Penhayle Bay

[P.C.M]

As much as I'd love just to pop in Rick, unfortunately I'll be on holiday in Bala, Wales, so cant get to OZZZ and back, sorry, hahahha

 

Have a good session with LOADS of pics I hope.

Plus you don't like our Spiders.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

Plus you don't like our Spiders.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

There's nothing wrong with our spiders!  Some are almost big enough to make a decent snack with a serve of (hot) chips.  Except they're mostly a mite toxic and not at all edible

[Gwiwer]

Been doing a bit of a Spring clean on the layout prior to Sunday's running day.  I reckon the only thing I haven't cleaned is the springs!  The layout is looking quite good - possibly the best it's been in some time - although the effects of the new roof are being shown in the heat levels found on some areas.  In particular the larger station at Treheligan, which has always had some heat-related issues, has suffered from more platform warping.  I've managed to fix that to some extent and am using sheets of polystyrene packaging as insulated covers when nothing is running.  That helps.  The difference between covered and uncovered platform can be as much as 20C degrees.

 

Among the little cameos which have been cleaned and slightly altered are the train-spotters on the platform barrow who have gained a third member and a bag:

 

The holy well has been relieved of its resident spider and has had a new pour of Magic Water to refresh the dampness being pondered by the same young lady as always:

 

 

And a new piece on the platform is a barrow laden with rusting milk churns - hopefully empty and not containing rancid and ages-old milk!

 

[SRman]

There's nothing wrong with our spiders!  Some are almost big enough to make a decent snack with a serve of (hot) chips.  Except they're mostly a mite toxic and not at all edible

 

Just keep an eye out for the ones carrying knives and forks!

[P.C.M]

Hi Rick,

Have you thought about hanging up some shade cloth. You might lose some light but it would cut down the heat.

 

See you Sunday.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

Hi Rick,

Have you thought about hanging up some shade cloth. You might lose some light but it would cut down the heat.

 

See you Sunday.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

Thanks Peter.  It's one of the things I had considered but am just a little wary of for now.  I had to understand first how much more effect the new roof would have in terms of heat and light penetration but am reluctant to fit anything which might alter the colour of the light.  Shade cloth shouldn't do that but as you say it may reduce the heat level.  All options are open at the moment.  As I need to place a decent order at Bunnings for trellis to be delivered I might add shade cloth to that and allot some time in the next few weeks to fixing it up.  

 

Outside today it was noticeably much warmer in the area not shaded by the tree but that shaded area was much darker.  I'm sure Sunday will bring a few more suggestions.  The joys of the Great Outdoors - every day is a new adventure!

[The Stationmaster]

Rick - those modern pattern (parallel sided) milk churns were very heavily galvanised and I can't ever remember seeing one in normal everyday use with rust on it.  Possibly very old ones that uyou might find nowadays could be rusty but not back in the 1950s in my experience of them.

[Gwiwer]

Rick - those modern pattern (parallel sided) milk churns were very heavily galvanised and I can't ever remember seeing one in normal everyday use with rust on it. 

 

Also pointed out on other forum.  Thanks Mike.  However as an example of very easy weathering they look otherwise OK and are likely to stay for a while.  At least they don't look quite like brand-new plastic mouldings!

[class"66"]

Nice detailed picture "scenes"

[SRman]

Also pointed out on other forum.  Thanks Mike.  However as an example of very easy weathering they look otherwise OK and are likely to stay for a while.  At least they don't look quite like brand-new plastic mouldings!

 

 

Perhaps they are leftovers from the churn era and just got abandoned out of use where they ended up.

[P.C.M]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the running day on sunday. The layout looks as good as ever and was running well too. I was good to catch up and watch some long trains running through your lovely scenery.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

Good to see you, Peter, and the others who made it.  I had messages from several more later in the day all of them having the current coughing lurgy that's doing the rounds.   Sharon was keeping herself to herself on Sunday having only just got over the worst of it.

 

There will be some photos ASAP.  The first lot I took weren't much good so I'll try for a better selection in a few days.  The new roof is proving a learning curve in several ways including lighting  good photos.

[Gwiwer]

Those friends who have visited Penhayle Bay over the years have mostly met its resident cat, Gwyn.  He met and greeted humans at his door and had a "thing" for sniffing male socks.  

 

It is therefore wit great sadness that I have to announce that today Gwyn has fallen asleep after a short illness.  He had suffered from arthritis for some time but in the past three weeks had also suffered multiple organ failures and the end came mercifully quickly.

 

He was 12½, or about 73 in human terms.  His name, in full Cathgwyn, means simply white cat in Cornish.  

 

We shall miss his management of and intrusions into our lives very much indeed.  

 

After a decent interval and probably after Christmas when rescue shelters are stretched to capacity and we can help out we expect a new cat, or cats, to be elected. 

 

[bigwordsmith]

Rick that's very sad news, and I'm sure your many followers will understand the pain of losing such a good friend.

[P.C.M]

Sorry to hear that Rick. I only saw the old boy on Sunday.

 

All the best Peter.

[Gwiwer]

Sorry to hear that Rick. I only saw the old boy on Sunday.

 

All the best Peter.

 

So you did Peter although he was already very sick by then.  He'd barely been able to move himself since Monday and refused all food and water for the past couple of days.  In the end there wasn't really any other option and the vet  confirmed he had major problems from which he wasn't going to recover.

[brianusa]

Hi Rick, know how you feel. We had a good cat for nineteen years and when he died it was as though it was a family member, which in retrospect I guess he was.. It was ages before we could have another.

 

Brian.

[Removed a/c]

Sorry to hear that. 

[Gwiwer]

As mentioned above other events have overtaken me this week and photos of the Western Hydraulic Running Day have been slightly delayed.  With over 200 pictures to review and eventually 84 chosen and edited I can only sensibly show a selection here.  The full gallery is available at my Smug Mug site.  Attendance was modest but comfortable.  Having smaller numbers made it possible to enjoy a decent conversation with everyone which hasn't always been possible when I have been host, operator and caterer all in one.  

 

I had hoped to also offer some video clips of trains moving.  I am using a camera which is fairly new to me and for which I am unfamiliar with the video controls.  The results were unsuitable so these will be re-shot at some future time.

 

The full set of pictures can be enjoyed here: https://gwiwer.smugmug.com/ModelRailway-1/Penhayle-Bay-Hydraulic-Running/n-9sJKVB/

 

Very early in the morning the clays ease off the St. Agnes branch behind a class 22

 

And cross the entire layout to access the Ponsangwyn branch for onward shipping of the white gold cargo

 

The first up London train of the day calls at Treheligan for early morning traffic led by a class 52 Western

 

 

Looking back along the train we see a recently-repainted coach in the future standard blue-grey livery

 

 

The first down train was the Travelling Post Office, always a Western duty, which drew up alongside the branch DMU which has arrived from the west and reversed in the up platform to gain the branch for its first trip of the day.

 

 

There was already a Warship-class loco waiting in the down platform loop

 

Next to arrive was the overnight sleeping-car train from London behind a newly-repainted class 43 Warship

 

 

It transpired that "Royal Oak" was not in good health and had struggled to even get this far.  The failure was duly removed and shunted off for attention back at Laira depot.   This move delayed the arrival of the morning vans from St. Agnes which is waiting at the branch signal behind a class 03 shunter.

 

 

And the waiting loco in the lop - well two actually - which had been brought up from Ponsandane were shunted on and continued the service.  The branch vans has the road into the platform.

 

 

After that drama things settled down to a more routine day.  The next up London service produced a "Chromatic Blue" Western

 

 

And was followed by The Cornishman for destinations across the Midlands and Yorkshire and which arrived alongside its branch connection

 

As is often the case this train included a Thompson coach

 

The clays finally arrived at Ponsangwyn where the yard was busy and a maroon Warship awaited line clearance with a sort freight for the west.

 

The freight having gained the road it climbed to the main lines at Carreglyb where the milk tanks were looped on the up side 

 

 

Along the line at Penhayle Bay an up train storms the bank to Nansglaw with a London train as the morning down local DMU coasts through the sand dunes to stop at the station ahead.

 

 

The overnight catch came home on the morning tide

 

 

It took two Warships to lift a parcels train of gargantuan proportions and with vehicles of very varied origin to the summit of the line

 

 

A rare bird for Cornwall - a Hymek - took the empty milk tanks onward for their next filling and an overnight run up to London's Kensington Olympia

 

 

Two class 22s were assigned to the return clay working as it crossed back from the Ponsagwyn branch through Treheligan's up platform

 

 

And stormed the fierce gradient of the St. Agnes branch 

 

 

Green lichen seems to have taken over a redundant milk tank and some other scrap in Steptoe's yard

 

 

For the first time in many months there was a farmer's market in the station yard

 

 

Passengers came, waited and went through the day

 

 

As did trains of all shapes and sizes - here a lengthy freight requires the combined power of a Warship and a 22 while the branch DMU performs another trip

 

 

Which had earlier passed another brace of 22s that had run round a clay train after arrival at Carreglyb

 

 

St. Gunzela's Church saw a wedding take place

 

 

Moving forward in time a little into the BR blue era another Warship coasts downhill from the woods with a van train alongside a 22 plus 35 combination coming up from Ponsangwyn

 

 

More passengers waited hopefully for their trains

 

 

Which included 1023 Western Fusilier on a rake of Mk2 coaches heading the final up Paddington train of the day

 

 

"Fusilier" also called at Penhayle Bay

 

 

Yet more 22 interest at the clay dries as one blue loco with a down van train passes another idling in the clay sidings

 

 

The down branch vans late in the day was worked by another Hymek and included a Hawksworth van behind the loco; the branch DMU is already resting for the evening in the former loco run-round loop.

 

 

The final down train of the day was a two-car DMU with a DPU parcel van on the rear seen calling at an illuminated Penhayle Bay where it seems as though the beach is as popular by night as by day.

 

 

Over the course of a simulated day's running all of my WR hydraulic types got a run - some running much more than others - and an attempt was made to represent a typical summer's day traffic-wise and across the various years and liveries of the hydraulic era.  I enjoyed it.  I'll do something similar again one day.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Gwiwer

[john flann]

Rick, a mammoth enterprise to prepare a story line and get that lot posted. Very well done and thank you. Alway enjoyable.

Edited November 7, 2015 by john flann

[westerner]

Enjoyed your last post very much. The Like button wasn't enough.

[brianusa]

Almost felt as though I was there!

 

Brian.

[P.C.M]

A great set of pics Rick,

I did notice in the last pic of the Hymek the bogie sides look like the bogie step is on the wrong end. Should be a simple case of pull then off and swap then round.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

A great set of pics Rick,

I did notice in the last pic of the Hymek the bogie sides look like the bogie step is on the wrong end. Should be a simple case of pull then off and swap then round.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

You're probably right Peter.  Those Heljan bogie frames pop off in the breeze and I've refitted them the wrong way round at some stage.  The weathering can be adjusted when I fix that up.  Thanks mate.

[brushman47544]

Wonderful, thanks.