Deciding on period for the model

As previously stated, my aim is to run the engine shed to a timetable. This should make operating the layout at home and at exhibitions a little more interesting than just randomly moving locomotives around the shed. At exhibitions, it might entice a few people to linger longer to view the model and have an interest in its operation.

This does mean I need to create a timetable of trains arriving and departing from Penzance along with creating fictious workings for the lines west of Penzance. Ideally I'd like to bring on shed one or two diesel hydraulics. This will set the model in late 1950s. D600 Warships arrived at Laira in June 1958, D800 Warships arrive in Cornwall in October 1958 followed by Class 22s in February 1959. I currently have two Class 22s both converted to P4. Unfortunately, both these Class 22s are of the later design of D6306 onwards. These didn't arrive at Laira until October 1959, which sets the period post October 1959. Hmm... this is a good excuse for creating an early autumnal scene.

The benefit of a fictional layout and location is I am a master of my own world. That said I would like to portray something of the services that actually ran to and from Penzance. Timetables in my possession are a 1955 passenger and 1958 goods along with The District Controllers View - Plymouth to Penzance (set in the mid 1950s). I'll never have enough locomotives to replicate every train, so I will extract services from these timetables to match the quantity and type of locomotive I currently have. Hopefully, this should give a good representation of locomotive workings to and from Penzance in the late 1950s. 

Not being from a BR steam background nor "back in the day" as a young lad did I visit steam sheds so I have a lot to learn about steam shed operation and its environs. My lack of knowledge is one attraction for me to create this model. Over the next two years, as my knowledge grows, I will make many amendments to the timetable. By September 2026, the hope is to have a working timetable which is gives a good representation arrivals and departures of a west Cornwall engine shed. Then locomotive liveries will need changing  to portray the 1959/60 period.

Post Scaleforum 2024

I was very concerned about taking Rospeath Lane to a Scaleforum at such an early stage in its construction. I shouldn't have worried, it was a great experience. I suffer from what, I have discovered, is called the imposter syndrome, especially when attending a Scalefour event, either as a paying customer or exhibitor. I still feel like a newcomer to the society, what I am producing being fairly basic to the standards other members are achieving. So it was comforting receiving positive comments and being asked questions about my challenge entry, also learning much from other members with interests in engine sheds.

Rospeath Lane (early on Saturday morning)

I took with me a box of stained sleepers along with a small quantity of PVA. This was not with the intention of spending the whole show gluing them in place on the track plan, but in case I felt a bit of a lemon behind the layout. Anyway, there were a couple of quiet moments, so I did start to glue some in place. This turned out to be a magnet for people to take an interest in what I was doing and ask questions. At the end of the show, Neil Smith and I finished laying all the sleepers for the sections of plain track, which was a tremendous help in progressing the layout. 

In the brief time there was to look around the show, I felt all the layouts were excellent all to a standard I aspire to. Ventor was especially superb and just as the recent article in Model Railway Journal 306. Being able to see Ditchling Green and Butley Mills in the flesh was also a privilege. Combined with the demonstrations, it certainly was a show of modelling excellence.

Ditchling Green

Ditchling Green

Butley Mills

Butley Mills

I left the show on Sunday tired but inspired and extremely happy I attended with Rospeath Lane.