2013/03/03

2010 August 24

2010  August 24   Tuesday  (Page 18 of 35)

Well I am feeling better and have made a few changes in the room... and to the room.
The first thing was to work out a means of cooling down the west wall on the Studio. I have attacked this in two ways. The first thing was to get our friends at Rand Sheds, to build us a new car port 5.5 m wide and 15 m long to protect that wall from the direct sun. As well it gives us a place to keep our cars cool, and hang out the washing on a wet day :lol:
I managed to get my hands on a "swampy" air conditioner, and although second hand was in great condition and it came out of a 16 sq house, plenty of capacity to cool the room, The quoted installation price sets it at a price $2000 cheaper than a new one.

Well I have been saving for a while and added some new items to our inventory. Have now ordered a second series R Class, which appears to be in very good condition.
Have sent my SEM R Class kit away to have it built, by Mansfield, and I am stoked that he will build it for me.
After some agonising I was very happy to order a new A2 Walscheart's gear oil burner from Precision Brass
Precision Scale Models

I can only tell you I was enthusiastic about what John Della is doing, and loved the samples and enjoyed my time with John at Caulfield.

I also came from Caulfield with a brass F Class (F315) from Train Builder

TrainBuilder

I have been warned that the DCC wiring is suspect, and tonight was spent tracing the circuitry to test that it was in fact ok. No results yet.
I loved the Aurora cars, but $650 a car, I need a minimum of 10 cars and really wanted 13 cars means I cant afford it :( Wait for the plastic fantastic from Auscision!!

I also purchased 12 Austrains I wagons and 6 B Vans. I am pretty happy with the wagons.
A pack of steel wagons (ESX) and V/Line Y146
Recent rationalisation meant that I sold off those Locomotives that did not fit into my modelling period.
I disposed of the CLP's some Freight Australia X Class, NSW 80 Class, and a mustard pot 700.
I decided to keep the 930's for sentimental reasons :)

Cheers
Rod

 2010 August 25  Wednesday

Revisiting the branch.
The local pick up goods hauled by Y131 has a load of freshly out shopped wagons today to be stored along the line in preparation for the Spring harvest.




Bullarto is looking better. Tracks have lined up nicely, but have decided to lay new track over the joins and replace all the points for more reliable operation




B60 has 3 AW type cars in charge today, because the school has booked one car for an excursion into Town today. Whilst loading the kids on, Y131 sneaks out onto the main to shunt the yard.

  
 The I trucks appear to be hauling cut styrene down the branch :) 



The B Vans are stored here this time of year in anticipation of the tobacco crop, which will soon require clean dry vans to be transported to the Melbourne Bond stores.
The F Class appears to have cooked the side rod journals once more. Seems a waste of time sending it out here all the time, only to have to tow her back after only a few days work. However the Y Class shunting engines have become very useful branchline goods engines, forcing the F Class back into shunting duties.








The hand brakes have been heavily locked down. I believe we might require a bit of scratch building to get them to the upper travelling position. What a stupid thing to do :(  



The I wagons might require the same treatment.


 Y131 sets back towards its train, before departing for Trentham.

The newest addition to the Railway is a model of South Grafton Station and Loco shed.


The small layout was designed to Exhibit about 15 years ago, but I suspect it was not actually used. I decided to buy it off E-Bay to help expedite the running of trains on this layout.
It is turning out to be a tougher project than I imagined. Construction is of a high quality.



 The turntable and shed.


 Station, Goods Shed and Yard



 Looking along the main Yard


 The trestle into South Grafton. Unfortunately damaged in transit. Will not attach it to the Sth Grafton module, instead will use it to return the branch towards the terminal station.


 This piece of Double line was used to help stage trains into and out of South Grafton. I am converting it to use it elsewhere.

Cheers
Rod


 2010 August 29   1416 hours Sunday

Hooray the sun is out it is 5 degrees C warmer, its stopped raining and I am enthusiastic once again :mrgreen:
Busy joining the branch line to the main line.
First job is to complete the bench top.
Yesterday I had some visitors, all adults and only one could see my top level at eye height. Hmmm! It is unfortunately 500mls higher than I wanted because the base board depth is greater than needed. The fix will have to be a slide out false floor which I will be able to secure in the out position for the "hobbitts" to be able to see the top level. Bunnings sell some wheels with locking clips on them, similar to those used on portable barbecue's? Note to self, it is important to have visitors, Tony and I are about the same height, and we did not notice.
Anyway cup of tea is now empty... back into the carpentry, me thinks :) Pictures tonight
Cheers
Rod

2010 August 29  2133 hours Sunday continues


Not a lot to show for 5 hours work :)
However the boxing had to be cut out and levelled, attached to the steel uprights and then attached to the braced angle brackets. These had to be adjusted and fixed to the vertical posts.
This took some setting up, clamping, adjusting etc
I am happy with the result. ;) 




The front board is perfectly level, however it has to open out another 5cm to match the Bullarto module, and I simply curved it out to the first cross piece. That is what you see here.

The single track will twist and climb a steep little grade to reach the Bullarto level.

Cheers


Rod

2010 July 16

2010 July 16  Friday  (Page 17 of 35)

Long time in between visits eh? :shock:

Well clean up day started yesterday and extended into today. packed away finished projects and a lot of unfinished ones too. Cleaned up the aisles to make more work room.
Purchased some extra fluoro lights and finally got the Helix area properly lit. And started working on the Helix once again. Found I had not allowed room between the inner track and the uprights, so removed two yards of track, and started relaying it once again, this time within the clearances.

I purchased a model of Grafton South (?) station which is 27 feet long and a maximum 4 feet wide (1.22 m)
I am contemplating using this in stead of the Coal siding I originally thought of building. It looks impressive in the pictures, and will save me a heap of time, if it fits as I think it will. Will have to drive up to Newcastle to pick it up.

Also lost my way a bit and purchased a Southern Pacific AC4 Cab Forward. This Paragon 2 Plastic Locomotive has smoke and sound matched to the piston strokes, and the smoke unit is air pumped out to sequence the rest.
I hope it is as good as they claim :)

I also was able to increase the 4 wheel rolling stock by 4 B Vans, and am still waiting on 10 others (variety) from Cory.
I will also get 6 L's built and another ZL. That will just about finish me off for 4 wheelers. hmm I don't have any I wagons, water gins of fuel tanks... maybe a few more.

Cheers
Rod

2010 August 12 Thursday

Have not been that well lately, having trouble activating myself, to overcome some problems that are holding it up. Hopefully soon
Cheers
Rod

 2010 August 24  Tuesday


Actually spent a few days away and went to Melbourne via Bendigo.
Spent a couple hours at Caulfield, and had an enjoyable time helping to operate Broadford at the Exhibition.

Operated a BG wheat train with 25 hoppers and a pass train on a Digitrax 400, one on each throttle, some changes every 5 laps or so, and managed to prevent any collisions. :mrgreen:
Purpose was to keep something out front all the time, and was happy that I could do just that. Broadford is being temporarily retired to Bendigo, where it will be rebuilt, hopefully with working signals and electric point motors. We will have the yards at Broadford working correctly, we hope.
We had major troubles with derailments causing shorts, stopping the whole show!! :cry:
I hope to introduce the club to the 21 watt light bulb circuit protection method I am using here at my layout. It works well !!

Cheers
Rod

2010 June 3

2010 June 3 Thursday  (page 16 of 35)

Thursday June 3 2010
Very Quiet here today, worked around the house.
Package from Auscision arrived today 8 lovely NLKY some blue, some weathered red. Very nice
Placed them on the track, departed shed and did not go back in :)
Maybe tomorrow :lol:
Cheers
Rod


2010 June 23  Wednesday

Haven't done a damn thing!
Oh I did soak some weed in 98% Glycol to preserve them. Strip some wiring from the Branch line and spend a heap of money!
Purchased a BGM brass K Class , never been run :mrgreen:
Purchased 3 extra Locsound mini decoders and arranged 10 new sound projects from BG sound DCCSOUND.com
Purchased 15 Steam Era kits built, painted and decalled. Thanks Corey :)
and started building a ME plate girder bridge... All or almost all inside the house with very little time spent in the Studio. maybe tomorrow?
Cheers
Rod


2010 June 28   Monday  Bloody Cold Brrrrr!!

 Dear All
some pictures that tell the story



 The two red wires lower down are the DCC bus lines. They are named "inner" and "Outer"
The outer was supposed to be black but I got two 100 m rolls for $44 and the cable is
low resistance Audio cable able to move up to 35 amps for long distances
Each globe protects a track, so three blue wires marked 1,2 and 3 feed power to 3 tracks
via a 21 watt 12 volt auto globe. The auto globe takes the load caused by any shorts,
thus allowing the rest of the layout to run normally. Without the globes the short would
shut down the entire territory.


The Powerline S Car project.



 The bottom of the bland toy like S Car. Here you see the cheap bogie and how it is press fitted to
the car. The couplings are temporarily glued to the body, after cutting the "dunny seat" Lima
couplings away from the bogie. You can see the cut at the right of the bogie centre beam.



On the left you can see the cheap Powerline wheel sets. Supposed to be a hobby item, its a toy!!
The SEM RP25 wheel sets that replaced them are on the right.



 I have had this little tool for many years. The SEM wheel sets were too tight, so I gently opened
up the holes with the tool. It is adjustable and is rotated with the thumb whilst holding the side
frames tightly. The depth is set by loosening the allen screw. The length of the cut is determined by
the amount of cutter exposed.



Rotating the cutter. The thumb and fore finger would be covering the axle boxes and squeezing would create the cutting action.



  The crossbeam is files flat and a styrene piece is glued in place to help keep the bogie strong when
the hole is drilled through the beam.


 The bolster is filled with styrene pipe and glued


 And attached with a loose 8 BA screw. 


  A suitable length of C section, is then glued to the car floor to simulate the missing centre beam,
the top is cleared to allow the air reservoir to poke through.

Now all that is required is to paint the beam and weather the existing details. Adjust the couplings
for closer fit and put it on the track once again.
13 more to go. And I have found some working concertinas so I will fit those too.


Cheers
Rod


2010 June 28   Monday.... Still 

Well Look at what I have got here :)
Brand New in 1982.. and been out of the box, and never turned an axle under its own power.
It had been assembled wrong and a tender bogie was turned 180 which shorted out when on the track (I think)

The pictures are provided without further comment (almost) :)

Cheers
Rod


( Edit on 2013 March 3
This Loco has since been sent off to DCC Sounds and been fitted with a Loksound genuine K Class unit. As well it was tweaked and fitted with extra pickups as well as lighting.
Despite being un-used we also repaired the valve gear, after a solder point failed )