Comtrain goes H0! H0! H0!: 11/15/19

2019/11/15

2019_11_15 Couple of good work days!

2019_11_14 Thursday14th was another Al-day working on Albury,

I usually feel for Al when I get him to help, but track laying Albury is actually being kind? Well at least he is able to sit down on the job ;)

Albury yard is nearing the Sydney end.

Now Al is lining up the points at the other end, where all 6 SG tracks enter the double LH points that separate the main line climbing the helix from the double track storage loop that runs around the bottom of the helix.

Here he is setting up the hand made Indonesian double LH points, which match the helix radius (44 and 46 inch)

All this time I am doing my wiring trick,which I believe will guarantee continuity on my entire layout.
The red and black wires guarantee the connection to the point body, and the purple and green wires connect the blades into the same circuit. The live frog is switched by a Tortoise point motor, or a Tam Valley juicer via the white wire.
Very time consuming, however its nice to know that mechanical connections on Peco point motors are not relied on to stay working.

2019_11_15 Friday was a scenery day with Graeme!

Before Graeme left today, I got him to help me set up the lights on the top level. Graeme wanted to see two strings of LED's. So the top level is two strings and the bottom level a single string. Camera lies and the extra light is noticeable.

At night....

OK the main job today was the top level facia. It has two layers and the first one is screwed into position and stand offs create a little more space for scenery.
The top face was then glued on top ready for painting.
The top was then contoured with a Stanley knife which was a bit frightening to watch. After breathing a sigh of relief when we finished doing that to wait for the glue to dry before finishing off next time I keep looking at that lovely little station sitting up there. I really like it, and I bought it on EBay years ago.

But it was a bit of an orphan. Although it had a large grain silo behind it, main line trains needed to back into the grain terminal from the main line. It needed a siding, and now was the time to speak up.

So now this little station has a No2 road to service its customers.

Needs a pair of points here at this end. Runs down through a crossover and double slips to enter the main, or the silo area. Nice, and I really like this change :)

As well during the week, I almost finished re-wiring the old Helix. First thing I did was connect in two EB1 circuit breakers and supply power to three wires Pos bus for BG, Pos bus for SG and a black bus return. I am now in the process of hot gluing the wires out of the way, and reconnecting the track power wires to their correct sub bus lines.

Cheers
Rod Young

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!

2019/11/15

2019_11_15 Couple of good work days!

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About Me

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