Trevennan. A BLT in 13' 6 in x 2ft

For those from YMRC who can remember Trevannen will know that it must be best part of a year since I have done anything on it so I decided it's about time I did so I cleared of the junk (doesn't a lot of it accumulate) and see what was what. Herewith some pics of work so far.

General view along layout



The bridge area



Signal box area



Signal box from a different angle



The farm near the bridge



One of the houses showing garden details



Next door garden details



The signal box again



The lone cottages



Detail of lone cottages



There is still a lot of work to do but I am slowly getting there. I've been making a few suttle changes as I go along but hope to start getting the rest of the track down soon. By the way the platform section shown in Pic 1 is not being used. It's my messing around bit to check for clearances etc.

 

The next thing is to get the rest of the track down and tested before the station is built. That is what is going to be on the remaining area to be completed. The station will have a bay platform, a main platform and a run round loop. Where the lone cottages are there will be other cottages and perhaps a workshop or two. At the rear behind the station will be a retaining wall with more houses on the top. Beyond the bridge is the fiddle yard. All the buildings so far have been unmodified Metcalfe offerings.

 

I have the stock to run br, gwr and lms as well as current things like class 142, 153 & 150's so it can be run from 1939 to 2015.
For steam gwr I have a 14xx & autocoach, prairie and panniers with b sets and can also do short tender loco (dean goods, collett 0-6-0's, and a couple of others, for lms I have jintys and midland 0-6-0t with suburban stock and occasional mixes of main line stock on short trains. For BR I have the br liveried versions of most of the lms and gwr locos, 2-6-2 classes of standard tanks and various dmu's with assorted mk1 coaching stock.There will be no goods facilities but parcel trains will be available to use the bay platform in between autocoach runs. Trevennan is in fact a branch line with a feeder branch so a typical run would be:
1. autocoach into bay platform.
2. branch train in main platform
3. branch train out of main to fiddle yard
4. autocoach out of bay to fiddle yard
5 Parcel train into bay after having been run round
6. branch train into main
7 branch out of main to fiddle yard
8 parcels to fiddle yard.
9 auto to bay
10 branch to main etc. etc.
There might be enough room to fit in a milk train in the schedule using a siding off the run round loop but not sure yet. We will have to see.
The maximum train length will probably be a loco and three coaches or a three coach dmu on the main and a loco and autocoach or 2 coach dmu or a pannier sandwiched between 2 autocoaches on the bay

 

Thanks for Pic of the Week lads. I'll be doing some more over the next couple of days so keep your eyes open

 

Ok Toto . Will do. Next time I do some I'll take some pics.

 

There was an engine shed on there at one time Ed, although only placed in position and not fixed. I decided against it. There was also a school at one time but that has gone too. That is one of the pitfalls of making it up as you go along. I'm still not fully decided on how this will end but will know better once the rest of the track is down and tested. I have one or two ideas in mind but haven't quite worked out which one will finally complete the picture. Bear with me. I'm old and allowed to change my mind.

 

The embankment methods are quite simple really. Let us take the embankments near the wall at the back.
1) Place the wall in position.
2) Determine how far towards the track the embankment will come and its shape. Cut profile pieces out from 5mm foam board and glue at regular intervals against the wall and onto the baseboard. The next step is to cut some lengths of 3mm foam board so you have some thing that looks like a roller shutter and glue this to the formers, following the shape of the former. It may need some pins through it to hold it while the glue (pva) has dried. I normally wait at least 24 hrs before the next stage.
3) Get hold of some green hanging basket liners, the fluffier the better. This is normally made up of a thin paper core with the fluff glued onto each side. Pull the two layers apart and then paint the surface of the embankment with a liberal coating of neat pva and start sticking the fluffy stuff down onto it. You can vary the depth of this layer as you go along and it doesn't matter if it overlaps. Leave overnight or longer to dry thoroughly.
4) Using woodlands scenics (or whatever) clumping material and gradually build up the bushes/undergrowth to how you want it gluing it in place with neat pva. Again leave overnight to dry.
5) Using a variety of green flock powders scatter them all over the finished embankment then drip on 50/50 pva/water mix then sprinkle on some more scatters and leave to dry.
6) For gorse bushes I then use artists acrylic paint and dab it on in places with an old brush to represent the flowers. Larger shrubs/small trees can then be positioned in place after drilling a hole through the embankment (which is surprisingly rigid) to hold them in place with pva.
It is easier to do than it is to explain but as you have all said before, the results can be splendid.