Halvarras

One can use this scenario as an excuse for all kinds of stock (within reason!) to run into a BLT for a run-round manoeuvre, maybe recessing into a siding while the regular passenger service arrives and departs.

One of these came to me in a job lot around 30 years ago - I sold it on as I had no use for it but now wish I hadn't as it ran really nicely and I currently have a DC Kits Class 205 2H kit which needs a power unit! Oh well, I've never owned a crystal ball.......🥴!

D'oh! Yes Tony, you (and Roger) are quite right - 7054 had already spent its time at Laira and had been returned to Bristol nearly 4 months earlier. I should have realised this - I've looked through my notebook for 1973 and I passed Laira on the train on 19/4/73 (behind 'Peak' 42), noting 7054/68/74, 818/21 and 1032 on the scrapline - so I saw it there exactly a week before it left. (At that point 1032 was in limbo, having been stopped at Laira since 16/1/73 with issues in both engines and one bogie but repairs were not authorised and it was officially condemned 17 days later on 6/5/73 - the first to go.) According to 'A Tribute to the Hymeks' by Chris Neill, which happens to reproduce the Swindon Works record for this particular Hymek, for 26/4/73 the entry says,"LA Withdrawn/9ZXX LA-Swindon for scrap with D818, towed by D5824 via BRD to pick up D7032 for OOC/Swindon Works for scrap". However it would appear that for some reason 7054 was swapped for 7032 at Bristol and it then remained there for some months (3 dead hydraulics too much for a '31'?!) Scrapping for all three redundant locos would take different paths since, as suggested in the works entry, 7032 went on to OOC for component recovery (it was noted there on 14/7/73 between classmates 7030 and 7031), and 818 would spend longer parked at Swindon Works than it did in traffic, not being scrapped until 1985. As for 7054, I'm not sure when it eventually made it to Swindon's Con Yard because the works record says "Swindon Works for scrap" continuously from 27/4/73 until it became the 81st Hymek to be cut up on 9/4/75!

With Hornby's Grant Rail Ruston 48DS 'GR5090' (R3853) currently available for less than £70 from some retailers how about this for an ultra-ultra-short 'train'?! (Flickr photo) The model's conflat runner wagon body could be swapped for that from a Dapol 10' wheelbase hopper wagon, maybe cut down a little and repainted to match (or a debranded Bachmann 'Cadburys' version which is already yellow!) You'd even get a usable standard conflat wagon out of the leftovers 😁 (You can tell I've been giving this some thought.......but I'm trying to resist adding yet another project to my extensive existing projects pile....!!) The real one has larger cab windows than the model and appears to be a later version (one reason to not get too hung up on the accuracy of the hopper wagon!) Until 1996 Grant Rail had been Grant Lyon Eagre, and the album 'Cornish China Clay Trains in Colour' by Maurice Dart includes a photo of a similar set-up involved in ballasting work at ECC Burngullow in which the hopper wagon, with this longer name down the side, is being propelled by a less elaborate, and considerably smaller but still yellow, motorised trolley, so this 'motive-power plus hopper wagon' formation seems to have been a standard arrangement for this company in either guise.

My mum worked in Old County Hall! Her office overlooked the railway and on one visit in 1970 I saw two-tone green Class 47 1759 entering the station on an up train - not only was a Stratford loco a rarity in Cornwall, this one's future would include a rebuild as 57601 and a garish silver and purple livery! I noticed in April that Old County Hall is currently being converted into residential accommodation. At least the residents won't be disturbed by twin Maybachs bellowing up the 1 in 60 to Highertown Tunnel 😆!!

Here's my photo of 7054, the last surviving green Hymek, withdrawn at Bristol St Philips Marsh with 7097 for company on 11th August 1973 (5 years to the day since the end of BR steam, not relevant except maybe as a reminder of how some of steam's replacements didn't fare much better, 7054 itself lasting a whisker under 10 years and 2 months in service) - my notebook indicates that beyond 7097 were 7096, Warship 824 and 7089. I would not have expected 7054's next move to be to Laira!

I've noticed that the title is at odds with the poster - although the 31st being a Monday means confusion is unlikely. Hope it goes well as it's for a good cause. Too far away for me though!

Oh yes, 15107 the oddball - I should have remembered this one as there's a photo of it actually shunting something (!) in Bristol in an old Bradford Barton slim softback book on my bookshelf......thanks for the reminder 😉!

From my observations over the past couple of years 43005 & 43041 had the large bodyside 'GWR' logos in raised cast alloy instead of the usual '3D-effect' vinyl stickers. I believe 43188 still in service (AFAIK) also has them - is, or was, there another one, to make up two pairs? Were these the 'Castle' launch PCs and was 43041 paired with 43188, as these two have (had) their running numbers unusually applied to the sliding rear doors instead of the cabsides? Just for the record......

Sorry, gone way OT lately. I wonder where those photos of the Dobwalls railway are......??

Inner end access is/was just about opposite where Penhalls Way joins Carlyon Road - from memory there was a granite block 'stile' and I think there was also one at the outer end set back from the road (wish I'd checked it was still open while I was there but never went that far up PW - something to check next time!) Once I had a bike I had no reason to use it. My younger brother also had a bike by then so we both rode to Kea school, although one morning he had 'brake trouble' coming down the hill and collided with the school entrance's right-hand granite gate post - fortunately he got away with just bruises! When I discovered railways my usual route from home to Truro station was down the long hill past the school to Calenick, up the other side across the level crossing on the Newham branch then across the top of Truro to New County Hall on the left, where I turned right into the Old County Hall grounds which provided a convenient short cut to the famous "Black Bridge" over Truro yard. Having witnessed the passing of several Warships and Westerns and a hoped-for Class 47, a Class 08 and/or Class 22 in the yard (and in the autumn of 1967 maybe blue D600 or green D603 - the other three being in South Wales - Hymeks D7029 on the down 'Cornish Riviera' and D7088 in the bay platform.......both on the same day once!) I was faced with the long bike push up the hill from Calenick, past the school and back on the level at Playing Place. Phew! Happy days though 😊

Just checked John Vaughan's 'Illustrated History of West Country China Clay Trains' (first published 1987) - the Traffic Services 'Polybulk' wagon shown on the wagon spread is not the same as the JIAs currently in service so I stand corrected. They still look older than the CDAs though, not helped by those expansive smooth sides proving irresistible to graffiti "artists" 😕.......

Quite so - once naming began in 1978 (5 years beyond 50036 👍) the BR logo was moved to the secondman's cabside (except 50020/46 on which it stayed where it was, adjacent to the nameplate). 50017 was named still with 4 logos and I suspect 50034 and maybe one of two others which retained the original livery into 1978 also skipped this 'standard' scheme. 50036 was therefore "max", the rest less than 5 years, many way less.......but some us remember it well, including 50016 with logo too high up the bodyside and another with it too low down (forgotten which one - 50033?)

This standard 1970s livery, first seen on 50036 in October 1973, has never been offered RTR, in 4mm at least - not even by Lima....!

Is that the footpath which ran behind the houses along Old Coach Road and came out at the top of the hill, beyond the end house which was Northey's butchers in my time? I used it too, having walked up Penhalls Way (where we lived from around 1956 until January 1962, during which time my dad had built a bungalow on a plot of land owned by his parents adjoining their house on Halvarras Road). The alleged small amphitheatre was in the field just over the hedge at the Carlyon Road end of that footpath. During my last couple of years at Kea school I was entrusted with taking outgoing school mail for posting in the Spar shop on the way home, at the time Spar was running a promotion named 'Sparkies', which were pictures of world cars of all ages mounted in red, blue or green plastic discs which could be press-fitted into a vacuum-formed grey plastic steering wheel - they were supposed to be "collect them all!" issued one at a time with purchases but the friendly chap behind the counter would give me a bagful every time I called in, so I had the lot in next to no time with several spares! Now that I'm back in Cornwall I did visit Playing Place in September 2021, other than very occasional quick drive-throughs my first walkabout in 20 years and went for a walk in the woods I used to play in for the first time in 50 years - couldn't find anything I can still remember! Access was behind the youth club/village hall which would have been brand new in your time - it replaced two Nissen huts. Truro yard was remodelled during 1971 and while the work was proceeding freight traffic was diverted to Newham, giving the branch a busy final few months before closure with effect 7th November 1971 - a photo exists of 6356 shunting the congested yard during this time, an example of what you would have seen from Kea school in summer 1971 (as well as those china clay tips in the far distance) - but sadly not into 1972!

I must admit I had no idea that such a mechanism from Tri-ang existed, so that's today's new thing learned! Colin Massingham must have been aware of this arrangement as he developed a similar motor bogie for his whitemetal kits, which was designed for the X04 or equivalent, although his take on "period engineering" left something........well, a lot to be desired compared to Tri-ang's. I didn't see one very often but recall a lot of hard plastic - the entire layshaft was moulded in one piece including the worm gears, which made me wonder whether the admittedly fine mould lines were an obstacle to smooth running. I presume it ran without much finesse, unlike Tri-ang's, but I won't wander further off-topic 😉!

On 14th September 1987 I called into St Blazey for the first time in 10 years and perfect timing caught a brand new CDA 375000 in the yard. 36 years later it is still there, within a rake of others which have been idle for at least the last 3 years. But for how much longer.......? There is no doubt that the CDAs, direct descendents of the far more numerous but now network-extinct HAA MGR coal hoppers, are looking increasingly anachronistic on the modern railway, even if used on just one short local working and I have been wondering how much longer they can last. One consideration must be the unloading facilities at Fowey Docks - would their replacement require another upgrade there.........and would the overall cost be prohibitive? A couple of months ago a trial run with 5 empty JIA 'Polybulk' wagons was conducted to Fowey Docks, and this Friday (30th June) saw the first loaded run from Rocks Driers at Goonbarrow. Exactly how these would have been unloaded at Fowey is not yet known, but if successful are the CDAs about to follow the 'Castle' HSTs and semaphore signals at Lostwithiel, Par and Truro into history? The irony is that the JIAs are even older than the CDAs! (And look it!!) Although the HSTs have had a year's extension to the end of 2024, when all significant mainline passenger workings use one type of train and both surviving Cornish freight flows use one type of wagon, my very limited interest in the current scene will evaporate. In the meantime perhaps I should make more of an effort to record this rapidly changing scene! (The signals go in November I believe.) It's all so different from the late 1960s Cornish railway environment I fondly remember - Westerns, Warships, NBL Type 2s (sometimes in pairs), Brush Type 4s on the 'Clayfreighter' slurry tanks and Par Freightliner as well as passenger workings from 1967, Hymeks (rare!), 08s here and there, parcels, milk tanks, turnips in 16-ton mineral wagons (!!), general freight including coal, rakes of clay opens (there were 875 of them after all!), oil tanks to Penzance, Holman compressors on flat wagons from Camborne, Summer Saturday traffic, Peaks from the very end of 1969........oh, and DMUs, although when I'd seen all of the local ones I ignored them. Now pretty much all that one sees lineside is.......DMUs. Sigh.

I have found that on Heljan diesels an instant improvement can be made by fitting Bachmann straight (non-cranked) couplings, either short or long as required. I don't have many Dapol wagons but I solved the droopy couplings on one by removing the NEM pockets and using pliers to bend the socket upwards - slightly nerve-wracking but it's only a small adjustment and the plastic is quite tough. I do wonder whether the common 'springing' arrangement which relies on the flexibility of the thin plastic at the 'hinge' point actually does anything in use - I'm thinking more about lighter 4-wheel wagons and coaches with couplings mounted on the bogies (e.g. Hornby Mark 1s) than heavy locomotives, especially the longer ones. In other words, would the stock behave any differently - or better - if the couplings were rigid. The now rather ancient Bachmann china clay wagons still have screw-on small couplings, I'm not aware of complaints of derailing due to 'coupling lock' (these are 9' wheelbase but this would have only a marginal effect compared to 10').

Caught travelling up the M5 Friday..... http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc

No need to apologise, that's probably the way most old threads get resurrected (if they're still 'live' of course). We visited the Dobwalls railway in September 1987, when our sons were aged 6 & 4. We were on a week's holiday at Seaton (the other one, near Looe) and we all thought it was fantastic. I have quite a lot of photos..........somewhere. Believe it or not - I know exactly where Kea school is as I was a pupil there too, 1958-64. I used to walk there from home which was in Halvarras Road, Playing Place* up the hill (so now you know where my username comes from 😉! It's also the name of my layout.) You could see a large part of the 2.25-mile Newham freight branch from the school and during my time there the traction changed from steam to diesel. * Allegedly so named because of a small amphitheatre, I believe I know where it was located but it was just a shallow depression in the corner of a field........ Kea school is still up and running but has gained a considerable number of additional classrooms since my time there, and probably yours too.

I have a DC Kits 2H DEMU kit to build at some point - not having built a DC Kits kit (!) before I understand that EMA 'Plastic Weld', which works for ABS, is insufficient for the plastic used in these kits, I'll require MEK/Butanone (from memory the instructions recommend the latter by name). Good to hear it's not difficult to get hold of.

As @Commoner says - photos can be found on the Cornwall Railway Society website: http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/truro-area-penwithers-to-buckshead.html Although a looooooong scroll down is required to find it leaving Truro heading west. Another view can be found of it near Chacewater in the Scorrier to Penwithers Junction section of 'Cornwall Galleries' and a third rather obstructed shot on the blocks at Penzance.

A bit late, but I had these to hand so........... 40039 at Derby 7th June 1975. By then awaiting the call to Crewe Works for an overhaul and repaint into blue like the rest (except D322 and 40106), which for this unfortunate example never came. Well, the call did, but the 'overhaul' turned into an appointment with a man with a gas axe who cut the poor thing in half (shudder)......as a result I'm actually quite pleased to see Bachmann stage a 1/76th scale resurrection - gone but not forgotten!

Ah, OK, I guess that places Hornby in the 'awkward' category. Something worth remembering....... I entirely understand - it may be that applying waterslide lining is not beyond your abilities if you got down to it, but I won't deny that it's very fiddly and time-consuming, as I was reminded a couple of years ago when I tackled a steam subject (a Tri-ang 'Nellie', my very first engine) for the first time in decades. Matching factory paint colours is also difficult - and ready-assembled cabside lining and numbers on a pre-coloured patch, if such things exist, is unlikely to be 100% satisfactory too. I hope that you can find a solution you are happy with - good luck!

You say "rubbed through to black plastic" - can I ask which method you used? If markings won't budge with wooden cocktail stick alone (it may be necessary to lightly scratch each numeral once to get it started) I usually apply T-Cut automotive paintwork restorer and lots of patient rubbing with a blunt cocktail stick. I haven't yet had reason to try this on Hornby locos and it isn't successful on all models - Lima seemed to use thin paint, and I remember discovering the same on a Dapol milk tanker some years ago (I have a pair of Dapol Class 22s to renumber and expect this to be, er, 'interesting'!) Just in case the T-Cut method is new to you (we shouldn't assume everything is 'common knowledge' 😉!)