A popular layout back on YMRC

I'm looking forward to picking up the class 170 later today.  :cool:

Penhayle Bay is still looking very good, Rick. Interesting how we were both thinking the same way: I also bought a rake of Executive liveried coaches for charter/excursion use. Like yours, it hasn't had much use, but does occasionally appear behind preserved locomotives, such as my 'preserved' Gresley P2, for which I have no other suitable stock apart from a few Pullmans. At one stage, a couple of the major retailers had these coaches going very cheaply indeed (in the £9 to £13 bracket, depending on the type).

I hope you and Sharon feel better soon; your presence at today's BRMA meeting will be missed. 

:cheers

Thank you Jeff.  I had hoped to get there today but after three days firmly in bed and barely out of it this morning it's too soon.  I just - only just - managed a trip to the post office with some rolling stock departures.  That left me shaky enough to know I have to stay home.

 I can still muster a charter rake of Mk1 stock.  A mix of maroon, green, blue/grey and the IC-livery restaurant car will do it.  For steam charters the maroon BCK acts as the loco crew support coach.  I'm sure there will be a procession of special workings to Penhayle Bay in the weeks ahead as everyone wants to make a last trip.  That will of course involve some very unlikely motive power at times!  Double-headed Clayton to Cornwall, anyone???

A "namer" on the vans.  Class 47 D1677 in two-tone green livery and named "Thor" leads a train of 45-foot 4-wheel vans through Penhayle Bay on a warm evening.





Today and tomorrow mark the start of the hot weather.  38C is the forecast top tomorrow so the layout is already covered with its protective styrofoam blocks in critical areas.  These also serve to keep the rain off as the hottest days sometimes end with a torrential thunderstorm.  

Penhayle Bay is entering its final summer of operation.  There is no date yet for the last trains though that is still expected around Easter next year.  Anything which needs more than cosmetic attention now will simply be left.  Cracked ballast and road surfaces I can deal with but there will be no more works done which cost any amount of time or money.  However the layout still looks good, photographs well enough and is running well.

Bit sad really Rick,but i suspect and hope we will enjoy another layout from your goodself at some future date.

Made in response to a request

https://youtu.be/GaAKMmwLwHc

Most of these carriages are on their way to New Zealand and a new owner.  I am keeping the maroon BCK and all three catering vehicles but the rest have gone.  The new owner asked for a record of their final run on "This famous layout".   The train represents a typical charter formation in the present-day era.

Three hydraulics.  Three liveries.   

Green class 22 with early-style marker discs leads the china-clay wagons up from Ponsangwyn (and past one of the recently-fitted Dapol signals) towards the dries.



A begrimed maroon D806 "Cambrian" of Warship class 42 in charge of a rake of 45-foot wheelbase vans waits at Treheligan



At Carreglyb Dries the Warship passes the class 22 (sometimes known as a "baby Warship") which is waiting for its train to be loaded.  The headcode 1V87 must be wrong - it's definitely not an express passenger working and it's going the wrong way for V (meaning a train from another region bound for the Western Region) to be appropriate.



"Cambrian" squeals around the curves at Penhayle Bay in the sunlight.



And heads off into open countryside.



Some detail of the weathering on this loco



The 22 was next up and is seen emerging from Penhayle Tunnel into the sunlight.



And taking the reverse-curves showing the marker discs which preceded the fitting of four-character headcode panels.



Whilst on the down road Western class 52 D1051 "Western Ambassador" came down the bank with a train of Mk1 passenger stock.



Catching a little of the sun as she slows for the station stop



Idling gently in the sun and awaiting the "right away"



And some detail of the weathering applied to the Western including paint-flake around the Fox etched nameplate and a couple of rust spots.

Nice pics Rick.

The retaining wall on the first one has just the right stone…what make is it?

Phil

Thank you Phil
The large and somewhat overgrown stone wall is a single sheet of O-gauge dressed stone wall custom-painted by myself.  As for the brand it was an item I picked up in a local shop here in Australia and I really cannot remember now who made it.  It's a decent-weight rubber sheet rather than a plastic card such as Slaters and was self-adhesive with a peel-off backing.  If that helps anyone to identify the brand then please feel free to remind me and help the rest of us.

I remember there being OO (probably HO in fact) of the same style and rejecting that because the blocks looked too small.  In those scales and being found locally I wonder if it might be a Vollmer or Faller item though I can't find it anywhere.  It was bought around ten years ago so may well be unobtainable now anyway.

Thanks Rick, I have stuff that I can't put a brand to!

Phil

Speaking of Vollmer, they were going out of business but have apparently been rescued/taken over/reviived (delete whatever is not applicable).

I like their embossed card materials, but have found that quite often their stuff is overscale, so I use N scale brick sheets for OO.

Very occasionally the Southern steam trains come out to play.

The original thinking behind Penhayle Bay has it that, since my Cornish main line came via Newquay rather than through the middle of nowhere, there was also a connection (assumed to be at St. Columb Porth, on Newquay's eastern outskirts) to the SR along the coast to Padstow.  Thus some through workings via this never-built, but once-planned, route have always existed in my timetable.  Under Rule 1 certain locomotives which could not have worked via SR metals west of Exeter also appear on these occasions perhaps having come via the WR route.  Who knows?

First up was an S15, a class not normally permitted beyond Exeter, but found in charge of a short van train



An as-built West Country leads a rake of Bulleid stock through open countryside



The branch bay and loco run-round loop at Treheligan feature an unfamiliar pairing of O2 class tanks with that on the push-pull coaches having Westinghouse air-pump and push-pull gear while the other, simmering in the loop, is a standard loco without such fittings.



Familiar location, unfamiliar motive power as the S15 eases down through Penhayle Bay



The two main line trains come to rest side by side at Treheligan with the S15 beside a Bulleid coach



And for those who prefer their photos in colour the light Pacific is seen broadside on in the countryside



The branch push-pull set tackles the gradient leading away from the station



Another view of "Wilton" in the countryside this time showing more of the train which apart from a Pullman car is composed entirely of Bulleid stock



Meanwhile the S15 is captured in colour at Penhayle Bay



30582 is an Adams "Radial" tank associated with the Lyme Regis branch but also having other work in east Devon and occasionally elsewhere.  Here it is leading a local ex-LSWR set in early BR crimson livery



The Adams and the LSWR twin-set (with a green van just visible at the rear) steam through open countryside



Finally the colour version of the side-by-side shot above with the branch train just visible in the background behind the others.

Brilliant photos as always Rick, Going to miss this layout when it goes.

new04db wrote:

Brilliant photos as always Rick, Going to miss this layout when it goes.

Thank you.  And no-one will miss Penhayle more than me.  It will live on in some form.  There are items of rolling stock for which orders were placed years ago and which for reasons no-one could have foreseen have been seriously delayed but which. when delivered, will still appear on at least a representative part of the layout even if only as a static display.

Just noticed I also have another header picture with thanks to Alan.  :lol:

Congratulations on Picture of the Week Rick.

I agree with Alan "one of my favourites"   :thumbs



Ed

Penhayle Bay has always maintained close links to its Cornish roots.  Having been at school in Newlyn with the children from Mousehole I knew quite a few of the local families many of whom were fishing families.  35 years ago eight of them left the comforts of home to answer a shout for lifeboat service.  They never returned.

This will be the final year, due to the forthcoming line closure, that Penhayle Lifeboat comes on station at this time to pay tribute to friends and others lost at sea.

ANNOUNCEMENT

The final Penhayle Bay open-house running day will take place on Saturday 4th February from 1.30pm.  This will be a WR-themed day.  There will also be a closing-down event towards Easter 2017 at which "anything goes" so February will be the final open-house invitation to see the layout only doing what it does best namely portraying the Western Region in Cornwall during the diesel era between around 1965 - 1995.  We normally end at around 6pm though I am happy to go on a little later especially if the afternoon has been hot making it uncomfortable outside for long periods.

I have a few other days, mostly through the working week, available for anyone who is otherwise unable to enjoy the layout to drop in and I can provide these dates if asked via PM.  

February can sometimes be very hot and / or produce severe thunderstorms.  The layout area can be as much as 10C warmer than the forecast air temperature.  Trains run in any conditions though the controllers do trip out in very high temperatures after continuous running; smooth train running can be affected by heat or heavy rain.  The house is air-conditioned inside for your comfort and with refreshments provided.  This event will go ahead what ever the weather.

With flights now booked and our move becoming a matter of weeks not months I can confirm that the railway will close as originally advised in the closure notice on 17th April, after traffic on Easter Monday.  I intend to have a close-down event shortly before then for which the weekend of 1st and 2nd April is looking most likely.

Only one of the latest release of Bachmann Warships is joining the fleet.  I resisted the temptation to add more blue and green given the need to pack everything away fairly soon.  Maroon with full yellow end is under-represented however so D838 "Rapid" arrived just before Christmas and in the past couple of days has had its crew installed, pipework fitted to the leading end and cab steps (which are designed to locate into recesses on the body for static display) glued to the bogie frames as has been done for the other class 43 locos.

Today saw the new arrival weathered and tested.

In tandem with classmate D835 "Pegasus" from the earlier class 43 release:



Running the other way to show the opposite side and somewhat aptly named for the urgent traffic which is a milk train



And broadside on to show the weathering and "cast" name and works plates which are included by Bachmann as etches for this loco; all others have had to be sourced from Fox.

Today some new posters appeared at Penhayle Bay and Treheligan stations.

 They caused concern, frustration and anger.  No-one had ever thought that their train service might one day be no more …..

Hi Rick.   Terrific idea, have you ever done "Engineering / Services suspended due to notices". You could even do a new " Service to ?? Notice" starting 1/ 10/ 17 or whenever.  all the best with the new line,  Kevin