TomJ

I've been to Skye on some beautiful summer days when the water really does look that blue. The illusion is soon shattered when you dip a toe in!

This is looking very nice, and I love the concept and compact nature of it. Seems perfect for a 'plug and play' while-away a few minutes shunting. The half relief station building looks very effective. The Dapol 26 is a superb model but I think your TPM kit more than holds it own, and as I'm finding there's something very satisfying about running stuff you built yourself.

I'm quite tempted by a little Scottish plank (maybe more West Highland), why living in Yorkshire do I not chose prototypes nearer home!

Look forward to more updates (and some from the South West as well).

Thanks for the comments, especially about the lighting. For construction i'm just using a few desk lamps but I'll look at something better soon. I've done a little wiring today and had the momentous occasion of a train running round the layout. Only the mainline at the moment and there a couple of short circuits to sort out but it feels like progress!

Once the mainline is laid I'll start on the clay dries, to be built as a seperate module to be screwed to the baseboard when fully complete.

More photos to follow when the lights better and there's something worth snapping!

I think its a really promising start, it already looks a lot better than some inlays I've seen. It's given me a few ideas to try. I've also found the cardboard inlay didn't work too good. Maybe if you paint it with some thickish paints they'll fill in some of the cracks?

Hope you get some good inspiration on your visit. Will it be time to start on the trees next?

Cheers Pete - I'll have a look in the art shop next time I'm in town. I agree card just seems so much nicer to work with. If I modelled 00 and had the patience of a saint I'd like to try the Pendon way of scribing card! In the meantime I'll stick to Slaters or stonepaper - I think in this scale the overall impression is much more important than the exact right size stone work etc.

I think by the 80s most of the loading would be done by JCB, so that and a few heaps of clay are all I plan to model inside. I suspect the roof windows would be so grimey you wouldn't see much anyway so I think bright lighting and clean windows may spoil that slightly derelict look clayworks have.

Look forward to seeing progress

Tom

ps I drifted into medicine which also pays a lot less than people think! I for one don't have a sports car or a Bentley!

I bet you'll be glad when you start the Wenford buildings - back to straight lines!

Seriously it looks very good an instantly recognsable as Moorswater bi think the cladding will look good under the paintwork and actually looks better than a single big sheet

May I quickly ask what sort of card you are using? I prefer it to plasticard but find it hard to source suitable stuff. The only half decent card I have found is very thick which makes door/windor depths look huge in 2mm. I guess one reason I love railway modelling is that I'm a frustrated architect at heart! It was always my more interesting career option but never worked out!

The view of the two bridges looks fantastic. It really captures some of the 'uniqueness' of Coombe Junction. It looks to me perfectly proportioned in relation to photos of the real thing - is the viaduct to scale height or have you reduced it at all? Somehow in 2mm I find that exact scale reproductions of things - especially scenic don't always 'look right' even if they are dimensionally correct. The view on yours looks awesome. I wonder how common it was for a train to cross the viaduct as one went under as this seems to be the case in almost every photo I've ever seen. Maybe the photographers set up camp on the platforms. Definitely do need some more trees however!!

Is your 25 an old Farish product? I really would like one but is seems not be avaliable at present.

I too have a lot of light engine workings to compensate for the lack of clay-hoods. I saw a photo of a train at Burngullow consisting of 50 hoods - I think building all those (and the hoods) would lead to a breakdown!

I agree that the inclusion of the junction will definitely be a big bonus! After all it is one of the unique features of the branch. In operational terms for those who don't know the prototype it will make a lot more sense to see a DMU come off one line, reverse and then head down the other line, otherwise it can look like an odd terminus in the middle of nowhere! I'm not sure whether this ever happend in the modern era but you could also have a DMU waiting at the signals from Looe whilst a freight runs down the line from Liskeard and straight onto Moorswater - similar (and odder) operating practices certainally occured in GWR times. Regarding cassettes I think the idea may well work. On my Trevone Junction I'm using a single cassette fed from a single line and it seems to work quite welll. I have built for cassettes which at home are stored on a shelf above the layout. I can't imagine I'll ever exhibit but if I did I'd just use a table or some flat surface behind the layout. This would seem to be much simpler than storing them under the layout. Its even allowed me to build slightly longer cassettes which will hold a 37 and 6 CDA's - they don't seem to mind overhanging the end of the baseboard a couple of inches.

This has got me thinking of possible extensions - when I've barely started the first phase, glad I'm not the only one!

Go on, you know you want too! I think the run round will add much more operating interest that the actual junction. I also particularly like the images of large locos squeezing through the trees. I'm a little concerned how many Ikea shelves you have, will we see the complete run to Liskard one day!

BTW can I ask how you join the Lack Shelves? Thinking about pinching your idea for a small layout. Do you run the electrics on top or underneath the board?

Very impressive, especially the curve. It really captures the feel of the prototype. I've gone for the easy option of modelling mine in low relief so only have to make the large dries buildings as on Wheal Elizabeth. One problem I've had is that photographing the front of the dries and the trains is obscure enough who on earth is going to film the rear ofvthe clay works! I'm not as far as you from Cornwall but Yorkshire is still to far to just pop down for missing info! I also think that the dries were just vast empty halls. I know that on the old coal fired dries the clay was shovelled over the floor to try whilst the hot air passes underneath and I imagine the modern ones are very similar. Also with the curve and the other buildings the angle of viewing will mean it's almost impossible to see in.

Glad to hear you have your mojo back!

Loved the comment about the smelly and 'wierd' types sometimes found at exhibitions. I think all hobbies are the same but it definitely puts my wife off coming to shows with me!

Oh well. There goes my career as a detective! thought that was abut easy. Will have to keep looking for more clues! I'll let you know if I locate any more potential pics

Update! Through the wonders of Google I have discovered that ECC Quidhampton was a calcium carbonate (chalk) quarry in Whiltshire, the last trains appear to have run last year. I'm not sure how to post links but this website www.markfew.fotopic.net has some photos including ones with a blue shunter that looks suspiciously like Sharon. Look at the Wylye Valley & Salisbury collection. Hope this helps

PS i agree that the 37 and CDAs look good. I try to have st least one set of correct stock avaliable for my new era (1986ish) but allow interlopers to run if I can stretch the history to make it seem plausible, hence my rake of CDAs occassionally pass waiting clayhoods!

IIRC Sharon was transferred away when ECC stopped drying at Moorswater. I think she was transfered to one of their other sites well away from Cornwall (Quidhampton rings a bell but no idea where or what that is). I presume the tractor was brought when the cement deliveries started which was a couple of years later.

I quite like the look of the weathered Peco CDAs but the wife wouldn't let me buy them! She couldn't get the concept of why I'd pay more for the dirty wagons! I'm still trying to work up the courage to weather mine, scared if ruining the finish.

When my parents moved house I was presented with a large box of old modelling stuff I'd left at home. Mostly not v good but some surprises and good memories

looking forward to seeing a rake of CDAs creep out the works!

I've never had the courage to try uncouplng in N gauge but I look forward to seeing your results. The new modern image stuff runs so well that shunting layouts finally work properly for me but I really like the concept of hands off operation.

I know what you mean about saving up the swear box contents, if I put in a pound for every time I swore over a wiring error I could fund enough CDA's for St Blazey! The Peco ones are nice wagons but not cheap. How come even wiring up two sidings seems to go wrong for me!

On another note I've been meaning to ask for a while how you built the hoods for your clayhoods? I've build a few of the kits for the steam era but I'm stumped as to the hoods for the BR Blue era. Any advice gratefully recieved!