Operations Session Preparation

The clock is ticking and the upcoming operations sessions are getting closer.  A huge amount of work has been completed and much more still needs to occur.  A control panel for Cassino for the eventual automation of the Main to Back Platform Road point was installed and connected up to Loco Pilly NCE Mini Panel.  That will be coded up tomorrow.  Future plans for 2025 is to install CTC from Grafton Yard to the southern end of Cassino, just like was installed in the real Cassino in 1991.  That will mean that North Coast Control will then have control of all the points in that section and he will also be able to see where the trains are.  The staff machines for these sections will then be withdrawn.

The panel for Yeerongpilly narrow gauge loop was installed, tested and is working.  This included running wires from Yeerongpilly to Dutton Park, and then along the Fisherman Island branch as that was the nearest NCE Mini Panel with spare slots for automation of the panel push buttons.  The Fisherman Islands NCE Mini Panel was coded up with the new commands.  A Panel for Park Road’s narrow gauge loop was also installed, wired run to the South Brisbane Mini Panel and that was coded up.  The various panels for the Dutton Park panels at the three side of the Wye, (angle in QR parlance) still need to be thought through.

The narrow gauge trackwork at South Brisbane was finalised, and nailed down.  Power was also added to the end of the tracks, at the far end after the points and all trackwork is now live and runnable.  This track was all tested.  I also tested the running of trains through the Dutton Park junction, with both narrow gauge and standard gauge all working.  I had a cold solder joint that caused the dual gauge crossing to not work for standard gauge trains.  The power feed to my manual reversing switch was fixed and it all works like a bought one now.  Ideally I will eventually have an auto-reverser for this task. 

I have started track cleaning with the section from Grafton Yard through to Hotham Street level crossing at Cassino completed.  It look me about 5 minutes of searching around the layout to find the track cleaning train.  But it was sitting at Grafton Loco in a track there hidden.

I have written up my Train Notices for the next Ops Session and it also gives some background information as to what has changed since the last Ops Session whenever that was.  Maybe last December.  I sent a new copy of my Operations Manual to a couple of new attendees.  All other attendees will geta copy this week.  I’ll have to issue a test to ensure that they actually read the instructions.

On Saturday the Tuesday Nighters ventured over to the northside of Brisbane and PK’s place to check out his airconditioned shed and drink his coffee and eat his biscuits and chips.  During the week, I also placed an order for some more 12mm bogies, which I am hopeful will be posted from oversea tomorrow.  That means potentially a delivery just before or after New Year’s Day.

I’m also looking at doing a bit more work on my double doors in the Cassino Refreshment Room.  It looks like I have 5 doors which are the exact size of the required doors.  That saves me making them.

More Shed Work and Club Christmas Party and Modelling Comp

The heat was oppressive on Monday.  Infact it was oppressive all week, although I did get around to mowing my lawn.  On Monday I went to the shed and placed my newly purchased points from the previous weekend's model railway show where they were to be installed.  But the heat got to me so did not stay long.  I sent out my email calling for operators for my next Operations Sessions.  I have also started writing up my layout notices for the upcoming Operations Session, so attendees know what has changed, etc.

Tuesday night we went over to Barnacle’s place and there were 15 of us there.  He put on a great Christmas spread.  That is our last get together for the year.

On Thursday I went to the shed for a short time and installed all the trackage for the end of South Brisbane.  I’m thinking that I need to move it north by about 1.5 inches, to provide greater clearance around a post holding up the baseboard lights in that area.  But it reduces the space in the headshunt.  

Saturday was the my train Club's Christmas Party.  Last year the modelling comp was very well represented, this year however, only three entries were submitted.  But they were all very good.  We had a great afternoon with lunch provided and a few raffles drawn.  As usual, I did not win anything.  Now, while I had prepared to put an entry in for the modelling comp, I never completed my entry, so I can't complain about the lack of entries.  But congratulations to those that put their models in.

In the Master's category, this was the winner.

This entry even had a painted out the back of the building painting the walls with a roller.

This entry was the winner in the Apprentices Category.

While at the Club I was taking orders for some more 12mm bogies that I will get from OS.  So far the order is getting quite sizable.  That will be placed early this week, and hopefully shipped from OS before Christmas, and we should get them before New Year.

I have had lots of events to attend to this last week, and some more this next week.  I will need to turn my attention to cleaning the tracks, cleaning loco wheels and ensuring the headsets and phone systems are also working optimally prior to the Ops Sessions.  I still have plenty of modelling activities to dive into, but I might have to put them on hold until after the preparation tasks for the upcoming Operations Sessions have been completed.

12mm Motor Bogie Rocked Up and It Passed Its Test

Monday was the day to fix a few minor items on the layout.  I started by adding extensions to the three wires on my control panel just south of Dutton Park.  This will control the standard gauge point setting it to either to Fisherman Islands or South Brisbane Interstate.   I then attached the panel to the layout fascia.  I tested the panel and it threw the point at Dutton Park.  I then moved the staff machines for the sections Clapham Junction to Dutton Park, Dutton Park to South Brisbane Interstate, and Dutton Park to Fisherman Islands, all were moved out to the front of the fascia.  I had built out the narrow gauge track in front of the old location of the panels.  I left room for the next panel for the Dutton Park narrow gauge section.  When I eventually get some push buttons to arrive, I will build this panel.  However, upon testing the staff machine for the Dutton Park to Fisherman Islands, the indicator light would not light.  I toggled the switch at the Fisherman Islands end and it then lit up.  I then switched the Dutton Park panel and worked out that the problem was going to be a loose wire at the Dutton Park end.  So I pulled it apart and re-soldered that bad wire.  All good now, working like a bought one.  One other thing I noticed was that the Staff sections in Power district 4 all came on this morning.  This stuff just confuses me sometimes!  So my next task was to run a standard gauge train from Dutton Park to Fisherman Islands through the dual standard gauge/narrow gauge crossovers.  I set the switch to standard gauge and the train stalled.  It worked out I had a cold solder joint on the track.  So I re-hit it with teh soldering-iron and all good now. 

I went upstairs and started work on the various changes to the Operations Manual for Cassino.  It has included the various new sections of track, and I have also documented the various new staff sections now, discussed the various auto reversing sections which were not mentioned in the previous version of the document.  I have also added a whole section on procedures for passing through Dutton Park.  I also made a space for the future trackage to Sunnybank.

Following lunch I went back down to the shed and installed various jumpers so I should now be able to run a train all the way into platforms 1 and 2 at South Brisbane Station.  Gee it was so stinking hot in the shed, both in the morning and the afternoon.  The humidity level had to be above 90%.

Tuesday was going to be delivery day.  I had ordered a 12mm power bogie and 12mm dummy bogie from Germany for my QR 2050 class scratch built railmotor model.  The package was dispatched 7 days ago and was due to turn up late Tuesday.  I was following the tracking information and all I knew was that it was in Brisbane.  Out of the blue, it rocked up at lunchtime.  I removed the packaging and applied a 3V power supply to the motor bogie.  It ran.  I then applied an old 9V battery and it still ran.  I took the bogie down to the test track in the shed and gave it the full 12V treatment.  It ran very well.  I was then perplexed as to how I would affix the bogies to my 12mm railmotor model.  I quick google search revealed how.  They also said what types of styrene to use.  I did not have any of those sizes.  Bugger!

So I rigged up a bogie frame for the dummy bogie, and it clipped in and clipped out and I was pleased.  I then thought I would build another bogie frame, this time for the power bogie.  I did that, attached the two bogies together by a stiff 5mm square styrene rod about 8 inches long and then put that on the test track.  It ran!  I then had to wonder how I would then transfer this frame from a prototype into my scratch built railmotor.  Hmmm!  I decided to cut out the current base (floor) of the railmotor and I would slip the frame inside from below.  This was so I could get the model sitting at the correct height above the track according to my QR plan.  I had to add some packing to the inside of the model to lower the model closer to the track.  Two x 1mm strips was enough and I was happy with the heights obtained.  I started with the rear of the model and first to install was the motor bogie.  I then thought I could start working on the front bogie.  But there were difficulties.  Some bright spark decided to add the internal walls of the railmotor model and internal doors.  Guess where the bogie was to go?  You guessed it!  So bit by bit, I removed the floor of the model.  I decided to sleep on it until Wednesday.  I continued work on the floor removal and I then had to remove about 3mm from the bottom of the internal components.  I added two x 1mm spacers were again in order and I could slip the bogie support frame inside.  Just like a bought one.  I gave it a test on the kitchen table, but it was a bit light on its feet.  So I added a strip of lead between the bogies underneath the model between the two bogies.  I then added a small amount of lead to each end of the model and it now runs acceptably.  Just before lunch I added the rear exhaust stack to the model and then added the front cow catcher.  I also drilled a couple of holes for where the headlights and marker lights could go, if I choose to fit them in the future.  I then took the model to the paint shop.  It got a coat of silver. 

The two 12mm bogies as delivered sitting on my Computer.  I cannot believe how small the motor is.

The dummy bogie in its cradle.

The power bogie in its cradle.

The two bogies joined by a styrene bar.

The next step was to attach wires to the bogies and work out how I would get the wires from underneath to the decoder.

The next step was to fit a decoder that I had to remove from a model that someone wanted to buy without DCC installed.  So I got a donation of an old NCE D13SRJ decoder.  Fitting the decoder was very easy.  I’ve been running the railmotor back and forth.  No lights have been fitted as yet.  I have had to do some very light surgery under the loco so the drive shafts do not hit the underside of the railmotor as it goes over various bumps in the track.  I did a bit of a gouge to the floor. 

Saturday and Sunday was when the RMCQ was holding their Model Train Exhibition at a sports complex at Brendale, which was not that far from the clubrooms.  I attended both days and did some modelling on the NMRA stand.  I was accompanied by a few other members.  Was it hot!  That is an understatement.  Quite a few other attendees from some clubs were also NMRA members.  I picked up some more Peco 12mm points so I can now complete the trackwork at South Brisbane Station, and then I will also complete the wiring activities.  On both days I was allowed to steal some running time on the brilliant 12mm layout Walloon run by the Logan District Model Railway Club.  My QR 2050 railmotor did about 4 laps on Saturday and 1 and a half on Sunday.  The main achievement is that the motor bogie looks very usable for many other QR Railmotor models.  We will work next weekend to put together a bulk order.

Dutton Park is Working

On Tuesday morning, I spent some time working on two troublesome points in Rocklea Siding that were not throwing.  The first point a standard gauge one, had its point motor replaced and all was now good.  Attention turned to a narrow gauge point that also would not throw.  I replaced the complete point.  Re-attached the point motor and everything was now working.  Damn Stiction.  I hate it.  In the arvo on Tuesday I did some track installation at South Brisbane.  I finally installed the first set of points in the run around for platforms 1 and 2. 

On Wednesday morning I ventured down to the shed and soldered a few wires to the bus around South Brisbane.  So I can run train further in that area now, but not down to teh run aaround area yet.  In the afternoon, I started recoding the Mini Panel located at Loco Pilly.  I realised that I needed to run a single wire all the way from there to the Panel for Rocklea Siding.  I also needed to add an extra push button to that panel to set the points for the narrow gauge Sunnybank branch when it gets installed next year.  I tested the new updates to the Mini Panel and the push button and all are working well.

The plan was to install the new trackwork at Dutton Park, but I have lacked motivation to install it.  Access is a royal pain...  I was planning on doing it Tuesday, then Wednesday, and then it was going to be Thursday but the wife and I went into town to see my daughter in court doing her thing.  Friday I did not get motivated to do anything either.

Saturday was NMRA Christmas Party at the Monier Hotel.  There were about 30 people there.  A great meal and some good conversation.  When I got home, I bit the bullet.  I went down and started installing the pointwork at Dutton Park.  Just because of where it is located, and the reach needed from the various aisles, it was a tough job.  After about 3 and half hours, I had all but the last piece of track installed.

Sunday morning I installed that last piece of track.  Attention then turned to see if I had created any shorts.  First the standard gauge was tested.  Second the marrow gauge was tested.  While I had no shorts, I had some dead track sections.  I worked out what sections had to be jumpered around the insulated joiners on points.  I tried to run trains through the dual gauge crossovers and the trains just stalled.  I thought that they might coast across before I could afford an auto-reverser for the crossovers.  So I had to wire up a DPDT switch that I set to either narrow gauge or standard gauge for trains to travel across.  I have only tested the narrow gauge sections so far. 

A view looking south towards Dutton Park where the tracks junction to Fisherman Islands on the left and towards Park Road and South Brisbane on the right.

Looking north as the trains approach Dutton Park

This view from Fisherman Islands with the 'Y' to Park Road for the narrow gauge.

Now I need to start testing all the point motors. Initially the two at the southern end of Dutton Park, and the ones for Fisherman Islands branch to Park Road for my ‘Y’ and the two at Park Road station can be tested but I do not have a DCC Controller to permanently connect them to.  I do have a spare Snap-it that the point motors can connected up to, one point motor at a time to see if they work.  That will be next week's job.

This is a view of Park Road with the QR SX set approaching the station.  Next week this train will move into South Brisbane and I will test the power supply here to make it operational.

During all this track work, I accidentally pulled off some track bus wires and some wires to some control panels.  This will be Monday’s job to re-attach.  I also have an issue with two of my staff machines sections.  They are not powering up.  I am thinking that it is related to a wire I bumped in my building process.  Again a job to investigate next week.  Also track power will be tested in South Brisbane next week.

Track Laying Continues

On Monday we travelled back from Armidale towards Brisbane.  First stop was the bakery at Glen Innes and then to Rohan’s place to check out on progress on his layout.  We actually picked up Rohan from his business just out of town and took him home.  A few of our group had not seen this magic layout and were gobsmacked.  This layout continues to get better.  A great way to lose lots of time, is watching trains on Rohan’s layout and checking out his fantastic scenery.

Tuesday was a trip to my local Bob Jane T-Mart to book in the car.  I picked up a screw in my travels the week before our Armidale Trip and it played havoc with us.  I had to fill the tyre up each day.  Wednesday it was fixed.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I completed all the track work at Rocklea Siding and have been running narrow gauge and standard gauge trains through the area for a shake down.

On Thursday I started work on the relaying of the Fisherman Islands branch and adding benchwork from Park Road to Dutton Park.  I made a trip to Bunnings for another sheet of 12mm ply on Friday.  Before lunch I cut in the north fork of the Wye from Fisherman Islands Branch to Park Road.  On Thursday it dawned on me that I needed to add an auto reverser to the section from Dutton Park north to South Brisbane.  I think I will wire all the trackwork north of the wye points onto the auto-reverser (when I buy one).  That way I only have one train entering the reversing section and it is long enough for my longest narrow gauge train.  I was thinking on putting the auto-reverser in the small leg from the points between Fisherman Islands and the points at Park Road.  But I could have a train longer than that section.  Alternatively I could have made the whole Fisherman Islands Power district an autoreverser, but I could have many locos sitting in that section.  I thought electrically, it would be simpler making the Park Road to South Brisbane narrow gauge section the auto reversing section.

It was very wet in the afternoon of Friday so I did not go to the shed.  I just watched the cricket on TV.  Saturday I went to Jaycar and bought some wire for the bus for Dutton Park to South Brisbane narrow gauge section.  I then installed that bus for the auto reversing section.  At the moment, the power is controlled via a DPDT switch set to either Dutton Park, or Fisherman Island on the panel.  I also relayed the track from Fisherman Islands back out to Dutton Park.  I also laid the track from Fisherman Islands to Park Road and installed the northern leg of the wye.  So in theory I can now run a narrow gauge train from South Brisbane to Fisherman Islands. 

So on Sunday afternoon, I ran that test train.  However, when I turned on the track power I had a short in the newly laid section.  I traced back some wires, and sure enough, I had attached the track feeders to the wrong bus wire on the last wires I connected.  So these were swapped and I then ran a train from South Brisbane to Fisherman Islands.  I realised that I need to attach a few more feeders around the Fisherman Islands branch as I had removed some of the old dual gauge track which had power feeders attached.  But I have trains running.

I then added some extra benchwork through Dutton Park to take the extra narrow gauge tracks.  At this stage the relaying of the track through Dutton Park is next on the to-do list.  That is maybe Monday or Tuesday’s job.

This is the new narrow gauge trackwork at the northern end of the wye from Park Road to Fisherman Islands.

This is the other end of that wye connection at the Fisherman Islands branch.  The narrow gauge crosses over the standard gauge at this point.

Turning to the left, we see the two tracks that now go into Fisherman Islands Yard.  Originally these two tracks joined up just outside the yard and were dual gauge towards Dutton Park and all teh way to Clapham Yard.

The remaining section.  This is the old Dutton Park junction, which will not be two tracks in each direction.  This will be relayed next week.

I am also working on the wiring diagram if I ever get around to removing the staff sections from Grafton Yard to Rappville and Rappville to Cassino.  These sections would be replaced with a CTC panel monitored from a laptop used by North Coast Control.  I would also remove the head set plug in points at those locations.  To do this I need to build about 14 or so track detectors.  I would also have to ensure that the first, last and middle wagons on every train are fitted with wheels sets with resistors, so that they will cause the track circuiting to pick up the locations of any trains in this area.  This will be a mammoth task, but that is a job for the whole of 2025.  I would also have to buy a stack of signals to be installed at all the crossing loops at this location. 

New England Model Railway Convention Week

On Monday a crew of us went on an outing.  The southsiders caught a train from either Kuraby, Altandi or Sunnybank and ended up at Roma Street Station.  We then went and picked up PK and Clinton and we ventured out to Kippa Ring by train.  We then caught a bus from there, along the water front at Redcliffe and across the bridge and into Sandgate.  From there we had coffee and then caught the next train out to Shorncliffe, before catching that same train back to the city and out to Cleveland.  There we went for a walk and found a nice cake shop and had some lunch.  Then back to the City (or near enough for 3 of us at Park Road Station).  I caught the Gold Coast train to Altandi, while the two others caught the Beenleigh train.  

Tuesday night 10 of us met up at Glen’s place for a run in his shed followed by adjourning to his dining room table for coffee and supper.  We were solving all the world’s (and NMRA’s) problems on that night.

So shed activities were slow to start this week.  On Thursday I adjusted the already laid 12mm track to Rocklea by about half an inch, and added in all the new standard gauge track.  I still have to splice in one more piece of track, the splitter for narrow gauge and standard gauge on the south side of Rocklea Sidings.  That is just a Dremel cut next Tuesday.  Then the trackage will all be tested and the point motors will also be tested again following the changes I made on last Thursday.

Friday was driving day to Armidale for the New England Convention.  PK and Glen rocked up at my place early, and we hit the road.  At Warwick, we caught up with the other 2 cars in the convoy.  More food was consumed at Glen Innes, and as we were leaving the hail hit us.  It poured most of the way to Armidale.  We had dinner in the Bowls club and caught up with many faces we had not seen since 2 years ago.  Saturday was presentation day.  I was second up straight after morning tea and before lunch.  The room was packed.  I also attended some good sessions.  It was interesting that there was some tie in between the sessions that I attended.  The Dinner on Saturday night was very nice.  Good company and great food, and average speaker.  Sorry I couldn’t resist Marty. Hehehehe!  At the Trivia contest our table did rubbish.  Glen called himself a NSW driver.  His knowledge of NSWGR history was crap. 

On Sunday I presented again, this time first up in the morning.  Again, the room was pretty much full.  The other sessions I attended on that day were enlightening.  So a great convention over all.  Thanks NEMRC for a great Convention.  We want to be back in 2 years time.  We then had a few beers at the Bowls Club, followed by the usual dinner at the White Bull.  We booked a table for 16, but 29 turned up in our side of the bar, and there were a few others, maybe 6 on the other side of the bar.  We did a bit of table rearranging to cater for the 29 that we had for dinner.

Tomorrow is visiting visiting Rohan day followed by our convoy’s drive home.  Let’s hope that the New England Model Railway Club will arrange the next convention in 2 more years.

Rocklea Siding Possession

This week started off slow.  I did not do anything in the shed.  I was advised that a delivery of track was being shipped on Monday, so it raised my anticipation juices.  I was also still waiting for some electrical switches early in the week.  I tossed up if I was to go to Jaycar and buy some alarm cable, but I decided to wait a few days.  I eventually picked some up on Wednesday using my NMRA discount.  I saved about $3.

So early in the week I did scan through a presentation that I was preparing, adding a few extra words here and there.  I had promised our Div Super I would have four new presentations completed by February next year.  One is complete and the second only needs pictures added.  That is probably a week's work to do it properly.  A third is also almost complete and the last one is nowhere near being started.

I finally got a delivery of some track on Thursday so I went straight to the shed to install some trackwork.  I decided to change my strategy and prioritised the Rocklea Siding area.  So I took a track possession.  My God it was hot and humid in the shed and I just dripped sweat as I pulled out the trackage at Rocklea and re-laid it.  The narrow gauge track work was all completed on Friday.  Again very hot and humid.  I reinstalled the point motors and gave them a test and they all worked, except one standard gauge one.  This one will no longer throw.  So I will look at the point and point motor at a later time.  I then decided to try and run a narrow gauge train through the area that has been relaid.  I had to jerry-rig the power to the narrow gauge section, as it gets its power from the standard gauge bit of track, and that was removed.  Slight overlook there!  But one was connected up, the loco ran well through the new trackwork to the old Rocklea Sidings.  I still need to install an auto-reverser for the standard gauge/narrow gauge diamond crossing.  Until this is done, I cannot run back out onto the mainline towards Acacia Ridge.  So that will be Tuesday's job after I mow in the morning - I think.  

Saturday was NMRA meeting day where we got to view Jim Costello's New Haven layout.  Very nice indeed.  When I got home in the afternoon, one of my deliveries of switches was in the letter box.  

I was waiting until the Sunday Buy and Sell so I had planned to I pick up some more lengths of second hand 16.5mm flex track - to complete the standard gauge trackage through Rocklea.  So while at the Buy and Sell I picked up a couple of extra points and some more point motors and I will swap out the sticky one in Rocklea on Tuesday.   I sold some bits and pieces, but ended up spending more on my purchases.  There were some absolute bargains to be had.  I plan to have the whole Rocklea area re-done as of Tuesday afternoon, or Wednesday at the latest.  

With my point work being delivered on Thursday I had also joined the other bits of track for two of the three ends of the angle going into Dutton Park.  I will spend some time this coming week working out what extra baseboards need to be installed before this gets installed.  Some of the baseboards may be just too narrow to support two tracks.  I will see.

We all know that good things come to those that wait.  While at the NMRA meeting on Saturday, a presenter showed a photo of a location where I was planning to base my future exhibition layout.  He used to live next to the track there.  So a USB is coming with a few hundred photos.  This will help me with the planning over the next year or so.