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FCPyF – October 2026 operating sequence.

1. Railcar 55, Cuarto to San Fernandez Norte via Puente Guia.
2. Loco 84, mixed, Cuarto to Pano Cucina – Meet #3.
3. Railcar 48, Grande to Cuarto – Meet #2 at Pano Cucina.
4. Loco 84, mixed, Pano Cucina to Grande (#29 to assist on arrival).
5. Railcar 46 Puente Guia to Derrotado.
6. Loco 84, empty mineral, Grande to Cuarto.
7. Railcar 46 Derrotado to Puente Guia.
8. Loco 85, mixed, San Fernandez (VV) to Colina Rosa– Meet #9.
9. Railcar 53, Grande to San Fernandez (VV) – Meet #8 at Colina Rosa.
10. Loco 85, mixed, Colina Rosa to Grande (#29 to assist on arrival).
11. Railcar 46 Puente Guia to Derrotado.
12. Loco 84, mineral, Cuarto to Grande (#29 to assist on arrival).
13. Railcar 46 Derrotado to Puente Guia.
14. Loco 39, freight, San Fernandez Norte to Grande (#29 to assist on arrival).
15. Railcar 48, Cuarto to Pano Cucina – Meet #16.
16. Loco 84, mixed, Grande to Cuarto – Meet #15 at Pano Cucina.
17. Railcar 48, Pano Cucina to Grande.
18. Loco 82, freight, Puente Guia to Grande (#29 to assist after #19 has departed).
19. Loco 39, freight, Grande to San Fernandez Norte.
20. Loco 1 (shoving with caboose at front of train), freight, Perejil to Derrotado.
21. Loco 1, freight, Derrotado to Perejil.
22. Railcar 55, San Fernandez Norte to Cuarto via Puente Guia.
23. Railcar 53, San Fernandez (VV) to Colina Rosa – Meet #24 and #25.
24. Loco 82, freight, Grande to Puente Guia – Meet #23 at Colina Rosa.
25. Loco 85, mixed, Grande to San Fernandez (VV) – Meet #23 at Colina Rosa.
26. Railcar 53, Colina Rosa to Grande.
27. Railcar 46 Puente Guia to Derrotado.
28. Railcar 46 Derrotado to Puente Guia.
29. (All day) Loco 77 or 86, Grande shunter, assist as required within yard limits.
30. (All day) Loco 2, Cuarto shunter, local trips between mine and station.

The planned sequence for this month’s operating session relies heavily on railcars 46, 48, 53, and 55 for passenger services with loco haulage confined to mixed, freight and mineral trains. Derrotado branch trains are included in the sequential list but they’re totally independent from the main line. Hashtags refer to the sequential numbering of the trains as listed above.

Operations started this morning with #1, railcar 55, from Cuarto de Pulgada to San Fernandez Norte via Puente Guia, photographed at Cuarto, Pano Cucina and Colina Rosa.

#2, loco 84 with mixed passenger and minerals, ran from Cuarto to Pano Cucina where it pulled into the blind tunnel so #3 could clear the switchback points.

Next was #3, railcar 48, from Grande to Cuarto, meeting #2 at Pano Cucina.

With the line clear after the up train had left Pano Cucina #4, loco 84 and the mixed, reversed down the switchback then continued loco first from Burnt Fly Canyon to Grande. Running round and shunting at Grande was done with the assistance of #29 operated by loco 86.

On the branch line #5, railcar 46, arrived at Derrotado from Puente Guia. The two Birney cars, 46 and 48, use the same bodywork but one is powered by the overhead wire and the other has a diesel engine under the floor.

Back on the main line #6, loco 84 with empty hopper cars from Grande to Cuarto, was next. #30 operated by loco 2 was waiting to assist with shunting when the train arrived at the upper terminus.

#7, railcar 46, departed from Derrotado to Puente Guia. It’ll repeat the process a couple of times as the day passes but after you’ve seen it come and go once it becomes the same old same old (and a waste of image storage capacity). There is a freight due on the branch in the afternoon though so we’ll come back later to watch that.

It’s cold in the garage so the session will be operated over a number of days, with each one picking up where the previous left off. The next trains to run will be #8 from San Fernandez, hauled by loco 85, and #9 from Grande operated by railcar 53.

The dispatcher’s slate marks where I’m up to because I’ll have forgotten by tomorrow!

Tarnished with age

Tarnished varnish

It would seem the yard foreman at Smingle Nook is not keen on green.

I have been asked how I get the tarnished varnish finish on my coaches.

The technique is the same in any scale and it works exactly the same on card, MDF, plastic and coffee stirrers, whether they be prepainted or not so I’ll demonstrate it on the “woodwork” for Smingle Nook’s brew hut.

Grey paint and orange marker pen are used to create the desired finish.

The grey I choose is a cheap rattle can undercoat. Other matt finish paints may also work but I have not tried them so I can’t say how well the second stage will adhere. Let the paint dry, preferably for at least twenty four hours, before applying the next stage.

The orange is a water soluble ink applied with a whiteboard marker pen. For darker wood use a brown marker pen. Be bold, apply the ink quickly and move on. Dallying too long in the same spot will dissolve the undercoat. Where possible follow the structure of whatever it is you’re treating. Coach panels should be done one by one instead of tackling the whole side of the vehicle in a single application. When the ink has dried you can go over a few panels to get a stronger finish but again apply it swiftly and move on so as not to dissolve the undercoat.

In some places I used brown first then went over it with the orange to make it lighter. This contaminates the pen nib, adding further variety to the next panel to be done. In real life varnished coaches are not monochrome by any stretch of the imagination, as shown below.

When it has dried completely the finish will stand gentle handling without rubbing the ink off but if you do find the undercoat showing through anywhere use the marker pen to go over the individual panel or panels concerned.

Tarnished memories

It is a long, long time since I last had anywhere to run a Hornby tinplate train. The set I had as a toddler most likely came from a jumble sale, as did a lot of our toys in those days. It was also probably the worst attempt at modelling an LNER A4 in the entire history of toy trains. But a small boy of pre-school age didn’t care how many wheels it had. I have done some research about the Silver Jubilee set, Hornby produced it from 1933 to 1943 so it was definitely not new when my Father gave it to me in the late 1950s.

It was a treasured possession then and would possibly be worth a small fortune if I still had it now. Unfortunately it vanished when I was given an electric Tri-ang OO train set for Christmas in the very early 1960s. I have a suspicion as to where it went (and still is) but if it is there it will be buried in rubble and topped with concrete. Hardly worth digging up on a hunch and it probably won’t have fared well during the experience anyway. Moving on, the recently acquired collection of Hornby tinplate track for the SM32 trains means that I also now have somewhere to run another ancient Hornby clockwork locomotive.

This one was a birthday present from my sister about forty years ago, rather than a jumble sale it probably came from a charity shop. I bought the wagons on eBay with the intention of using their running gear for SM32 but they deserve something better, even if it’s only for one month out of twelve. That something better is simple circle of track on the living room floor so I can have a train rattling round the tree at Crimbo.

I know it’s an American cliché, and I am for ever complaining about the colonials’ wanton vandalism of all things English, but Crimbo trains hark back to a more enjoyable era and “Crimbo” itself is most definitely a British word. Moreover, using tatty toy trains that are almost certainly as old as if not older than I am is a snub to the obscene commercial spendfest that Christmas has become. Anyhows, it’ll be December before I put the tree up so the clockwork train has been put away in a box until then.

SM32 magnetism

It has been a few days since I updated the blog but that is not to say I haven’t been doing anything with the trains. After some (failed) experimentation with bent paperclip wire I decided that the best way of coupling SM32 wagons together was with drawing pins and magnets.

Uncoupling, as with other scales where I have used magnets, is a simple matter of inserting a shunting pole (coffee stirrer or bamboo skewer) between the wagons and levering them apart. The domed shape of the pin heads provides just enough pivot for the magnets not to pull the wagons off the track on curves.

There will be nine wagons on the layout at times. An Inglenook usually has eight but can work with nine providing you do not rely on uncouplers at fixed locations. The puzzle still calls for the selection of five from eight, wagon number nine is a joker in the pack to complicate matters by getting in the way. Another possible, though unintentional, complication may come from 66’s limited traction.

It could be the batteries running down again but even on two foot radius curves she sometimes struggles with two wagons and stalls with three. I have fitted some additional lead ballast under the bonnet so its weight bears directly on the driven axle, a scrap of styrene sheet makes sure there’s no contact with the motor wiring or radio control circuit board. The glue needs to dry before I can test it.

If this doesn’t work I may need to devise a completely new puzzle for 66, still using the Inglenook trident but with just a loco and one wagon on the headshunt. I believe this will reduce the layout’s capacity to six wagons. A positive observation of this is that it does fit on the table with the severely curtailed headshunt.

Edit – It was flat batteries, with a fresh pair fitted 66 can handle three skips again, albeit with some wheel slip at first but this was cured when the weighted bonnet was set in place over the motor. Just out of curiosity I might yet try operating the layout with that ultra short headshunt though. I also need to find a use for partially drained AAA batteries, they have enough power left to drive 66 on straight track, just not on curves, so it seems a pity to throw them away. Perhaps a bunch of them could work a short LED strip for illuminating the brew hut.

Change at Colina Rosa…

And Cuarto de Pulgada… And Resurreccion.

Yesterday I altered the layout lighting at Colina Rosa, this lit up some unconvincing scenery that had previously lurked unnoticed in the gloom.

This morning I did something about it. The forest still needs a bit of tweaking but it fills the gap where I have removed the buildings.

The office block has been relocated to Cuarto de Pulgada where it replaces a thatched hovel. I have no idea what goes on in there. Some questions are best left unasked if you’re looking for a quiet life in Sierra Oculta. The tin roofed building which backed onto the platform at Colina Rosa has also been moved to Cuarto, again it replaces a thatched hovel. For visitors who may be unfamiliar with the area, the gap between the buildings is Cuarto de Pulgada’s main street, it’s unsuitable for motor vehicles and just happens to have a railway running through it too.

Both displaced thatched buildings from Cuarto have been used for a slum creation project at Resurreccion. Most urban development schemes call for slum clearance, not so in Sierra Oculta! You’ll notice how the alleyways are too narrow for cars. This is not a problem because the peasants who live here cannot afford them. Anyhow, the railway station and bus stop are but a short walk from here so there is no need for such luxury.

The patched up scenery around this morning’s alterations will tone down as it gets dusty, give it a couple of weeks and the changes will be almost impossible to spot.

TMI

Too Much Illumination!

When running a train into the staging area at Perejil/Puente Guia this evening it became apparent that there was a faulty electrical connection. The area was cleared so I could safely gain access with the soldering iron and attend to the dry joint. As I cleared stuff out I found a spare Ikea LED strip, it was cleaned up and used to extend the layout lighting above Colina Rosa.

A mixed blessing, the scene was previously dim enough to go unnoticed by the casual observer. It now stands out like a sore thumb. The background was assembled using odds and ends left over from alterations elsewhere on the layout. When lit up its shortcomings are brutally obvious. I think the water tower (made from a locomotive tender) and the building behind it need to be replaced by extending the hillside and covering it with a clump of trees similar to the one used at Grande.

It will be a simple enough job, nothing on the far side of the tracks is glued down. I’ll use cushion stuffing, painted using a rattle can and clumped together in the required shape. Modelling the forest rather than the individual trees works perfectly in situations like this.

Gaslighting and moonlighting

The last two passenger trains of the day are timetabled to pass at Colina Rosa. It occurred to me that some representation of platform lighting might be appropriate but I don’t go for the gimmicky day-burners seen on so many layouts. Get real. Yes, you can see platform lights at any time of the day, so it’s fair enough to fit them, but why would they be lit when the sun is shining?

I don’t go for night-burners either because I do not operate in the dark and can’t be bothered with wiring that won’t ever be used! That’s why the image below has been photoshopped.

The problem with fitting lights between the main and the siding is that they’re susceptible to getting caught by a shirt sleeve during track cleaning. Small magnets are glued in the base of the lampposts and attach to drawing pins pushed into the platform so the lights can be knocked over without sustaining any damage. KISS, keep it simple, stupid.

After all the timetabled trains have reached their destinations there is a quite spell during the small hours of the morning when occasional extras may be called for. One of the Grande shunt engines is moonlighting (literally) with a special working. The barrier wagons separating the loco and caboose from the small van marked “PELIGRO” in big friendly letters are in use because the word translates to English as danger. It’s a gunpowder van, destined for the mine at Cuarto de Pulgada.

The traffic need not be explosives though, other hazardous materials might need to be kept away from the traincrew. Any wagon will do as a barrier, in this case the FCPyF is using an old side tipper that has been retired from revenue service and an empty flatcar.

Talking of empty flat cars, the two small SM32 flats do not get on well with the Hornby tinplate points. After experimenting with different amounts of ballast weight it became clear that the issue was actually their short wheelbase. They will be replaced when suitable lambs for slaughter turn up on eBay.

More indecision

Wriggly tin or wood? The brew hut now has a masonry base and a new door has been made. It’ll definitely have a corrugated iron roof but I’m not sure about what to use for the walls yet. More corrugated sheeting or timber? If the latter, upright planks or shiplap? Decisions, decisions! One thing I have decided upon is the Hornby side tipper. It looks too small alongside the Tri-ang wagons so I will go to town weathering it and create a condemned vehicle awaiting the scrapman’s torch.

Not in revenue service so it won’t make up part of the Inglenook puzzle, it will be left in the yard to get in the way and complicate matters by getting in the way though. The puzzle calls for eight wagons, nine can be accommodated before the layout becomes gridlocked providing you don’t mind one of them being left fouling the points between the two short sidings from time to time, in effect the puzzle becomes 5/4/3 rather than 5/3/3. Ninja Inglenook. Another Big Big Train tipper has been sourced so there’ll be a total of six skips and three flats in the yard most of the time.

Brew hut

During fog (and falling snow) to the cabin we should go.

If perchance it should rain, to the cabin once again.

The hut was designed for 1:24 scale, as a doll house garden shed IIRC. Putting it on a masonry plinth and making the door wider/taller brings it up to 1:19(ish).

The jury is out on the new tipper wagon, just delivered as I was typing this blog post. There are two possible verdicts, either it gets some coffee stirrers added to beef up the underframe or it becomes a shelf queen to go with my other Hornby clockwork tinplate trains.

Add some more to make it smaller

The SM32 Inglenook now has two additional sections so it can be assembled in a smaller formation. The first photo shows it as a 5/3/3 layout.

With the long siding (5 wagons) and the headshunt (loco and 3) replaced by the two short sidings (3 wagons / loco and 2 respectively) and the two new (as yet unpainted) sections acting as even shorter sidings (2 wagons each) the layout becomes a 3/2/2. Both work perfectly well as shunting puzzles though the larger version, operated with eight wagons, obviously provides many more permutations than are offered by the five wagons on a reduced Inglenook.

One of the two new sections has a bumping post, the other relies on a scrap of rail held in place by a couple of small magnets so I’ll be able to use it as an intermediate section for future modular assemblies.

The next job I have in mind for SM32 is to try modifying some track so Syxtene Mill can be attached to the modular sections. This will probably entail reshaping one or two curved sections so they line up with the track spacing in the mill yard.

The archetypal NG wagon

I have commented, many times, on what I consider to be the wagon that is a must have on any self respecting narrow gauge layout. It is the side tipper. Over the years I have possessed numerous examples in just about every scale I have ever modelled.

Green End Quarry (G scale) had only one operational wagon, it was a side tipper.

The FCPyF (On30) has used Gnomy and Matchbox side tippers for mineral traffic, though examples of both types are now confined to ballast workings.

Tyne (E) Quay and Clementine Wharf (both On18) make use of N gauge tippers.

The tiny wagons found at the adit near Cuarto de Pulgada on the FCPyF are actually designed for OO9 but they look right as hand-worked mine carts.

Dating back to the 1950s or 60s, these two delightful little side tippers in the foreground at San Fernandez Wagon Repair Depot are “Woolworths Skips” as once found on P.D.Hancock’s famous Craig and Mertonford Railway, though again I am using them for O scale instead of OO. Much newer are the 3D printed tippers seen in the background.

Tri-ang Big Big Trains side tippers were used in Phoenix Yard (1:12 scale).

The same tippers are now being used as slightly larger wagons in 1:19 scale with my SM32 modelling for Syxtene Mill, Moonage Sidings and Smingle Nook.

This mug-topper keeps my coffee warm.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that a cheeky eBay bid on an old Hornby O gauge tinplate wagon came in last night, nobody else was interested so I secured the lot for its opening price.

I believe old toys were made to be played with and should continue to serve this purpose. The Tri-ang side tippers used for SM32 have been weathered and I will have no qualms about doing the same to this one. It has a few dings in the paintwork so cannot be described as mint condition. Quite apart from which, it will stand out like a sore thumb if presented in that bright green and yellow paintwork!

I am not going to make any structural alterations to it though. Its enamelled steel underframe will work with the magnets I use for couplers so it can be operated with my other SM32 stock.