Pushing it to the limits!

My intended period for the model will eventually be March to July 1959.This will allow the majority of locomotives seen on shed to be steam but also allow me to run a few of the early Diesel shunters and Hydraulics.

This got me thinking about how the diesels would have been refuelled. Penzance didn't receive its first allocation of diesels until Sept 1958 when three Class 08s were allocated. Two of the three were reallocated in November the same year, leaving one (D3514) which remained at Penzance until June 1968. The first Laira based Hydraulics started to appear at Penzance in 1958.  My understanding is that D600 and D800 Warships carried a fuel capacity of 800 gallons. If this is correct they would not have needed refuelling at Penzance for the return working.  The Class 08 would still need to be refuelled. This would seem to indicate that Penzance’s diesel facilities may have been very basic in 1959. All photographs I’ve seen for the 1959 period do not show any diesel refuelling points. So have to assume that refuelling was very rudimentary, either direct from 50 gallon barrels or direct from rail or road born tanks.

Further information I've gathered from Diesel Depots, The Early Years by Irwell Press indicates that shed staff initially treated the first allocations of diesel locomotives with a modicum of disdain. The Class 08s being stored on sidings away from the main running shed roads.  In taking a look at my track plan, I realised that there was no such siding to accommodate locos away from the main running shed roads. I wanted to include some sort of diesel refuelling so added a very short siding at the front. Between this siding and the running shed there will be room for some barrels diesel fuel.

Track plan v.4 (including siding for Class 08 storage)

In adding this siding along with some slight overall modifications I’ve managed to increase the scenic area to within the last square inch of the 2711.52sq ins.

Scenic area 2710.5 sq. inches

Baseboard tops have been purchase and cut to the new dimensions. Next task is to decide on how much of the plywood from version one of Rospeath Lane can be used in the baseboard construction.

I believe slow projects is better than none…