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Fal Vale – 00 Southern Railway in the Antipodes


KymN
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Some progress!:yahoo_mini:  I have figured out how to make Tillig points DCC-friendly.

As I understand it, the issue with DCC is that the power feed needs to offer a much higher current than the typical analogue as it is designed to run multiple trains.  It is also AC, with voltage peaks 40% higher than the average.  So what you get away with on a DC layout might be a problem with DCC.  The typical problem areas are where the point rails approach the stock rails and in the region of the frog of a turnout.

 

Peco turnouts can be made DCC-friendly with a couple of simple snips - they are designed for this, and instructions are included with them.  My Tillig turnouts proved to be readily easy to modify as well, but require a little surgery.  There is a comprehensive article on wiring for DCC here: http://www.wiringfordcc.com/wirefordcc_toc.htm.  It includes several pages specific to Tillig turnouts; however I found that this seemed to overcomplicate the work needed.  I also spoke to Fred, the owner of Orient Express Model Railway Shop.  The are the Australian agent for Tillig but Fred wasn't able to tell me whether the turnouts where DCC-friendly.  Bear in mind that mine are dual gauge.

 

So I have done two things:

1. Cut the point rails between the frog and the length of the rail that flexes.  Tillig turnouts have one-piece point rails that flex rather than pivot.  I then bonded the cut length to the stock rail.

2.  Used the existing frog bonding to create a switchable area isolated from the rest that will change polarity to match the point setting.

I found that it was not possible to avoid cutting the narrow gauge stock rail when I cut the point rails using a Dremel disc cutter, so I simply bonded it back to the frog so it assumes the frog polarity.  

The result is shown below.

 

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It looks messy but that is because the turnout has not been laid and is just sitting on the roadbed facing the wrong way. It is connected at the toe end for test purposes to track already laid.  The basic test was to ensure that current will flow to where it should, and I haven't created a problem. For that I joined the turnout to the existing track and used the droppers from the turnout as the track feed.  Ultimately the turnout frog will need to be insulated from the adjoining track.  So in the picture the black wire plays the role of the switchable frog area connection and the orange and blue wires feed the bonded stock and point rails.  The cuts to the point rails and to the third rail are clear in the pic.

 

I tested this setup using an analogue DC feed - if that didn't work DCC certainly would not.  My chosen victim was was a little Hornby 0-4-0T of the Smokey Joe/ Nellie variety, and the power source was an ancient toy train power controller.  That combination proved the wiring, but the train took off like a frightened bunny at Scalextric speed.  I needed something more sedate so pulled out a very old Fleischmann 2-6-2T (the German connection again) that hadn't turned a wheel in more than half a century.  It ran beautifully, until it reached the transition track (to change the side of the dual gauge) where it stalled - the wide tyres and deep flanges stopped it.  Then, with increasing confidence I placed an equally old Eggerbahn 'Fiery Elias' steam tram on the narrow gauge.  It didn't want to move at first but, with some coaxing, it overcame decades of congealed dust and oil to actually run, in one direction at least.  I tried to film all this action, but have failed dismally.  I could not coordinate the train control and the phone camerawork.  Got some good movies of my shoes.  But importantly it all worked.

 

So  now to DCC.  Here I had to give up.  I cannot find the plug that connects  track to my NCE unit.  Somewhere there is a piece of track that has some wire with a little green plug on the end of it.  That is for next time but I reckon I'm on the right tram.

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14 hours ago, KymN said:

Somewhere there is a piece of track that has some wire with a little green plug on the end of it.  

 Found it!  :laugh_mini: :):clapping:Except it is brown, not green - they are the eBay fakes.

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And I have now tested the wiring for DCC control.  I am pleased to report that it works!  I have tried a number of locomotives of varying size and origin and am a happy little Vegemite. (For those who did not grow up in the days of B&W TV in Australia you will need to Google that.).  This is a milestone - it is the first time in a decade that there has been movement in the Fal Valley.

 

The performance of modern model trains is superb, and to see it on my railway is a great experience.  Ivor the Engine - the EFE green Well Tank ran superbly despite the bad press.  It was able to crawl smoothly straight out of the box.  Various Hornby, Dapol and Bachmann locos were consistently good.  The Oxford ROD 0-6-0 looked for a few seconds that it would let the side down, but once it began to turn a wheel all went well.  Some of the other sound fitted locos will need some tuning to get the levels right - the ROD engine has a loud whistle but very little 'chuff'.  The Australian (SDS) NR runs beautifully and has a classic horn tone but I will need to figure out what will provide the GE engine noise.  And the Pennsy GG1 from Broadway Limited is LOUD, but it is American after all.

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In the January 2021 issue of British Railway Modelling there is a wonderful article about John (Jack) Ahern’s antique masterpiece, the Madder Valley Railway.  It is superbly photographed by Andy York, with eloquent words by the people from Pendon, where it resides. Together these bring what otherwise might be seen as an historic relic to life, which it has always had despite its ancientry.  It was begun in the 1930s, and featured strongly in the model railway press over the next several decades thanks to John Ahern’s books and articles.

 

Madder Valley is generally regarded as the first ‘model railway in the landscape’.  Until then, models of railways tended to be models of trains and track, with little attempt to provide a wider context.   Madder Valley went beyond this.  It depicts a whole railway from and to end, and a social and economic role for it, serving industry and providing a social service.  This is more than the physical, and much more than just the railway.  There were a few others that did something similar.  P.D. Hancock’s Craig and Mertonford is just one that comes to mind, as does Derek Naylor’s Aire Valley.

 

As a pioneer, Ahern did some odd things.  For example he kept the track gauge constant and varied the scale of the rolling stock to fit – the result is oversize narrow gauge locomotives and a tiny broad gauge one.  He had a sense of humour and a huge imagination underpinned by technical innovation.  The trains come from across the world, but the buildings are quintessentially British.  The stations include Madderport, Much Madder and Gammon Magna.  Landmarks include Cuckoo Island and the Madderhorn. And then there is the estate agents Quibble & Cuss. The Gammon reference is curious.  The traditional meaning is a type of ham, but more recently in Australia it had come to refer to a lie or falsehood.  Hence Gammon Magna is a big falsehood.

 

So why am I posting this?  It is simple.  There is so much about Jack Ahern’s approach to railway modelling that I relate to.  I regard myself as a railway modeller.    It annoys me when people refer to my interest in 'trains'.  My interest is in railways and their purpose and context –  trains are just the actors.  I certainly am not a mechanical engineer.  And I love a sense of humour.  I remember a model of a pharmacy on another layout with the slogan ‘We dispense with accuracy’.  After all, hobbies are for fun.  So if you will pardon me I choose to imagine another universe that is a bit different.  It such a relief to move beyond just assembling some trains for display to creating a scenic railway in context; something that I should be able to do now that I have some time.

 

I have had the good fortune to see Pendon and the Madder Valley Railway, but the photos below are not mine.  They just help to show what I am on about.

 

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Edited by KymN
Minor corrections & adds.
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This has been a week of railway modelling. 

 

After getting some track down and running some locomotives,  I am working on the DC/DCC control panel for the Buggleskelly Branch.  For the DC component I have dismantled the panel that ran the Brighton Cross Wharf yard to salvage the EDA controller.  This is a rather old but high quality unit made in Queensland.  While the outside shows its age, the interior looks fine.  DC will be limited to the running-in circuit, both standard and narrow gauge.  There is also a Relco track cleaner that I might build into the DC circuit.  I will still use the physical panel to control the Brighton Cross turnouts.  The new controls will include the DCC circuit using the NCE Power Cab.  That will not be used for the narrow gauge.  Switch machines on the Buggleskelly board board are DCC Concepts Cobalt Analogue iP.  These will be switched by Cobalt S  switches.

 

Friday night was the last meeting of the year for the South Abminga Railway.  We are a small group and just come in under the COVID gathering rules, now relaxed again as of this week.  I spent the session shunting the main goods yard ('Big End', after the old Mile End Yard in Adelaide :rolleyes:) to assign wagons off incoming trains to their destination or next train.  Just to make sure that this is done by the book, each wagon, locomotive and brake van has a card that comes in a pack for the train and has to be sorted to the destination or next train.  I was planning on getting some pics but the shunting took all the time.  Here is one very very small part of this huge layout, a siding (Sheepwash Gully) with some departmental wagons on the long drag up the hill to the top levels. The brake van is a Webb caboose, introduced by W.A. Webb, the SAR's American Commissioner during the 1920s.

 

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Saturday arvo was a British Railway Modellers meeting.  It had been deferred from the previous week to utilise the  relaxed COVID gathering rules.  The rules still require registration for tracing purposes, and BRMA has more people at its meetings than the Abminga group.  We normally visit members home layouts.  Here are some pics from yesterday:  

 

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I find that I don't get good pictures at meetings - that first pic makes this great layout look very plain.  However things that made this layout special are the detail, very good running, and Peco/Dublo couplings that I hadn't seen in decades.  Again it is rather more extensive than can be seen here.  Note the blue boxes with the handles in the rear of the first of this group - these cover the fiddle yards. One of the (many) things that make for good running is the little detail of the end of a hinged lift-out section in this last picture:

 

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Enter the Military

 

As much as I admire the work of those people who build model railways that faithfully recreate history, specific sites, or create locomotives and rolling stock that are absolutely true to prototype, that is not me.  I hesitate to use the pejorative term ‘rivet-counter’, but I do not have the time, or need, for this.

Rule #1 –‘it’s my railway’ - as they say.

 

Some of you are aware that while Fal Vale was dormant I wrote a detailed backstory for it. This began with fact, but ultimately contained an alternative history.  This present blog draws on it from time to time.  I included a couple of the pages from its 2016 Preface earlier (page 1, 25 Jan 2020). 

What follows here is an abridged version of that part of the backstory that explains the military presence evident in Fal Vale.  You will be pleased to know that the detailed end-notes are not included here!:wacko:

 

THE PORTREATH BRANCH

 

The Portreath Branch plays an important role in this story.  Portreath was for a long time an important, if small, port on the Atlantic coast.  The need for an efficient transport system for the mineral ore and coal passing between the local mines and Portreath Harbour resulted in the building of the Portreath to Poldice tramway by The Portreath Tram Road Company, the first section of which opened by 1812. It was a horse-drawn line and the first Tram Road in Cornwall. Copper ore was shipped to the South Wales Coalfields for smelting. The ships were then back-loaded with timber and coal for the mines.

 

Portreath Harbour 1860s

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The Tramway was succeeded by a Hayle Railway branch to Portreath. The Hayle Railway had been constructed to convey copper and tin ore from the Redruth and Camborne areas to sea.  It was opened in 1837, and overall was just over 17 miles long, with four inclines.  It started to carry passengers in 1843, but the inclines proved dangerous and slow. In 1852 the Hayle Railway Company was acquired by the West Cornwall Railway, which in turn was purchased by the Great Western Railway in 1866. The inclines, other than that which lowered wagons to Portreath Harbour, were bypassed by the West Cornwall Railway and passengers travelled on this new route.

 

Portreath incline

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The Portreath branch left the main line at Pool (later Carn Brea; facing for trains from Hayle) and ran broadly north-north-west to the head of the Portreath incline, where the line turned north to descend to the harbour via the incline. The Portreath incline was 1,716 feet long with a rise of about 240 feet. It was powered by a Cornish beam engine at the summit of the incline, which was known as the 'Lady Basset'. One wagon up and one down. This engine was replaced, towards the end of the 19th century, by a smaller, rotary engine which lasted until the end.  The branch fell into disuse by 1930, but the GWR kept the engine in good order.

Portreath Top Winding House

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Thus far this is fact as best that I can discern it.  What follows may not be entirely true, but more is fact than you might think is.

 

Porthreath had for a long time been regarded as of strategic importance.  Nancekuke Common, on the clifftops to the north of Portreath, was used as an army training area during the First War, and by 1920 there was a permanent presence by the Royal Engineers as an outstation of their Porton Down military science research centre in Wiltshire - the Royal Engineers Experimental Station.  During the Second War Nancekuke was developed as a RAF base and later as a Torchwood facility for chemical weapons research.  The Torchwood days will be discussed later.   Major manoeuvres were periodically undertaken there, and the Portreath Branch served these. There were also camps on Dartmoor, serviced by Oakhampton.

 

Loading Horses at Okehampton

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The Portreath Branch was of interest to the War Office during the 1930s.  It was concerned about the impending closure in the lead up to World War II, and sought to requisition the line.  The Great Western did not see a great deal of commercial value in operating the line for the War Office and only sought scrap value plus a modest margin by way of compensation.  However the Southern Railway, as successor to the South Western, could see that it might provide a link between Okehampton and the Nancekuke training areas, and so it offered to operate the Portreath Branch on behalf of the War Office, and to provide servicing facilities (at Fal Vale) for Royal Engineers’ locomotives and rolling stock.  This offer was accepted by the Government, which in turn insisted that the Southern was to have running rights to service it.  In turn the Great Western was allowed running rights between Truro and Fal Vale.

 

The branch had been run down by the GWR as its commercial importance, and that of Portreath, declined. However its military importance grew with the Second World War. British anti-invasion preparations entailed large-scale military and civilian mobilisation in response to the threat of invasion by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941.  With Government assistance the Southern brought the Branch to a standard suited to its military role, and the alignment diverted near Illogan to a new yard closer to Nancekuke.  The track on the incline was swiftly removed and a concrete barrier (still there today) erected at the base to prevent the Nazi hordes from invading Redruth.

 

WW2 Tanks in Redruth

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TORCHWOOD

 

Let us turn now to the role of Portreath Airfield.  It is situated at Nancekuke Common on the clifftops to the north of Portreath beach and southwest of Porthtowan. Although flying had occurred there since 1925, it only became established as a permanent airfield in October 1937. The airfield was opened by General Erhard Milch, who was at the time chief of staff of the Luftwaffe. He was so impressed with the facilities that he wanted to turn the airfield into his headquarters once the invasion of England was complete: Portreath was never once bombed during World War II. 

 

Nancekuke Airfield

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During World War II the Royal Engineers facility at Portreath Nancekuke was expanded into a major air defence base called RAF Portreath, built during 1940 and opened in March 1941.  It had a varied career during the Second World War, initially as an RAF Fighter Command station, from October 1941 as a ferry stop-over for aircraft bound to/from North Africa and the Middle East, as a temporary stop-over for USAAF and RCAF units, and then as a Coastal Command station. By the end of the war, it had run down and in May 1950 was handed back to the government by the RAF.

 

At the time, the British Government had become concerned at the gas warfare technologies that had been developed during the war by the Nazis, and began investigations into the military possibilities of organophosphorus and other compounds.  This led to the abandoned coastal airfield and Royal Engineers base at Nancekuke being taken over by the Torchwood Institute for these investigations.  The Torchwood Institute was originally established by Queen Victoria at Torchwood in Scotland to guard her empire from extra-terrestrial threat, with which she was not amused.  Its remit had been expanded since then to encompass a wide range of ultra-secret research activities; however it continued to focus on its Royal Chartered role in extra-terrestrial research and defence against the alien world.

Torchwood House

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The base retained its local name Nancekuke, and its link with Chemical Defence Establishment (CDE) Porton Down was re-established. Manufacture of the nerve agent Sarin in a pilot production facility commenced there in the early 1950s, producing about 20 tons of the nerve agent from 1954 until 1956. Torchwood Nancekuke became an important factory for stockpiling the UK's Chemical Defences during the Cold War. Periodically, small amounts of other gases were also produced at Nancekuke, intended mainly for laboratory test purposes, but also to validate plant designs and optimise chemical processes for potential mass-production. There have been incidents associated with the production of hallucinatory anti-personnel gases, the subject of private investigations. In the 1950s the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment became involved with the development of CS, a riot control agent, and took an increasing role in trauma and wound ballistics work.

 

Tests were carried out on servicemen to determine the effects of nerve agents on human subjects, with one recorded death due to a nerve gas experiment. There have been persistent allegations of unethical human experimentation and deaths at Porton Down and Nancekuke. Some of the military personnel had been told that they were part of a program to research the common cold

.

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At that time there was virtually no public knowledge of the work and the non-scientific workers employed were not told of its intended use.  However local legend lists a series of strange sightings, including ‘the Beast of Bodmin Moor’, and various felines and hounds.  No such creatures existed, and it is likely that the sightings have been the aftermath of a Torchwood project aimed at creating a hallucinatory anti-personnel weapon derived from finding a Skaro vessel during an alien experiment.

Hound.jpg.6704d1ee063be2007e36bd27703154d1.jpg

 

POST-WAR

The Nancekuke area continued its less secretive role as a base for military exercises through the 1950s. These included tank and amphibious exercises involving the British and Allied forces; hence the various arms of the military might be evident from time to time. One of the substances used in the CDE facility was moved in large flasks that bear a remarkable resemblance to those that were built in the early 1960s to service nuclear power plants. However, most of the movements associated with the military were military hardware, fuel and various chemicals moved in Railway Operating Division or Department of Supply tank wagons and vans.

 

The military deployed its own trains during the exercises, bringing locomotives from the various Royal Engineers railway facilities.  These were serviced at Fal Vale. By the early 1960s, the chemical weapons production plant at Torchwood Nancekuke had been partially mothballed, but was maintained through the 1960s and 1970s in a state whereby production of chemical weapons could easily re-commence if required.  In 1970 the senior establishment at Porton Down was named as the only Chemical Defence Establishment, remaining under this title for the next 21 years.

In 1976, a defence review recommended the decommissioning of CDE Torchwood Nancekuke.  The site is still open to inspection by members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).  The RAF re-opened parts of the site as a manned radar station in October 1980, a Control and Reporting Post (CRP) for UK Air Surveillance. Its radar (housed in a fibre glass or golf ball protective dome) provides long-range coverage of the south western approaches to the UK.

 

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FOOTNOTE

 

Despite my two years National Service in the military, I never had much interest in military matters, modelling or history.  That changed somewhat since I researched my wife’s Grandfather’s experience in WW1 and my Father’s experience in WW2. The range of military rolling stock that became available during the WW1 anniversaries has also been a factor.  So Fal Vale developed a modest military presence. I’m not sure that this justifies the ‘Bosch Buster’ though. 

The science fiction (of which much is fact) is another matter altogether.  Torchwood is an anagram of Doctor Who.  However Porton Down is real, and had a sinister history.

 

 

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Fascinating stuff. I liked the fact that transport planes used Portreath on their way abroad. My late F-i-L was an RAF navigator, and finished the war delivering planes to the Middle-East, so I wonder if he went via Portreath. If so, his future wife was engaged in radar sweeps for E-boats on the other side of the county, at, I think, Portscatho. 

 

As for Porton Down and its secrets, I think Ronald Maddison is the name that comes to mind as the victim of research. 

 

In our time, the US claims that Covid escaped from a Wuhan laboratory have caused controversy...... 

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2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Another nice blend of fact and fiction Kym. I wish I could work out which was which though. Some of each is obvious but there's a big grey area in the middle...

My problem is that I have begun to lose sight of what is fact and which is fiction!!

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I know that I was off the rails, so to speak, with my post regarding the military presence planned for Fal Vale, but it was nice to see the positive response.  Thank you.  As I enjoyed the best part of seven years as an academic, I should have been more careful with my referencing and documentation.  Nevertheless you might find some of the end notes that I mentioned (and didn't include) interesting:

  • Note i: The story of NanceKuke (pronounced Nans kük) has been adapted for the Fal Vale story; however in reality its role as a chemical weapons research facility had a secretive and notorious history, both in contravention of the Geneva Convention and in regard to the welfare of its staff and military ‘volunteers’.  It was an outstation of the Porton Down Military Science Research Centre in Wiltshire, opened in 1916 as the Royal Engineers Experimental Station as a site for testing chemical weapons. Nancekuke was used to produce and test nerve gas after the Second World War, and some of its equipment was salvaged from Nazi Germany.  The production of gas was given real impetus by the arms race.  As the Government stated in a declaration to the United Nations, Nancekuke was the United Kingdom's main chemical weapons research and development facility.

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  • Note ii: Davies RT and E Lyn (2006) Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 2 "Tooth and Claw" Cardiff, BBC One. The title is an allusion to a merciless "Nature, red in tooth and claw" from Lord Tennyson's 1850 poem In Memoriam A.H.H. The poem was a favourite of Queen Victoria's, who found it a comfort after Prince Albert's death in 1861. The Doctor (David Tenant) alludes to the Scottish ballad Walter Lesly ("I've been chasin’ “this wee naked child [Rose Tyler (Billie Piper)] over hill and over dale,") and Robert Burns' poem To a Mouse ("Isn't that right, ye tim'rous beastie?") while trying to explain his and Rose's sudden appearance and their "unusual dress". The Doctor (as Dr. James McCrimmon to the Queen) claims to have trained at the University of Edinburgh under "Dr Bell", a reference to Joseph Bell, the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes.  Treowen House in Dingestow, Wales was used as the exterior of Torchwood House.

                       Rose Tyler: [after meeting Queen Victoria] I wanted to hear her say, "We are not amused." Bet you five quid I can get her to say it.

                      The Doctor: Taking that bet would be an abuse of my responsibilities as a traveller in time.

                      Rose Tyler: Ten quid?

                      The Doctor: Done.

 

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  • Note iii:  The Common Cold Research Unit (CCRU), was set up by the civilian Medical Research Council (MRC) in 1946 on the site of a former military hospital, the Harvard Hospital, at Harnham Down near Salisbury in Wiltshire. The CCRU was sometimes confused with the Microbiological Research Establishment at nearby Porton Down, with which it occasionally collaborated but was not officially connected.  It has also been confused with the Porton Down CDE.
  • Note iv: Gatiss M and S Vertue (2012) Sherlock Series 2 Episode 2 “The Hounds of Baskerville” London, BBC One. The episode is a contemporary adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous works, first serialised in 1901-1902. Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his partner John Watson (Martin Freeman) take on the case of Henry Knight, who 20 years earlier witnessed the brutal killing of his father by a "gigantic hound" on Dartmoor. The investigation leads the pair to Baskerville, a nearby Ministry of Defence research base.  In the conclusion it is revealed that the hounds were images induced by a mind-altering drug, a chemical weapon whose creator was in fact the real murderer of Henry's father. The hallucinogenic gas comes from Conan Doyle’s "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot". The Baskerville base was based on Porton Down Military Science Research Centre.
  • Note v:  Skaro was the homeworld of the Kaleds and the Thals, devastated by the Thousand Year War. It was during this conflict that Davros created the Daleks, who took Skaro for themselves.

 

I promise that I will return to model railways next time, particularly as the Buggleskelly loop line track has now been laid.

 

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We have been very fortunate here in Adelaide with regard to COVID precautions. While geography has helped, fairly hard rules have been applied early and as needed to manage any outbreaks.  My daughter, who lives in the Northern Beaches of Sydney,  spent Christmas in lockdown at home :sad_mini: with her two kids (and their cats).  Our (South Australian) Chief Medical Officer suggested that on New Year's Eve there should be no kissing of strangers, but she suggested that it would be a good time to ask for a telephone number 'for contact tracing purposes'. :rolleyes:

 

This careful, and successful, approach has meant that we of the Adelaide parish of British Railway modellers has been able to hold 'informal' meetings as conditions and rules allow.  We have just had our first for 2021 at our leader (Andrew's) place, with appropriate COVID arrangements applied (roll book for contract tracing, social distancing etc. ). Here are just a few pictures of Andrew's great two level layout. A particular feature is his superbly finished teak coaches, such as the branch train in the bay in the first pic.

  

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Some members have been encouraging Andrew to move along with scenery.  Hence the scenery over the tunnels in the third picture was done just for the meeting :good_mini:

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9 hours ago, KymN said:

Some members have been encouraging Andrew to move along with scenery.  Hence the scenery over the tunnels in the third picture was done just for the meeting

@Woodcock29I thought it had been photoshopped in.

Edited by St Enodoc
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I have a little progress to report.

 

This week I finished tracklaying for the Buggleskelly Loop Line (a.k.a. running-in track).  In this first picture the complete circuit can be seen.  About half will be off-scene, with the rest forms the approach to Buggleskelly station (not yet built, with the junction where the locos are). 

 

1099095945_IMG_3638enhance.jpg.a47b917eafd09ab9c3b709def1b56652.jpg

 

Dropper wires from each section have been done, and the point motors (Cobalt Analogue) installed. I fumbled the point motors - kept losing the fixing screws and (another problem) damaging the tie-bar on the Tillig turnouts.  Got there in the end.  There will be a local control near the little viaduct on the left.  The fuzzy bit is some casual spraying of track colour.

 

The second picture show a train sitting on the new track.  Light was a bit poor for these shots, but those with good eyes will see that the locos are Somerset and Dorset Joint.  The South Western did have a share in the S&D, and I can run Midland engines without them being painted red (makes anti-vampire gesture).  The lead loco is the new Bachmann Collectors MR 1532 Class 54, and a fine machine it is too.  I'm not sure how it came to be this far west.  My youthful exposure to 'The Berrow Branch' may be to blame.  The train includes a Buggleskelly PO wagon and a Ministry of Munitions tanker. 

 

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I should make mention of the few buildings there.  These are Bachmann 'ready to plant'.  There was a time when I would be embarrassed to buy one of these - my structures were always kit built or adapted, and a few scratch-built.  That probably explains why I never finished layouts.  I have now realised that I don't have the time to wait.  The pub is a model of the little one in Beck Hole, near Goathland, North Yorkshire.  Sue and I walked the old Stephenson line between Goathland and Grosmont, stopping at Beck Hole on the way.  We met this lovely old chap who was a retired doctor.  Sue said 'I do love your accent', to which he replied 'I don't have an accent - you do!'  England one, Australia nil.

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20 minutes ago, KymN said:

I fumbled the point motors - kept losing the fixing screws

I usually stick them in place with the self-adhesive pads then just add the screws afterwards for security. You're right, it's very awkward fitting the screws otherwise.

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15 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I usually stick them in place with the self-adhesive pads 

 

I found that the pads did not adhere well to the plywood underside of the baseboard. After three or four minutes they would start to pull away.   When I lost the screws it tended to be due to clumsiness, and they would land silently in the carpet.  Perhaps I should keep away from the excellent Adelaide Hills wines. I did eventually find at least one screw when I threatened it with the vacuum cleaner. 

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13 minutes ago, KymN said:

 

I found that the pads did not adhere well to the plywood underside of the baseboard. After three or four minutes they would start to pull away.   When I lost the screws it tended to be due to clumsiness, and they would land silently in the carpet.  Perhaps I should keep away from the excellent Adelaide Hills wines. I did eventually find at least one screw when I threatened it with the vacuum cleaner. 

That's interesting, Kym. On the odd occasion when I've wanted to move one slightly after sticking it in place, I've found that the pad grips like a limpet. Perhaps the plywood's different in SA...

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Today was a bit slow but I made a couple of discoveries.

 

First, Hornby wheelsets occasionally have a back-to-back problem.  I have a few wagons that bump on my Tillig turnouts and transition tracks (NG swapping sides).  They are OK with Peco, but I assume that Tillig tolerances are tighter (typical German engineering! :wacko:).  Bachmann wagons seem OK, and the problem is easily managed.

 

The next was a surprise.  I have standardised on Kadee couplers - thanks to NEM they are easily fitted, work well and look right to me because of my South Australian Railways background, where we have had buckeyes for nearly 100 years.  However for rakes of passenger coaches I chose to activate the close-coupling mechanisms by using the Roco/Hornby close-couplers. One Hornby + one Roco gives a good separation, and they work together, thanks to the same design but slightly different length.  But there was a problem with some coaches, notably the rebuilt LSWR vehicles and some Maunsells - they induced a droop (not brewers').  This fouled movement, and caused related issues.

 

Some time ago I acquired a few Fleischmann Profi close-couplers, and I wondered if they would deal with my droop.  Behold, a miracle.  I had two coaches with less than 0.5mm separation on the straight and ample separation on 531mm curves, with no sign of buffer-locking.  And a much tighter connection.

 

The case has yet to be proved with other coaches, but once I get some more of the Fleischmann product I'll let you know. 

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23 hours ago, KymN said:

The case has yet to be proved with other coaches, but once I get some more of the Fleischmann product I'll let you know. 

 

Please wait.  I have not been able to repeat this, in part because one coupler has a broken bit. I need to do some more research.  Sorry :(.

 

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On 11/01/2021 at 19:35, KymN said:

Some time ago I acquired a few Fleischmann Profi close-couplers, and I wondered if they would deal with my droop.  Behold, a miracle.  I had two coaches with less than 0.5mm separation on the straight and ample separation on 531mm curves, with no sign of buffer-locking.  And a much tighter connection.

 

The case has yet to be proved with other coaches, but once I get some more of the Fleischmann product I'll let you know. 

 

I have made a little progress here.  I now have a nicely coupled set of Maunsell coaches using Fleischmann Profi close couplers.  This pic is from the dark side to show the outline.  I will now proceed to equip selected other coaches with these, starting with the rest of the 58' Maunsell Rebuilt (Ex-LSWR 48’) Coaches.

 

1801605486_IMG_3663clearer.jpg.e8a6177bcc81a0440fe6e4f4b60106db.jpg

 

It also shows my present working environment 'under the table'.  Unfortunately I can only work there for short periods before my aging body complains :(

 

The car in the centre is the Hornby Maunsell Restaurant car, which is still a problem.  The NEM mount in this coach is further inboard than the others, and prevents it from coupling to other cars with corridor connections.  In this case I removed the concertina from the restaurant coach to solve the problem, but not very satisfactorily.  Adjusting the NEM mount might be the way to go, or there might be a Keen Systems or similar soft concertina.  Or stay with the Roco coupler, which is less of a droop problem here than on some other coaches

 

The next pic shows the Profi coupling (catalogue pic).

6515-2.jpg.b60163458559cdc34f61f3fedbb55099.jpg

 

The coupler is a fairly precise device with several small parts.  There is a pin that is raised by a ramp to effect uncoupling and can be seen projecting below the assembly, looking like, well, a pin.  The top of this pin is a latch (which looks like a muscular arm holding a ladies' shoe) held in position by a spring on the right side of the coupler.  It is possible for the 'latch' device to ride up over the spring, in which case the coupler won't work.  Fixing that resolved the second problem I had.

 

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While I'm at the computer, here are a few pics of the layout featured at our local BRMA meeting held last weekend.  This is Gavin Thrum's most recent masterpiece Spilsby (UK) station, long since gone. Gavin builds using card/brick paper. The layout is unusual in that the yard has been built to scale, with no compression. If this year's exhibition goes ahead this will be our (BRMA's) main exhibit.

 

1855012970_IMG_3654Gavin.jpg.60876891261a7eea00a3b81c73386009.jpg

 

1724128419_IMG_3661Gavin.jpg.a45f91a0961cb05ce9e63c55d6fe6d63.jpg

 

IMG_3657Gavin.jpg.91089aeb8189df3ec3923b9612c2331d.jpg

 

704914052_IMG_3656Gavin.jpg.4a4c614142b1c920559c93d85e146998.jpg

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2 hours ago, KymN said:

While I'm at the computer, here are a few pics of the layout featured at our local BRMA meeting held last weekend.  This is Gavin Thrum's most recent masterpiece Spilsby (UK) station, long since gone. Gavin builds using card/brick paper. The layout is unusual in that the yard has been built to scale, with no compression. If this year's exhibition goes ahead this will be our (BRMA's) main exhibit.

 

1855012970_IMG_3654Gavin.jpg.60876891261a7eea00a3b81c73386009.jpg

 

1724128419_IMG_3661Gavin.jpg.a45f91a0961cb05ce9e63c55d6fe6d63.jpg

 

IMG_3657Gavin.jpg.91089aeb8189df3ec3923b9612c2331d.jpg

 

704914052_IMG_3656Gavin.jpg.4a4c614142b1c920559c93d85e146998.jpg

Giving due credit, I believe that much of the stock was built by @Woodcock29 of this parish.

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1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Giving due credit, I believe that much of the stock was built by @Woodcock29 of this parish.

 

I was wondering.  I have seen some of the stock before, quite recently, and I don't think that Gavin would claim that any of the stock was his.  But the layout is his work.

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29 minutes ago, KymN said:

 

I was wondering.  I have seen some of the stock before, quite recently, and I don't think that Gavin would claim that any of the stock was his.  But the layout is his work.

Yes it is. Woodcock29 is of course your esteemed Area Rep.

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