The End of Padstow Mark 1

Rick Stein (of Padstein restaurant infame) is not involved that we know of. (UK joke.)

On the night of February 19, 2019 water from a rainstorm two days earlier had backed up on the flat roof of my townhouse and leaked through the roofing onto the sheetrock ceiling of my office and train room. A 4 foot by 4 foot panel of sheetrock detached from the ceiling and fell swinging down from the paper coating slowly. It did not hit the 2 foot by 11 foot layout based on the trackage at Padstow minus the long pier or my workbench. While the layout and workbench were intact, I was informed that the room would ultimately need to be cleared of furniture and fixings to repair the damage to the ceiling and repaint the ceiling after the external roof was repaired. It has been over 3 weeks since that disaster and unfortunately we have not had enough dry days in a row for the roof to dry out so it can be replaced by the roofers.

I have boxed and binned most of the train stuff from the room. But, alas, the time has come to tackle the rather poorly build layout. It was simpley a 2 X 8 sheet of fiber insulation board on top of supporting 1X2 boards supported by 3 wood TV tray tables. There was an 3 X 2 extension with a shallow manual turntable and locomotive storage tracks that did not exist at Padstow. Any actual storage or shedwork was done at Wadebridge where there was a Southern Railway sub shed.

The design really only afforded a place to pose or switch either my English prototype collection of postware Southern Railway and related 4 mm scale (00) scale or my growing collection of US 1947-54 US Southern Pacific passenger and freight equipment. It was built from an assortment of Peco Code 100 Streamline turnouts going back 15 years and older Atlas code 100 track with wider thicker ties. I have ripped out the turnouts. Much of the wiring was from a previous pre-DCC Great Western Brixham branch line terminal layout from 2003-2010.

It is not really a great loss and I feel no real regret at its demolition. It is almost and air of exultation that comes with an out with the old in with the new anticipation. The turnouts have been saved although their future is in doubt as new layout(s) when built will use more modern trackage components. If it is totally British in outline it will use new Peco Code 75 “bullhead” rail components when they become available. On the other-hand the first to be rebuilt could be to North American prototype track with Micro Engineering and new Peco Code 70 USA line components. I also have some Peco Code 75 flat bottom European HO track turnouts on hand now that have not really been used and may be used to augment the newer track. Flex track would be Micro Engineering code 70.

All the buildings from Padstow station area have been saved. If I get the energy I will build a separate 3 2X4 modular layout that can be stored when not in use to show of English Southern modeling efforts. This will happen only when there is a full range of Peco bullhead rail components available.

I am also thinking about how I can rebuild so that I can model the Walnut Creek station area on the Southern Pacific San Ramon valley branch and maybe the branch interchange at Avon Contra Costa. If I had the space I would start with the small engine terminal at Port Costa, the Sacramento/San Joaquin junction at Martinez and then the Avon yard with interchange to the US Navy Port Chicago terminal railroad as will as the San Ramon branch. Unfortunately this would probably depend on winning a substantial lottery prize. At my age (75) it is probably just a dream goal.

A more realistic proposal for my small 11 foot by 11 foot area is to remove the book cases in the office and put a new Avon/Port Costa shelf layout along the north wall at a 45 inch height. My office desk, PC and printer would go under the layout. The big chair will have to go and only a single roll-around office chair used. The office has to stay here as this is the location for the high speed ATT phone/data connection and the WiFi router. This modular shelf layout would have two tail tracks. One on the short 5 foot west wall and another extending 9-10 feet over the work bench on the east wall. This would be at the 45 inch height.

Along the South all in front of the built in cherry bookshelves, a new Padstow Mark set of modules would be built with a curve at the east end to get to a pair of storage/staging tracks in front of the windows and below the SP layout staging. The workbench desk would have to be replaced and move out.

As I do not anticipate full re-occupancy of the train room/office before the end of April, this construction effort will take place over most of the rest of the year with the goal of full operational track work by December 2019.

Two Stations and Two Scales

Two Stations and Two Scales are seen in this picture. 

The 4 mm scale (OO) Southern Railway station in Padstow, Cornwall, England is on the left. The track layout is for this station. The latest project is an ex-London and South Western now Southern Railway 10 Ton Diagram 1406 van at the lower left of the photo.  It is a Cambrian Model Railways kit. Getting the right Southern Railway brown led me after a lot of trials to Vallejo Model Color paints (not Vallejo Model Air paints) and of all things a color called German Camouflage Black Brown.

The train at the station platform is the 11:18 AM Padstow to Bodmin local via Wadebridge, Grogley and Nanstallon halts, diverging at  Boscarne Junction into the Bodmin (Central) SR station arriving about noon. The Great Western Railway also had a station at Bodmin and trackage rights from Boscarne Junction to Wadebridge. The GWR trackage diverged at Boscarne Junction to go to Bodmin (General) GWR station and then to Bodmin Road station on the GWR mainline to Penzance. You can ride today from Bodmin Road to Boscarne Junction on the preserved Bodmin and Wenford Railway. Often behind Southern Railway steam.

In my model world the GWR is allowed to continue to Padstow twice daily although this was not allowed until after nationalization of all British railways on January 1, 1948. My British side follows the common Ready to Run standard using 4 mm to the foot scale and HO 16.5 mm track gauge. 

The train at the platform consists of a Kernow/DJM Adams O2 0-4-4 and two of the new Hornby 1935 Maunsell rebuilds of LSWR non-corridor coaches. A clarification to Americans; English locomotives and passenger car classes usually include the name of the reigning Chief Mechanical Officer of the railway at the time the cars and engines are built. Hence Bulleid, Adams and Maunsell were all at one time CME's of the Southern Railway.  

The 3.5 mm scale (HO) Southern Pacific Walnut Creek station mock up is on the right. When in full Padstow mode, the long fish dock and loading sheds occupy this location. Progress on a full model of the Walnut Creek station is currently stalled until I find solutions for the Queen Anne architectural style details of the building.

In front of the SP station on the through track are a pair of (close enough) SP 60-CC-1 Chair Cars bashed from Model Power Harrimans.  I invested heavily in these inexpensive toy cars to give them an SP look with Star Brand SP-UP Olive paint, Microscale and Thinfilm decals, Prescision Scale seats and roof Globe vents, Walthers Pullman trucks, Cal-Scale UC brake sets and scratch built generators and battery boxes.