Penzance themed modular layout in N gauge

[champion]

Can almost here those warships sing as with those damm giant sea gulls.Dont forget thou although you can run what you like is that hymeks where rare at penzance and really watching this with with my ex n gauge 1970 layout in mind and with the prospect of a new version of the western from dapol i think you will be 2.
keep it up.
richard.

[taytrain]

very nice work so far

[haeckmaen]

Now thanks again for encouraging I hope I can fulfill all your expectations to the quality of the layout! I'm afraid I'm working abroad my home at the moment so the next time I'll be able to continue construction will be in about three weeks

@champion I know you're absolutely right I have only seen a single photo of a hymek in Penzance. Class 35 was the ideal choice for my previous layout, at the moment I'm currently abusing it as a shunter since equipped with a tcs decoder it's a superb slow runner but will be replaced by a 08 to come on these duties.

My aim is to set focus on era 6 with the last maroon liveried locos and stock just at being phased out, spot on about 1968 as far as I know. Whilst I already got suitable mk1's for this concept consisting of 15 blue/grey and 5 maroon ones and several other matching stock I'm still missing blue Westerns. Dapol announcement just came at the right moment, and I immediately quit unsuccessful bidding on Farish ones which often seem to reach silly prices at auctions.

@southernboy, yes, that dark blue area is the very basic stage of the sea. However, most of the section painted blue will be covered with the sea wall stones, with only a small strip of water to be modelled. The tracks directly located to the sea wall make Penzance really a fascinating prototype. The sea wall will be made from this: http://www.busch-model.com/online/?rubr ... &spur_h0=1 but of course with a dark wash.

Thanks to those who are already offering help with prototype information. I collected a solid range of pics available on the net, but however not everything has been pictured properly, e.g. the backside of the station viewed from Chayandor Cliff. Street view doesn't help there too much since the western end of Chayandor Cliff seems to have massively changed since the 1970's. I won't hesitate to ask for help when it comes to building construction

Best regards, Matthias

[fratton]

The starting of some fine looking work there, will watch with interest, incidentally I was born in Penzance in 1981 but alas I have been there only twice (once if you don't include my birth) reading this I think I might just look up my birthplace!!!!!

[Infrontcat]

HI Matthias

I congratulate you on a wonderful start to an excellent concept! Nice to see an interpretation of our railways from abroad and such a good interpretation it is so far!

Thanks for the link to the Isle of Skye railway as well. It looks great fun to operate and I'm sure they will be more than happy to accomodate you

I am also very impressed with the sketches you have made. It is much easier to understand your model as a result

Cheers mate

Tim

[dagenham]

hi ya
just like to say i am very impressed with your layout and i look forward to seeing your progress
but one thing i will say you have beaten me to the post as i am a member of a railway club i was thinking about putting penzance forward as our next oo gauge layout
but like i said i wish you all the luck and look forward to seeing your progress
peter

[mika]

Hi Matthias,

real-life Penzance has been on my to-do-list for a very long time, mainly because of the view you have sketched in your artist's impression, which BTW are just impressive . I just love the idea of seeing it modeled and will keep an eye on your thread.

Greetings from Potsdam,
Michael

[413x]

hi
cracking stuff you've done i love the fiddle yard idea and the ballasting will look great.
ive had a couple of ideas for you. 1 i was thinking that you could put a fishing trawler in the harbour area being unloaded.2 you could have a couple of kids fishing on the wall.

good luck
alex

[theunborn]

Hi thats a great looking layout i can almost smell them diesels,cant wait for some more pic's.

cheers

[NSE DAZ]

Hi,

I must say this looks superb top work.

Keep up the good work and updates,

All the best Darren NSE DAZ

[haeckmaen]

Now thanks again for your comments, but as stated progress will take some time. Will be back at home next weekend. All I have to offer at the moment is another badge of sketches for the 40cm fiddle entrance section with the bridge borrowed from former Marazion station.

sketch Marazion bridge 2.JPG (195.92 KiB) Viewed 3228 times

@alex I'm looking forward for some seaside detail too but however I'm not quite sure if I'm going to have the modelling ships since most of what is going to be the sea will actually be covered with quarry stones. Nonetheless, a scenic extension including parts of the harbour might still possible later. There even is a model ot the Isle of Skilly ferry, it just needs to be converted into 1:148. http://www.papershipwright.co.uk/ps25/details.shtml

@infrontcat thanks & you're right they are happy to accomodate me since they already make use of my fiddle so far - it was shipped to a meeting in Bavaria this weekend where it was decicated to represent a Scottish fish factory yard. However I hope it'll be back next weekend.

Wuerzburger Str. and fiddle.JPG (226.24 KiB) Viewed 3229 times

@michael greetings from Potsdam to Potsdam I'll be working here up to the end of april. However the layout needs to remain in Goettingen. I hope we can both enjoy the great view on Penzance in real life sooner or later again.

@dagenham I'm looking forward to see a 00 version of Penzance as a club layout where issues of time and space available a not such a limiting factor than at my home. Sadly although the station is that popular amongst spotters I've never seen any represantation as a model so why not model it as a club layout.

Best regards, Matthias

[50035 Ark Royal]

Mattihas i have some up to date pics of Penzance somwhere taken from 2006, will have to dig them out.
Do you not like any DB material, i love your 103,232,218 and most of your other electrics 101, 110 etc and the orient red, traffic red and Ice livery.

[haeckmaen]

Hi Ark, all pics are more than welcome will write you a pm.

Modelling UK outline for several years now doesn't mean I'm totally off German railways. Travelling mostly by rail and taking an albeit small camera with me regularly, I'm always trying to capture what might be gone in a nearer future. The German stock I like most, considerable year 60's motive power such as 110, 218, 212 is now just at being finally phased out, the latter even on engineers duties, and what is to remain is mostly all those unkept and identical looking boxes, 101, 145, 185 and the like, taking me to work every day, more or less reliable, really no fascination about that.

Why I'm not modelling German outline at all is another story, first is of course you can't have it all, second is what you see on great holidays may make a deeper impression and third, I'm really kind of offended by some continental producers' marketing policies. Fleischmann and Roco production has largely turned to China but the prices taken are those if it still was all handmade in Germany, that means to me it seems ridiculous that a 218 is twice or three times the price of a Warship, same with the coaches, even worse with wagons. That is of course only one point while chosing a prototype when both favouring year 80's DB and year 70's BR, but a valid one.

BTW a fully revised 50 in N gauge would catch my fancy (and seems a must-have for a late 70's Penzance layout (although I've never experienced one in real life, in contrast to 35, 42, 45 and 52 I've seen on heritage services). Impressive shots on youtube available!

Matthias

[50035 Ark Royal]

Hi Ark, all pics are more than welcome will write you a pm.

Modelling UK outline for several years now doesn't mean I'm totally off German railways. Travelling mostly by rail and taking an albeit small camera with me regularly, I'm always trying to capture what might be gone in a nearer future. The German stock I like most, considerable year 60's motive power such as 110, 218, 212 is now just at being finally phased out, the latter even on engineers duties, and what is to remain is mostly all those unkept and identical looking boxes, 101, 145, 185 and the like, taking me to work every day, more or less reliable, really no fascination about that.

Why I'm not modelling German outline at all is another story, first is of course you can't have it all, second is what you see on great holidays may make a deeper impression and third, I'm really kind of offended by some continental producers' marketing policies. Fleischmann and Roco production has largely turned to China but the prices taken are those if it still was all handmade in Germany, that means to me it seems ridiculous that a 218 is twice or three times the price of a Warship, same with the coaches, even worse with wagons. That is of course only one point while chosing a prototype when both favouring year 80's DB and year 70's BR, but a valid one.

BTW a fully revised 50 in N gauge would catch my fancy (and seems a must-have for a late 70's Penzance layout (although I've never experienced one in real life, in contrast to 35, 42, 45 and 52 I've seen on heritage services). Impressive shots on youtube available!

Matthias

Hi Matthias i can certainly agree with you on prices i sourced a Fleischmann 7364 1637 Amersfoort in NS CARGO in a shop in Holland and it was 189 Euro that is nearly the price of an 00 gauge sound loco needless to say it is still in the shop
Yes i would love an all singing and dancing N gauge 50 but can not see it ever happening as i would love an N gauge NS Double decker set DDM but again can not see it happening.
Re 50's love them over 200,000 miles behind and experienced them from 1981 to thier demise Fantastic locos if a little tempremental at times performace though always brilliant on the road but varied from each loco.

[haeckmaen]

Last weekend finally some progress has taken place with the focus on creating the sea wall and the basis for the elevated road ('Chayandour Cliff') as a scenic backdrop.





I chose 2mm thou polystyrene for the elevated road since I tried to capture the real thing which is both very uneven and curved and this would have been quite a challenge to me as non-carpenter making this from e.g. balsa or plywood.

The sea wall consists of cut-down expanded polystyrene with a layer of coloured body filler into which a first batch of quarry stones was pressed before drying. A second batch of stones was added then fixed with the water-PVA method. Wall and stones are still missing wheathering and are of course missing the water itself which will be modelled with acrylic gel.







I painted the Timecast resin made GWR signalbox to create a generic represantation of Penzance signal box which is rather similar. However I'm not completely satisfied with the windows just painted on so I'm thinking about creating a new one from scratch.





As usual, all hints, comments and questions very welcome