Penhayle Bay

[SRman]

For anyone interested, that last photo is of the tram terminus with two B class trams, at the end of Elizabeth Street, where it meets Flinders Street in Melbourne's city centre. That's the side of Flinders Street station behind - something of a Melbourne icon and Rick's occasional workplace!

The London Transport pannier tank in the top photo is a long way from home, but not entirely out of place as it was an ex-Great Western (and BR Western Region) locomotive to start with.

Edited December 23, 2015 by SRman

[Gwiwer]

 

 

and Rick's occasional workplace!

 

As in occasionally working not as in an occasional place of work!

 

Also known as The Palace of Attendance because if I attend I get paid

[P.C.M]

Merry Christmas to you and Sharon. Hope you have a good one, and will catch up in the New year.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Gwiwer]

Thanks Peter and the same to you and the family.

[Gwiwer]

Happy New Year from Penhayle Bay.

 

Summer's heat has taken its toll through the new roof.  I was expecting that some problems might arise.  While the polycarbonate cuts out most of the UV radiation it doesn't eliminate heat nor sunlight.  Fading of scenery has occurred.  Cracking of ballast (an annual issue anyway) is more widespread and so is the distortion of the Treheligan platform surfaces.

 

The Wills sheets used for the platforms have actually curled up at the ends and are no longer useable.  The balsa beneath is sound but as it isn't a smooth block it contains air pockets; that air has expanded causing additional warping.  The whole lot has been removed down to the baseboard though the buildings, shelters, lights and signs are fine and will be re-used.  I have already cut the wood for the next platforms which will be single pieces of pine.  They are currently placed in position to check for any warping before being fitted.  The surfaces will described to resemble stonework and painted in a similar manner to the Wills sheets.

 

I also now have a large number of polystyrene blocks and sheets used as insulation which are placed over the vulnerable parts of the layout when it is not in use.

 

Unfortunately they were not placed over a Lima DMU car which is the only rolling stock casualty and is only now fit for scrap.  This is the result if you leave rolling stock out in full sun beneath a plastic roof in a spot where the air temperature reached almost 50C for a couple of hours today.  The track was (for at least the third time) recorded at 57C which is too hot to run trains safely.

 

 

 

[SRman]

That Lima underframe looks salvageable. It may be usable for a later conversion.

Regardless of that, I hope you and Sharon have a Happy New Year.

[Thames 611]

Hello,

 

That's very unfortunate. Crazy to think that plastic can react to a bit of sunlight so badly

Looks like the effects of global warming are reaching everywhere.

Happy new year and good luck luck with your rebuilding efforts.

 

Dave.

[Gwiwer]

That Lima underframe looks salvageable. It may be usable for a later conversion.

 

Regardless of that, I hope you and Sharon have a Happy New Year.

 

Thanks Jeff and the same good wishes to yourselves from us.

 

The chassis unit is warped and sags to the middle but it might be salvageable.  It's possible looking at the damage to the roof that one spot of sunlight caused heat concentration and with the body gone the chassis just sagged in the middle.  I could believe that plastic was actually quite soft for a time looking at it!

[bgman]

Sorry to see that, it reminds me of the sausage which appeared at SWAG this year !

Joking apart I hope you and yours have a good 2015 and won't be deterred by this.

[Andrew P]

Happy New Year from Penhayle Bay.

 

Summer's heat has taken its toll through the new roof.  I was expecting that some problems might arise.  While the polycarbonate cuts out most of the UV radiation it doesn't eliminate heat nor sunlight.  Fading of scenery has occurred.  Cracking of ballast (an annual issue anyway) is more widespread and so is the distortion of the Treheligan platform surfaces.

 

The Wills sheets used for the platforms have actually curled up at the ends and are no longer useable.  The balsa beneath is sound but as it isn't a smooth block it contains air pockets; that air has expanded causing additional warping.  The whole lot has been removed down to the baseboard though the buildings, shelters, lights and signs are fine and will be re-used.  I have already cut the wood for the next platforms which will be single pieces of pine.  They are currently placed in position to check for any warping before being fitted.  The surfaces will described to resemble stonework and painted in a similar manner to the Wills sheets.

 

I also now have a large number of polystyrene blocks and sheets used as insulation which are placed over the vulnerable parts of the layout when it is not in use.

 

Unfortunately they were not placed over a Lima DMU car which is the only rolling stock casualty and is only now fit for scrap.  This is the result if you leave rolling stock out in full sun beneath a plastic roof in a spot where the air temperature reached almost 50C for a couple of hours today.  The track was (for at least the third time) recorded at 57C which is too hot to run trains safely.

 

 

 

That's a ruddy shame Rick, I remember many years ago a friend of mine packed up Railway Modelling and put about 50 Lima Locos, and over 200 items of rolling stock up into his Loft for as he put it; his retirement investment. I saw him a couple of years later and he told me tales of all the BANNANAS he recovered from the Loft.

 

All the best and a Happy New Year to you all down under.

[pwr]

Same thing happened to me with  Lima Dutch EMU that was left in the back of a hatchback. Whole unit warped and had to be scrapped. I wouldn't have minded but I had spent some weeks respraying it and placing transfers for the Martinair livery that was about at the time. Gutted - I feel your pain!

 

Paul R

On the bright side you could upgrade to a Bachman version later this year or next?

 

Paul R

[Gwiwer]

Three Bachmann units are on order.   There's no hint yet as to when they might arrive but 2017-8 might be a fair bet.  And there's no plain blue version announced so far.  The green-with-whiskers is a tad early but useable; the blue/grey will be fine with b/g main line stock and the GW150 will fit nicely into the themed area and might even get to run coupled with the Hornby bubble in that livery.  Though I don't think they ever managed that in reality.

 

I've got the body off the chassis which proved a little trickier than I expected because of the warping.  It may yet be possible to re-body the chassis; the fixing screws might just be enough to persuade it back to something closer to straight though probably not perfect.  I've got a non-runner motor coach I can use for that purpose.  The damaged coach is unpowered and has been used paired with Hornby bubble cars or a class 101 Met-Cam for power.

[SRman]

Paul R: I had  very similar occurrence years ago with a Triang-Hornby mark 2 coach left on the rear parcel shelf  ... in Queensland, where the sun is even fiercer than here in Melbourne. Needless to say, the coach was a write-off, although the seat unit and bogies were re-used for other projects.

Rick: try gently persuading the chassis straight again using boiling water (and thick gloves!).

[P.C.M]

Happy New Year Rick,

Sorry to hear about the DMU, I think you need to get some shade cloth asap.

 

I have a blue grey non power car if you want it. The roof would need some paint but other than that it's is ok condition.

 

Cheers Peter.

[brianusa]

Bad luck, Rick, that's what happens when you have summer when it should be winter!  Seriously the only good is that you get a better replacement perhaps.  Its not going to happen here as the temp is around -2C; enough to freeze your whatnots off

Happy New Year in spite of everything.

 

Brian.

[Gwiwer]

Happy New Year Rick,

Sorry to hear about the DMU, I think you need to get some shade cloth asap.

 

I have a blue grey non power car if you want it. The roof would need some paint but other than that it's is ok condition.

 

Cheers Peter.

 

Thanks Peter.

 

I simply haven't had the time to organise the shade cloth over the holidays but hope to do so next week.  I also have a b/g Lima unit but first need to see if I can straighten the frame of the warped one and then fit the body from the all-blue non-working motor coach to retain the livery.  There's plenty of b/g here already

[Marcus 37]

Happy New Year Rick

Gutted for you looking at the state of that DMU. That must have got unbelievably hot. As you say, looking at the hole in the roof it looks as if something has magnified the sunlight onto that.

Probably lucky it didn't catch fire.

Hopefully you'll get it sorted soon

All the best

Marcus

[Gwiwer]

In other news I have located a 3-car blue Lima set as a full and complete replacement for the sun-damaged coach.  I never have had a blue centre trailer, only the power+dummy motor coaches of which the dummy is now damaged and the power doesn't power though probably would after a decent overhaul.

 

The price was a mite over what I had in mind but given it's for a 3-car set not a one-for-one replacement and factor in that it became a lot more sensible to have it delivered to my parents' address in the UK as it's also coming from the UK then I reckon I'm even.

 

Unless I can sweet-talk the older generation into a costly and otherwise unnecessary trip to their local post office I'll collect it in May when I go over.  There's no rush.  It's even possible that I now have enough bits to "cut  and shut" and create a correct DMS coach, which Lima never made, to match the DMBS which houses the motor unit.  Lima saved by selling the sets with two DMBS coaches.

[Budgie]

Those extra bits were made by Silver Fox Models. Have a word with them and they may be able to help.

[Gwiwer]

Now that the holiday period (!!!) is over I have a few days off.  "Holiday period" here means the busiest ten days of our year as Christmas and New Year fall in mid-summer when everyone travels and it's often hot.  This year was no exception with trains to and from beach-side destinations packed through Christmas Day and crush-loaded by evening.

 

That has allowed me to start on some significant works around the outside of the house which includes the fitting of shade cloth beneath the new layout roof.  I was particularly keen that any attempt to reduce the heat and direct sunlight did not also affect the colour of the light after I'd spent time and money on renewing the roof with clear polycarbonate.

 

The only suitable shade cloth in white is the 50% version which offers the least amount of shade compared with 70% or 90%.  Those are available in beige, green or black but not white.  So 50% white shade cloth is being fitted and the benefits of that will be assessed as I then get on with what will be a big tidy-up and the rebuilding of Treheligan station.  Along with that will be a partial rewire to address issues with lighting and to fit on-off switches into the ultrasonic track cleaner circuits to allow for the operation of coreless motors.

 

Penhayle Bay will be back up and running later in our summer and hopefully looking is best once again.

[Andrew P]

Good luck with the sun shade Rick and all the other little jobs around the layout.

[pwr]

You have trains on Christmas Day?

 

Paul R

[St Enodoc]

Now that the holiday period (!!!) is over I have a few days off.  "Holiday period" here means the busiest ten days of our year as Christmas and New Year fall in mid-summer when everyone travels and it's often hot.  This year was no exception with trains to and from beach-side destinations packed through Christmas Day and crush-loaded by evening.

 

That has allowed me to start on some significant works around the outside of the house which includes the fitting of shade cloth beneath the new layout roof.  I was particularly keen that any attempt to reduce the heat and direct sunlight did not also affect the colour of the light after I'd spent time and money on renewing the roof with clear polycarbonate.

 

The only suitable shade cloth in white is the 50% version which offers the least amount of shade compared with 70% or 90%.  Those are available in beige, green or black but not white.  So 50% white shade cloth is being fitted and the benefits of that will be assessed as I then get on with what will be a big tidy-up and the rebuilding of Treheligan station.  Along with that will be a partial rewire to address issues with lighting and to fit on-off switches into the ultrasonic track cleaner circuits to allow for the operation of coreless motors.

 

Penhayle Bay will be back up and running later in our summer and hopefully looking is best once again.

Rick, this might sound facetious but is not intended to be - what about two layers of cloth? I say this because my office has two layers of vertical blinds that can be operated independently.

[Gwiwer]

You have trains on Christmas Day?

 

Paul R

 

We certainly do.  And trams.  And buses.  In a country where this is the peak summer holiday period it's also normal for a lot of people to be working on Christmas Day.  

 

Rick, this might sound facetious but is not intended to be - what about two layers of cloth? I say this because my office has two layers of vertical blinds that can be operated independently.

 

Perfectly reasonable suggestion thanks.  I'm going to see how one layer goes first as there is always the option to fit a second layer if needed.  After rebuilding the roof I don't want to now cut out all the daylight

[Budgie]

Surely everywhere except the UK has trains on Christmas Day?