Merry Christmas

Hi All

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Remember to drive carefully throughout the year!

How to double your space

Today, Craig came over to see my layout first hand. After seeing his layout it really inspired me to get away from that flat plywood look. Pondering in the shed on what to do, I noticed my shelving which is 40cm under my layout which is where I store my wagons, I arrived to the idea of using this area as staging! This would free-up valuable space on the otherside of 'Myrtle' rather than be full of track and parked 'staged' wagons. Problem was how to get to the normal layout height from 40 cms below. This would required at least a 4% grade!

Craig suggested to take a T class and create a 4% grade. To my surprise, the T started to wheel-slip with about 10 wagons and a 'good' load on the short track we mocked up. Then it hit me - why don't I use the space under the whole layout and gradually climb the 40cms - this would reduce my gradient to about 2% and under, as well as give me extra mainline running ! So this is the current plan, to use the space under the main board to stage as well as climb to the top of the layout. Off course, this means the lawn-mover will need to have the handles put down and me bending over alot lower to enter and exit the shed. Well let's see how this turns out....

Craig's Shed - Visit

I had the previlige to visit Craig's shed on the weekend and was astounded to find a club size layout in his shed! The one thing that I was really impressed with was the amount of thought that went into the layout - and this is not the track plan, but rather how the baseboard/s were created to demonstrate gradients, curves, and overall operation. Off course the track plan was also well thought out and I became easily lost finding my way from Cassino to Acacia Ridge. Anyone's dream layout! I also was kindly allowed to video some of the layout and here is some action at 'Cassino'!



Cheers
Shelton.

Another Video of the real stuff :)

Another interest

I have started to do what I use to do days gone by - trainspotting! With the advancement in camera/video technology, this has given me huge motivation to video trains. So, being spring/summer I thought best to use these seasons for some photography and today I happen to capture my first train.

The below video shows two LDPs on an Interail service to Melbourne I think. These two locos were hooked up and idling at Acacia Ridge since at least 1500 local time. They were supposed to depart yesterday Sat 30 Oct at 1520 Local, but a visit to Acacia Ridge (AR) today saw them ready for departure. I quickly setup my camera and took this footage. LDPs only unfortuately - no CLPs or CLFs - but who knows maybe one day I may get lucky and 'catch' something out of the ordinary :)

Cheers!

Another Video and Some Photos

Here is another video of the layout and some photos. Hope you like them.

Small Video from my new Video Cam

Here is a small video from my new video camera, including post production.  Hope you like it.

Issues with plans

Hi

I put together some of the plans that I created and actually built and are now dust!  It was hard work removing and relaying track, thinking that this new plan is the layout for me only to realise some sort of frustration and rip track out and start again.  Here are the layouts (Click on image to expand):

Round and Round

Given that my layout is round the shed shelf type, with one town on one side and the staging yard on the other, I was thinking about how to add little more engagement rather than 'set and forget'.

One idea that I came up with is to divide the layout into certain sections and have certain speed restrictions throughout.  For example, over the bridge, all locos must reduce to 30 (on the NCE LCD readout), on the curves locos are allowed a maximum speed of 35, and on a straight section, 40.  Going into loops - 15, going into staging 25, within staging 15 ( These equate to mph I think - will need to double check).  I tried this concept and it surely added another dimension, partaking as a loco driver.  The drawback is that since I have a wired NCE throttle, moving round the layout is a hassle.  Anyway, I think this concept should work...will give it a few more tries.  Maybe you could also try it on your layout.

Cheers

Track Plan and Progress

Well, little tentative to post my latest Track Plan since I have changed it so many times, I'm not sure it will be the latest one, although I *think* this one will be it. Not based on any prototype, tried that a few times and it left me with an unsatisfactory result. Maybe due to our space limitations compared to the space in real life.  However, the industries include a small cattle yard, goods shed and maybe a silo.  Quite difficult to make an operational track plan given its a shelf layout because an 'intermediate' station so to speak requires about five tracks, with Road #4 leading to the cattle yard / Silo.

Anyway, when I feel more confident that this is *the* track plan I will post it - basically a five track station, with double slips and a couple of stub ended sidings, with the VR Goods Shed opposite the station.

In the mean time, I have some videos for your enjoyment :)

Building Some Trees

I decided to make a tree or two after reading about how to do this from the author of the book Electronics for Model Railways Book 2 by Ken Stone. Basically using copper wire, solder and a soldering iron to make very realistic looking trees. A very good idea and full credit to Ken. Here is what I created....offcourse I still need to paint it and add leaves.

B Class Passing By

Scenery or Operation?

Considering I have a shelf type layout and hence limited to 60cms, I am faced with a choice of having a layout based on operation (alot of track) or one based on 'scenery'. I think the two are mutually exclusive on a shelf layout.

I have found that the true joy in model railways for me personally is seeing models of trains, which entails the locomotive, the wagons, the wheels, the noises of clicks over the rails, the rocking, the beautiful curve produced by a string of wagons as they negotiate a broad prototypical looking turn, more appealing than seeing a train pull into the stage, shunt or drop off passengers and then leave the scene not to be seen again.

With this realisation, I am pretty much going to drastically down size my tracks and cull the yard I was going to build as my layout. I have also started to think about fitting a small station, e.g. Armstrong on the far end of the shelf and then make the mainline run in the foreground. To seperate the two 'scenes' I think building a 'tree scape' between the two may work. The trees will fit in well with the 'small' country station atmosphere as well is provide a somewhat convincing backdrop for the mainline in the foreground.

Well, now I have to sell all those points I am not going to use. If anyone out there is looking for any Peco Code 100 points in good condition, then let me know :)

Seize the day!

Airbrushed some Tank Cars

I decided to get the air brush to 'rust' some of my shiny silver Oil tanks that I bought and painted silver a while back. I was after a well used and rusty look. Its amazing to think that the TW wagons were actually silver (well some anyway) but due to the elements, they turn black and rusty pretty soon. So I mixed Humbrol 60 (Matt Red) with Humbrol 33 (Matt Black) about 15 to 1, and then thinned accordingly to give me the desired look.
After they were made rusty, I went through them with another spray of Matt 33 to tone them little.

I think they turned out OK.

Cold in the shed!

It was a chilly 7C in the shed yesterday morning at 07am. I had to take a photo to remember it!
Also, here are some morning shots of the layout.

L Wagons from SEM
Well I went ahead and took on the challenge on building a couple of L wagons. First thing is the etched brass is very delicate, so when trying to cut the brass from the fret, be very careful not to bend the etch bars because they are extremely difficult to straighten back.
This kit also requires painting the interior and exterior different colours as well as painting before the kit is finally completed. So little delay in building the kit. May actually get the second kit at the same stage as the first so I just have to clean the air brush once for each colour!

In the mean time here is a video from my layout which is still to be finalised.

Always wanted a bridge

I always wanted to have a bridge of some sort on my layout.  This 'feature' allows one to depart from that flat look table top scene.  So this afternoon, I put into action my thoughts.  This is a very first draft of the bridge I am looking at modeling - although I initially thought of modeling a trestle type bridge.

Well here it is - not too bad although alot more scenery work to do to make it some what convincing.

Click the picture for a larger format.

Still working on Track Planning

Well I'm still working on a track plan - now it is based on Dimboola!  This gives me an opportunity to run the Bs and S, as well as an X when I get one.  

Also, since all trains stopped there for a crew change, this could be used as yet another 'operation' point.  Moreover, according to the mid 1970s Working Time Table (WTT), a roadside goods would originate and terminate here.  Dimboola also has a loco facility so depicting some loco tracks would add to operation.  The branch line to Japarit could also use a Road Side and a DERM.  So quite some potential there.

And for a little variety, SAR rollingstock would be seen in the mix of interstate 'jets'.  Another dream layout or will this be the final one?  Let's see...

Anyway I leave you guys with a Y class on a RoadSide Goods coming into 'Dinboola'.

John Amrstrong in Track Planning for Realistic Operation makes a couple of interesting points which have stuck.

1. Try and make a portion of track laid down for more than one purpose. (Efficiency in the use of the available space)
2. Don't repeat the same thing twice.
3. Plan for more edge (accessibility)

With point 1, I think going with a longer road number 2 followed by a left hand point into the yard proper about 100cm farther down which creates a Road Number 2a (see Nhill track diagram )
- this in effect can also be used as a head shunt.

With Point 2 i touched on in my previous post - why create another town with the same core principal which is to shunt and take refugee for a cross

With point 3, try and plan to lay your tracks closer to you rather towards the back for cleaning and maintenance, depending on height, 60cms to reach could cause problems.

Here is a youtube video of a train length which seems realistic for a B Class (could even get away with a double header S and B? Not sure.)

Some things I learnt

Having visited the Brisbane Model Train Show recently, it got me thinking about my own layout and more so the short comings. In summary, it boils down to trying to do too much is the space I have.
IMHO, the biggest contributor to a realistic model train layout is the scenery. Without realistic scenery, my model layout is simply a trainset.

So, with this mind, I decided to once again change the layout!

Now, I learnt by looking at various signal and track diagrams, real railroads use *alot* of space and that 100 meters in real life is about 100 cms in HO scale. So I have decided to expand No1 and No2 roads so that when a long train comes into a stop for a cross, the tail of the train is not just fitting in, but has some space at the end just like in the prototype. Also, if I want to double head or even triple head now I can with luxury and not worry about the ass end fitting into the loop.

Now to me a long train is about 14 VLX Box cars - which looks pretty long anyway. This is the maximum length train I intend to run - (about 200cms long)

So, gone are the foreground tracks on the plan and if I want to just watch trains go by I still have a loop - this will only happen when I am not playing realistically - such as to a timetable.

So some of the lessons learnt

* 100 cms is about 100 meters in real life which is approx 7.5 VLX wagons (40foot wagons)
* Don't lay down too much track
* Scenery is a must have - including structures
* Think big (track plan wise e.g. for loop, and yards - 100 cm crossing loops won't cut it)
* Focus on one area and do it thoroughly
* No point repeating what's already modeled in one scene again - e.g. on the plan I had a station at opposite ends - maybe better to have a country scene at one end and an immediate station scene at the other.

Anyway, unfortunately I learnt the hard way.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Good luck!

Sealing the Shed

Well I have been busy the last two days sealing the shed. I went out and bought a Selleys Sealant Gun and Sealant and began to seal the shed as much as I could. I hope this will stop the dirt and dust from coming in. This is a titan shed and the way the shed is made, the sheet metal has an opening every few cms allowing not only dirt, but also grass, spiders and cockroaches!

So I set out and sealed every hole I could - although it will be impossible to stop these creatures for entering, at least it should slow them down somewhat - I couldn't believe the amount of daddy long legs under the workbench. I really hope this works.
The geckos were the worst as they leave their droppings everywhere - if anyone has had some success with sealing their train room I'd like to hear about it.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Brisbane Model Train Show.

Cheer!

Ballasting!

Well, I felt the urge to give ballasting a try this weekend. After taking some advice from Al (who is MonsterRailroad on youtube), I basically used his technique.

I started on a curve just incase it didn't come out right. Well, I think the curve didn't come out too right, and then I did another section, making sure to highlight the drop to the sides of the track just like in the prototype. This took me like one hour for a 1.2 meter track, before I finely sprayed the ballast and then sprayed the PVA/water mixture.

Here are some shots and a video of the curve I did as the first attempt.

BW Car - Partially Complete

Well here are some photos of the BW Car partially complete.
Overall I am happy with the result. Just noticed that this is my longest 'wagon' on my layout and hope nothing exceeds this length.

Breakthrough

One of the detector / signal circuits did not work correctly all the time. This is the signal for the branch (or the lower aspect). Sometimes, it would work when a train went past the signal, other times when I pressed the switch for the green aspect, it would automatically go back to red straight away and on yet other times, it would stay green for say 10 secs and switch to red all of a sudden! I spent ages trying to work out what was wrong, even cut the strip of track into two blocks (one of the top aspect and one for the bottom).

Well today I removed the BOD circuit and noticed when I moved the 2.2uf cap the signal would turn to red even though I didn't have the feeder wire looped into the transformer! On closer examination, I found that one leg of this cap was not soldered properly! So, as I eventually suspected, a bad solder joint somewhere. So next time I know to look straight at the circuit(s)!

Well here are some videos from today:

BW Car

Well since it has been raining incessantly today, I decided to work on my BW Car. Alot of work to build one of these, however, with most of the components put together, at last the kit is looking like a passenger car. I had a lot of trouble putting the floor together with the sides and ends. Also, painting the window sashes is really hard to get that nice smooth look. If anyone has any tips on how you guys put these AW/BW SEM kits together, I will appreciate it.


Cheers.

Y164 and a Tank Car

Here are some photos - The Y hauling a tank wagon is a bachmann Silver Series. Had some issues with replacing the ezymatic couplers with Kadee 58s. At the end of the day, I had to file off the moulded on gear box and use the draft gear box from Kadee.

Received some goodies

Well I gave into temptation and bought myself one of those Austrains JX Hopper wagons. To me, so far these are a true delight to look at, and the finest RTR models I have purchased (although I don't usually buy many RTR wagons).

Also in the mail was my order from SEM. Suprised to see how small the BW Cars are length wise (which is good) - and also ordered a T Van. So plenty to keep me busy for the winter months ahead.

Cheers!

Off Topic - some pictures from Germany trip

Just some pictures of my recent business trip to Germany - the ICE is really fantastic.

Work Committments

Hi All

Due to a major project at work - I don't think I will have any time until about mid year to play trains and work on my layout :( - All my time is now dedicated to working on this project which has already missed two deadlines.

So that means there will be no updates to the blog until that time.

Cheers
Shelton.

Just some pictures :)