A trip on the Real Thing

Late this summer I had my first ever footplate ride on a steam engine, and what a loco and railway to do it on. I still owe that man lots of beer in thanks.

Extension boards under construction

The boards for the big extension under construction in the early 1990s. Each board is a unique (odd) shape designed to be small enough to go through the loft hatch and also keep joints at right angles to the track.

1990s Layout Design

The first attempt at a plan for the new configuration made circa 1990 using an early (pre Microsoft) version of Visio. The original boards remain at the top although the track plan is not accurate in this area.

A key part of this design was that the narrow gauge (black and purple) spiralled around and under itself and the standard gauge (light blue) and then dived behind the water tank (the shaded rectangle at the bottom RH of the picture). This narrow gauge all got built and remains to this day.

The standard gauge was also meant to spiral through tunnels and then over a Treffry style viaduct and then on hidden track under the main layout and around behind the water tank. This viaduct got built but it was clear the curves were going to be too sharp (especially in Scale 7) so the plan was altered and the viaduct sold.

1980s Layout Design

1980s Design

The original layout from the early 1980s with the viewing/operating area at the front (bottom). These boards were transposed in the new configuration after 1989.

Pentewan Light Railway

The Pentewan Railway in Cornwall was possibly unique in having three* gauges in its lifetime.

Christopher Hawkins built the original railway to support the growing china clay industry. It opened in 1829, and was worked by horse-power until 1874. In addition to clay, tin was also exported and coal was imported. It ran from just outside St. Austell to the port of Pentewan, just four miles away.

In 1874 the line was rebuilt by the engineer John Barraclough Fell and converted to locomotive working, at which time the gauge was changed from 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) to 2 ft 6 in (762 mm). The line closed in 1916 when the channel into the harbour at Pentewan silted up. The track was lifted and used for the war effort.

Its final incarnation was as a light railway rebuilt by Colonel Stephens to 1ft 11 1/2" in the 1920s using ex WW1 equipment. This rebuilding also included building the long planned extension up the bottoms into the China Clay district, where an interchange was built with the standard gauge (an ex Cornwall Minerals Railway branch). This extension proved a lifeline in the railways latter days for transporting coal to St. Austell gasworks.
The layout is set on this latter section in the late 1950s when it was on its last legs with some clay traffic uphill to a SG/NG interchange and coal (on transporter wagons) down to St Austell gasworks. It attracted little attention and was to close soon after.

The layout is loft based and was deliberately planned to be large enough that I would never really finish it, i.e. there would always be something to maintain my interest – which it has done for nearly 30 years. It has two distinct sections: the SG/NG interchange and a scenic section representing the climb up the valley.

Track is all hand built. The narrow gauge is to O14 standards using Peco IL-115 rail (pre Karlgarin unfortunately), homemade spikes and wooden sleepers. Standard gauge is Scale 7 using C&L and Exactoscale parts. All track is built on a foam base, ballasted with sieved cat litter and dilute Copydex. Scenery follows the techniques of messrs. Gravett, Norman and Hill. Locos have DCC sound, Zamzoodled couplings (born from this project) and some with DCC uncoupling.

(* as Pentewan Railway historians will know the real world history only had two)