Comtrain goes H0! H0! H0!: 09/17/15

2015/09/17

2015_09_17
Well next Monday starts the doomsday week right off . So 5 to 7 days to go?
Thought I better say goodbye to you all, just in case :D

An asteroid? Or a financial meltdown? Everybody down in nutsville is getting really excited on YouTube this year ;)

In the meantime I am still working on the railway :)

Wouldn't it be lovely if i could stay on one project? Well it keeps happening, and side tracks seem to swallow me up all the time :(

Working on a complete rewire of the storage roads under the helix. Its difficult to access and had to shift a lot of stuff, but found out why the helix was drooping in two spots. So no wiring got done but the dips have been straightened out. Using measured risers for each level, means thet every level sees the dip. Fix one riser and every level is fixed at one time. Put masonite strips under two legs, adjusted the height, and clamps and white glue fix the super elevation. Wonder if the picture will show it fixed?

So when I arrived this morning, track that has not seen a train for 5 years was accessed cleaned and every fish plate needed to be reset. Constant heat and Cold temperatures seem to work the plates along the rail, till they pop.
* Distraction No.1 clean track, fix joins and then solder one side (short side)

Leaning over the top of the Helix, I leaned on the top track and broke the glue bond, which took the hill out of the track at that spot. So I had to repair it anyway, so why not adjust the legs on the helix and fix the dip in the track, eh make that three dips in the track :(
* So that's distraction No.2

So jamming two pieces of masonite strip under neath the riser seems to work ok? Looks good.

yeah thats what I am saying!
Now Roger Lloyd and I built this helix about 7 or 8 years ago? When we built it it was a perfect grade, but it flexed too much between the double risers. The picture above shows the single risers I later added in to stop the flexing. It seems my calculations were out on two risers by two layers of masonite (He He) and Roger had nothing to do with the problem. Ok it looks fixed, and I wonder if the Eureka R will get up it now?

The next riser was a lot simpler, and required only gluing one level back after lifting the track.

And so its a little after 1.00pm. Got time to go out and start the wiring (again)
Cheers
Rod

About my Railway

The Australian National Railways was established by the Whitlam Federal Government following a commitment made in the 1972 election to invite the states to hand over their railway systems to the federal government. In July 1975 Australian National Railways was formed taking over the operations of the federal government owned Commonwealth Railways.

The state governments of South Australia and Tasmania whose railway systems were deeply in debt, accepted. During the next two years discussions between these two states and the federal government resulted in a number of staffing and operating agreements being made that resulted in all South Australian Railways services (except for the Adelaide metropolitan passenger network) and all Tasmanian Government Railways services transferring to Australian National Railway in March 1978, the latter being re-branded AN Tasrail.

At first Victoria declined to hand over its Railways, however a change of Government after Bolte retired meant Victoria could be absorbed into AN as well.
Despite doing everything they could to tarnish ALP leader Clyde Holding, The ALP were able to defeat Hamer who was seen to be just another Bolte, doing more of the same into the future.

Clyde Holding handed over Victorian Railways to the Commonwealth where it prospered as a division of AN retaining its VR colours until later when AN decided to re-brand it as V/Line.

My Railway thus reflects what could have been ;)
And of course National Rail (Pacific National) has no place in my little scenario. Australian National was never privatised and has continually taken East Coast loads off the Highways. As well many branch lines were upgraded and Whitlam's policy of decentralisation actually moved employment to towns with a ready pool of workers, which of course took the pressure of Melbourne which was starting to expand as bush kids moved away from the Country in search of education and employment ( just as Gough Whitlam envisaged it would do)
Rod Young

Comtrain goes H0! H0! H0!

2015/09/17

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