Kilmore East mob meets again!
Cheers
Rod
2021/11/16
2021/11/15
2021/11/12
2021_11_12 Ctrl P to the rescue once again!
2021-11-12 Wrong bogies on Powerline Coaches.
After waiting for the Victorian AZ (particularly the ACZ) coaches for near 20 years I have been much disappointed by Powerline again.
Not only were they 75% more expensive than the Auscision daylight cars, they suffered stupid inaccuracies.
The seats look like the cut down O gauge versions and the back rests are taller than the windows (well almost)
The ACZ does not have the periscopes fitted on the early versions
And the BG SOP (sanserif) version has the modern commonwealth bogies fitted, whilst the SG version with modern lettering is fitted with Argentine bogies.
Anyway against my better judgement I outlaid $175 a carriage and added some to my fleet.
I swapped bogies from one coach to another but ended up needing 4 sets of Commonwealth bogies. I contacted the shop and was old Brian had refused to sell spare parts for the AZ's I asked why not? and was told I was being directed to buy new coaches not upgrade the original coaches from 20 years ago. Did not matter that I was trying to upgrade the NEW coaches!
Anway I bought Auscision commonwealth bogies, but I could not fit them account of the different bolsters.
Then I noticed that Ctrl P had these bogies. I wrote to them and found that they were already out there and both versions of commonwealth bogies were up on the web site that very day. A version to fit the older carriages, and another to fit the new version. So Powerline misses out, and my new best supplier wins big time..
Really nice 3D prints
Powerline BG SOP cars with Commonwealth bogies and lettering on bottom coach suggests SG SOP with Argentine Bogies. Although the BG might have received upgraded modern bogies, the SG SOP never ran on Argentine bogies,
Oh and I put the Auscision commonwealth bogies to good use as well. Trainbuilder brass bogies are a pain in the arse. Now they roll sweetly on their new bogies.
Here are the Auscision bogies fitted to the Trainbuilder coaches
Here are the Ctrl P bogies fitted to the Powerline coaches.
Cheers
Rod
2021/10/30
2021_10_30 Kilmore East visits Hobsons Bay Northern Division.
2021-10-30 So a week in pictures and videos
LAYING MORE TRACK
And so after a month or so of running trains, we discovered a bottle neck. Trains heading out of Albury towards Junee, can climb up to the top level and proceed to the old helix. But sometimes trains rising over the old helix will block its passage. So I installed this crossing loop to open it up a little.
44220 crosses S313 at (new) Chiltern Loop.
42220 now has a clear track down helix to Wanganella.
IXION J CLASS problems
 |
Out of the box I could not connect the tender to the J. No matter what! The electrical plug was loose and the connector bar would keep dropping out. So damn frustrating. I solved the problem, by super gluing an 8ba nut onto the pin locking the two together. I then used a lot of pressure on the electrical connector and managed to secure it finally.
I reached a set of points that are perfectly aligned and give me no problems whatsoever. The train hit a brick wall and derailed. I then had to pull the engine away from the track and found the brake gear had been ripped off the keeper plate. With memories of the Trainbuilder X Class and K Class which also drops its brake gear (sih) ;) ok out with the super glue.
I will put up a video after the blog. After installing a DCC sound project (Thank you Mike)
Graeme improves the Tunnel on new Helix
Here we were widening the cutting to allow for the gangers to get their vehicles along side the track.
Repairing and preparing! Ground cover next.
Graeme decided the rounded off boulder look was not doing it for him :) So out came the chisels.
Well worth the effort. I will paint over it and get rid of thestark whiteness of the plaster before we start making it look like rock.
Bunnings had a cheap can of yellow pain, and so that becomes our base paint colour.
Nice job Graeme.
Really nice.
too wet to clean up just yet. But I will save some of those "boulders" to dress it up later.
SHORTS AND MORE DAMN SHORTS (cont)
As my regulars will know I have had serious wiring issues in recent months. With Steve up from Kilmore East we went around the top of the layout checking for wheels that might be bridging an insulated section of track. Eagle eyes Steve looks in the bogie exchange shed.
And lifts it off the layout to find this engine sitting underneath. Now the bogie exchange shed sits over the break of gauge and hides the fact that I really don't have a real broad gauge. However anything moving from the right to the left simulates the movement to the BG and it is the only place on the layout where trains can move from BG to SG and back again.
Under neath the fuel tank is a double insulator which means one bogie is sitting on BG circuits, and the other on SG circuits. When BG and SG are running in same direction, no problem! However reverse one and the persistent and frustrating short returned.
And of course I modifies other places trying to sort it out.
I now have to go back and return these "modifications" to their original settings, because I have now to undo all the new problems I have created.
(Al will be smirking away..shut up Al !!)
ok will publish a couple of videos in a few minutes
Cheers Rod.
2021/10/09
2021_10_09
2021_10_09 OK need to cross SG trains here!!
Too many trains and not enough storage ;)
Aim today was to get a loop in and running. However I ran out of energy and light about the same time.
What was happening? Trains were being stored in track 2 (SG) on the old helix. Could fit up to 4 trains here, except they all needed to run in same direction. Track 1 (SG) was the through track in both directions. Thus I needed to build the new SG loop to cross trains. It should fix the bottleneck. The existing SG track becomes the loop. Minor adjustments to the BG and the new track just needs droppers and the point to be connected. Now what will I call this loop??Maybe Chiltern?
Cheers Rod
2021/10/05
2021_10_05 New Train-AV carriages
2021-10-05 I purchased these three V cars from Allan Curtis.
Allan does some nice stuff, and you should get on his mailing list if interested.
A BGM brass locomotive substitutes for the SDS D3 which is very close to being delivered
So at this stage I have 3 V cars, but new cars are being produced, so I will see if Allan is interested in doing a couple more for me. These carriages are very nice.
Composite car 24 ABL
our V set awaits departure of the morning pass to Wangaratta. In turn it will pick up and run to Fernleigh. It will return an evening train later today.
Cheers
Rod Young
2021/09/26
2021_09_26 More backdrops
2021-09-26 Yesterday Graeme came up with a plan!
We used thin masonite board to block the sharp edges and also block the bricks.
The masonite was wet down and bent to shape and allowed to dry. Not as easy as it looks.
We then need to attach the masonite to the brick piers and when they dry there to the wall under the windows.
After gluing the bent pieces to the bricks they will be attached to the frame (top level) or glued to the wall on bottom level.
After that, cut to fit flat masonite between the piers. Might have to paint these sky blue before I glue them in place. Graeme wants the side edges beveled to allow the joins to be filled. Now all we need do is work out which glue to use?
Cheers
Rod
2021/09/21
2021_09_21 Having too much fun, so today was a maintenance day!
2021-09-21 Coal siding LED's are detaching and starting to hang down
And today one string shorted out. I removed the block connectors and fitted male and female spades. I san hot glue these to the frame and take a little pressure off the LED strips. I cant hot glue the strips on as the leds don't like the heat.
The problem is that I am not able to twist my old body into spots I could reach only a few years back. Wish I had done a better job then :(
BRASS BOGIES
For me, useless. Seem to be built for a show case! Fortunately with the help of a washer, these Auscision bogies work really well. I could not keep the axles in place, but now a small push and the coach goes half round the layout! Well almost. Got to a hill and returned back to where I pushed it from.
Height right up next to a Powerline new series car. Happy with that.
FIXING LED LIGHT STRIPS
This old body needs a lot of help getting underneath the boards. Even a year ago I could have leaned under. But not today.
The lamp? the lamp? Turn it on champ!!
Both strips out. Power to block. So I got rid of block and replaced it with spade connectors.
Dimmer switches.
Next job will be to sort this all out. Main problem is the 4.03 AMPS. Even with all locos off track, it draws a lot of power. I think it might be the TAM Valley singlet switches, but I need to sort that out.
The blue meter is the fernleigh circuit with 16 Singlet switches and drawing 1.38 amps.
The Red Ramp Meter supplies total power 8 amps. Circuit breakers are reliable now too.
Cheers
Rod
ps fixed the BG video by removing the duplicated part,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)