, four silver and two dirty; was going to go for all eight but I have to be a little more realistic with quite a few of my advance orders due in the next few weeks.

Today I have begun to add the detail of the new field. Most of it has been grassed. A new hedgerow has been planted to divide it from the railway where the stone retaining wall has been extended by another whole panel of Vollmer card. Some trailing brambles are already growing from the top down over this. The new hedge also includes living and dead trees and marks out a small triangular area near the road bridge which seems to belong to someone other than the farmer.

Given the popularity of the south western lines and the not insignificant number of BLT / yard planks about the Class 22 should be very popular. They would also sit comfortably alongside the Teddybears for a layout of the appropriate area or possibly the upcoming Dapol /Kernow Beattie Well tanks.

Spent a little of today detailing the Skaledale small pub which sits on the roadway above Treheligan station. Also rebuilt the Cornish hedges (stone walls) along the roadway which can be seen in the top two shots.

The roof has been done with thinned matt black paint, the ridge tiles are a mix of red and orange to give the characteristic Cornish vermillion, the lichen is yellow with a touch of red mixed in and the weathering on the walls is stippled matt black on a near-dry brush with extra layers around the chimney for smoke staining. Spare signs from Ratio platform shelter kits have been used as blackboards to advertise food and live music and the two old boys can sit on their favourite bench and watch the world go slowly past. Just need the wooden table and a couple of pint glasses for them now to complete the scene.

And looking from the station we can see some new land has also been added. I can still reach underneath to the fiddle yard if required but the new area should improve the appearance of the scene. The hedge on the right hand side is complete with grassed topping while that on the left has the stonework done but awaits the grassing and shows the channel along the top between the card strips where the glue and scatter will go.

Meanwhile the operating authorities have made good use of a Crompton which strayed into the area for the weekend; here it is seen working a freight through Penhayle Bay station.

And heading off around the cliffs into the west ...

Good to know the 22's are still coming. Just like the real thing all too often they seem to have had a bit of a failure en route but will arrive eventually! Two (one green syp, one blue) have been ordered from Kernow since they were first announced. In due course they will look superb alongside Kernow's own D6xx Warships which are now said to be due sometime in 2011. I'll need at least two of those as well and very likely more.

The platforms at Penhayle Bay are both 90cms long. The three main faces at Treheligan are 190cms and the branch bay is 130cms.

 

That is a surprise! They all look quite a bit longer in the photos.

Then I have got it right! There is no magic trick to this - it is simply a case of getting everything into scale with everything else you are doing. Platforms can be made to look longer than they are if they are narrow as well, though mine are not. The fact that the platforms look longer than they are suggests the eye is receiving and the brain correctly interpreting the information that they are long flat parts of an overall scene. When you count the coaches which actually fit into those platforms you will see that they are not so very long after all. Though granted 190cms (slightly over six feet in imperial measure) is longer than many modellers might be able to fit in.

The curves leading into and out of the loop platform are also much easier than fixed radius track which again tends to exaggerate the length of the whole station area. I don't need to use the tight radius fixed geometry track and have used the medium radius points at either end which, in my opinion, give a quite sharp enough turnout.

Dave - you'll get much better views of the "sandy bank" if you go back to post 35 and view the linked videos.

Jeff - like the SR it's a case of "maybe one day ..... ". I do have a germ of an idea for a small indoor layout which would link the SR and ER at somewhere fictitious in the vicinity of Moorgate. I could then run the CEP / EPB units in from Kent, the Cravens 105 or a 31 and suburban coaches from Gordon Hill / Hertford North and also have a use for the EFE tube trains. Being realistic I can't see that getting up and running any time soon if at all. My next project for construction late this year / early 2011 has already been announced and it still doesn't include 3rd rails.

Having wondered just how I might employ SR 3rd-rail EMU stock in "Cornwall" I was delighted to find a blue 33/1 Crompton on the doorstep today. I would ideally prefer a pre-TOPS un-named version but 33112 is the best option unless Heljan do a rerun of the sold-out D6520 or release another 65xx with pipes.

So here is 33112 approaching Penhayle Bay and correctly showing headcode 62 (Waterloo - Exeter / points beyond semi-fast) coupled to and hauling the Bachmann b/g CEP.

Surfers seem to have set up camp on the moors above Nansglaw Head. It's best not to ask how they got there but as one of them checks out (or perhaps worships) the break the train eases into the curves at Penhayle Bay station in the distance.

Here it is seen from the path around Penhayle Head

Later in the day the train returned up-country this time with the Crompton pushing. The red blanks mean the same as a tail lamp or lights; this is the end of a complete train.

please tell me how long are each of the platforms and what determined the length they should be?

The platforms at Penhayle Bay are both 90cms long. The three main faces at Treheligan are 190cms and the branch bay is 130cms.

The "right" length for a platform is determined by the prototype you are modelling and compromised by the space you have available. Most stations in Cornwall have platforms slightly shorter than the longest trains which call, or at best barely long enough. In the days of loco-hauled trains a typical length west of Plymouth would be 7 - 10 coaches as the restaurant car and a few coaches at the London end would have been detached at Plymouth. Nowadays a 2+8 HST will just fit into some platforms or slightly exceed the length of others.

What looks right on any individual layout will be a factor of how much space you have. I am lucky to have a 35 metre circuit which gives a lot of space. The image of the loco+13 coaches above shows that although the train is rather longer than the platform it is not out of scale with its surroundings - there is a lot of space around the train and the station itself.

On a more typical room-sized oval or point to point the available space is much less and so stations must be reduced in size if they are not to take up the entire area. Shorter trains must be run accordingly which can look very wrong but we are all forced to compromise somewhere. A 2+8 HST with power cars almost touching and running through a station which occupies half the layout will not give much satisfaction to anyone.

If you only wish to model a station with its comings and goings then you can build larger but if you prefer to also have a good run you will need to make some compromises.

The space I have available allows me to run full prototypical length trains. Not everyone will have this luxury. It takes over a minute at realistic speed for a train to go round the layout which feels longer when you are actually waiting for it to come back! The longer platforms at Treheligan handle 7 Mk1 or Mk2 coaches and a loco within the signalling. Longer trains, and 2+8 HST sets, can stop in advance of the starter if it is "off" and will have a small part of the train off the back of the platform which is often the case in real Cornwall. Branch bays hold about 5 coaches at places like St. Erth, Truro and Liskeard so mine is a good representation of the real thing.

Penhayle Bay station sits in quite a tight spot in a corner of the layout and in a location where I have also managed to get a lot of other scenic elements included. The short platforms are served by local trains often formed of a loco and 3 or 4 coaches (of which 3 fit in the platforms) and by dmu sets. An HST stopping there can pull right around through the tunnel to the advanced starter on the cliffs with coaches 5 - 7 in the platform; up trains can draw up to the starter if required which is a couple of coach-lengths beyond the platform. These S-bend platforms fit neatly into the small area and look the part; if they were longer it would look wrong and in any case the station site is restricted by the tunnel at one end and the viaduct at the other.

None of the layout was pre-planned except a rough sketch of the tracks and major features. It was built very much as I went along and from a good knowledge of the area I am representing. I have been lucky in that 95% of what I set out to do has just worked. Some of that has been because I have a large space; if I were modelling in a small room then I would need to Templot everything before I even started.

I hope that helps answer the question.

Recent images from Penhayle Bay.

The summer Saturday timetable includes strengthening the branch train from the usual 1 or 2 cars to as many as 5 which is the limit of the bay platform. Here we see a 5-car rake approaching from St. Agnes formed of a Hornby class 122 "Bubblecar", a Lima class 117 DMBS and a Hornby class 101 triple. The connection with the main line train looks t obe assured as that is only just running in around the curve behind a Bachmann "Warship"

The connection with the down train is made safely as well. Barely visible in the distance a class 47 leads a summer Saturday holiday train of 13 coaches (12 are visible in shot) which is the maximum length I can fit in the fiddle yard without fouling the points. 2 locos on 16 coaches will fit and has been run but blocks other tracks.

Two GWR150-liveried locos are seen passing; 47079 leads an up passenger into Treheligan station while 50007 waits in the down loop with china clay hoods. As if that wasn't enough the GWR150 chocolate / cream bubble car is also on the branch! Getting three trains in shot with GWR150 liveries would be a rare piece of good fortune!

For fans of large logo blue we see another 50 this time in the evening light heading through open countryside near Nansglaw with a down passenger train.

And some video footage as well .....

First showing another summer Saturday train as a Western + Warship double-header coasts down the bank from Nansglaw to Penhayle Bay with 13 on, and is then seen heading off through the woods towards Treheligan

Video 1

Then jumping forward in time the IC-livery HST set is captured storming up through the forest until it emerges on the cliff-edge above Penhayle beach and runs through the station. Here it is passed by a down set in GWT "Merlin" livery which we see sweeping around the curves and heading off into the west. Shooting a video whilst driving two trains at the right speed and getting them to cross at exactly the right spot isn't easy!

Video 2

Finally the large-logo 50 was caught dashing through lowering sunlight with a down express from London to Penzance. This clip has no sound, sorry.

Video 3

079 is a superb representation of the original. Just don't be tempted to fit the plug-in snow ploughs supplied; they don't belong on 079 but might be handy for another loco in your collection. Also it's nice to find a pack of etches which actually fit over the decals correctly. The RES-livery 474 double-arrow etches are completely the wrong size and unusable for example. 079 also doesn't have orange ETH sockets as per the supplied pack.

Now do I put a few small oil smudges on the white wheel rims or leave a limited edition alone as I normally do?

I don't think it's down to lack of variety or interest, as I have hoped to show, but might be through lack of knowledge of somewhere so far away.

Indeed Peter, not as hot today. Though the direct sun still played its tricks with the points at the farm end for a while

A couple more from today. First showing the blue Warship making the rare move of a down train from Treheligan up platform onto the St Agnes branch. This is only timetabled for summer Saturdays when a few cross-country expresses detach a portion here. My track plan, signalling and wiring allows for this on DC. The light weathering I have applied to the skirt and grille areas shows better in this shot than in those above.

Then we see a maroon Western + Warship double-header approaching Treheligan station from the east with a long overnight train of mixed vans, sleeping cars and seated carriages. The clay "hoods" are a few years too recent to be an exact match for time but the new-fangled blue/grey livery of the rake in the up siding would be right.

True, Sir, but then I am not a Nanogauger nor an Ordinary Gauger and I have invited your own additions to the list!

As promised here are some modelling links. I don't pretend this is a comprehensive list as I know it is not and I have no connection with any business either listed nor omitted. Others may wish to add links to the many smaller businesses supporting the majors, and to the retail outlets of which there are rather few.

http://www.austrains.com.au/

http://www.auscisionmodels.com.au/

http://www.tomshobbies.com.au/index.php/trainorama-products

http://www.powerline.com.au/

The quality of most current locomotive releases is at or possibly above what we might expect from Bachmann; the quality of anything to hook on the back is often rather lesser and in particular the Powerline carriages are empty shells when most UK / US modellers would expect a detailed interior, not least given the price.

Over the years Lima and Hornby have produced some models of Australian outline stock. The locos from Lima are as good as anything else they ever made (i.e. noisy, a bit rough and little in the way of speed control), those from Hornby are from a much earlier time with all the limitations of the industry 30 - 40 years ago. The Lima carriages are said to be US-outline reliveried / rebadged and I have to defer to others with greater product knowledge to confirm or refute that. A train of fully-badged "Indian Pacific" or "Overland" stock can look quite respectable however.

For most Australian themes Code 83 track is probably the best match of the RtR stuff though many local modellers will build their own. Scenic creations are quite well catered for as the Woodland range, which is US-styled, can be used almost universally.

Those illustrate the location perfectly David, thank you.

Had a short running session today with a friend who is in town from Perth WA. We were only able to get about a half-hour together but enjoyed sending several trains for a run around the layout, mostly with WR hydraulics in charge.

A blue class 42 Warship coasts downhill past Darras 'box.

and continues around the sweep of the curve beside Treisaacs Farm

before approaching Treheligan station through the cutting and parallel to the approaching St. Agnes branch unit descending the steep route from the hillside to the station.