Up the Junction

Since the last post, I've been busy building points for the bottom deck and I've just finished 27 of the suckers for the storage yards. Which means I can start to lay the track for the yard but it also creates another dilemma. What to use for a turntable? I'm going to install a 90ft turntable so I can turn anything up to a 57 class so do I go for something prototypical like the Anton's Trains example and install DCC for it or use a Walthers 90 ft 'table that already has DCC control installed? I'll have to have a think about it as I originally intended to scenic the storage yards but now the helix is installed to get to the top deck, there isn't a whole lot of space now so having an accurate turntable isn't that necessary. I just need one that is going to be reliable.

So onto other things. I've been building the points and crossover for the Loop line junction. I think I'm developing a form of "Stockholm Syndrome" You know, when you start liking the very thing that's tormenting you??? I am actually starting to enjoy building the points and crossovers. Here's how it looks at the moment.

As you can see, there's still a fair bit to go with cleaning up the solder, electrically isolating the tracks and adding sleepers and details but it seems to work OK with some limited tests on the workbench. Next, I'm going to tackle the complex point work and single slip crossover in Picton yard which will also mean I'll have broken the back of building the points. Another step closer to finishing the track laying.

Its Been a While

Yes it has hasn't it? I said a while back that I wasn't going to post anything if there's nothing of interest to post but I thought 4 months between posts is stretching things a bit. Its not that nothing has been happening, more the fact that what has been happening is really boring. I found out that some of my road bed was warped a little. After visiting Es D and seeing his fine models, it was explained to me why by Es and Ian T. The ply I used was too thin. I should have used 12mm instead of 7mm.....God I'm a dope!!!! Anyway, I've fixed all that and now I have all the track laid on the top deck and its ready to be wired. I even managed to run a train from Picton Junction up to Thirlmere. I wanted to make sure the grade wasn't too steep so I ran my son's LNER A3 up the hill with a couple of Gresley Teaks on the drawhook. No problems. So I thought I better try some NSWGR power with a C32 and C36 as the test loco's. Not so good this time with the C36 managing 11 4 wheelers with a lot of slipping and the C32 even less. And this was with the front bogie springs modified to increase weight on the drivers.

Mittagong Storage Sidings

C32 test train at Thirlmere

C36 at Thirlmere

So with that little test out of the way, I've decided to put in a helix to lessen the grade and allow a more prototypical load to be hauled. I cut the roadbed last week ready to install but I now need to lay the bottom deck storage sidings before I can install the helix. I had intended to finish off the top deck wiring and then have a break from track laying and spend some time building some Dogboxes. Well that's not going to happen now as I'll have have to continue laying track so I can complete the Top Deck. One thing though, running some trains, even for the small time that I did, was really satisfying and has really spurred me on to getting more track laid.
On another note, my wife was doing some sculpting with my son to help him in his art classes. I don't know what possessed her but she went ahead and made a burnt out tree stump with which I was very impressed. So I suggested to her, "why don't you make some smaller versions" hint, hint. This she did and she now has a job helping me with the scenery once I get around to it. I don't think she minded too much!!

"I've suffered for my Art and now it's your turn"

That's it for the moment so it's back to the track laying again. If I disappear for another couple of months, you'll know why. Unless anyone really wants me to post more regular posts on the track laying, I'll only post something if its really worth it.

Cheers

Who's a Goose Then?

Um, that'd be me! I was working on the batch of louvre vans during the week and was putting the shade roofs on and marking out where the support brackets go. All was OK for the 3 door wagons but when I got to the 2 door MLV's, something wasn't quite right. I had the GA drawing and somehow the brackets were not lining up where they should be in relation to the louvre panels. Then it hit me. The drawing clearly showed that there were 2 louvre panels between the corner pillar and the door where my MLV had 3. I don't know how I missed this subtle (not) detail but miss it I did. Maybe it was willful blindness with not seeing what I didn't want to see but it now makes the small 2 door MLV's totally wrong. I could live with them (just) being about a foot too short but now that the number of panels is wrong too, I don't know what to do about them. Do I just ignore the obvious mistakes or do I scrap them and be done with them? I can't see any manufacturer bringing out a small MLV any time soon so I may just have to put up with them for the moment. I may paint them up and see how they look in a train. Anyway, I've only got a few things left to do like filling in the gaps in the under frames for the BLV's and adding some small strips of styrene to the lamp brackets which I'll do soon.

3 Door MLV

BLV

Standard BLV

King Post BLV

Last and Least, the Small MLV

I got out to the Train cave today and mounted some more point motors so I'll continue with that for the time being so I can get the track down. Hopefully by Christmas!!

Slacko

Looks like I've been a bit slack keeping the blog up to date so here's a post to make amends. Not a lot has happened since the last post as I'm struggling to find the time I need to make some serious progress. Sometimes I think I've bitten off more than I can chew as I don't seem to be making much headway. I've also been looking at other modeler's efforts at exhibitions and in magazines and I'm getting tempted to try different prototypes and scales, If I had the time I'd do some S Scale NZR, 7mm NSW Trams, HO Scale SAR, P4 Caledonian, On3 DSP&PRR and some G scale Industrial. Of course, none of this will ever happen but I've been thinking lately that If I'd not started Picton and done something smaller, I'd have a chance to do something else as well. Anyway, no point thinking about the what if because I've started it now and I will just have to get on with it and finish it and then I might get the time to do something else. Oh, and I'd like to do an exhibition layout one day too!

So, I've been progressing with the MLV's and BLV's to a point where the bodies and under frames are almost done for all of them. The only things remaining are to make the shade roofs, attach buffers and fix the handrails and lamp irons. To make the shade roofs, I've got some .010" corrugated iron that I bought at Hobbyco years ago. It came in A4 size sheets and is nice and stiff and holds its shape well and is the best corrugated iron I've seen. I use a wood dowel to roll across the metal and soon it takes on the shape of the roof.

Cantilever BLV

King Post BLV. Still have to fix the under frame in place

Regular BLV. There's 2 of these

3 Door MLV

36ft (almost) MLV. There's 3 of these

I hope to finish these off over the next week or 2 after which I'll be back into the track work. My order of Cobalt point motors has arrived so I can mount these and get the track down and wired up. Elscotto has offered to help me with the wiring so things should move quickly once I get the track down.

I had some holidays recently and rather than go to the coast like we normally do, we decided to go inland around Cowra. For a long time I'd been thinking about Gas lamps for the stations of Thirlmere and Hill Top. As these are set in the late 1910's, gas lights are mandatory. The only thing is I'm not sure what they looked like. Anyway, we happened to go out to the LVR at the old loco depot in Cowra and look what I found.

A Gas Light

I took some detail shots ready for when I have to make some for the stations which hopefully, won't be too far away.

Fathers Day Fun

Well it was Fathers day today and I hope all you Dads had a great day. I woke up this morning and was greeted by my wife and kids with a bunch of presents one of which was......

An Ezi Kits D334!!!!

Oh yeah, how goods that? I'll have to do some mods to it like fitting a Belpair boiler and coal rails to the tender as these were features in the era I model. I can picture the D piloting a saturated P with a string of dogboxes on the hill up to Hill Top. One day!!!

Seeing as it was Fathers Day, I didn't have to cook dinner (I love cooking) which gave me a couple of hours in the Cave after doing some more painting and playing soccer and Frisbee with the kids. I managed to get some work done on 3 BLV's that I'm working on alongside the MLV's and LV's. I'm keeping 2 of the BLV's as Andrew and Ian intended but the third I've decided to model with the earlier king post truss rods. So far so good.

BLV with King Post Truss Rods

And here's the 4 truss rod BLV

Still have to add the truss rods

I also went to the Early Days Convention last week and another excellent day of train nerdiness was had by all. It's not often you get blown away by a modelers efforts but when you see the work of Ross B, who built Central, you know why. Ross gave a talk on how he researched and built Central as well as how he's going with his next project, Newcastle in the 1890's. You have to see this up close to see how beautiful his modeling is and the effort he puts in. And its all in N scale too.

Also of interest to me was Tony P's talk on the history and restoration of the ARHS Canberra's AL Sleeping Car. It will be a beautiful carriage again once it's restored back into AL configuration rather than the DCC version that the ARHS purchased 30 odd years ago.

My only complaint about the Early Days is that its not long enough and you don't get to talk to everyone that you'd like to. It's a small price to pay but I love going every year and wouldn't miss it for anything in the world.

It's the best.

7 Months But Who's Counting

I don't believe it but its been 7 months since the last post. That's not very good is it but to tell the truth things have been slow and have been creeping along at a snails pace. There's been a few things going on around the house like a major bathroom reconstruction and Granny flat re-roofing that's eaten into my time as well as finances. Also work and ageing relatives also kept me away from the modelling bench but today, I actually made it out to the bench for a few hours. I normally get an hour or so per night in the cave so since the last post, I've finished making all of the upper level track and its ready to install. I've installed 6 out of the 12 required point motors and all 8 of the electro-magnetic uncouplers. I'm going to install the rest of the point motors before laying the track but this will take a while as I need to save up the money. Doing the work on the house has certainly drained the finances!!
Here's one of the points

And there's 11 others

So for the last 2 weeks and today, I've been working on some 36ft MLV's and BLV's and some 18ft LV's. At last years Early Days, Ian D presented his research on the Thow BLV's and this work included GA drawings for the cantilevered underframe version as well as 2 door, 36ft MLV. I'd previously spoken to Andrew from ANDIAN Models about this project and he had some spare BLV van bodies that he was willing to part with. These arrived and with a bit of modification and a scratchbuilt underframe, here they are.

Still a bit to go on the cantilever version

The bogies are not quite right so I'll have to add some detail around the axleboxes and bolster to make them look more like the originals. Here's a 3 door MLV also from the BLV Discussion.

Still a fair way to go on this one

I'd also previously made a couple of 18ft LV's and had 3 more to go which left a whole bunch of 21ft LV sides lying around. These were made from some old Lima HO scale louvre vans that I picked up at various 2nd hand stalls.

These were made based on an article in Australian Journal of Railway Modelling

So what to do with all of the left over sides? We'll turn them into 36ft MLV's, that's what we'll do. And after a bit of cutting and shutting I ended up with some 36ft sides. Well not quite 36ft as the side ended up being about 1ft short. I'll just have to live with it I guess until some manufacturer makes a more accurate one.  I won't hold my breath.

35ft MLV's

Seeing as the Early Days convention is on again next week, I was hoping to take some of these models along but I suspect I won't get them finished in time. Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Still on Track

It's been a while since the last railway related post so it's time to give an update on the track building. I've done all the track and points for the top deck storage yard also known as Mittagong and now I just have to fix it all down. I'm waiting on the delivery of some Kadee under track magnetic uncouplers before I mount the track but in the meantime, here's how it looks

Track is Code 55

Hopefully, the uncouplers will arrive soon but in the meantime, I have to build the 9 points necessary for Thirlmere. I've made a good start on 4 of them, one of which is curved. This is my first attempt at building a curved point so I hope it works.

 Just have to add the sleepers and throw bars

I still have to mount the point motors, wire everything up and build some control panels so I think we're another couple of months off at least before a train runs. It'll be good to finish it though as I'm keen to get back into building some rolling stock. Building track doesn't give me the same buzz as building carriages but it has to be done.