2ManySpams

Part 10. Damian has Built the Boards.... Damian is always keen to gety going with the rip saw, glue and hammer. In the case of Treneglos it was only a matter of 6 weeks from John's 'Fuzzy Idea' to a set of 3 boards turning up at my house for initial scenic work (I don't recall getting the 2 fiddle boards). Some might find it unusual that the polystyrene and plaster work was done before track laying, but in this case it was the impending arrival of my son that drove the sequence. We have, however, found that there are certain advantages to this approach. All the gloopy plaster and big saw action can proceed without fair damaging the track. Also the ballast falls on top of the ground, not up to it. Finally the scenic shell gives the track layers and electrical folk something to rest elbows and tools on.... So here we go, it's the 22nd of March 2003 and the naked boards are set up in the garden of my last house. This was purely to take photos and record Damian's hard graft. The first shots show how the legs are integral to the board and how the original cross brace worked. I think this was the flat station board. The next few show the boards erected, piggyback fashion. This gives a good idea of how the vertical level of each board reflected the final scenic contours. The location of the viaduct can clearly be seen. The next few shots are...well...me playing and imagining the ACE heading to Padstow (not too sure that 34041 was a good choice though). The mock up of the station building can be seen made from yellow card. This, together with the Spam, gives a good idea of scale.

Part 9. Some Inspirational Books.... As can be appreciated we didn't set out to model the NCR in any way, just a generic 'West of Exeter' station. Slowly though we started collecting a selection of great books. Those that had the biggest impact on me are included below: By far the greatest inspiration and source of information was the original 'An Illustrated History of the NCR' book by the late David Wroe. Little did we know it at the time but our paths would cross with a revised version of this book in later years... The book contained history, track plans, plenty of prototype information - everything the novice needed to get to grips with the line. 'Southern Holiday Lines' and 'The Withered Arm' had a great selection of information about all the Southern lines West of Exeter and was a great 'compare and contrast' book. It certainly helped me decide which was my favourite part of the Withered Arm. Another goodie, and an introduction to an author we were to later meet up with several times, was 'The Southern Railway's Withered Arm' by Stephen Austin. Again lots more general area information. Last but not least of the early purchases was one from the great M&P series covering the line to Padstow. All B&W and a preference perhaps for the earlier periods but again some great information.

When did we take those - Late 2009?

I'll send you a TG Fan Club badge Ian!

Part 8. Firming up the details.... So one month into the project we had....another meeting! It wasn't just chat though, more of a show and tell. John had produced a full scale drawing on some lining paper. Damian had knocked up the first board. I had put together a mock up of a NCR station - we'd now settled on the North Cornwall Railway as our prototype. The scenery 'verticals' were calculated and the viaduct dimensions agreed so that Damian could carry on building boards. Actions were allocated to all. Nearly everything discussed that day ended up affecting the outcome of the final layout (although the Bulleid playing and biscuit eating probably didn't contribute much...). As John rightly pointed out the project had 'taken off like a rocket', probably more so than any of us would had thought. Way it a case that each of us was waiting for another to say 'is this a good idea?' whilst powering on so not to be the one killing off the project? Was it just that there was a lot of pent up modelling waiting to be unleashed - particularly as the project was not bound by the committee approvals and politics of a club? Well for what ever reason the layout quickly went from drawings to reality, as the next few episodes will record....

No, that was very organised of John...and it din't last too long! I hope though that you can tell it was all a bit light hearted The issue was that we all lived some miles apart and posting plans, actions and drawings to each other, and the occasional meeting, was the only was to make sure we all were talking about the same thing. Little did we realise at the time that nearly 8 years later we'd be reading these notes again and thinking of what we'd do differently 2nd time around. It is also interesting to look at how little we knew about the area at the time and some of the incorrect assumptions we made. Research lagged behind building and in some cases adjustments have been made in later years. As the story continues through to building (board shots coming up in a few instalments) so you'll see how we eventually settled for greater prototype fidelity and eventually settled on a setting on the real NCR (albeit not one that actually had a station!) The story will continue....

Part 7. John takes some minutes.... During February, after site the visit and much pondering over the telephone, we decided that there had been enough talk and that it was time for some decisions. So on the 25th Feb 2003 we held a meeting. John produced an agenda, which Damian and I tried our best to playfully ignore, and we had our first of many WAP (Withered Arm Project) meetings. Damian was keen to get wood bashing, John was keen on drawing stuff up and I was getting concerned as our first baby was due in early April. This last point in particular concentrated minds that some boards needed knocking up pronto so that basic scenery could be added before I disappeared in baby sick, nappies and sleepless nights. Just like all the best meetings we eventually got some minutes, these were lovingly produced by John after returning from his local the 'Horns'. Reading back through the Treneglos archive it's interesting to see how visits to the 'Horns' generally prompted John into action It's interesting to note that we: 1. Reached a compromise on the board size (1200mm x 500mm) 2. Obviously discussed the plan whilst looking at a scale foam board mock up 3. We were completely indecisive about legs 4. Thought it was a good idea to set targets 5. Got completely carried away on the layout name. I seem to recall that many of these were the result of John and Damian going on a steam tour trip and helping the bar car make some profit.... Also notable that the final layout name 'Treneglos' doesn't appear on the list. 6. Thought the layout might cost some money to build. Below is the plan of boards 2 & 3 that were discussed in the meeting. There's obviously elements of the North Cornwall creeping in here and Ashwater in particular seems to have grabbed our attention. There was though, at the time no real concept of building a prototype. 'Freelance based on' was the order of the day. After some research later on the Water Tower was dropped as a feature as they were not a typical feature of stations on the Bude or Padstow lines. The assumption that a catch point was needed was never challenged. It wasn't until 3 years into exhibiting that someone pointed out that the NCR had very few of these. Looking back at prototype box diagrams and track photos it's now clear that we missed this obvious point. Moral of the story - "never assume".

New photos in your gallery I see - who's this bloke I wonder?: My link

I see the oil tank is in the good old 'pre-bunded' days.

Probably no photos due to the speed the boards got built - no time for delays through arty stuff like cameras.

Based on yesterday I'm guessing he's working out the height of the fascia units

fantastic stuff. I'd also leave the station as a low priority job. Rock face: we poured plaster into a scrumpled up foil mould on Treneglos. i shouldn't be too far off that in our 'story of' thread.

Cheers, this was just a small sample of the photos I took on that first trip. As you say it's a bit of a mixed emotions thing. Joy at finding things still in place (Tresmeer) and sorrow when a site has been wiped from the face of the earth (Halwill). Interesting exercise going through all my old notes....

Part 6. Damian thinks of boards.... So 8 days after John's initial letter, we'd done a site visit, taken photos and started thinking more about building something. Here Damian 'Mr Ripsaw (but no sandpaper)' comes into his own. A veteran of building many, many layout boards and of using other people's hands as sand paper! He's already built a test board down the Stafford Railway Circle using this new plywood material. Obviously this wouldn't catch on as the Railway Modeller standard was still 2"x1" timber at 1' centres topped with Sundella...

Part 5. The first Site visit.... This period saw the first plan change creep in. As a result of measuring stock it was realised that 1100mm boards would be too short: The result was that the boards were increased to 1200mm (4') which increased the layout length from 5.5m to 6.0m. Barely two weeks from John's initial thoughts saw me heading down the M5 to Devon and Cornwall to have a look around what was left of the Southern's Withered Arm and to get a feel for the area. Below are my notes from the visit. We still hadn't settled on a particular line and stations on the Bude and North Cornwall routes were visited. Little did I know at the time that 6 years later I would be attending the North Cornwall Railway book launch at Launceston and would be invited back to view this building by its new owners, Moira and Rod. The photos below were of what I mistakenly thought at the time was the Station Master's house. Not so!

Part 4. The project starts.... Thinking back I do remember reading John's fuzzy idea letter and thinking a combination of: a. He's been on the ferret juice again b. The last show has finally tipped him over the edge c. Is it April the 1st? But then it dawned on me that I did want a build a layout and that this small, quickie proposal of John's would be as good as any. As a bonus Spamcans were involved and there was some great potential for scenic work. Doubt crept in. TYis was the start of February and my wife was expecting our first baby in April. I'd spoken to other dads and realised that babies tend to take your life over. Was helping build a layout out of the question? It was like having the angel and devil of modelling sitting on my shoulder. "Say yes", "Don't say yes". The phone was lifted, John's number dialled and a long conversation had. Apparently afterwards Damian did likewise. We'd both succumbed to John's evil layout plot! Shortly after John issued "Withered Arm" Project Note Number 2 (Dated 12 February 2003, 22:30hrs): And so the "Withered Arm Project (WAP)" began!

Ah Kris, now I have another target for this thread. So much stuff to post, by the end of it you'll know all 13 stations on the NCR and be able to name all 110 Bulleid light pacifics!

Thanks all. We've had a fotopic site on TG for many years now. But after starting off the 'Diesels in the Duchy' thread for Damian, and seeing all the great discusion and interest that generated, I thought it was best to record what we did on TG on RMweb. The recent St Merryn book gave me some inspiration to do this too. Looking through my notes on the layout, it's been quite interesting to see our approach change and knowledge increase. Hopefully my 'brothers in layout', John and Damian, will add their recollections too as the thread progresses.

Peaking allowed. In fact the primary goal of this thread will be to educate you poor, misled fellows that model the WR and anything past 1965 Repeat after me "I love spamcans, Bulleid was best, the NCR was the only true railway in Cornwall".

Right then Mickey, go and stand in the corner of Damian's DitD thread

Part 3. John's 'fuzzy idea'.... Now 8 years ago John hadn't quiet mastered the art of one finger typing, nor had he quite worked out what the internet was for. In those bygone days, when summers were long and model railway manufacturers released but a few models a year, John wrote us letters. They normally contained the random witterings of someone whose's spent way too long with a pencil behind his ear or his head out of train windows (protected by woolly hat, goggles and scarf) or watching every cowboy film ever made. But this time he actually managed to make reasonable sense***. Below is a scan of the real, actual letter he sent us. The pages that eventually launched a 32' layout, the manuscript that saw us tour some of the most salubrious exhibition venues in the UK, the writings that for some reason I've kept preserved for the past 8 years.... ***This is on the basis that both Damian and I agreed to his proposal. Obviously had it been a bad idea we'd have screwed the letter up and filed it in 'bin'. Either that or it was a really bad idea and we we're both as bad as John (obviously this option has been discounted!) Now the letter also came with some sketches which are included below. Dedicated Treneglos watchers could entertain themselves between now and the next post playing 'spot the difference' between John's first concept plan (below) and the current layout (1st post).

Rob, you're a very naughty man. Everyone knows that WR engines weren't good enough to run on the NCR

Must have opened your garage door then

Well spotted, sorted now.

Part 2. In the beginning.... So how did Treneglos come to be? Well for starters Damian , John and I were then all members of the Stafford Railway Circle. I'd been a member since my early teens and had progressively moved from 'playing trains' to getting stuck in to a bit of modelling. Initially I was very much into modelling the LMS just before nationalisation. At the time (mid 80's) most folk were into LMS / LNER or GWR. The Southern and particularly Bulleid's locos were a bit frowned upon. So I started to collect them, just to make life interesting! I got into making buildings and scenic work, and put a fair amount of effort into the club's EM colliery layout "New Haden". Then in the late 80's / early 90's I went to university and interest in 'trains' died off for a bit. All was not lost though as returning back to Stafford, getting a job a job etc saw me get back involved with the club and trains again. But then a new job moved me away, marriage happened and kids were on the horizon. By 2000 or so work had got a bit 'interesting' and I decided I needed a hobby again, something to provide a bit of light relief. This was around the time Hornby released their new Spam Cans and Bachmann their Std 4. These were a huge step ahead of what went before. One of each found its way home, together with some Bulleid coaches and the then new Mk1s. My thoughts turned to a S&D layout..... If only somebody would produce a RTR S&D 7F I thought. But then in February 2003, whilst helping out at the club's show, Damian, John and I spent a while watching a certain SR layout (Cadisford Water). We talked about the new generation of models coming out and the fact that current club projects didn't interest us much. The show ended and we all went back to work. Meanwhile, a few miles to the West of Stafford, John had a lunchtime out playing darts, helped along with liquid refreshment. He returned with a 'fuzzy idea'. So at 16:30hrs on the 9th Feb 2003 he put finger to keyboard ......