Captain Kernow

I haven't checked against a scale drawing (although I was planning to do this for other reasons), but is there any reason to suspect that Heljan haven't got the wheelbase right?

HI, the rodding is 0.45mm brass rod from Eileens Emporium or Alan Gibson, the cranks are from Brassmasters and Model Signal Engineering, and the rodding stools are also from MSE.

I've virtually completed the point rodding on the layout now, having applied primer to the brass rodding last night and painted it today. The only parts left to fit are the rods to the cosmetic point tie bars (which themselves haven't yet been fitted) and the sections of rodding that cross the baseboard joint (these will probably be lift-out sections, as per Bleakhouse Road). This is where the rodding will emerge from underneath the signalbox:

Nice one, Robin! Thanks for posting that - will check the blog out too. What's it like going round corners?

Hi again - just noticed in your previous blog entry that you are using 'Scenics' grey ballast? Presumably that is the stuff used on the photos in this thread? I think I saw someone else refer to Woodland Scenics ballast as well? I'd just like to recommend Woodland Scenics ballast, which I use, together with Carrs ballast as well. All seem to be artificial and thus don't leave a grey dust or 'wash' if things go wrong as per your previous blog! I think the photos of the dry ballasted track with the Deltic on the previous entry are utterly superb, you clearly have a talent in this respect and I look forward to seeing how your layout develops. In case you haven't had a go at gluing that ballast on the area where the Deltic was down yet, you could have a go using Johnson's 'Klear', if you can get any. Re6/6 of this forum has also experimented with the newer Pledge 'Klear', which is the replacement for the original product, and whilst the new product doesn't seem to be suitable as a clear varnish, he found that it works well as a ballasting fixative. I normally wet the dry ballast using a very fine plant mister, spraying neat IPA from around 18" to 2' height, letting it really soak in, and then going in with a pipette filled with 'Klear' (although diluted glue with a bit of washing up liquid would work equally well). I would add that the reason I use this method and not the 'painting the PVA' method on Callow Lane, is due to the fact that I am using full depth Exactoscale track bases, where the depth of the PVA is generally not quite enough to give a convincing ballast surface, whereas this is not a problem with C&L or SMP track, with it's thinner sleeper bases. Good luck, anyway!

That's very neat work, Jon, full marks - nice neat application of ballast, sleepers clear, and rail sides fully visible. That looks like C&L track, if so, one more tip is to cut the webs between the sleepers when you've glued the track to the baseboard, but before you apply the ballast, this then gives you the opportunity to have air gaps between the top of the ballast surface and the bottom of the rail, which is prototypical in many instances (but not all, there are equally examples of ballast reaching the underside of the bullhead rail). One other method you might like to try (if marshalling x-zillion bits of reluctant bits of ballast is apt to get one ones nerves after a while), is the equally thrilling method of painting neat PVA between the sleeper bays (easier when the webs are removed!), and applying dry ballast on top. When the glue is dry, vacuum the loose ballast off and you should be left with a very neat ballasted area. For 4mm scale, the use of 'N' gauge ballast almost always looks more scale than that which is sold as 'OO' ballast, and the above 'painting the PVA' method works equally well with that. The big advantage of the PVA painting method (IMO) is that you can carefully control exactly where the ballast goes....

I think this is pretty much in line with my presentation philosphy, which essentially revolves around the statement 'the most effective lies are those with a hint of the truth in them'....

Here's a Wrenn R1, which I detailed a few years ago. I also gave it mixed traffic lining, which they never carried in reality, but I rather liked the effect.... I also removed the moulded plastic coal from the bunker, so as to make it look half-empty, and put a curved underneath to the boiler from plasticard: It also has turned Romford driving wheels and replacement coupling rods (Alan Gibson 'Universal' ones).

I've just come back from the Three Spires show in Truro (Falmouth MRC), and we all had much fun operating 'Engine Wood'. This was a very nice show, and friendly hosts, and there were some other nice layouts present as well. It was particularly good to have the chance to have a good look at the lovely 'Treneglos' and meet 2Manyspams and his colleagues! I found myself admiring the operational discipline of the 'Treneglos' team, in terms of the fact that you only ever saw locos on their layout that would have worked the North Cornwall line. All the trains were also correctly formed. This got me thinking about my own slightly more liberal motive power rostering policy on 'Engine Wood' and my other layouts too. There's no shortage of published material about what locos worked on the S&D, both from the point of view of locomotive classes, and individual numbers too. The amount of material available in books and on the internet means it has never been easier to research the correct type and number for one's motive power choices, and indeed, I have ensured that most of my 'authentic' loco types have numbers appropriate to the S&D. However, the 'slightly more liberal motive power' policy I mentioned above, means that I sometimes use other types of loco as well, in particular the use of diesels. We all know that the S&D closed in 1966, yet it amuses me to run green diesels too, sometimes in a 'diesel-only' operating sequence, sometimes mixed in with the steam locos. My use of locos like the WD 2-8-0 is also a bit on the liberal side, and last weekend I also found myself enjoying seeing John Farmer's 45XX prairie tank working trains as well! It occurs to me, that a goodly proportion of exhibition visitors will be non-enthusiasts, who wouldn't necessarily be able to tell the difference between an authentic loco and a non-authentic one. On the other hand, there are plenty of folk who will know! On balance, I think I will keep the green diesels on the roster, because at the end of the day, it is my train set, and I think I'd prefer to run what gives me most pleasure. Now then, should I weather that Robinson 04 and fit scale couplings to that next, or what about the Super D? I wonder if I could really get away with a Class 17?!!....

Hi Kris, This is looking very good! It looks like it's designed to be transportable to exhibitions?

Neil, this is just lovely stuff, it gets better and better! I really like the street scene further up the thread! What a pity it isn't transportable.... I'd ask you to bring it to Taunton one year like a shot!

I really like these - but please tell me, did it start out life as a grey one, which has had a lot of rust added, or a bauxite one, which has had some cement grey added?

Thanks for that, Robin, I've found the Hobbycraft website, looks promising. In the meantime, I've obtained some Derwent coloured pencils from my local art shop and have done some experimentation, but this is on embossed plasticard brick, primed with Halfords grey primer. Not too sure about the results so far, so I was wondering whether you specifically went for the Faber Castell product, rather than any other type of pencil (ie. did you buy the Faber product, because that was what the shop happened to have, or did you know that this was the right product?). I'm finding the Derwent pencils a bit waxy, and I note from the Hobbycraft website, that the Faber Castell ones are not meant to be thus....

I do like these, Andrew, especially the little diesel shunter - what is the origin of that one please?

Good points there, Colin, I feel. Isn't the new building at Nantmawr also a similar replica pattern to the new structure at Pont Croesor?

A couple more images from my recent visit:

D6318 waits for the road at Engine Wood, whilst shadowing a 'Western'-hauled excursion train over the Somerset & Dorset: A few years earlier, 44422 shunts the yard at Engine Wood: The above photo and digital sky cleverness by Chris Nevard, courtesy of Hornby Magazine

I wonder if you could consider the new trackwork and rebuilt formation on the WHR like a new or re-built road - the analagy being that a new road is a bit of an eyesore in the beginning, but when it starts to weather down and 'bed in' with the surrounding landscape, it begins to look more like 'it belongs there?'... Perhaps we'll have slightly dodgier track, a few more weeds and a bit more 'careworn' atmosphere on the WHR in 20 years, which I would assume would actually add to the atmosphere? On a different note, I would assume that the Garratts were only obtained because they were felt to be the only locos capable of working the line in the modern day with planned train lengths etc. In point of fact, my train last week stood at Bedgellert for amost 20 mins 'for pathing purposes' - so I'm wondering whether (in the fullness of time) a small fleet of replica Russells might be capable of handling the traffic? Having said that, I'd never had the opportunity to see a Garratt working anywhere else in my experience so far, so I am still a fan of them!

Thanks folks, you all seem to agree with my belated prognosis that many of these freight-only lines were still kept tidy in the steam era, and as for the very good advice of following the photos is concerned, that's actually what got me thinking in the first place. The photos of Stroud Wallbridge, Dudbridge Junction, Nailsworth etc. all bear out a tidy and weed-free running line, with grot in the sidings. Accordingly, I will scale back the amount of weed growth on the running lines on Callow Lane, and have sidings with cinder/grunge/mud ballast, with actual stone ballast showing through in places (which is also what Chris Nevard did ). I am treating all the turnout areas properly with proper ballast, including the beginnings of each of the four sidings, and will blend the gunge in gradually.... I think I will allow the grass to grow freely and long on the old disused platform, however, much as per a number of photos I've seen, with a just-discernible walking route through the middle of it, where railwaymen have used it... As for Miss Prism's comment about the line being 'about to close', well, I have a special Time-Space Continuum Selection Switch - in 'Position A' the line closed in 1966, along with the rest of the S&D and the ex-Midland routes around Mangotsfield, whereas if I select 'Position B', you find coal seams that lasted longer, a chocolate factory that refused to die, and (pre-TOPS) blue era diesels trundling around.....

The locos and rolling stock may (in most cases) be more modern and less like what went before, but if you go to a remote stretch of lineside, just the track and the gorgeous scenery, there is still surely the magic of such places, as you sit with just the wind and wildlife for company, and wait to see whether a train might appear?.....

I'm not sure that he did publish a photo of it, but I have copied mine from his. It's a small piece of balsa wood, with half a cocktail stick glued into a pre-drilled hole...

In my previous blog entry, I referred to the fact that the ballast on the main running lines on Callow Lane would be 'grunged up', with mud/cinders mixed in with the ordinary ballast, plus weed growth. Since making that comment, I've been checking out some photos of goods-only lines in the area (North Bristol/Gloucestershire) in the period (1960s), in particular the former MR Stroud & Nailbridge branches (the Oakwood book by Colin Maggs), and I've noted that despite these being freight-only lines, the ballast on the running lines appears neat and devoid of weeds and grot. So, I'm thinking, that I might scale the 'grungification' of Callow Lane back a bit, and just have the 'cinders/mud' ballast on the sidings only?...

With regards to what Craig has said about the connecting pieces, I have removed virtually all of these once the track was glued down, using a 10A scalpel blade on a normal Swann Morton handle. As regards Klear v's PVA, I do plan to apply some dilute PVA to the Klear-treated ballast on an experimental section, as I sense that the latter could be a tad fragile in the event of some kind of knock, but the initial fixing will continue with Klear, as I'm cautious about the use of water so close to steel rail....

More work has been done in the last few weeks on the ballasting. It should be borne in mind that although the ballast currently looks quite pristine, this is a goods-only line in the early-mid 1960s, and there is still grot, cinder/mud effects and weed growth to add. Some of the sleepers haven't yet been weathered and most of the rail sides will need more weathering as well. Also, the actual point rodding has yet to be installed. The general method of ballasting the full-depth sleepers of the P4 Track Co/Exactoscale track is to apply the loose, dry ballast, dampen with IPA alcohol and drop Klear onto the tops of the sleepers with a pipette type thing. First of all, some views of the ballast, which has been tamped but not yet dampened or had the Klear applied: Shortly after taking the above photos, I applied the Klear. Until the Klear has dried out, the whole thing looks horrible to my eyes, as despite the IPA (which is supposed to help the Klear spread without disturbing the ballast), a fair number of ballast disturbances inevitably occur.... This is the simple tamping tool that I use to tamp the loose ballast down (thanks to Re6/6 for his suggestion with this one): Here is a bit of plain track, which has had the Klear treatment, and some of the irregularities smoothed out: Here is another section of plain line, in this case, the running line towards Coalpit Heath: I've found that I've had to be extra careful in the area around point blades when applying the Klear, in order not to gum the whole lot up solid. I've inserted thin strips of grease-proof paper (thanks to Will Vale for that suggestion) between the blades and the slide chairs, which seems to have helped. In the case of the 3-way point with it's copper-clad sleepers, the lower depth of the sleepers meant that I could use my normal 'Captain's Method' of applying the PVA neat between the sleepers with a small paintbrush and applying the ballast dry from above, vacuuming the rest off when the PVA has dried. I much prefer this method generally for the better control it gives you when ballasting, although it is very time-consuming as well (but possibly not as time-consuming or as fraught as trying to get all the loose ballast neat with a tamping tool and a small brush!). This is the 3-way point: Most of the sidings on the layout will feature a cinder/mud type of 'ballast', up to (or almost up to) the sleeper tops, with weed growth etc. Some 'mud/cinders' (in the form of Humbrol Air Clay - thanks to Chris Nevard for that one!) will also be applied on areas where there is currently 'pristine ballast', so that 'ballast effects' will be seen poking through the mud and the grot. The principle is that the main running lines would have had some ballast to start with (although it is mostly pretty grotty by now), whereas the sidings would not have. Despite appearances, there are no ballast shoulders on the layout, and more 'cinders/mud' type grot will abut the ballasted areas and merge with same.

Oh, I do agree, but for me I think I would like a portal into an alternative Kontinuum, whereby a weed-grown WHR existed and lovely locos like that ran, but then able to return to the Garratt Kontinuum to enjoy that too!