Special Operating Notice

My blog remains here on playingtrains.wordpress.com but I have migrated up to date layout pages over to blackcloudrailways.wordpress.com. The internal navigation for both sites is interlinked. For archived items try the search facility in the side bar.

Back stage pass

Having mused about operating the FCPyF without Casablanca and San Fernandez yesterday it occurred to me at breakfast time today that a second staging track at Perejil would work as a passing siding for trains travelling between Colina Rosa and the Ferronor Division at Puente Guia. The photos below show before, during and after the work being undertaken. The cassette can be removed to transfer short trains between the staging area and Derrotado, or any of the other Ferronor Division micro layouts, enabling “through trains” to be run.

The two clamps will be left in place for a day while the glue dries. The cantilevered supports for the cassette are also screwed in place but belt and braces are used because I don’t want to have to search for missing wagons should the joints fail.

Some additional fettling is required to level the cassette more accurately and the cassette approach track still needs support providing beneath it. These items will be attended to once the clamps have been removed and it’s easier to reach them.

I have amended the timetables shown yesterday for both full and abridged operating of the layout to take into account the additional staging track. Railcar 55 now departs Cuarto for San Fernandez via Puente Guia as the first train of the day and returns in the evening.

FCPyF operations, matters arising

1. Railcar 55, Cuarto to San Fernandez (N) via Puente Guia.
2. Loco 84, passenger/mineral, Cuarto to Grande – Meet #3 at Pano Cucina.
3. Railcar 48, Grande to Cuarto – Meet #2 at Pano Cucina.
4. Loco 84, assist 86 or 77 shunting at Grande, then empty mineral, Grande to Cuarto.
5. Railcar 81, San Fernandez (VV) to Grande – Meet #6 at Colina Rosa.
6. Loco 85, passenger/goods, Grande to San Fernandez (VV) – Meet #5 at Colina Rosa.
7. Loco 84, mineral, Cuarto to Grande.
8. Loco 82, freight, San Fernandez (N) to Grande. (86 or 77 to assist on arrival).
9. Railcar 48, Cuarto to Grande – Meet #10 at Pano Cucina.
10. Loco 84, passenger/empty mineral, Grande to Cuarto – Meet #9 at Pano Cucina.
11. Loco 82, freight, Grande to San Fernandez (N).
12. Railcar 55, San Fernandez (N) to Cuarto via Puente Guia.
13. Loco 85, passenger/goods, San Fernandez (VV) to Grande – Meet #14 at Colina Rosa.
14. Railcar 81, Grande to San Fernandez (VV) – Meet #13 at Colina Rosa.
15. (All day) Loco 2, top shunter, transfer empties/loads between mine and long siding as required.

A sequence roughly following this list worked well yesterday so it will be used for future sessions. However, the layout can be operated without the lift out sections.

There is no turntable at Colina Rosa so a double ended railcar, or a back to back pair, would be needed to replace the two main line passenger trains between there Grande. The freight would need to be staged at Perejil instead of Norte.

1. Railcar 55, Cuarto to San Fernandez via Puente Guia.
2. Loco 84, passenger/mineral, Cuarto to Grande – Meet #3 at Pano Cucina.
3. Railcar 48, Grande to Cuarto – Meet #2 at Pano Cucina.
4. Railcar(s) XX, Grande to Colina Rosa.
5. Loco 84, assist 86 or 77 shunting at Grande, then empty mineral, Grande to Cuarto.
6. Loco 82, freight, Puente Guia to Grande (86 or 77 to assist on arrival).
7. Railcar(s) XX, Colina Rosa to Grande.
8. Railcar(s) XX, Grande to Colina Rosa.
9. Loco 84, mineral, Cuarto to Grande (86 or 77 to assist on arrival).
10. Loco 82, freight, Grande to Puente Guia.
11. Railcar 48, Cuarto to Grande – Meet #12 at Pano Cucina.
12. Loco 84, passenger/empty mineral, Grande to Cuarto – Meet #11 at Pano Cucina.
13. Railcar 55, San Fernandez to Cuarto via Puente Guia.
14. Railcar(s) XX, Colina Rosa to Grande.
15. (All day ) Loco 2, top shunter, transfer empties/loads between mine and long siding as required.

The pair of Scania railbuses shown in the first photo with a motorised bug box between them is an obvious choice, as is railcar 53. The two trucks with a van between them could also cater for mail and LCL freight. This combination is a sweet runner with one of the rail trucks and the van between them both being powered. I would prefer to run 97 and 20 without the van but the rubber band drive in 97 cannot drag 20 up the hill from Jones River to Resurreccion unaided. 96 and 97 is a possibility though, with or without the van, because the ERF is much lighter than the Pierce Arrow.

A temporary stop block clamps onto the track beyond the loop at Colina Rosa to prevent accidental overruns when the lift out sections are not in situ. It is, in theory, possible to operate a loco hauled service using the loop to run round but the curvature of both platform faces mean that recoupling would be awkward, hence the railcars.

It’s been a while

More than a while in fact, it has been far too long since I had an operating session on the FCPyF. The RHTT was stored off the layout, having done its job on the main line yesterday, and I turned my attention to cleaning the rails within yard limits by hand. Cuarto de Pulgada, Grande, Veinte Veinte and both staging tracks were completed after breakfast and all the trains were set up in their starting positions ready to run. Casablanca and the two lift-out bridges were left for another couple of hours while the washing machine finished its cycle (Casablanca is best not sitting atop the machine when it is running).

Loco 82, Norte to Grande via Casablanca, and railcar 55, Norte to Cuarto de Pulgada via Puente Guia, are shown above on their respective staging tracks. These two hidden sidings are rarely photographed and hardly photogenic when they are! Perejil (right) is behind the backscene at Colina Rosa and Norte (left) is behind Veinte Veinte.

The main line passenger trains are shown in the next pair of photographs. Railcar 81, starting from Veinte Veinte, and loco 85, starting from Grande, will pass each other at Colina Rosa twice as they both make a round trip between the two termini. The tiny shunting engine, seen in the bay at Veinte Veinte belongs at Poachers Hill, it must be visiting San Fernandez for an overhaul at the FCPyF works. It will not be taking part in the timetabled schedule.

Locos 84 and 2, with the inspection car, are being prepared for the day’s work at Cuarto shed as the early morning sunshine burns off the mountain mist.

Under the same early morning sun, but at a much lower altitude, there are no signs of life yet at Grande shed. Railcar 48 is on the right and shunt engines 86 and 77 flank spare loco 60 on the left. By the time I had uploaded the photographs shown so far and written the accompanying text the washing machine had finished so I could set Casablanca and the connecting bridges in place. An operating session usually starts with a loaded mineral train running down from Cuarto to Grande, not so today, there must be a problem with the loco. Not to worry, there’s plenty of slack in the timetable so the late running train can be accommodated as and when it is ready.

The main line passenger trains were first to run this morning. Southbound railcar 81 is shown in the sequence of photos above, passing through Casablanca, Colina Rosa, and Resurreccion then arriving at Grande. Northbound loco 85 can be seen departing from Grande, waiting for the southbound railcar at Colina Rosa, passing Casablanca and having just arrived at Veinte Veinte.

Railcar 48 should have met the downhill mineral train at Pano Cucina but it had the line to itself today. Shown about to depart from Grande, making a station stop at Pano Cucina and having arrived at Cuarto.

The late running mineral train made up a bit of time on its downhill run, the crew are well practiced on the switchback reversals and there was no passenger train to meet at Pano Cucina.

When the mineral train was clear of the switchback the dispatcher permitted the Norte to Cuarto railcar to leave Colina Rosa where it had been delayed by the late running train.

Station stops at Resurreccion and Pano Cucina were made before arrival at Cuarto. The empty railcar then shunted to the long siding. The top shunter had already assembled the second down mineral train of the day in preparation for loco 84 returning from Grande with the empties. When it arrived there was a quick turnaround and the centre-cab diesel departed once more for Grande. The coach immediately behind the loco was being transferred to the Ferronor Division and not included as part of the second uphill return run.

When 84 had left Grande for Cuarto the local shunt engine started moving wagons around in preparation for the arrival of the daily freight from San Fernandez, clearing the goods siding and assembling northbound wagons on the carriage siding. While the goods siding was clear 86 shunted the set of hoppers to the elevator where their loads were transferred to a waiting broad gauge wagon. Note the coach brought in on the Cuarto minerals is part of the outbound train.

There was no traffic for Resurreccion in the consist so the southbound freight had a non-stop run all the way from San Fernandez Junction to Grande.

When the freight had arrived shunt engine 86 resumed work, disposing of incoming wagons and attaching the caboose to the outbound ones in readiness for 82’s return run.

While this shunting was taking place railcar 55 had been waiting for the mineral train’s return at Cuarto so it could head back north before the freight was allowed out on the main line.

Back at Grande, 82 and 86 had made short work of the remaining shunting and the northbound freight departed on time, any earlier and it would have risked catching up with the railcar before their paths diverge at Colina Rosa.

The next train was railcar 48, returning from Cuarto to Grande.

Then the last two trains of the day were railcar 81 from Grande to San Fernandez and loco 85 from San Fernandez to Grande, passing at Colina Rosa.

An enjoyable day’s playing trains. Simplifying the timetable by decimating the passenger timetable made the operating the layout singlehandedly a much easier job. Fewer trains, less to go wrong. There was a rail joint at Cuarto that needed soldering and one derailment, that also being at Cuarto while attaching the coach to the second down mineral train. All in all, quite slick by FCPyF standards!

RHTT

I clean the tracks within yard limits by hand but for the running lines between stations a six vehicle Rail Head Treatment Train (RHTT) is deployed. This length is needed to reach through inaccessible tunnel sections because the RHTT is pushed by hand, its rolling resistance would make locomotive haulage impractical. What appears to be a snowplough on the leading end is used to catch cobwebs due to the tunnels attracting spiders when no trains are running.

The second, third and fourth vehicles are Tri-ang track cleaning cars. The two unaltered models have their pads dry, the rebuilt flat car between them applies white spirit to the rails. This triple combination means the cars apply the solvent then wipe the rail clean before it gets chance to evaporate, regardless of direction of travel.

The fifth car, in addition to making up the required length for reaching through tunnels, has a strong magnet glued to the underside. This captures any ferrous debris from the track before it gets chance to damage locomotive motors or gears. The sixth car drags an abrasive pad along the rails to remove obstinate dirt.

A pair of nails poking up from the pad through holes in the floor keep it in alignment while still able to float freely under the car, ensuring constant contact with the rails.

Lead strip wrapped around an MDF base provides the required weight and a replaceable piece of fine sandpaper, secured with Blutack, completes the sliding assembly.

Shelf queens and lambs for slaughter

Or maybe that should read “for laughter” when my bodgery has been applied?

I have no idea how the Duke of Connaught will compare for scale with Lledo trams but, repainted, it might be suitable for display on the bridge over High Street. It can’t possibly be worse than the Lone Star diesel currently occupying the track, can it?

,

The showman’s engine is too small for On30, probably just too big for OO, but intended for neither. It will join my collection of vintage die cast road vehicles as a shelf queen. The Model T Ford will make another hillbilly flatbed for use on the FCPyF but the Bentley will probably be cannibalised for spares. £3.31 (plus p&p) for the lot, I’d happily have paid that for the showman’s engine alone.

Another mixed lot of die cast toys picked up overnight includes three matchbox diesel shunters. More cut and shut fodder as puppetry locomotives on Poachers Hill, Muchness Light and the Wagon Repair Depot. Yes, I already have several of these but I can vary the weathering from total rust buckets to ex-works for variety… And they’re cheap, this lot was £1.16 (plus p&p)! Not sure what to do with the two steam engines, possibly join them together as a bicabine or a Fairlie? A sojourn in the scrap box is more likely. The van and the remnants of a coach are unlikely to be of use but, while under scale, the saloon car might be suitable as a background model in On30. The articulated lorry might be entertaining as a restoration project. The axle from its trailer could replace the missing rear on the tractor, where it matches the front wheels, and be replaced itself by a spare from the scrapbox that would not necessarily need to match.

A positive note from the garage, I have cleaned the wheels on the motive power in readiness for an operating session on the FCPyF later this week. If any local modellers are free and would like to visit they’re welcome to enquire by email (oscalemodelle@aol.co.uk). It would encourage me to finish tidying up instead of working round the detritus still present in the garage after replacing the front room carpet!

Timetable cutbacks

I have still not got round to an operating session on the FCPyF. It seems to me that the best way of going about it without assistance from a second operator will be a drastic cut in the number of trains to be included in the sequence. To this end the Perejil to Colina Rosa line has lost its freight service and is down to one passenger train a day in each direction between San Fernandez (N) and Cuarto (via Puente Guia). This maintains Cuarto’s through service to the capital and will be operated by railcar 55, shown below at Resurreccion.

Cuarto’s other remaining passenger service works from and to Grande, operated by railcar 48 as seen at Pano Cucina.

There are two daily passenger trains in each direction on the main line with both paired trips meeting at Colina Rosa. Loco 85 starts and finishes the day at Grande while railcar 81 is based at San Fernandez. The railcar is routed via the passing siding in both directions so the loco hauled train can take the easier route on the main.

That brings us on to more profitable business.

The daily freight from San Fernandez Norte to Grande (via Casablanca) is handled by diesel number 82 while number 84 makes two round trips on the Cuarto mineral trains.

The unsung heroes of any operating session are the shunt engines at Cuarto and Grande.

The top shunter shifts loads and empties between the mine and the long siding at Cuarto and its counterpart at Grande is kept busy moving general freight traffic out of the way while the hoppers are emptied at the elevator, a job made considerably easier by the recent extension on the south end of the goods siding.

Down to a (hopefully) manageable fourteen trains plus shunting manoeuvres. Passenger trains are shown in bold type. The shunt engines (targets 15 and 16) operate to local instructions as required. Observant readers will note the absence of steam locomotives in the sequence. Mogul 60 is kept at Grande shed as a spare engine should one of the diesels fail but no other steam engines are scheduled to work during this operating session. A couple of spare coaches are at Cuarto in case of railcar failure, they can be transferred to Grande on the booked mineral trains if required.

A tale of two termini

Derrotado translates from Spanish to English as defeated, in theory the place name originates from an early attempt at crossing the mountains between the north and south of Sierra Oculta. The railway got this far but went no further, dismissed the surveyor and adopted an alternative route though easier terrain at the cost of greater mileage. The layout’s history is also a tale of defeat. In the beginning it was nothing more than an off stage fiddleyard at one end of a disconnected branch line. The other end was a cassette which could transfer trains from the branch to the layout’s (then) main fiddleyard representing the north end of the main line.

The second phase was adding scenery to make a tuning fork terminus with a turntable for passenger railcars. Freight trains were operated by propelling them “from the junction” with a caboose leading.

This version of the branch was quite satisfying to operate but the cassette transfer eventually became a chore, and the primary reason for the next stage. This was a major overhaul of the track plan with the branch being connected to the main line fiddleyard via a pair of lift-out bridges with a portable section sitting between them.

This became known as the “Deviation Line” and was, at the same time, extended over a third lift-out bridge, from Derrotado to a new terminus at San Fernandez Veinte Veinte (it was built in 2020).

This is where the actual defeat took place. The third bridge was an operational nightmare. With tight curves at both ends it proved almost impossible to run trains without derailments and was quite short-lived. San Fernandez was soon relocated to its present position, displacing Derrotado in the process.

Once again serving as a branch terminus, Derrotado briefly acquired a run round loop when the goods siding was connected to the turntable but this was a detraction from operations rather than an advantage and the track plan soon reverted to being the original tuning fork. The branch’s overhead wiring brings its story up to date, in theory the operating practice of having a locomotive at the downhill end of the train is due to steep gradients, making the branch a natural candidate for electrification.

At the start of this article I said Derrotado translates as defeated. So it does, but the real reason is because I have long admired the late John Allen’s HO scale Gorre & Daphetid. Hence “a tale of two termini”.

Not so much the later versions, though his scenery was among the best of its time. It is the compact early versions that appeal to me. The second version in particular because the siting of the loco and freight sidings seems more logical here. Note also the inclusion of a transfer facility between standard and narrow gauge. Not operational, just cosmetic, similar to the FCPyF’s break of gauge at Grande. Freight cars on sidings can sit for several hours, days even, without being moved. Not everything on a layout has to be operational!

Daphetid always played second fiddle to Gorre and was a tuning fork as first built though it was planned from the start as being for later expansion.

This expansion did come during the third edition of the layout but it reverted to being a very basic branch terminus again in the layout’s final incarnation.

Do you see the similarity between the development of Derrotado and that of Daphetid? The expansion and later contraction of Derrotado’s role in the overall scheme of things was not actually intended from the start but it did work out quite similar to that played by Daphetid over two decades from the1950s to the 1970s.

For all the superb mountain scenery I still think that tiny branch terminus was a very inspiring part of John Allen’s magnificent layout, if not for most then at least for micro layout fans.

Sadly it was lost in a fire shortly after John passed away in the early 1970s. I am not aware of any video footage showing the G&D in operation but the two YouTube links below contain extensive collections of photographs, a few of which I have copied to illustrate this article.

YouTube Link A / YouTube Link B

Lago Fernandez

The blog entry regarding hands on modelling reminded me of an unfinished job at Esquina del Fuego. A while ago the Tri-ang water tower was nicked for use at San Fernandez and a resin kit constructed as a replacement.

In actual fact I bought the kit for San Fernandez, it turned out too small but that’s by the by. Until this morning the smaller water tower had not been bedded into the scenery on the tramway terminus.

While I had the layout set up I noticed that the points in the yard were jammed. After a few minutes fiddling with them I decided it wasn’t worth the effort so I forced the blades over to the middle road and pinned them in place. The far siding is locked out of use until further notice, which probably means permanently. This, and the run round loop that was added two years ago, mean Esquina del Fuego is no longer an Inglenook so it has been renamed Lago Fernandez, logical for the terminus of the Tranvia Lago Fernandez.

The yard has not seen any revenue freight traffic for well over twelve months and the remaining siding is adequate for occasional engineers’ wagons that might turn up when there’s work to be done.

The tramway is not regularly operated with loco and stock these days, a pair of class 90 railbuses being preferred. The water tank, usually empty, has been retained for when special excursions venture onto the line with a steam engine in charge. There have been proposals to electrify the tramway and operate it, as with Derrotado, in connection with the San Fernandez rapid transit network. A major stumbling block is the need to build a wye for turning PCC cars.

Adding a couple of inches

I have added a minor extension on the south end of Grande. Two or three times a day the Cuarto mineral train drops off a set of loaded hoppers on the middle road at Grande and picks up the waiting empties for the return run.

Between the empties departing and the next set of loads arriving the local shunter pulls any mixed freight wagons from the goods siding so the hoppers can transfer their loads to a waiting broad gauge wagon via the elevator.

It is not much of an extension but that half car length is the difference between having to split a set of hoppers during unloading or shoving all three over the pit one after the other.

I originally thought I’d have to extend the two broad gauge tracks too but the FCPyF compound boundary wall on one side and a large bush on the other mean the cantilevered extension just needs to be an embankment with the narrow gauge siding on it.

Adding a couple of doors

The MDF kit intended for use as a row of terraced cottages on the High Street tramway layout is far to grand for a mill town so I have replaced the two existing doors and added two more so it is now a terrace of four houses.

The image above is what the kit makers, Sarissa Precision, designed the house (singular) to look like. I don’t build kits according to instructions.

Obviously still in need of a roof and gable ends, definitely a lot less des res, but those donkey stoned doorsteps show there’s still evidence of civic pride. You need to be of a certain age, and probably brought up in the north of England, to know what a donkey stone is. I do believe they’re still used in remote parts of Lancashire.

Hands on modelling

I have mentioned this in the past but it still rings true, when I first got internet access twenty some years ago there was an American modeller on one of the Yahoo groups (Do you remember them?) who built and operated shunting layouts using dummy locos, pushed by hand.

Consider the alternative, a supposedly steam or diesel engine being powered by electricity delivered through the running rails. Not really any more prototypical than pushing them by hand is it?

Anyway, back to the American gentleman, he got his enjoyment through solving the shunting puzzles. Freight cars could not move unless attached to the locomotive. How the locomotive moved was irrelevant to the freight car and, in turn, to solving the puzzles.

I have refined the manual contact with dummy locos slightly by using puppet rods to push or pull them, and also for “gravity” shunting on Esquina del Fuego and Meyham.

Using dummy locos and railcars saves fitting motors, gears and electrical pick ups, making construction a lot simpler, while the puppetry makes for extremely reliable operation.

Not one of the locos in the images or video above is motorised, they all rely on puppetry for animation. The reason I am waxing lyrical about push-along trains is because the Autumn 2026 edition of The Micro Model Railway Dispatch features an Inglenook layout built using Lone Star Trains (as opposed to Treble-O-Lectric).

It would probably be possible to attach a puppet rod to a Lone Star locomotive for a hands off appearance when operating but is it necessary? As with the American modeller referred to in the opening paragraph I’m sure Ben Bucki’s enjoyment when operating Star Lane Sidings comes from working out how to reposition the wagons (using the locomotive of course) rather than seeing the train move. There will be modellers who pooh-pooh such simplicity, preferring to spend mega money on electronic gismos to make their trains move… Then have to spend ages pushing buttons to get those gismos to work. I’ve tried DCC when guest operating at an exhibition, it does not float my boat.

If you like small layouts and you’re not familiar with the e-zine I would thoroughly recommend taking a look at The Dispatch. It is free, published quarterly, there’s no need to subscribe if you don’t want to but registering by email will gain you early access to the publications. At the time of writing this the Autumn ’26 edition has been circulated to subscribers only so you’ll have to wait a week before it goes public. When it does you will be able to find it on the link below.

micromodelrailwaydispatch.com