2013 May 19

2013 May 19  Sun is appearing for a hour or so, clouds again and sun back for a short time Still bloody cold :(


I talked Graeme and Norma into staying another day :D

So after a quick trip to Albury to get rid of a hire car, at 1130 we again turned our minds towards the Coal Siding.

Here I am with my mouth shut, is that a smile Graeme? Already a couple hours into construction and the SG loop and yard is almost completed.

 

I was asked recently if I felt like I was leaning on my friends too much?
Nah!! certainly not :(  Who ever would think that?

One of those defining moments?  Something like boring a tunnel from both ends and meeting in the middle?
The new track arrives at the Albury end and line up perfectly on the points, and it would seem the abbreviated yard is going to fit ok.

Graeme checks out the Wodonga end. In this shot you can see we discovered when looking at the pictures from yesterday that we had forgotten to install the SG entrance points towards the yard. Job now done and the loop is very much mostly built and looking great.



I guess Graeme has headed off for another holiday and will be at Corowa tonight...  hmm that's not far is it? Maybe I could get him beck for......  No better not!  Not sure how Norma would take that :D

Cheers
Rod Young
All pictures are reduced in size. Double click any picture to see it full size :)

2013 May 18

2013 May 18   Friday /Saturday  Yesterday and today cold and miserable.


Yesterday may mate Graeme and his wife Norma came for a visit and it was great catching up. Graeme kept pushing me to do some layout work, and finally I understood he was serious. Fortunately with a short delay in setting up, we were able to spend a couple of productive days setting out and installing the most difficult part of the Coal sidings.  It was pretty cold but busy hands kept us warm.

After a few hours work here is a picture of of Graeme about to damage his head under the top deck. Fortunately the blood did not flow

Here is the Wodonga end points The BG enters coal siding by crossing over the SG 

On the backdrop Graeme is finishing off the BP siding, Can you see it is protected by catch points both ends

   
Hey Graeme :)   smile!  I better introduce you to the Blog. I have known you for 41 years and you built me parts of at least five layouts and I am very pleased to see you here this weekend.
Thank you again.(and again and again ;) )

Its late Its cold (8.3 C in studio with no heating). Finishing up and ready to go into town for a meal.  So what did I do,apart from taking the pictures?  Well I could say I entertained Graeme with colourful conversation whilst he slaved away laying out the route. But I tried to keep all the soldering and modifications one step ahead so that Graeme did not have to hang around and wait .. Ha Ha!! productivity whilst it is available Ha Ha!

Using a NMRA track gauge to see improvement in flangeway after adding .010 x .060 Evergreen strip styrene to the inside of guard rail on all Universal points that I recovered from my original 1985 layout at Greensborough.  I believe that the material added forces the RP25 type wheels away from the (plastic) nose of the frog. It does not fully convert them to NMRA standard, but it does help to save the nose from being worn away. And I found that it makes the Universal points more reliable.

Time to go shopping :)  More later
To be continued :)
Cheers
Rod