2016_10_06 Continues

2016_10_06  Still trying to get the silo area looking right

Decided to install a platform, which needed more track rearrangement. I bought the station on E Bay a few years ago. Maybe someone will recognise it  :)

 Already I find the requirements needed to keep curves on the SG about 44" or above are going to force me to remove all the points and move them away from the BG points temporarily located (on top) near the platform.. The slip is roughed in, and this is not going to work.

The SG sneaks in behind, just as on the North East Line and the 80 footers are looking ok.

The station is fully detailed and has a goods shed on main platform. Not prototypical, I guess, but a nice little scene, none the less.

Cheers
Rod

2016_10_05 (addendum)

2016_10_05  Roger?

Just to let you know :D I did not stop (yet)
The wiring was attached and now I have returned to sorting out the mystery short. I thought it was fixed. However its not :(
Cheers
Rod

All the wiring is in place. The crimp terminals are very tight. In fact I cannot push them in without pliers (or get them apart)

Thought I could start fitting foam, but then I remembered that, depending on how the helix works out, I may shorten the out riggers to give a better view of the bottom level. Its a pity really.
Cheers
Rod

2016_10_05 ( 7 Days over Liverpool weekend)

 2016_09_30 Picked Roger up at the Station.

Its Liverpool weekend, and Roger Lloyd and I are heading North once again. Roger normally spends a few days working on my railway. The hope is that his inspirational presence will keep me going for another year ;)

Prior to his arrival, I had fitted the Wodonga goods shed into position, but had caused a few problems, one being the wagons were not able to clear the door.

Here is Roger fixing in a base for the model. We found some 9mm ply, cut out the track through the shed and laid thin caulk inside and found platform heights, and clearances were spot on. Like I said...inspirational :D

Cannot fit Wodonga yard in exactly, so will build car storage towards left of picture.

The ply lifts shed high enough. You can see the through track on rear wall? It is also lowered and will represent bitumen over track for vehicular access.

Long view with shed lifted and track roughed in.

The "Roarer" arrived  on BG ???? Modellers license is a mysterious thing :D

2016_10_03  Back from Liverpool

The new territory now gets some track!

The long SG link road is hidden track. It sits aainst the wall and drops 210mm over 17 m. Although hidden, the operator will be able to look over the top of the "blocker" and watch his train climb,or descend.
In front of the SG will sit a level BG track which runs to a reverse loop on top of the Helix, with a mail line station built into the S bend. then return via the same line.

Roger is planning the next move, which is stringing cable and laying track to connect to that cable.

Cable is in, and now he is laying track which has droppers pre-soldered to each length. Small strips of ply are screwd and glued to side to stiffen up the ply, and stop trains dropping to floor. Remember this is hidden track.

It is hidden because I decided not to use South Grafton in the space behind where Roger is standing. It was better to keep the open area, rather than close the acces down to 900mm

2016_10_04 Continued to lay track.

And whilst Roger worked this side, I ripped out part of the silo at the top end of the old helix. Had to relay the silo yard as well as the SG loop points after replacing the ply under it with one piece of 5 ply. This was needed because the surface was just not flat enough to guarantee safe passage of trains.

Whilst working here, the old mind was ticking over. You can see the white new ply under the piece of foam? Well that was the new bit. I have already placed the BG and started to put in the SG loop points at the furterest end..

Fitting out the SG loop points

Now that I have thought things out, I have decided to install a ready made station, I have, in front of the silos. That means, I need to sweep the SG track, back towards the Silo area in order to install the station, facing the passage way.

This shows the realignment of the BG towards the edge of the baseboard. The SG with train sitting on it, is also pushed back, opening up the space for the platform between the two tracks. I now have to remove the SG crossover and push it further away from camera and realign it to the new through track alignment. Just about run out of track too. So better order some more.

And as I reached the Quarry end of the long straight, Roger poked the SG through the gap behind the center modules.

Hey Al?  Look oat our clean floors :(  But at least we re-commissioned the table saw. Mind you, all the junk sitting atop it, is now sitting on the layout. I need more boxes for storing things :(

Thanks Roger and Al for getting me this far along.

Cheers
Rod

2016_09_22 Work on new territories continues....

2016_09_22 Al and I continue ....

Setting up the SG track that runs behind the branch terminus, out of site about 1% down grade.
Just setting it up temporarily at this time.

The BG near Al's head creaps out and will be in front of SG and remains dead level. It too will hide behind Honeysuckle Creek and only appear when SG is out of direct sight.

1% gradient almost perfectly set up. Al has great eyes!  I probably need to fix more supports to plaster though to take out bumps.

We tested the Honey Suckle branch modules and they fit nicely in front of these tracks.

Feeling a little bit unwell, so decided to finish off early at 3.00 pm.  Al is on his way home and I am
improved after a couple aspirin and a cup of tea.

Going to see if I can return to rewire Wanganella tonight.
Cheers
Rod

2016_09_21 Another work day?

2016_09_21  Al came over to escape painting at home :)  Well it was wet and bleak day, I guess?

Fortunately I had worked out we could do a fair bit of work.
Typically I stuffed up with the maths (again :( )  and it was a good stuff up, because it reduced the gradient from Wodonga Coal siding to Albury from a possible 3% back to 0.5%. How I managed that, is beyond me :(

I need to make 3 connections around that corner of the building. Apart from making a lot of work trying to reduce the 5% grade, and then having to repair it when I found it was really much less than that  <sheesh>

some pictures...

So this is coal siding to Albury connection. I was going to install two girder bridges here but when I discovered the gradient was so steep, I gave up on that idea. Happy mistake because now I can fit the bridges back in.

Tomorrow we are going to have a go at the two tracks on the top level. First one at back is the long descending grade to the new Helix at the other end. Beside it is a level BG track running to the S Bend station on top of the new helix, with the SG descending down the helix. Because it descends gradually along the long wall, it joins the helix 21cm below the BG station.
The Helix then feeds the Sydney side of Albury Station forming a reversing loop for the SG Main.

 Bridges sitting in approx. position

 Walthers double track Girder bridges. Will do till a typical NSW river bridge comes along!

The picture shows the blind divider in behind the the trestle which will hide the link track behind, whilst still allowing re-railing because the top is left open. I hope to cut the background sheets to show sky on the wall and trees etc on the divider.

ok went out a grabbed this shot. Shows off the divider behind trestle, hiding the tracks behind

Thanks Al, you  were a great help, pity I made the blunders that slowed us down. Tomorrow is another day :D
Cheers
Rod

2016_09_20 a mixture yesterday and today

2016_09_20 Happy Birthday to my Grandson, Kae 14 yo yesterday!

Got a few jobs finished or started...

WODONGA GOODS SHED

 Need to stick down this road bed in front of the Goods shed. Going to use some spray adhesive for the job. Enables me to lay the track to the turntable finally. The black foam perfectly matches the Trackrite underlay and was provided by them.

NEW TERRITORIES TRACKWORK

So  next job was to destroy a $100 sheet of 5 ply!

The aluminium tube has two pencil holders clamped to it and using the floor to find the center point , I was able to create curves wide enough to fit two tracks and a third one track that will allow 36' and for double track, 38" radii. 

And then I cut out two of the three straight sections, along the weakened edge, to link up with the curves.

The bottom curved bed is the link between Wodonga and Albury. This is a real problem, because my gradients badly messed up here. Fortunately the wall is so long and the station fits somewhat in the middle, so I can cut the gradient back into the main board. Unfortunately this makes it look less like Albury than I intended.. Top level shows the single track  branch line heading towards the terminal, Honesuckle Creek, which is here crossed by a timber trestle.
The slightly lower level track is hidden SG and BG connections that will run behind Honey Suckle out of site.

BACKDROPS (cont)

Although not perfect, with paper loose between tape fixings, it is by far better than anything else we have been able to manage. Happy with it. Just waiting to see how Graeme feels.

WIRING!
As well as all this, I started removing temporary wiring from Coal siding to Wanganella, commissioning the changes last night. Now I am going to start on Wanganella, which is still running the original temporary set up. Hoping this will overcome some of the mystery shorts that shut me down last few months.
Cheers
Rod

2016_09_16 two in a row :)

2016_09_16  Back scenes again :(

Graeme arrived today with a grin and an optimistic view that today we could win the battle of the scenes. We checked the test edge on the existing sheet and found it had held. So onward and into the next sheet. We will wait a week and see what happens with our double sided tape trial.
Here are the pictures.

 Trimming the 5 foot sheets using a scalpel and a steel rule.
(Now if I thought it out, I could have had this prepared before Graeme arrived :(  )

Cutting strips of double sided tape and applying them about 6 inches apart,
after inserting the drop behind scenery, and pining it at bottom.

Ok we used drawing pins to locate the bottom and folded it back. Then we fixed the double sided tape as shown. striped off the protective layer of tape and simply holding sheet tight pressed paper from left hand bottom towards right hand top. I held the paper tight but clear of tape by about 3 inches and Graeme worked towards me.

The last strip of tape was applied after we got the paper fixed without any folds. It really looks great.
Then we fixed the tape to the paper and fixed both in place.

Ok we decided to leave the less buckled sheet in place. But removed the badly wrinkled one furthest from the camera. I need to sugar soap the glue off and we can replace that sheet next week.

We are both pretty happy with the way it all turned out.
Cheers
Rod