Switching Over

Tie bar extended and point motor tried for size.

I decided to start relaying track from the control (Lynton) end of the station board, as I would be able to try out the electrics without wasting too much wire. That meant beginning with the one right-hand turnout (operated by lever 3 in the real Chelfham ground frame). Soldered under the PCB tie bar is a brass extension drilled for the point motor (Seep): I fashioned it from a truss rod etching from a brass carriage kit that has obviously been blown up from 4mm to 7mm!

Dry-run fitting of turnout.

I had intended to mount the turnout as close to the board edge as possible. Having discovered that the prototype's EFPL locking bar extended over 6 sleepers at the toe, starting just up from the tie bar, I chose to solder an extra bit of rail each side so as to bridge the break while laying the track to the fiddle yard.

The original wiring for the Seep point motor was to its coils only, and the turnout was simply fed at the toe. I'm going to use the Seep's built-in electric switching, so I soldered feeds to each end of the straight and curved stock rails and to the crossing vee. The feeds at the crossing end will link via the switch to the crossing vee. The dry-run showed I'd drilled two holes too far 'up' the track; re-drilling eased the tension on the wires and allowed me to line up the tie-bar more accurately.

Another Post

I'm doing a bit of research about Chelfham while I wait for the turnouts. I've wondered for a while about the taller telegraph pole in the above photo - the one with a buzzard sat on it. In various photographs from the opening of the line until it closed, it is evident that the pole took the telephone wires over the running lines to another pole just this side of the station building. It was a little less tall - a tad higher than the flu.

Ah, yes - the flu that was on the gable end, but which is absent from the model. As are the pole and any termination insulators.

Anyhow, I am reminded that from day 1 of owning the layout I've found the telegraph poles to be rather delicate. One has sheared off completely, and several have lost their cross-pieces and insulators (the tall one pictured was modelled with 2 but should have 3). One pole between the water tower and the down starter signal is not modelled at all (it should connect to the one with the buzzard), and I'm left with the distinct impression that by SR days the poles on the viaduct were very short indeed. So short that using the refuges might have posed a health hazard. The pole that broke off was timber, though the prototype seems to have been concrete by the period modelled - dates are sketchy.

The buzzard, by the way, I perched on the pole for a children's competition at Warley. The question was: "What is the station cat looking at?" It was early Sunday before I'd managed to find the buzzard, paint it, and install it.

My other research subject for the day has been wiring lists ... more anon, because tomorrow I take possession of the first turnouts.

Back-Tracking

It had to come ... I've been promising for so long that Chelfham would be re-gauged, and now is the time.

Actually, several months ago was the time.

With John Clutterbuck I've attended the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association's Convention and AGM at Burton on Trent for the last 3 years demonstrating the attractions of finescale. This year I'm taking Chelfham, which on its mere 2 outings in my possession has been in its original 0-16.5 form, and it seems only right that it should be in O14. As my efforts at turnouts have been well below par, John has kindly stepped in to rescue me. I've had the chance to watch and learn, but of course actually stripping the Peco 'Crazy Track' has fallen to me.

And what a satisfying job it is too (though I must admit that my heart was in my mouth).

The first replacement turnouts get fitted this weekend, at which point I'll decide whether to make do with wire-in-tube control for the moment, re-instate the Seep motors, or fit some Cobalt motors I bought for the purpose. There are, after all, fewer than 5 weeks to the show!

Picture a Wall

A magazine deadline looms, and in order to show off the Weidknecht Decauville to its best I have started to make a simple diarama. I decided initially to have a vaguely industrial background, and while looking up the transport museum at Pithiviers, France, on Street View, I happened on the 60cm tramway a short way up the Route D’Angerville.

It seems to me to be interesting without clamouring for attention over anything I put in front of it for photographic purposes (this will be a lasting photo backdrop). A little behind the camera position on the Google screen-grab is a braced telegraph pole that I’ll use in preference to the one in shot. Beyond the house along the road is an interesting crossing (60cm v metre gauge) which will have to wait for another time.

The wall is 6mm ply, and just visible about a third of the way up is a strip of Slaters embossed brick. The rendering is coving glue, pushed up at the bottom with a fingernail. Some Evergreen 3.5mm half-round strip, separated into 10mm pieces, is superglued to the top (yes, that’s not as wide as the ply, but that’s not visible from ‘normal’ photographic angles – eye level). Mostly acrylic paints are used a la Pendon, with Citadel wash, and there is very small piece of foliage at this stage which is out of shot but is ‘Poison Ivy’ from The Army Painter Battlefields range. More ivy will be modelled, and I’ll write that up separately and actually get it into the photograph!

The baseboard is to be a melamine-covered MDF shelf, as I decided not to spend a huge amount of time building something from ply and pine. I'm going to follow Gordon Gravett's Modelling Grassland and Landscape Detailing (Wild Swan) as I produce the grass embankment and roadside. Track will be soldered to PCB for the most part, although I may well model some 'exposed' sleepers at one end.

Raising Steam

Trust a close-up photograph to highlight a few things yet to be done - like the brake hose! Anyhow, work on the Decauville engine draws to a close and attention turns briefly to my Type H Balladeuse. The couplings need figuring out before going too much further on that: more anon.

042T Weidknecht Decauville

Above the Parapet

Back in January I mentioned that I wanted to raise the track bed across Chelfham. The result is shown below with the quick-and-dirty replacement 0-16.5 Peco track and Chivers Manning Wardle, just prior to the Wiltshire 009 Group's Open Day on 10th August in Pewsey. What a Gibson Manning Wardle and hand-built 014 track will look like - watch this space.

Mettre en Boîte out of the box

Low-Relief Station Building

When I retrieved the station building from its storage container - a First Aid box! - I discovered that the main walls were not finished in textured paint as I recalled. By virtue of the fact that I have 'weathered' a space left of the door where a poster supposedly once hung, I spent some effort on completing it, but scribe marks to help position the qoins are very obvious. This is going to take some effort to mask and spray.

I must admit I'm very happy with the way the guttering and downspouts have come out, but they probably need some more vegetation.