2017_03_31 And so March has passed us by (almost)

2017_03_31 A quiet day, kids start holidays, so the bus is an hour earlier than usual. The posty advises my parcel that left Turkey on Friday is here.

But I did get the chance to visit the hardware and get some screws to attach bogies to Al.s  BS car. I needed to fit better wheels. The brass ones fitted were just too sloppy.
At the same time I looked at my fleet of Victorian S Cars and worked out a plan, to upgrade them with close fitting couplers, interiors and better bogies.

Then I opened my parcel.  I bet not many of you have found a reason to deal with Turkey? Well I can tell you this is my fourth purchase and this mob is a pleasure to deal with. So much so, I think I might give them a free add :D

DHL satchel very fast and much cheaper than Turkish post. Maybe more reliable too?

Very heavy weight box, protects contents, as with every purchase made.

Packed tightly, great instructions.

 Pleasant looking accurately produced product.

A free gift! Now that's old fashioned good business sense.

Now all I got to do is see if I can make it work as well as their video shows it can work :)

And for those who would like to read the literature in print?

Ballast spreader carriage
Ballast Glue Application Carriage

Cheers
Rod Young

2017_03_30 Alday...allday :)

2017_03_30  Cooler, blue sky day. Two track laying teams, and then some carriage maintenance.

Level crossing track renewed and point installed and motored. Just needs wiring.

I decided not to go with the filler. Not sure I did the right thing though.. The new track is slightly, perhaps 2 mm, lower than the old track.. thinking... thinking...

From this angle it is not so bad, and from 5 feet away and eyeballing it, not so bad also.

However the camera shows a different story. The reverse camber was built in originally. I am not going to fix it. I need to keep some of the original track in, and its reliable, everything goes through it ok.

Al continued on with the Wodonga to Albury link and had a lot of trouble getting the track fixed to the bridge girders. Finished up trying several glues. finally fixing it with supa-glue. I had several types but Al was not able to make it stick. Like always, though, he persevered, and Loktite premium did the job. Other supa-glue's we tried were taking too long to go off, and it was definitely not a simple job, because of it.  

You cannot keep Al talking for long. Back into it and now he has turned the corner into Albury.

The approach is all fixed down just needs droppers to be connected.

Of course we would like to start laying Albury yard. However that creates a not so new problem. Over the months the Albury Yard has become a dumping spot. and I need to clear the mess... but where too? I am running out of places to store stuff, and storage bins!

Ah wrong bench, but you get the idea! You can't build on the bench till you clear it off, and to clear it off, you need to find somewhere to store it, and you need to remember where you stored it all  :( 
Thanks again, Al for another great day?

 Where are you Al?
Oh he is fixing up Honeysuckle, making it safe to remove the modules , to connect them all up, and bolt them together, and fix them in place, our next job!
What was I doing?  Playing around with some Lima 12 wheelers (tams) trying to get them to stay on the track. We fitted KD's and scale wheels, but the bogies were fouling on the couplers on curves. Al is going to see how they run on his layout.
And so another productive Thursday, and a heap of work done...  Closer to running trains.. even  :D
Cheers
Rod

2017_03_29 Some reconstruction and some playing?

2017_03_29   The track gangs  are busy in Trentham

Unfortunately cannot fix the old hand laid track, so the gangs moved in to upgrade the area with  pre built 70 pound points. Line is expected to reopen shortly!

The original layout used soft caneite as underbed, laid very thin sleepers on top and spiked it all into place.

And so I have had to scrape out the top layer of Caneite to lower the flexi track to the same height as the track was originally
 

After cutting out the track pieces to fit, I will then lay coloured "No More Gaps" under the track, partly to seal the caneite, but to level the roadbed to secure the track in correct position. Might have to use card board to stop filler from coming up through sleepers though (so much for colours Ha Ha!)

And some fun

 Google destroyed Video however Vimeo....

And some special advertising.
The bloody C took a great Dynon Engineman too early from us a few years back. In NSW we had the log book cartoonist who decorated all the log books, first and last page for some years with hand drawn cartoons ,all original and all were recognised by Engineman as what the job had turned into.
We in Victoria amongst others had our own Rick Kaleta. His son is trying to sort many of them into a book, and I thought a lot of people might want to share a part of this and buy a copy. You cannot help to understand what makes a good engineman. You will love it as we all do on the Rail side.
Let me quote our Mr Hinch
"Good evening all. I am delighted to announce that after about 4 years of toil, the works of the late Ricky Kaleta are soon to be available in book form.Ricks son David Kaleta (V/Line Driver) has done a massive job of compiling this book which will include 150 of Ricks drawings including all of those wonderful caricatures of Enginemen and others which once adorned the walls of South Dynon and the Fuel Point. The approximate cost will be $40 give or take a few bucks. This will be a collectors classic for every Engineman and rail enthusiast as there will be a limited print run. All proceeds from the book will go to a cancer research institution. Please spread this message far and wide as we really want this to be a success both for cancer research and Ricks memory. Please text or phone your pledge to Dave Kaleta on 0433646491. Thanks and regards Michael Hinch."

and some samples?  :D Why not :)

 Rest in Peace Ricky, you were a great engineman, and we loved you mate!

Cheers
Rod

2017_03_25 Saturday working on bridges!

2017_03_25  Al missed me or my Railway, either way, he was over for more punishment

Interesting few days.
My friend Gerry Hopkins was working on my D3 and my N Class and they arrived in the mail  Friday. So lost some time playing trains.
As well part of my Auscision order and my late arriving SDS order was hand delivered by SDS on the way through on way back to Sydney. (Did I tell  that already?)

Got a lot more wiring done on Thursday and some more Friday. Finally restored 4 power districts, however I have an error signal telling me I still have leakage between power districts. Very annoying!

Today we started off running track into Albury yard, however I threw a spanner in the works when I remembered we had to cross the Murray River. Al was not pleased, but he removed two sections of track, meticulously laid and we cut out a place for the bridge. We did a great job, so let the pictures speak for us as always.

A story about a good little signal, that was dropped in its infancy, poor little signal :(

As my tears blur the picture, we say fond goodbyes to dear old Distant no 1 at Honeysuckle. We cannot say you served us well, however you cost me a bucket of dollars and far too soon, you departed our railway Bye Bye Distant No 1

McKenzie and HolLand arrived Friday and began to erect a replacement for good old Distant No 1. So we line it up before fixing it to the ground..eh, we need to finish off a bit of scenery? ok lets leave it in the "Clip-It" bin.

McKenzie delivered another three signals, which will be installed after all the work is done.

 This is a 30 year old Alco Locomotive bought recently and restored and fitted with a WoW sound system, by Gerry Hopkins MMR Now the dog runs very well. Thank you Gerry.

Al working the tools (Does he do all the work around here?  seems so.)
We very accurately measured the gap, and fitted the bridge almost perfectly first fit. First error was that the Chooch middle pylon was longer than the abutments, which needed a slight adjustment.
Just before we cut we remembered to allow for the track underlay. And it worked. Al was in charge of this job, and he slowed me down and the job went relatively easily, for us both.

We fixed the abutments and the middle pier with small amounts of liquid nails. Even finished up using smaller amounts to secure the bridge on top. Ha Ha it did the job, and you cannot see it pushing out anywhere.

I don't think we can do that with the track though?
Anybody advise us what to glue Peco track to a Walthers Bridge with?

So thats another fine mess you got me out of!!
Thanks Al,
Cheers Rod Young

2017/03/19 Quiet day started a bridge though

2017_03_19 Nearly done on the wiring, however point motors are giving some grief.

Dry fitted the bridge abutments. Now I know how it has to go, should look just right.

Should look ok, as dirt and ballast hide the ply.

The road dips down under the bridge for added clearance. The wing walls are capped but designed to pull back on an angle meaning the bricks are laid up a hill. Not sure if that would happen, concidering bricks are cemented with a wet slurry?

Cheers
Rod

2017_03_18 Another work day? Woooooeeeeee!!

2017_03_18 Three of us today, building another wall and fixing up the embankment.

Continuing the cutting and creating the embankment. Better lay the track, wire it, the glue the foam down. This is Graeme's creation, I just follow orders on this one.  ;)

Cutting a hole here for the bridge.

Certainly looks like a train track (even without the rails Ha Ha.)

The Wall 

First we knocked up a frame and cut the plaster to size.
Here Graeme fixes the frame to the brick pier.

We just smashed the distant signal, after telling each other to be careful. I was pushing the frame through to Al on the other side, when he took the weight and pulled it I lost balance and dropped it. With lots of places to land, you guessed it, right on the signal, the safety board even made sure it hit it :( Tony will be pleased...not!

From the other side. both frames in place.

And all covered up ready for filling and painting.
Thanks to Al and Graeme who made all this possible
Cheers
Rod