Penhayle Bay

[St Enodoc]

No longer in the UK I'm afraid until May next year.  We are both back in Australia from our respective travels.  I don't suffer from jet lag so was right in the time zone from landing but Sharon usually takes a few days and has also crossed the date line coming over the Pacific from the USA so is still about 18 hours adrift from reality!

 

Long-haul air travel effects people differently.  I have never ever suffered from jet lag.  There isn't a secret.  It's just how I am.  But for what it's worth I have spent most of my life working shift patterns so am well used to slightly odd meal times and apparent day lengths.   I also don't watch in-flight movies nor play games.  Instead I usually have some light music on the headphones, eye shades and ear plugs and just zone out.  With the "Wake me for meals" sticker prominently on my seat!  In 18 hours of flying time and 24 elapsed hours in transit with a 9-hour time difference between origin and destination I probably slept (if fitfully) 12 hours each way.

First of all, congratulations on the 1000th reply to your own topic.

 

You are right, jet lag is a strange beast. During years of regular flights between the UK and South East Asia, I found a method that works for me. A window seat, earplugs and eyeshades are the keys. On the flight I read, listen to music, eat, drink and sleep, not necessarily in that order. I set my watch to destination time before departure and try to keep to that as far as sleeping is concerned. Finally, I take one or two Melatonin capsules about an hour before bedtime for the first two or three nights after an eastbound flight - westbound flights are tiring but don't give me jet lag.

 

As readers of my topic below will know, I had a short trip to Europe last week. Seven nights away from home of which three were spent in the air and four in a hotel. Including watiing time and ground transit each journey was about 36 hours in duration. Arriving back in Sydney at 0510 pretty well knocked out the rest of Saturday, but Sunday was almost normal (including some quality time in the railway room!).

 

I never minded shifts per se - it was the changes between shifts that I didn't like. At one time I managed a group who worked permanent nights - 4 X 10 hours Monday to Thursday. They loved it.

[Gwiwer]

 

 

First of all, congratulations on the 1000th reply to your own topic.

 

Thank you kindly Sir.

 

I had noticed that milestone approaching some time back but events overtook and I haven't had a lot of time to keep up to date recently.  I'm starting to get back on track (pun intended) now.

 

I'll get a little winter maintenance under way once I get clear of the present run of shifts as I'm on the "busy" end of the roster with six days on, one off, nine on then finally five off.  There's a fair amount of re-wiring to tackle in order to get things right which were installed on an "it works - fix it later" basis.  There will be a little scenic work needed because there always is outdoors.  And the N-gauge layout has another show date in the offing so minor works there need to be tackled as well.

 

There will be a significant investment in diesel-hydraulic motive power over the coming months.  And there will also be a reassignment of hobby time between railways and photography as the latter has more potential to generate income and I have a business plan under development.

[brushman47544]

Funny story.

 

One of the things I specifically asked her before I flew back to the UK - and she to the USA - was to tell me where all her work was backed up.  "It's backed up to the cloud, there's a copy of everything on a memory stick and my supervisors have hard and soft copies of everything written to date".

 

Who was I to argue?

 

So I'm standing in the relatively rural remoteness of Lostwithiel station in Cornwall when my mobile rings.  I knew who it was because she has a customised ring tone set up.  I was a little surprised because it would have been 2.30am in Australia.  Very distressed, she came on the line and said "I need to talk - I've just deleted my entire thesis!"

 

After a few frustrated tears had subsided it emerged she (a) did NOT have everything backed fully up to date and ( b ) what was "backed up to the cloud" was what had just been deleted namely the only copy of everything she had.  She had tried to click-drag a file into a folder and had instead somehow landed on "Delete" and watched, mortified, as file after file vanished before her eyes.

 

Knowing how user-friendly iCloud is I asked of she had tried the "Restore" button.  "What restore button?"  "The one in the corner of the screen" says I.  12000 miles away it was found, clicked and one by one the files came back!!!!!  I don't make much use of cloud storage but one thing I did remember from setting up my own account was that it said in large friendly letters "We know you sometimes hit the wrong button or regret making a choice - so we give you the chance to undo it before it's too late forever".  

 

I don't think anyone has ever sounded quite so relieved.  Not least because at 2.30am she was already in a frazzle about getting her papers for the USA conference in order and was due to fly out later that same day.

 

All ended well.  Thanks to the wonders of our present-day technology and a fortuitously good phone signal where there hasn't usually been any at all deep in the Fowey River valley!  

 

Very glad to hear all's well that ends well.

 

Hi Rick,

I thought you might be interested in these 2 pics. I have been touring the goldfields over the last week and stopped at Fryerstown today 

 

Peter

 

The quote from the plaque, "The Cornish Heritage of the Castlemaine area". So XXXX (the beer)  isn't Australian after all, then...   

[Gwiwer]

Castlemaine in Victoria, Australia was named by the chief goldfield commissioner, Captain W. Wright, in honour of his Irish uncle, Viscount Castlemaine.   Despite being thought of as a Queensland brew the Castlemaine XXXX brand was launched in 1924 by Castlemaine Brewers, named after the town of Castlemaine, Victoria where the company was born in 1857. It's now owned by the Japanese

 

The Cornish heritage arises as the plaque suggests from the large number of miners and their families who came out in the gold rush - in no small way connected to the downturn in fortunes of their home copper and tin mines at the time - many of whom have stayed on.

 

Cornish family names are commonplace across the Goldfields Region today and are quite common across the entire State of Victoria.  As well there is a significant Cornish community in South Australia centred on Adelaide where cultural events are probably the best supported and most frequent.

 

​My own roots lie with the Vaile (sometimes Veale, Viall, Vile, or Vail), Barratt and Trebilcock families who lived mostly around Marazion and Newquay and with descendants still there today.  I am in the process of writing a book which in due course will discuss more of the family background, links and present day connections and will include the relevance of Penhayle Bay as a part of the ongoing story.

 

All of my modelled place names are fictitious but in the Cornish style.  I could, however, take that one step further and adopt bilingual signage around the layout as is now used throughout western Cornwall and increasingly farther east.  "Penhayle" would become "Penheyl" in that case.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Gwiwer

[Peter Beckett]

There was a suggestion that 4x went to Queensland because banana benders did not know how to spell beer.      

[St Enodoc]

There was a suggestion that 4x went to Queensland because banana benders did not know how to spell beer.      

The gum-suckers should consider themselves lucky that the banana benders claimed XXXX for their own.

 

Me, I like a nice drop of James Squire's Constable - preferably from the tap rather than the bottle.

[Gwiwer]

If I'm forced to admit a fondness for any Australian ale it is Grand Ridge Moonshine.  The ice-cold yellow fizzy stuff does nothing for me which ever country it's served in.  But a drop of Mornington Peninsula's own wine produced on our doorstep from many smaller vineyards, otherwise a good Barossa or Margaret River red, will slip down a treat any time.  

[roundhouse]

If I'm forced to admit a fondness for any Australian ale it is Grand Ridge Moonshine.  The ice-cold yellow fizzy stuff does nothing for me which ever country it's served in.  But a drop of Mornington Peninsula's own wine produced on our doorstep from many smaller vineyards, otherwise a good Barossa or Margaret River red, will slip down a treat any time.  

That beer sounds rather good.

 

http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/grand-ridge-moonshine/12074/

[P.C.M]

There was a suggestion that 4x went to Queensland because banana benders did not know how to spell beer.      

I have heard that too so must be true.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

The gum-suckers should consider themselves lucky that the banana benders claimed XXXX for their own.

 

Me, I like a nice drop of James Squire's Constable - preferably from the tap rather than the bottle.

 

Hi John,

I like a few of the James Squire's beers but my favourite at the moment is brewed just up the road 'Mornington Pale ale' the Browns very nice too.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

If I'm forced to admit a fondness for any Australian ale it is Grand Ridge Moonshine.  The ice-cold yellow fizzy stuff does nothing for me which ever country it's served in.  But a drop of Mornington Peninsula's own wine produced on our doorstep from many smaller vineyards, otherwise a good Barossa or Margaret River red, will slip down a treat any time.  

I will have to try the Grand Ridge Moonshine sounds good.

 

Cheers Peter.

[St Enodoc]

I will have to try the Grand Ridge Moonshine sounds good.

 

Cheers Peter.

I'll give those both a try next time I'm down Mexico way.

[60012 Commonwealth of Australia]

Hi Gwiwer,

 

I was given this thread by Peter (From Waverley Shed to Galashiels). It looks great, but I do not have the time to go through the whole thread atm. I will try and go through at one stage or another, so don't be surprised if a couple of hundred likes etc come your way this week!!

 

Regards,

 

Peter

(Dunoon)

[Gwiwer]

Thanks for the interest Peter.  Take your time and hopefully enjoy what you find as you go.  

 

The date on each post will give you a good idea of when the pictures were taken as some go back a couple of years now.

[Gwiwer]

Just to show that things are not altogether dormant at Penhayle Bay here's a green D867 "Zenith" on the china clays first of all rounding Church Curve at Prys Moor

 

 

Then passing Penhayle Bay's down distant signal just before plunging into the gloom of Nansglaw Tunnel

 

 

A long-awaited arrival now put to good use is the class 03 shunter.  While never very common in the south-west these did provide service on a number of yards and worked branch freights. They were also famously trialled on the very sharply-curved Wenford Bridge line when steam was finally withdrawn but were under-powered for the task.

 

 

Back in the days of green diesels many photographs were taken on monochrome film.  If that's how you prefer your 1960s shots try this version.

 

[Gwiwer]

I have begun work on a few small infill areas of land.  These should improve the overall appearance and make photography easier as they will reduce or eliminate the intrusion of "edge" at certain spots.

 

The first new piece is opposite the church where the duck-under joins the main layout.  Originally built as a lift-out this facility has only been needed once in ten years so for the past couple of years the panel has been regarded as fixed and remodelled accordingly.

 

 

This will improve the photographic aspect on this corner as suggested by this view

 

 

Compare with this one where an off-edge corner intrudes into the view.

 

[class"66"]

More "top" pictures!!!!

[P.C.M]

Good idea Rick, should look good when it's done.

 

Cheers Peter.

[brianusa]

Interesting that the pictures are copyrighted.  In another hobby of mine, the same is happening so is this a recent phenomenon in hobbies in general?

 

Brian.

[Gwiwer]

Interesting that the pictures are copyrighted.  In another hobby of mine, the same is happening so is this a recent phenomenon in hobbies in general?

 

Brian.

 

I host most of my pictures at SmugMug and some of the older ones at Photobucket.  That includes images hosted with intent to earn some income so the copyright notice / watermark is applied to protect my interests and assert ownership of the work.  The watermark is applied at the host site.

 

It's not exclusively a modelling thing; more perhaps those of us who take photos for profit catching up with the reality of the electronic age in that they can very easily be downloaded, published and claimed as someone else's work.

[Gwiwer]

24 hours later and the new piece of land has been painted green and had its vegetation added.  It improves the photographic options on the corner as intended by removing the intrusion of the edge shown above.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

The other piece of infill land is under way.  This is on the opposite corner to the last new piece and will again improve photographic opportunities by eliminating an awkward corner.  

 

The new base and outside wall sections fitted showing how they will create a smooth curve leading on from the existing curved end panel.  The old edge is clearly visible as is the angle I wish to eliminate.

 

 

New MDF sections in place.  The new one rises slightly from the centre of the duck-under towards the hillside rather than the previous arrangement of having a low edge at the same height followed by a steep rise.

 

 

Here is where it fits into the overall scene and with some idea of how the angled panel will also soften the angles of the hillside at the edge of the layout.  Infill is polystyrene block waste; land is standard plaster cloth which will be painted when dry.

 

 

Plaster work completed.  Some of the uprooted greenery will be re-used once the land has dried and received its base coat of paint.  

 

 

Lastly for today the outer face was painted Brunswick Green to match the rest of the woodwork.  The stepped section on the lower edge arises from the different height of the baseboards on the former lift-out panel and the permanently fixed area.  That doesn't impede access as the duck-under entry is still exactly the same.

 

[Andrew P]

Looking very good Rick, I started falling for Warships of Late, and just got my first Green one, (Glory) for my new (soon to be on here) project. Nice work on the Scenic's too.

[P.C.M]

Hi Rick,

Great day to be outside, nice work.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

The second piece of new land has been completed.  The delay to this was in part due to some very cold and wet winter weather and in part due to me being rather unwell for the past couple of weeks.

 

Both of those are improving.

 

Refreshed greenery all around the tunnel mouth and a new tree planted in the gully to the left of the portal as seen here.  A few careful retouches to refresh the somewhat faded grey sky have also been completed.

 

 

The new land, to the left of the train, has received its vegetation cover and something new is also just in the shot top left .....

 

 

A cheeky little patch of sky has been painted onto the back scene here including down the top couple of inches of the sculpted land.  Bushes have been glued in position standing away from this to give a little depth in a very shallow area barely three inches wide in places.

 

 

The new area in the context of the whole corner of the layout with sky including some washed grey and white to balance the somewhat inclement scene up behind the church.

 

 

I am now awaiting planning permission for a third new piece of infill which will allow a small extension of land on the opposite corner where the seldom-photographed (because it's too close to the edge) stone circle sits.