autocoach

Star light, star bright, First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the Star I wish tonight

The chimney over the baggage room is the wrong way round so it did not fit correctly. The baggage carts got jostled so one is blocking the door to the baggage room. I see numerous other things that should have been re-done but the sunlight was not lasting and I had no time to re-do any pics. I also think the lockup shed built during WW2 is too long. I had no dimensions to work from and had to scale it from pictures. I have had the material for a new stationmaster's garden for 2 years but have not completed it or worked on it in over a year. Of course it's summer and there will be flowers, vegetables and a bit of grass. The platform is long enough for six coaches and a West Country pacific for Summer Saturday service. Would the Dart Castings/Monty's bus drivers be too late for the 1945-48 period? I could see a driver and conductor standing next to the open door on the Bedford OB. And I know the license plate on the taxi is probably incorrect for Cornwall in that period. In addition to the station, I scratched together the goods shed.

I purchased the ABM Railcraft LSWR North Cornwall Station model reversed in SR colours to see if it could replace my hacked paper version of Padstow Station. I like the ABM Railcraft kit very much. It is an excellent representation of many of the stations on the North Cornwall line. However it is not Padstow which had modifications as the last station built at the end of the line from Waterloo. I am definitely keeping the kit as it may be used at some point to build another station up the line. The Padstow station masters quarters in the building were the same width and height but longer in both Main house and the 90 degree section. The waiting room and baggage room were spot on. The sloped section of the building leading down to the men's lavatory was shaped differently. So my current version of Padstow station will have to be rebuilt as the original stone paper and roof slate papers are starting to split from the cardboard and plastic walls. I have been looking for the right cut stone for years but have not found any that will really do. The Wills product has the stone in too much relief to match the effect I want. The same goes for the Chooch flexible stone wall product. Plastruct wall was too small and irregular in both 3.5 mm and 1/48 scale. I understand there is a new manufacturer in Spain that is making a cut stone plastic sheet from whom I will have to get a sample. I will have to keep looking. The irregular slate paper used for the roof slates will also be hard to match. Anyway here are now pics of my current effort. I took it into the dining room so I could get some brighter natural light and capture some angles that cannot be seen on the layout.

Looking forward to my order for the same arriving in the very near future. Having already built the Padstow station once, I am interested in how this will differ. I can see some differences around the mens lavatory in the photo from Padstow where the Padstow differed from other North Cornwall stations. I was not expecting an exact Padstow match so am not disappointed. I guess we will have to supply our own chimney pots. Easily done.

Thanks for taking the initiative Sent off an e-mail just now requesting the reverse image (or correct image?) of the stone LSWR station. I have been meaning to replace my earlier effort that was slapped together out of cardboard, plastic sheet (plasticard in UK) and various bits. I used a Design Preservation store front for the doors to platform from the waiting room. I will also now need to rebuild the canopy to a better standard. Maybe even reduce the size of the wartime lockup to the right of the baggage door. I think I built it a little too large as I had no measurements available. Grandt Line curved O scale (1:48) windows worked well but are a little undersize. I have also been saving a package of conically capped Grandt Line HO smoke stacks for the vents over the men's facilities that are very visible in 1940's-50's photos. I will have to get back to finishing the station master's (probably his wife's) garden from a Busch allotment kit. Now if ABM would do the signal box I can declare the Bude box (stairs in right location but built from brick and too tall) and the Wadebridge box which is too tall and has stairs on the wrong side surplus. I will also have to get on with the fish sheds, freight crane, long wharf tracks and so much other stuff. And they do PayPal which is so much more convenient for those of us residing on distant shores. Phoning from the west coast of the US is a bother due to time zones etc. so I hope we can do this by e-mail.

When you wish upon a star......(with apologies to the Mouse Factory)

Quoting myself...hmmm Actually left a note on their website. Will wait a while to see if they respond before direct e-mail request for quote. I keep hoping Kernow/Bachmann come to my rescue before the glue gets too old on my current paper version. When demolition was threatened for the Padstow station building, I had hoped it might stir up more active preservation.

Would love to see ABM Railcraft do the reverse image for the North Cornwall stone station. (or does Kernow have a real surprise for us in the future?) Meantime I am watching this line to see what they do next and if I can use it. I have to think of my proposed Penge East station model too. And I need an ESPEE Class 18 Standard depot too.....for Walnut Creek...(Southern is part of the name)

Any idea who will do distribution for 1/87 in the US. I know a lot of my 1950's ESPEE modelling friends will be interested.

Possibly a streamlined (Air Smoothed) Merchant Navy (In all the livery and cab variants back to 21C2 in Wartime Black) would work with "Clever Design". As long as they didn't try to mold the circular Southern Railway nameplate on the smokebox door.

Stout hearted men in the coal fields of Wales.

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are......per Jiminny Cricket Siorr, just came to mind looking at this discussion.

Orders appropriately amended. I have stocked up on Mainly Trains smokebox handles in anticipation of having to strip the smokebox door. Hope the project has not been set back after Dapol Dave's departure....

Padstow station building or bust....Camelford is wrong way round. Much like the original stone signalbox. (I have my prejudices)

Oh, too bad....GWR territory.

Any prototype for the engine house?

Ray I believe the lamp shed was on the other side of the station building just before the platform ramp down to the signal box. The shed there was typical of many SR lamp sheds and the location was correct for putting lamps on a departing locomotive. You can see it just behind the signal box and the Maunsell open in the pictures above The concrete panel wall and corrugated metal roof of this building on the right of the station (facing from the track) would indicate more recent construction similar to WWII period lockups added to many stations. Speaking of the signal box, I have a Kernow Bachmann Bude brick box on order. It has the staircase on the right side which is correct for Padstow instead of Wadebridge. I am looking at taking Plastruct thin sheet random stone wall and covering the brick to get a correct model of the Padstow box. This was occasioned by the announcement of the Kernow Bachmann Boscarne Junction signal box which I have also now duly ordered in Southern hue. One of these days I may actually win the lotto and have enough room to create a Padstow to Bodmin and Wendfordbridge layout. Oh give me a home where the BWT's roam....I live 25 miles away from the coast in California so the skies are not cloudy all day anyway.

An additional view....Does anyone know the provenance of the building on the right. It looks like it might have been a wartime lockup added to the platform. I have not found a clear picture of how the baggage area fencing was arranged with the lockup so this is just a guess.

I angled a camera behind the Padstow Station with the Oxford OB in the forecourt. Not great modelling but more of a mood. And yes I did file open the door on the bus.

As I understand it, Padstow retained a lattice post starter signal until the box was removed just prior to abandonment in the 1960's. The home was, I believe, rail built. These were the only two post signals. The rest were ground signals. See The Illustrated History of the North Cornwall Railway for more information including the signaling diagram. The MSE signal is of course the correct choice. I just didn't trust my soldering skills so used the LNER lattice post and kitbashed the Padstow home/starter signal in plastic. I have the Ratio rail-built signal kit in store in case I ever get the new layout built that goes more than a few yards beyond the end of the last crossing.

If you look at my thread on Padstow, you will see a non-operating version built from the LNER lattice post signals and some SR brass etching blades from Mainly Trains. Didn't take too long to put together. I am still thinking about getting a custom LSWR lattice from Borg-Rail. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/28665-end-of-the-line-padstow/page-4

Graham On the mainland versions, do you recon it will be fairly straight forward to remove the Push/Pull gear and air pump for the Wadebridge shed allocation? I have a pair on order. I am just into future planning even though these are probably not arriving until sometime in 2014. Probably too late, but I am still campaigning for separate instead of cast on smoke box number plates on BR versions so I can cut them off and bin them without scraping and filing.

Have been receiving it for many years now each week. But stirring up RMWEB is more fun....

Very quiet on the 00 O2 front...Nothing to stir the anticipation?

Musings and opinion... I have just joined the Dead Rail Society. Radio or WiFi communication with the locomotive. Battery power with DCC Decoders with sound. Eventually we will be able to add steam effects and the smell of coal burning in the firebox......I am sure the diesel boys will get there first with smoke and scents. Remember this is historical modelling and all pre-EPA or other environmental concerns. How long until we can add these new dimensions to our modelling experience...I would say 5 years before a commercially viable solution is at hand and the NMRA sets standards for non-wired communication with model rail vehicles (including brake vans, cabooses and passenger car lights.) I expect some form of WiFi to get around radio frequency issues. Wireless handheld controllers communicating to a router/hub and routing through another WiFi connection to the locomotive receiver which connects to the decoder in the locomotive and controls all functions. A dead man cutoff of power to the motor when the locomotive is not in contact with a rail structure (pressure or optical detection?). Hopefully the decoders won't gain enough autonomy that they unionize and go on strike. (4th data of the current Bay Area Rapid Transit strike with gridlock everywhere around San Francisco including to day when the traitors of 1776 are celebrated.) And track....no wiring except for the recharge point by the coaling stage or oil column. Perhaps we will be able to custom design track formations and 3D print them. (I need an ex LSWR style single slip right with 7 degree angle crossing......will paint to resemble metal). No loop reversing issues. But will still need some power for points routing where it is not controlled mechanically. Being historically accurate for Padstow it would be mechanical linkage from the levers replicating a signal box. For the SP local trackage brakemen with switch lock keys unlocking a switchstand and throwing manually. Manual throw links are available. ideas they are coming fast