Cornish delights modelled

Phil Waterfield fell in love with Cornwall’s china clay railways as a teenager, and successfully recreated the scene in later years. Chris Trevedra finds out more.

Cornwall’s railways have long been a source of fascination for enthusiasts and modellers alike. Frequently set in beautiful surroundings and possessing architecture and features that are often unique to the Duchy, they have been recreated in miniature in a variety of ways and scales. Phil Waterfield’s industrial-based layout ‘Corwenna’ is something different in this genre however, with its astonishing attention to detail, where the rolling stock takes a back seat to the scenery.

The story begins not with the construction of ‘Corwenna’, but with Phil’s visit to the Bodminwadebridge branch line in August 1962. Opened fully in July 1834, it carried a variety of freight traffic, with the emphasis being on china clay from the works at Wenford Bridge. Between 1893 and 1962 the line was worked by three hardy and quirky Beattie 2-4-0 well tanks, later to become Nos. 30585-587 under BR renumbering. It was these that Phil travelled to see, after his interest was piqued by a Trains Illustrated article, although he arrived too late to see them in use. One – No. 30587 – remained in the shed at Wadebridge after a railtour, but the line had been taken over by EX-GWR ‘13XX’ Pannier tanks, which were later bolstered by a diesel shunter.

The scene remained with Phil, and in 2005 he decided to use it as inspiration for his next project.

“When Kernow Models brought out its Beattie tank I thought ‘I can build a Cornish Clay layout’,” he recalls, “I worked in the building industry, and became fascinated by the buildings aspect of modelling.”

In fact, the buildings for ‘Corwenna’ were created before the layout, including the standout clay dry

building – more of which later. In essence, ‘Corwenna’ is a much-reduced version of the Wenford clay drying buildings, while other features include cottages based on those at nearby Hellandbridge, and the distinctive water tower from Pencarrow. Phil’s inspiration also came from Iain Rice’s ‘P4’ layout, ‘Trerice’, and he copied the methods used there on his new layout.

SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION

Phil modestly states that the construction of the baseboard for ‘Corwenna’ was simple.

“It’s a standard plywood top on 19mm by 70mm softwood framing, originally 5ft by 2ft 3in, with the track laid on a cork base. Unfortunately, a rogue three-way point proved an operational problem, so I replaced it with two separate units. To maintain a reasonable run-round loop the layout had to be extended by another 6in to allow the main board to fit in the car. This extension is attached to the right-hand side and was adapted to include the cottages. The trains now also come in from the right – previously they came in from the left.”

Phil’s carefully created buildings could now be added onto the framework. Each – like the majority of the layout – is scratchbuilt with a wealth of detail to enthral the viewer. In Phil’s words, “For the main clay dry building I sought out professional modeller Ian Robinson’s website regarding construction ideas. These helped considerably with the main building, which included some time-consuming to-scale roof trusses and timberwork, none of which can be seen from the normal viewing angle. Unfortunately, Ian’s website is no longer online.”

The construction forced him to turn to different methods to achieve the effect that he wanted.

“Nearly all of my previous buildings were either based on kits or constructed in balsawood or plastic card, but following encouragement from David Wright of Dovedale Models the main building was constructed in a mixture of foamboard and plastic card overlaid with DAS clay on PVA glue. The stonework was later scribed into the DAS and then sprayed with white car primer, with the individual stones picked out in Humbrol enamels. Roofing slates are self-adhesive sheets from York Modelmaking. Construction of this building took several weeks.

“On the other hand, the adjacent clay shed was knocked up in a couple of evenings using a foamboard base overlaid with embossed ‘asbestos’ sheeting from Wills. One elevation and the loading dock were improved with DAS clay after studying the prototype at Wenford Bridge. The chimney is the cardboard tube from a roll of cling film, with masking tape wrapped around to form the taper. DAS clay was then overlaid

onto a coat of PVA, as it was for the buildings, and the stonework scribed to match.”

The illumination of the layout is a highlight of ‘Corwenna’ for its creator. In order to make it more effective, Phil also moved the associated rig forwards to avoid a dark strip at the front of the board. He now also uses LED strip lights instead of bulbs. By alternating between the two different coloured LEDS, the lighting can represent either a bright cloudy day or full sunshine.

Another new direction for Phil was the painting of his backscene.

“I’d never painted a backscene before, but a friend said ‘why not get some oil paints and have a go?’. I’d just come out of hospital and was a bit bored, and the layout was more or less finished, so I thought I’d give it a go. I did it on foamboard and after a practice and a few efforts I found myself getting better. I made the trees and hills quite basic – you don’t want people looking at the backscene and not the layout. It just needs to be a representation.”

MINIMAL PROBLEMS

A problem with Phil’s previous layouts was untidy wiring. As ‘Corwenna’ was designed to be manhandled in and out of the car, care was taken to lay all the wiring neatly in conduits below the baseboard. So far there have been no problems with wires becoming loose or snagged during transportation.

‘Corwenna’s’ rolling stock matches its attention to detail, although on a simpler basis. Phil has a choice of six locomotives – three Kernow Models/dj Models Beattie tanks with coreless motors, a single Heljan ‘13XX’ EX-GWR Pannier tank, a Bachmann Class 03 shunter, and a Hornby Class 08.

Nearly all of his vans or wagons are kit-built, and come from the Parkside or Ratio ranges. Phil stresses that the brake van is the correct one for the layout, being a former LNER design. He has two, a Parkside kit version – “the handrails were a nightmare” – and a Hornby RTR model he bought recently.

At exhibitions many people are surprised to see

a layout still using the old Hornby-dublo/peco-style open couplers. Phil finds these more user-friendly than the normal tension lock couplers – coupling up is usually automatic, but the uncoupling is done with a small tool and the “hand from the sky”.

‘Corwenna’ is strictly an analogue layout, with no hint of DCC control anywhere. To run the board, Phil uses a Gaugemaster Combi controller with two 12V and a single 16V outputs.

“It’s more than adequate,” points out Phil, “the 16V works the points, and the 12V works the trains. The lighting inside the buildings works off an old phone charger. I also use a lever frame with six Peco point levers. My yard was built up using plastic card, while the tarpaulins were created with kitchen roll and foil.”

It’s plain to see that ‘Corwenna’ isn’t just another layout, but a fulfilment of an interest that began in the 1960s. It represents a piece of both Cornish and railway history, and uses skills that anyone can adopt with patience.