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Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00


St Enodoc
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"The Hong-Kong mafia" comes to mind? Didn't Carolyn Griffiths have time there, and maybe Martin Brown, AM at Brighton?

About four hours too far North Ian. I was in Singapore for three years. Carolyn had been there, not HK, in the 80s or 90s, but you are right about Martin. Saw him in Sydney a few years ago looking very hale and hearty.

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In later years the AWS track magnets were yellow and with a little clever positioning can be used to mark uncoupling magnets.  But in this era if there was any AWS at all it would have been the GWR raised central rail system.

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Non standard colour markings for magnets....shouldn't they be white? Then it looks pike misplaced China clay!

And of course V is right!

Baz

Up early this morning Baz?

 

I used white in the fiddle yard to mark the fouling points on each track, so I had to use a different colour for magnets. As they are activated by yellow push buttons, that seemed to be the obvious choice.

 

With regard to your last point, as we all know there are just two rules. Rule 1 - your other half is always right. Rule 2 - if she is wrong, see Rule 1.

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In later years the AWS track magnets were yellow and with a little clever positioning can be used to mark uncoupling magnets.  But in this era if there was any AWS at all it would have been the GWR raised central rail system.

Thanks Rick. On the new layout there will be a (dummy) ATC ramp for the Trewoon Junction Up Distant, just where the Up main line enters Tremewan Tunnel. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Rule 1 always applied west of the Tamar and still does.   ;)

Applies everywhere if you know what's good for you.

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yep early start as I have a bit of a problem in my shoulder/arm which should be fixed next week with another injection...

 

white for magnet markers started on Victoria (or even earlier on Wallgate/Denroyd....)  ...although I seem to remember a problem caused by a passing sparrow deposit in the corn exchange where there was a white mark but no magnet...

 

Baz

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On 20/01/2015 at 06:01, TrevorP1 said:

Interesting plan - good luck! 

 

You may already be aware of this but, for interest, this is the original Burngullow station.

[link deleted]

Thanks Trevor - I don't think I'd seen that picture before.

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St Endoc,

I've just stumbled across your posting #25. That's my loft !

 

Fantastic. I was wondering about building a layout in the A-frames. Now you've shown me how to do it.

 

Cheers,

Rick

Rick, the key was the steeper pitch of the roof. If I hadn't been able to stand up and walk around without stooping, I don't think I would have built the layout there.

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Looking good John. I think part of the enjoyment of building a model is the research and the "bigger story" behind what you are doing.

 

I did misread part of your locations and wondered why you were renaming Newquay after the music hall artist who used to play tunes by farting! :)

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Looking good John. I think part of the enjoyment of building a model is the research and the "bigger story" behind what you are doing.

 

I did misread part of your locations and wondered why you were renaming Newquay after the music hall artist who used to play tunes by farting! :)

Ah yes, as memorably portrayed on screen by the late, great, Leonard Rossiter.

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As well as being the railway room, the garage also has to serve as storage space for all sorts of old files, model and prototype railway magazines, luggage, and the rest of the paraphernalia that we have accumulated over the years and which might come in handy one day. The layout will have plenty of floor area underneath for storage, but to make sure that the underside of the baseboards is accessible to work on I decided that everything stored under them should be able to be moved out of the way easily.

 

I have used three methods to achieve this.

 

First, and most obviously, some things such as suitcases are already on wheels and so can be rolled around without difficulty.

 

Secondly, most of the old files, books and papers of various kinds (Veronica calls it all, rather unkindly I feel, “junk”) are stored in removalists’ cardboard boxes. Some of these have travelled around with me for seven moves on three continents, and the older boxes were getting a bit decrepit. The first job, then, was to put everything into good-quality uniformly-sized boxes left over from the last move. This also gave me the chance to sort the stuff out and actually throw some of it away (but not too much…).

 

I decided to put the boxes on top of trolleys fitted with castors, rather like the dollies that removalists use. In fact, I was going to buy some of these ready-made from a DIY warehouse, but they were discontinued just before I was ready to get them. Instead, I used plain sheets of 17 mm plywood. Each board will carry four boxes when stacked two high.

 

Although the DIY warehouse stocked castors, I found a better deal from IKEA, who sell castors with a capacity of 45 kg each and an overall height of less than 70 mm at a very reasonable price. Four of these castors were bolted to each board to make the trolleys. The overall height of a loaded trolley is about 960 mm so this became one of the design criteria governing the eventual baseboard height.

 

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The third method was used for storing magazines. IKEA provided the answer again in the shape of their Kallax (previously Expedit) range of shelves with square-shaped openings. I had already used one of these for storing LPs and decided to use the 2 x 2 shelves for the magazines. Again, these are mounted on castors but I didn’t trust the integrity of the shelves on their own so I used 17 mm ply again to spread the load and add some strength. A sheet of 3 mm MDF stops the magazines falling out of the back as well as adding more rigidity to the shelves.

 

The overall height of a shelf on castors is about 845 mm, which became another design criterion.

 

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To make sure I could move the trolleys and shelves easily I decided that there should be a minimum of 100 mm clearance between the top of a loaded trolley or shelf to the lowest part of the baseboard structure.

 

The general idea for the baseboards is to use L-girders to support joists and the ply track base. The exception to this rule is St Enodoc, where the existing station baseboards will sit on the joists. The current St Enodoc sits on legs that are themselves 1200 mm high, so as to allow reasonably easy duck-under access. With the 98 mm depth of the all-ply boards this gives a baseboard top height of 1298 mm. This, frankly, is just a little too high for comfort. I am 1800 mm tall and the top of the boards is almost at armpit level, making it a little awkward to reach across to the furthest tracks. The Paddington and Penzance loops boards will be 700 mm wide as compared to St Enodoc’s 600 mm, so I decided that the new baseboards should be a little lower all round.

 

I built a trial L-girder frame using 42 x 19 mm wood for both the web and the flange. This did not seem to be quite rigid enough over a 2 m length between legs, so I decided that a deeper flange was necessary and built a replacement using 64 x 19 mm timber for the web. This is a lot sturdier and will therefore become the standard, with 42 x 19 mm joists and 9mm ply to form the track base. This photo shows the difference between the trial and standard L-girders:

 

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The result of all this was that if St Enodoc was going to have trolleys under it the baseboard top height would be 960 + 100 + 64 + 19 + 42 + 98 = 1283 mm, which is almost as tall as the existing boards. However, if only shelves are stored under St Enodoc the minimum top height comes down to 845 + 100 + 64 + 19 + 42 + 98 = 1168 mm which is much better.

 

On the other hand, the trolleys will now have to be stored under the main line boards. Will this work? Well, the minimum top height would be 960 + 100 + 64 + 19 + 42 + 9 = 1194 mm. This works out at about chest height for me, which is quite satisfactory for leaning across.

 

I mentioned in post #35 that I want some shallow gradients for visual effect and my starting point for these was to plan them not to be steeper than 1 in 100. This gives a decent tolerance for error and for the vertical transition at the start and end of each gradient. The distance between Porthmellyn Road and St Enodoc is only just over a metre, so a gradient of 1 in 100 giving a 10 mm height difference will be just enough, I hope, to give an impression similar to the Newquay branch dropping away from Par towards St Blazey. This means that the St Enodoc baseboard top height will be 1194 – 10 = 1184 mm and the clearance to the top of the shelves will be 100 + 1184 – 1168 = 116 mm.

 

So far so good, but what about Pentowan? I want the branch to drop more or less continuously from St Enodoc to Treloggan Junction so that trains on the stretch through Indian Queens are concealed at least in part from the St Enodoc signalman. The length of run is about 5 m so at 1 in 100 a vertical separation of 50 mm would result. Now, if the L-girders for Pentowan, Treloggan and Polperran are all at the same height as those for St Enodoc (which will simplify construction considerably) the standard configuration would give a baseboard top height of 845 + 116 + 64 + 19 + 42 + 9 = 1095 mm. This is too low, as the gradient would have to be (1184 – 1095)/5000 = 1 in 56. For a while I couldn’t see how to solve this, but in the end the answer turned out to be to double the height of the joists by adding an extra piece of wood, making each joist 84 mm deep and bringing the top height up to 1137 mm. The drop from St Enodoc to Treloggan is now only 47 mm giving a gradient of about 1 in 105. This will also help when scenery comes along, as I want the curve round from Treloggan to Pentowan to run beside the seaside, so the extra 42 mm joist will allow a low sea wall to divide the railway from the beach.

 

So, in summary, the main lines will run (level all the way) on baseboards with a top height of 1194 mm. The branch will leave Porthmellyn Road, dropping at about 1 in 100 to St Enodoc at a top height of 1184 mm, then drop further at about 1 in 105 to Treloggan Junction. The top height for Treloggan Junction, Pentowan and Polperran will be 1137 mm with level track at all three. A bonus is that Down trains on the branch will indeed be going downhill while Up trains will be going uphill. This will make it easier for operators to remember which direction is which.

 

The final element to consider is the Wheal Veronica branch. This will only be worked by an 0-6-0PT and about half a dozen wagons, so the gradient can be steeper. The plan is for it to rise from St Enodoc, alongside the falling Pentowan line, so that the clay dries themselves are roughly level with the road that crosses the bridge at the Down end of St Enodoc station. The detailed design will be worked out later, but the gradient will probably end up at around 1 in 50.

 

The boxes on their trolleys will, therefore, be stored under Paddington, Porthmellyn Road and Penzance, while the magazines on their shelves will be stored under St Enodoc, Indian Queens, Pentowan and Polperran.

 

In post #48 and this post I have gone into the planning process in some detail, to show how the user requirements were developed into design criteria and then into a concept design for the vertical alignment of the railway, resulting in (literally) a bottom-up solution. If you have stayed with me this far I hope it was all of some interest. Of course, if you gave up before this point you won’t be reading this bit anyway.

 

To end this post, here are some photos of the first completed L-girder frame in place. This will carry the Down end of the Penzance loops as they swing round and join the Up end of the Paddington loops at the bottom right of the block plan in post #35. The frame stands clear of the garage roller door to allow it to be opened if necessary, and also to allow some form of backboard and possibly shelves to be fitted later if I decide to do so.

 

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Looks like your timber is much better than the crap that our DIY stores sell. Can't see a single knot on those planks and nice and straight too. If you'd got that from B&Q you'd have a sturdy boomerang! I've had to go to the timber merchants to get anything remotely useable for Olympia.

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Reminds me of the build the strongest bridge from balsa at Uni.

Coming on well, when will it be finished? As in completely operable?

May provide a target date for a visit for an operating session.....

Baz

From snowy Leeds

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Looks like your timber is much better than the crap that our DIY stores sell. Can't see a single knot on those planks and nice and straight too. If you'd got that from B&Q you'd have a sturdy boomerang! I've had to go to the timber merchants to get anything remotely useable for Olympia.

Andy, it came from Bunnings, which is the equivalent of B&Q. I went through the racks to get the best lengths - probably rejected 4 out of 5.

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