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D1072

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  1. D1072
    Here in the East Midlands it has been a very cold day, the frost not abating all day. 54 years ago, in the South West, was a very different cold day – a blizzard, during which the last rites of the Launceston Branch were enacted.
    A few photos of my part constructed WR BLT, which has been closed today in advance of yet another house move (the fourth in ten years) – that’s the excuse for slow progress.
     
    Hopefully (now that I've reduced the filesize), the image shows a two foot wide baseboard with an extra six inches to the left, occupied by the cereal packet mock up of a retaining wall, road and terrace. This is going to be a real terrace from Launceston, other buildings are / will be from St Just, Mousehole and Plymouth.
    The shed and water tower arrangement is from St Ives. Currently only the platform and the track under 4569 are in commission. I am changing the crude double slip for a newer, finer one using rail rather than bent triangular sections. To the right is the dockside, with work ongoing on the “correct” colour for concrete. There are also two rails for a dockside crane. Front centre is the guts of a Hornby operating unloading accessory, under rebuild into a china clay end tippler. It will be getting a building to hide the fact that I don’t want to attempt to build a working end tipping hoist!
    In the distance the line passes through the first two of a series of tunnels through red sandstone and along a sea wall (recycled from an earlier Dawlish inspired section of layout).
  2. D1072
    Porthpol harbour – a recent development. A suitable piece of sandpaper, about the right colour for wet sand will form the small beach.
    The white area (you can’t see it has been scribed) behind the beach is sloping masonry, and the small pier (Wills cobbles and embossed stonework of uncertain lineage) is on a composite polystyrene base with a piece of plywood on top to enforce rigidity. The stonework will receive some further "tidal" weathering at the bottom. The steps are cardboard. Nearby Porthmeor beach at St Ives has black rock, probably basalt, but this is a lump of slate. It is assumed the pier is built on top of a natural formation, and lines up with the gateway (Launceston) leading back into Fore St. (yes, it’s only a cardboard mock up so far…..)
    I prefer to model buildings which are local, or at least regional.
    On the left is a pub from St Just (a commercial model). The cottage, based on one in Mousehole is under construction (using a roof recycled from a previous building), and low relief bakery which is an accurate model of 38 Southside St, in Plymouth (an 18th century façade fronting an Elizabethan rear). More construction to follow now that road alignment and levels are defined. The station is off to the right.
    Lots of head scratching has gone on whilst thinking about how deep to construct the pier, and how high the tide will go - the railway quay is about 3cm higher, assuming it will be serving medium size cargo vessels rather than small fishing boats. Also, there would be a desire to ensure that track level is above the maximum of spring tides plus a storm surge.
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