2023_06_23 Near Catastrophe at Hobsons Bay Nth.

 2023_06_23 Two weeks ago, Al and I spent the day fixing up Trentham.

And this old fella could not have done it without Al's help or these special tools.

SPECIAL TOOLS  (Not human kind ;)

This trolley helps me to work under the lower bench top. Its slightly lifted off the floor, to help with holding arms up and seeing the work being undertaken. Using magnifying glasses (3.00) makes it easier too.

This adjustable trolley was built by Graeme and uses a mechanics trolley. Removed the wheels and put them on the frame. Also works a treat. Except....  for last Thursday!

More to come later!!

Changing track down end of Trentham (old Shinohara three way point had power routing problems and constant derailments)

With a lot of work, Al got the Peco code 75 three way point installed with only one kink that I can see. He did great work as he usually does. However electrical gremlins meant we had to return here the following Thursday

Trains would run into the dock, however a direct short occurred when trying to run in or out of the platform road. Got to be a simple problem, eh?

Turns out an easy fix. The connector on the Tortoise (used at Trentham) Was incorrectly fitted and shorted out the feed to the frog.

AS it turned out, unfortunately, I used the high trolley to get under and fix the point. I could not see the Tortoise properly as it was behind framework. I slid forward and there lies the problem. After seeing the connector was shorting, I fixed that problem. Al tested a loco through the points and it was time for me to come out from under. When I sooted forward, I did not realise that the red tray had bent under my weight.

And then Al pulled the trolley out.... OUICH!

Two points and a section of track well and truly buggered!

Fortunately Al fixed one point.

And it was easy enough to replace the flexi track.

Work in progress.

Ok all done.

So next week we will wire in the last point motors (if I get a panel finished by then.

We have taken away the Tam Valley Octo switches (p/b with leds) and installed toggle switches (to match the simple switches) Their are 18 point motors required to power Wodonga yard. I have two more simple switch 8's to add to the Octo (8) switches in place.

 And so this is the final bit. All point motors installed, just the toggles and panel to go.

Two simple switches are waiting to allow for 16 switches and servo point controllers.

Cheers Rod

2023_06_10 So where are we today?

 2023_06_10 Its just plain too cold and wet!

And so THURSDAY....

Despite all the excuses we have actually squared away a few things. Electrically the railway actually seems to be working with every track now working well on DCC.

Honeysuckle was repaired by Tony K (who donated it to the cause.) Wired it up,got the points working and temporary controls installed. Tony is building a new lever frame for this station, as we had to re-configure it as a through junction rather than a terminus, in its original form. Tony has already built all the operating semaphore signals, and they are stored away until the scenery and ballast are fixed up and the new lever frame arrives.

Last Thursday Al and I had our regular workday and we moved on to some dodgy track work on the branch line. We had already spent a lot of time trying to resurrect the old hand laid track. And so decided to replace the three way points with a peco code 75 asymmetric three way point that almost matched the original. Almost is the operative word. But it certainly improved operations at Trentham. 

Some pictures.

The Peco point did not actually fully match the footprint of the original hand made point.

However Al worked his magic! and it fixed down (despite the caneite base) and will tidy nicely, I think.

All went well .I laid on my trolly under the points and fixed the point motors in place and wired the three way point in. Then I had to replace the points into the dock road. It was late and I struggled to get the throw rod into the throw bar. Pushed too hard and broke the damn thing. It was a code 70 microscale point, and I could not drill out the hole on the throwbar because it was too flimsy....

So I now have to fix it up before Al comes again. He was disappointed with me, I am sure :(

FRIDAY...............

Graeme gave me a call, and said he was in the mood to do some painting!

And so he did (some painting)

Graeme saw the buckled valence for the first time. We decided the best fix (for us) was to triple the number of rivets and force the buckles as flat as we could. The results were good enough, I guess.

Graeme then painted the valence mat black.

Obviously he was not yet "painted out" and we did find some 6 year old costeau blue paint in a leaky tin and we watered it down to get just enough paint for the job.

And so onwards and forwards the trusty roller headed away, back to the other end again.

We can now see an end to the project we started last year to hide the bricks.

And so with the backdrops painted and the valence in place our next projects are staring us in the face. Graeme gets to start his scenery, and I get to install the LED lighting. (and fix up some existing adhesion problems as well with the existing LED strips

Just a day after painting, and looking great.

 

Cheers

Rod.

2023_04_23 An update to Honeysuckle, and more canopy valence (problems with expansion, still)

 2023_04_23 Update for April '23

 

After fitting the MDF board we found it stretched and buckled overnight. We had to remove it and cut it to fit, and reaply.

And so this time we stretched the new boards and riveted them about 560mm apart, hoping the stretch could be minimised.

The repaired board seems acceptable.

Graeme contorts himself into the old helix to finish it off.

We were unable to bend curves into this piece. But it matches the table top, I guess :)

We are pretty happy with the finished valence. Just need to paint it before it stretches again.

Longer view.

STATION SIGNS

Graeme also came gifting some station signs which we can use to mark the different sttions around the layout.We have decided to use the white lettering on black using full CAPITALS. and the larger badge too.

Al also visited bearing gifts

Al is currently away for a while and we all wish him a great holiday.

We now have a solid control box on wheels, and I visited Jaycar and purchased all the hardware to put it all together. Hopefully it will make things easier to access and stop some of the wiring issues we have lived with for some time.

HONEYSUCKLE

Tony K. made two trips over from Bendigo to sort out our problems with Honeysuckle. Reallky appreciate his time and expertise.

We decided the track had found its useby date and replaced most of it with Peco code 75 on cork. This point lever was replaced (previously) with a new temporary panel.

Tony makes up these temporary panels, that can get the railway operating untill the new signal frame can be installed.

New track installed and mostly wired in. Point motors are all working. Just droppers need to be added.

WE also replaced the points here with electrofrogs as well.

And so the old Honeysuckle frame was removed and went back to Bendigo, to enter Tony's museum.

The frame being replaced with these temporary control switches which control all points. Some signals were removed for upgrade / repair and the signalman will use flags to control all train movements untill the new frame is installed.

 The turntable track needs adjusting and two new tracks will provide room for stock wagons and stabling of one passenger train.

FERNLEIGH

After not operating for a long time, and after the return of operations at Honeysuckle, it was time to clean up Fernleigh and restore operations. All I need do, now, is build a new control panel.

AND SO BACK TO THE NEW VALENCE

Undercoat applied but unfortunately it did not stop the material from warping.

In the distance, you might see the repairs fixed the problem. However the foreground shows the new panels have warped despite the extra rivets and care we used this time.

Thanks Graeme for all the work. He packs up for the day.

Next day its my turn to undercoat the valence before it warps agoain!

Unfortunately it was worse than before.

Cheers

Rod