Andy Keane

Meanwhile I have been working on the roadway over the bridge with its stone walls. The gaps in the walling are where GWR wire fencing needs to go as per photos of the site back in the day.

It is also interesting to see how people chose to alter the track plan to suit their modelling aims. Their version has two platforms for example, with the engine shed swapped side to allow this.

It is built to a very nice standard, though being BR era not with stock that I would chose. There is some good video of the layout at about seven minutes in to this:

An interesting layout based on the Helston buildings and seen by Chris: https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F103471893%40N02%2F53621174939%2Fin%2Falbum-72177720315798867%2F&data=05|02||4ee5d3f64b4f4a43485908dc5536005a|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|638478937624475257|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D|0|||&sdata=iUTztOfbcC%2FAuC6WPMeDIKNjilJZw%2BdfZIyS%2BLBYwDE%3D&reserved=0

I looked at some reviews on one of their earlier RTR locos (The Fell) and people were not very complimentary.

Does anyone know what the sales figures look like for recent RTR locos, DC vs DCC vs DCC sound? I guess the sound fitted stock generates enough sales to convince manufacturers to provide these features but does it remain a minority sport?

That's really interesting. I don't know why, but I had never thought of looking at the map before the railway arrived! Comparison with later maps show for example that the 52/54 Godolphin Rd villa I am building was erected right up against the existing terrace, being squeezed in between that and the goods yard approach. But regarding the fence lines I can see that lot 5 1.567 remained unchanged and the Railway adopted its south-western edge as a boundary while lot 5622 was bisected by the new line as were 5620, 5663 and 11. So a tiny bit of 5622 remained, most became the station and a small amount was merged into 5623 increasing its size to 2.335 acres and a bit of 5620 ended up in 5621 which changed shape but not size, loosing about as much as it gained to the railway, while a large chunk of 5663 became railway land, with just 0.183 acres left as part of Station Road, presumably being placed in public ownership. Fascinating - I suppose all this would have been detailed in the Act setting up the original Helston Railway. Another interest is the old footpath that used to run to Parksledge Villa ended up being terminated on Station Road, with access then being via Godolphin road. But its original location is clearly what dictated the placement of the main station gates on Station Road. PS - does anyone know what the solid line with dots on labelled CF means?

The attached pictures show the situation I am working on - I have placed four fence stretchers on the layout to indicate where I currently plan to run GWR wire fencing. There was always a road here but when the railway built their cutting they re-aligned it slightly to allow a bridge at right angles to the track. I know from photos that on the corner above the station and engine shed, where the steps climb up, that this was all railway land and that the GWR wire fence ran along the road edge for some distance. On the opposite side of that bit of road I have built a dry-stone wall (with a field gate in it) and currently plan the GWR wire fence to start at the end of the parapet and follow the top of the cutting line away from the station area. On the near side of the bridge I again have photos on the station side and know that there was a short run of GWR fencing parallel to the road before it turned through 90 degrees to follow the cutting top along the opposite side of the station. Thus I plan to shorten the stone wall there and replace with a very short bit of GWR wire fence - this will look a little odd but I am working on the assumption that an old Cornish dry stone wall would not have satisfied the inspector as a boundary for the railway which was why wire fencing was used there. Opposite this I have again started the wire fence at the parapet end so the stone wall abuts the parapet. I am pretty sure about things on the station side but on the offside I only have the OS maps to rely on for the location of the fence lines, see map excerpt below the photos (this is the very old map that is now out of copyright but the boundaries never moved as far as I can tell). The map does indeed show the dog-leg in the fence line on one side and the extent of the station precincts on the other. What do you think? Andy

I am trying to work out the fence runs around the overbridge at Helston. Clearly the GWR wire runs away from the stone parapets as this is visible in the photos. And clearly it would then follow along the line of the track in both directions. But how would it have joined up to the field boundaries that were there before the railway came? Say there were dry stone walls dividing up the fields before the railway was built and the cuttings dug / bridge built. Would the railway have replaced much of that? I cannot find any photos of such details.

This is the 1946 view of the Helston carriage shed from above. It is very enlarged but I think I can just make out a coaling stage that I have red ringed in the image?

Thanks Phil. Clearly to shed a motor at Helston it must have been in the carriage shed, though provided they ran engine at the back they could have been fuelled and watered and had their ash dumped on the engine shed siding in its later configuration - and that's the story I am going with as I have never seen any trace of hydrants or ash pits at the carriage shed end, though I do plan a gas wagon to be down there to service both SRMs and ordinary carriages. What, I wonder would they have done about an autocoach / loco pairing? perhaps separated them to shed overnight with the loco going one way and the carriage the other?

The madness of modellers. can somebody explain this please: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276397381465 https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/buildings/sf04/ Am I missing something or did somebody just pay three times the asking price for a GWR loading gauge etch?

Another reason for my now thinking the Helston carriage shed was for motors is the full length vent in the roof. Why would that have been done just for carriages? Watering these motors also seems to have needed specialist facilities - the drawings on the GWS site shows hydrants inside the sheds at Southall and Catford. They also mention coaling from adjacent sidings, which again Helston had down there. If the motors were not serviced at that end of Helston station it is not obvious that running them into the main engine shed siding would have been very convenient. All very interesting - I am now pondering if I need an ash pit at that end!

Indeed, it makes sense to me. I notice Looe had a carriage shed right next to the engine shed that looks much the same. If the motors warranted sheds at Chalfont and Southall then why not other places. I cannot think the Helston SRM would have been sent to Penzance or Laira every night.

I have that book. I will go read it more closely! thanks

Do you know of any others? I have read loads about Helston but nobody has ever mentioned before that the carriage shed was actually built for SRMs.

So that corrugated shed at Watlington was for a steam rail motor?

Steam rail motor number 85 a very snug fit in the Helston carriage shed. I am informed that the shed was probably built to house just such an SRM!

I have often puzzled about the carriage shed at Helston. It was not long enough to take a B set, even the E40 variants so why was it built the length it was? But maybe this is the answer: the SRM fits very nicely and we know they did run into Helston. Perhaps the shed was built with these in mind - does anyone know if the introduction of SRMs led to the construction of sheds to house them?

So brake (end out), all third, composite (first in middle), composite (first in middle), all third, brake (end out), see my video about five posts above. (and if you buy the brake thirds AND run digital AND fit decoders you can make the end lights on the brake thirds reflect the direction of travel!)

My Dapol Large Prairie hauls (and propels) all six loaded with 50 dart cast figures with no slip or difficulty at all:

What gearbox did you use in your little tank?

Nice lamps! is there a crew as well?

But a set without the full thirds, just having the brake thirds and composites would look very nice on a layout which did not have full length platforms.

With a dozen cast people in, one of my coaches weighs in at 186g so a bit over a kilo for the full rake. Satisfyingly substantial.