2023_03_28 Feb-Mar catch up.

2023_03_28 So catching up with 2023.

And so, I attended one Exhibition (the wrong one apparently)  And spent many more days sorting out point motors and wiring. We also continued on with the overhead canopy.

Gallery

 

A THURSDAY WITH AL

When wiring the top level, we use this device to make it easier for this old fella.

Adjusting the height of the bed.

Designing a new POWER CABINET

Another mess to sort out.

We have designed a new power box that will neaten this all up.

 

Went to SANDOWN EXHIBITION

 As I draw closer to finishing off the wiring and track work, my mind turns towards the scenery. These supplies will come in handy.

I forgot Kyneton Exhibition was on the same day. Everybody tells me I missed out on the best Exhibition held in Victoria. Check out Will James review of Kyneton here

Press right hand corner of youtube if it needs enlarging

ok its Hornby revived Lima. However it looks pretty good if yoy only pay $320. :D

 

Wasn't going to buy these. However I had ordered a BL which was brought to Victoria as a Series 1 G Class. So what the heck?  You cant have enough G's, can you? 

Final fix for point controllers ALBURY YARD

We installed a Tortoise motor after finding nine points needed controls.

We used two Simple servo 6 controllers (8 servo) and a Tortoise to make up the 9th. 

I also moved the control switches (spdt) from The station box to the south box.

Ok  L257 was a little eager to depart, it seems!   Last connection made and power turned on. Now we can clean up the mess and tie up the wiring underneath.

OVERHEAD CANOPY. work over a few days.

On last Friday Graeme and I worked on the canopy in the East side of room

Last picture shows a step back as problems developed. Fascia was glued down and then secured with rivets. Why did the material then expand?

Graeme cuts up the aluminium tube.

Fixing the supports to the piers with loxins.

Counter balancing the supports.

Forming the shape of the fascia.

Joining it all up.

All leveled up and going together as planned

The helix turned out easy after we worked out where the frame was in the roof.

Oh, and after Graeme made up these specialty joiners on his 3D printer.

Another view.

And so we added the fascia with glue and rivets.

the glue.

And the damn stuff expanded and buckled over night! The masonite, previously used, shrunk. Can't take a trick.

Cheers  Rod.

PS Tomorrow Tonk K is going to repair the damage accidently done to HoneySuckle and revive the station, once again.

2023_02_03 The Loco Depot (revisited)

2023_02_03 So lets try this today.
 

 

 

Cheers

Rod

2023_01_27 Making the last canopy.

 2023_01_27 And so today we started to assemble the last canopy on the east wall.

  

 

 

Still editing my wheat train video. Its not easy , and still a crude video.. ouch

Cheers

Rod

2023_01_09- Running a BG Wheat train to NSW via the Wodonga Bogie Exchange. Part 1

 Wodonga wheat trains.

Wodonga did not handle wheat hoppers at all.

However sometimes VHGX hoppers proceeded to Albury and beyond via the Bogie Exchange at Wodonga Coal Siding. We can do that here on the layout.

They might return via the bogie exchange or proceed to Dynon on the SG and bogie exchange there.

Cheers

Rod

 

 

 

2023_01_03- Finally something to show you.

2023_01_03 Happy New year one and all. 

And so the last few months weren't very visual, and so the blog suffered a bit.

But today I hoped to post some videos. Spent most of the day clearing the bench tops after months of dumping tools all over the place. Left me an hour or so to set up a movie, and little time to edit it. Try to do something tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime had a welcome visitor yesterday and we installed brackets to hold up the new valence as well the Masonite backdrop got undercoated. So finally some pictures :D

The undercoat hides the curves and dissapears the bricks.

The metal angle is installed to support the aluminium canopy similar to installation on left of picture.

Cheers

Rod

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2022

Best Wishes from all of us here at Hobsons bay North

Here is a video for you all.

You Tube

 

Cheers All 

Rod and the gang.

Home about 8 weeks and time for an update.

 A video update.

We have been bogged down for many months with wiring problems and also coming to grips with using servo motors to control points and signals.

The point controllers have caused many problems, and recently I was fortunate to discover a solution.

Simple Servos

 

These controllers are simple to set up, and they just work!!

 

Here is an update video.

 

Apologies for the mess, but it does show a lot of work has been going on.

Lets start cleaning up, before we take another video of running trains.

Cheers

Rod

A sad end for Bally Hooley

 Balley Hooley is now a static restaurant. Money not available to keep it running!

The three engines are supposed to be in good running order. However the volunteers were unable to keep railway running. I think the old men sealed their fate when not attracting new young blood over the years.

Touring in my caravan

 No model trains as I am still touring in my van. I am heading south again,though slowly.

So here is a pictorial history of the last few days.

Before departing Port Douglas my son fixed the water leak in my hot water service. We were going to bronze it up, however I found a new unit for $1065 in Cairns So decided to replace it.

Badly installed dissimilar metals. Could not budge it, Finally sheered it right off.

plywood floor was probably saved by this aluminium tray,

We could have ordered a new steel tank, however no idea how long it would take.

Here my son attacks the brass fitting knowing it would certainly break.

The leak dribbled for several weeks and finally burst. We tapped away all the rust and found this hole,

The leak probably started behind this badly welded bracket? left lower...

This was supposed to be new unit, but cannot find that picture.

Anyway unit went straight back in and works very well

Cheers

Rod

2022_07_10 Bloody Hell!!! Where did four months go to?

 2022_07_10  Sorry about the (lack of) posts. 

And thank you to all who have inquired about me. No I still have not got covid, and am still not vaccinated. I don't sit around home, and am out and about as normal. Health is pretty good, although nearing my 77th birthday, I am exhausting myself more than I remember before.  

                                                                                                                                                                THE LAYOUT  

    Its not because we have not been working on the Railway.

Its more like working hundreds of hours and yet nothing much accomplished :(

Wiring has always been my problem and that includes soldering. And that's why we used spade connectors to make our joins. And no that has never been a problem, not once!

However the spades have made trouble shooting much easier. With over 500+ spades being purchased, and all failures caught at installation. Either failed to grab wire, or  difficult to push into main buss thus breaking spade off.

Trouble shooting? If you have a short in an isolated section, just remove connector and follow through till fault goes away. Fix and move along. Imagine using solder instead of spades. Ok Ok I know some of you "experts" out there don't make mistakes and never ever have to redo connections. Sadly that's not me, it would seem.

Trouble shooting is done using Poses track detectors, and multi meters. Yesterday a friend (Graeme who we will show building backdrops later) Built a battery operated buzzer to detect shorts. This caused us a lot of problems.

As an example . If I test between rails with the meter set to ohms and buzzer, I get no responses in some places. When we ran the buzzer over same connection, we get a short indication. So far I have found that you must remove all trains and illuminated carriages from track. And as my Tam Valley devices also run off the DCC buss, I am wondering if we are still on the same fools errand. Getting under the layout to disconnect every TAM device would be a real problem, 6 months into the chase to find out why the Albury section of the layout is no longer working. The c/b is tripped allowing the rest of the layout to run perfectly.... 

Tonight I will make a video of the fault and we can try to work this out together. I am sure it will be solved by one of you :D

The last backdrops (hiding the brick walls are in. Thank you Graeme, who designed and installed them.

 

BACKDROPS

Pictures tell the story again. 

Who put the bricks in front of the backdrop built to hide the bricks??

All we need to do is blue them up a bit :D

Cheers

from all of us :D