Tunnel portals for Penwith Station

Tunnel portals for either end of Penwith Station were originally intended to be like the famous Box Tunnel but would have been too large for scenic space I have on the end modules. So a couple of the smaller types were picked from the Great Western stable of portals built for the old Broad Gauge lines. Both slightly different for variety, but very distinctive. They are large and have that low embankment angle on each side of the cutting so typical of Brunel when he sculptured the land for his railways.

Those distinctive curved  walls that flank  an otherwise  typical double track entrance.
The black lines marked in on either side show where the cutting  land profile will be.

I used 6mm MDF as the base to add Slater's plastic stone walling. The capping and upper ridge course are Balsawood, the grey areas are Tamiya filler to join all the corners, angles and edges of the stonework. There are three rows of bricks inside the inner entrance edge, edged with a piece of 1.5mm copper wire to represent the round edge brick that ran the whole way around. Once these are painted and weathered, they will look the part.

This portal measures 450mm across and 135mm high! The other portal has the same height
but is slightly narrower.

 

GWR Diag. C23 Third Class coach

Using the two Compartment sections of the Triang Brake Third coaches can result in a very convincing 10 compartment Diagram C23 coach.

The body was first sprayed with Humbrol 103 Cream, then masked and GWR Chocolate  from an old

 jar of Floquil. Roof grey is Floquil Grimy Black. The clerestory windows were backed with styrene

to fill them as many of the prototype had this treatment. Because the Bachmann wheels are the larger

correct size, a small amount was trimmed from the brake blocks that are cast into bogie. 

 After completing the V5 PBV, the C23 was tackled and basically the following points cover the work.

• Roof gas piping added to lamp housings along the roof.
• Upper roof Handrail and end panel steps added
• Lamp holder brackets at each corner.
• Bogies trimmed and fitted with Kadees, Bachmann coach wheels replace the plastic Hornby axles.
• Under floor details fabricated, including Gas reservoirs  queen posts and tension rods, brake cylinder, brake hangers and weight. New bogie bolster centres established for the Hornby 10 foot bogies to correspond to the original drawings.

A three quarter view, ends painted black with other details evident including
those imposingly large lamp brackets. Decals added and the door handles and
waist line in gold using a bow pen. Also the 60 window frames were lined and
painted in using a bow pen. I used the Triang buffers but I may replace those later.

• 1928 to 1934 Period livery with the gold and black waist lines.
• Glazing.
• Interior partitions and seating with sitting passengers added.

The Diag. V5 and C23 vehicles together .