Penpont Dries in a box…
You will not find Penpont dries on a map, nor in a railway history book - only here, in my imagination as I combine early loves, recent inspiration and favourite models…
Those blue clay hoods - I remember the Bachmann model of the early 90s… Tim had one and we both loved the contrast of the blue hood with the bauxite bodywork… we both dreamed of more but he had the only one we ever owned…
Class 08s on short trains - the Wenford Bridge branch one that caught my imagination early and has remained rooted as a favourite muse for many many years… Class 08s themselves, wonderful locomotives and the Farish recreation a rather lovely thing - numbering 8 now in my collection… finally Pete Matcham’s Wenford Dries in O that I was lucky enough to see at Rail-ex… oh, and an old ‘flight case’ box my step daughter had gifted me, part of a make up kit she had long exhausted.
Whilst imagination and excitement had me contemplating something more expansive, amd ways to maximise play value from something so small the idea of a completely portable model railway appealed - could it be packaged up to provide space for the battery pack, controller and some rolling stock too? Employing one of the early Engineering principles I learnt at Zeneca many many years ago ‘KISS’ prevailed and the ideas translated to MDF.
I love building immersive heartfelt cameo layouts but it is nice to revisit an old muse. Over the years I’ve built plenty of ‘box layouts’… Kisten Torfwerk the first, then Creech Grange, Mollington Road, Vowchurch, Canal Street Wharf and most recently, unfinished Creech Barn. Each different yet full of character. In their form, they were easily stored but not as accessible, hence my drive to more home friendly shelf designs. In the case of Penpont this isn’t the same at all, it’s a portable layout first and foremost, designed from the outset to live in the box, to be ready whenever I want to take it somewhere…
The Peco hoods are ordered, I’ve resurrected an old Farish 08 from my 009 period and have a body on order to finish this off cheaply. Sale of the Forest of Dean distraction means I can justify, perhaps, another brake van for the box too… I enjoy reworking models so I’m looking forward to these… the structures are straight forward, the scenic treatment too… one outstanding question is how to incorporate magnetic uncoupling. I’ll do some experiments with permanent magnets…
Whilst Denton Road ticks along, it is nice to have a low demand distraction to work on and enjoy alongside. I wonder, would I ever be invited to exhibit such a layout? That could be rather fun - at least for a one day show! For now though, it is back to the workshop as these commissions don’t build themselves. Until next time, more soon…
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Alleluia! Wenfordbridge! Thank you James, it's a grey mizzle day here in Cornwall so I needed a bit of cheering up! Great plan, I will be interested to see how this layout develops. The Peco hood is an odd little beast, it's the right length and the hood is as good as any I've seen, the brake lever arrangement looks a bit odd, the cleats to hold the hood are moulded as part of the body and it looks like the chassis has 3d printing lines on it. Nothing insurmountable for a man of you skill level though. I have a few boxes of Farish clay wagons in an ECC red livery which will be resprayed and hooded in due course. Kernow were selling them off cheaply last year. Great to see you are back doing a Cornish themed layout. I'm looking forward to the plywood vans arriving this week. They will get VVV TOPS codes eventually. Take care.
ReplyDeleteBright skies here today - but still full of brain fog… I had a rake of the Farish ones which I now lament selling on. The Peco ones will work I think, weathered up… but that brake lever is going to need modifying and detailing first, as you mention it’s horrendous! The stepping I think is part of the inkjet printing process they use, and so will disappear under weathering/gentle repaint.
DeleteMy plan is to model 08113 - none of my 08s to date have had the door strapping so this is a first for the fleet!
Great ideas! My youngest and I hired bicycles and cycled up to Wenford Bridge last summer, highly recommended!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim - that sounds rather lovely albeit sad too… I find old railway lines a little melancholic, a piece of life lost… but that section through Pencarrow Woods would be amazing, imagining I was on the footplate of one of the later exGWR pannier - one of my favourite steam locos - or even the later 08s… magic.
DeleteI've got some good colour pics of 08113 from a magazine article I cut out a few years ago. It's trundling through pencarrow wood. Very atmospheric! Can't wait to see the finished result.
ReplyDeletePainted the wood last night, solved the magnets so wiring today and then scenery… Clay hoods due today I think too..:
DeleteCathartic mindfulness in a box. Brilliant 🙌
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil - I think I’m rather intrigued by the idea of the art of the possible here…
DeleteYou have my attention again. I clearly remember the "Coy in a box" concept from 2021 which was a similar idea. There have been a couple of times over the years when exhibition managers in the UK asked me about bringing a layout to a show, only to be disappointed when they discovered I was living in the USA. This has always seemed like the perfect solution to the problem.
ReplyDeleteAs for your N scale presentation I wonder if some people would try to extend the layout with those tiny Kato mini diorama kits...
Coy in a box - that worked in concept but was a little too contrived in operation… and whilst I thought about how to stow the boards and even had the magnetic power and alignment sorted, it never really progressed. This box is tiny, probably a quarter of the Coy box… but N gauge is tiny too… and my China clay works even smaller!
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