Building Searchlight Signals

This weekend time was spent building searchlight signals.  I need a few of these on my layout. I ordered some brass tube and washers from hobbyparts.com.au and received the materials the next day.

I am very pleased with how they have turned out, given that this is the first time I have attempted to build anything from scratch.  I am especially proud of the base, as I didn't know how to create one that resembled and looked real.  Struggling with the thought this morning, the solution was right there in the shed.  Simply using a dowel which I had lying round (and at one point was used to control points),  and filing off the sides to create a rectangular shape worked brilliantly.  It was then simply a matter of drilling a hole and cleaning and widening to allow the signal post through which did the trick.

I forgot to order the smaller size washers which will be used for the low speed indication aspect.  Will need to put another order in.

 The challenge will be to have these signals wired up.  The most difficult part so far is creating the actual "target hoods" to the right profile.  I had taken a few photos of a searchlight signal near my home in Sunshine. , which I used as reference.  Unfortunately these signals have now been replaced by something alot more ugly.

Still have to add the ladder and maintenance platforms, as well as the finials.  If anyone knows where I can purchase these, especially the ladders, please let me know.

creating the base using a dowel.  

The base.  Once painted a concrete colour, this will look really neat.

Home Signal

A jig I made.  See reference below.

The real deal

These lovely signals are now all gone.  So sad.

Reference:

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Tomar-HO-Pointed-Style-Brass-Finiale-008-p/tmi-6053.htm

Working with Scatter - Craig Style

This afternoon I had the privilege to see Craig from Cassino fame do some scenery work.
A few weeks back I saw first hand how Craig made undulating ground forms using tissue and a plaster mix.
Today, it was scenery work.  I took some notes on how he does it and here it is.

1.  Damp the plastered area using a spray bottle.  (note preferable the plaster should be painted some dark colour such as umber).
2.  Spray your glue mix on intended location.  The mix should be 9 parts water to 1 part of PVA, with a drop or two of detergent.
3.  Sprinkle a dirt onto location, which could be obtained from a real location of bought from a producer such as Woodland Scenics
4.  Spray with water
5.  Add a dark soil dirt and spray again.
6.  Now sprinkle some scatter material such as Fine Turf Burnt Grass (T44). Craig uses very thin scatter.
7.  Now spray water followed by the glue mix to hold it all down.
8.  Repeat from beginning to other areas on layout

Some of the materials used were

• Fine Turf Soil from Woodland Scenics (T41)
• Fine Turf Weeds (T46)
• Fine Turf Burnt Grass (T44)
• Fine Turf Earth (T42)

The scene came to life in a matter of minutes.  I hope to do the same on my layout.

Here are some photos which try to demonstrate the sequence of events.

NCE EPROM v1.65 update

At last I got my EPROM Chip directly from NCE.  Larry was very helpful although it took ages to get through the US postal service.  One of the biggest attractions to upgrade to the latest version was the six function recalls.   It is really handy to simply toggle through the recall button to bring up a loco rather than keep typing in the loco numbers.  You can now customise the number of recalls as well, so if you don't like having to cycle through five times to get to a particular loco, you don't have to.  Having to hit the recall button five times if the loco is at the end of the array or queue does need some time to get used to.
The replacement took about five minutes and the instructions to do this comes with the new chip.

The biggest chip in the NCE powercab is the EPROM.

The old EPROM

The new EPROM

To change the number of recalls

Six recalls selected

Time for some videos

Here are some videos of various movements on the layout.  Hope you like them

The Different Colours of Rust

During one of my visits to the local Brisbane Interstate Freight Terminal, aka Acacia Ridge, I took a closer look at the colour of the side of the rails.  I had already air-brushed the side of the rails of the main yard on my layout and really liked the reddish rust colour, but was somewhat disappointed when I saw that the northern end of Acacia Ridge yard, the colour of the rail sides was actually brown.

However, when I looked at the southern end of the yard, I was surprised to see so many different colours within 100 meters as the following photo attests.

I personally like the reddish hue to the browish hue which I have depicted on the layout.  Anything is better than the silver stock colours!

A Few Movements

A few movements from the weekend showing the layout which has been shifted 90 Degrees a few weeks back.

A Light Engine in the form of a B Class arrives in the morning to run the Dimboola to Melbourne Pass:

A T Class runs light from the depot to hook up to a departing freight:

A Serviceton to Ararat freight arrives:

Two T's elephant style bring in a Dimboola goods:

A B class heads No. 101 fast freight into Dimboola:

No.101 does a crew change:

A light engine movement from the loco depot to the yard:

CAPTURE AT DIMBOOLA.

CAPTURE AT DIMBOOLA.

Charles ?ethersole. 30, a new arrival  in the Dimboola district. who pleaded guilty at the Dimboola Police Court on Wednesday to a charge of larceny of goods from the local railway station, was committed for trial at the sittme~ of the Supreme Court at Horsham today. Senior-Constable Brand
prosecuted, and accused was undefended. , The facts as disclosed for the prosecution were that two hampers of travellersr's samples were consigned from Horsham to Dimboola on March 4 by
Thomas Maynard, traveller for L. B. Feis, of Flinders-lane, Melbourne. The goods were taken delivery of, by a railway official and placed in the sample shed on the platform. On the
night of the 7th inst. the front door of the sample room was seourely locked ,by a railway official (L. R. Stevenson), who then saw the hampers 'intact, but could not say definitely whether the back door of the shed had been locked. Patrick James O'Meara, railway clerk, when going orn duty --about 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning noticed the back door of the sample shed oren. On examination he found two hampers had been broken -open.
He informed Station Master Stanistreet who subsequently notified the police, Property valued about £100, including fancy goods, jewellery, hardware, etc., were found to be missing from the
hampers by Maynard. As the result of inquiries made Senior-Constable Brand and Constable Lloyd intercepted accused in the street, and prevailed upon him to return with "them to the
house where he resided. In a search of the premises the ;whole of the miesitrn . goods were recovered.. Accused made a statement to the ,police, and signed it in which he adnmitted: going into the
sample shed, the back door of which he found unlocked. He focced, the lock from the hampers with a piece of iron he found in the shed. and -carried the goods away in a bag. "He did the job by himself. and took all the possessions
15 March 1921
Source: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/72755551?searchTerm=dimboola%20railway&searchLimits=