Weekly Update

Monday, as you all know, was a Public Holiday.  So early in the morning after mowing the grass and washing the pergola furniture and hosing it out for Tuesday night’s visitors, I made my way down to the shed before it got too hot.  I decided to run my steel train sequence.  This consists of 6 trains.  The first train from where I was in the timetable, was the loaded steelie going from Grafton Yard track 2 to the yard in Cassino opposite the station.  The train fits in this location.  From here the train continues further north and makes its way all the way through Fairy Hill Loop, Kyogle, Border Loop, The Risk and Glenapp before it pauses in Acacia Ridge Yard track 2 so that it can now drop off the last 6 wagons.  From here the train continues about 5 metres around the return loop at Acacia Ridge Yard and terminates.  The loads of steel on the tilt tray wagons are removed and placed in the steel load box.  The steel shunt train takes the already empty 6 wagons that are in Acacia Ridge Yard track 3 and pushes them onto the rear of the terminated steel train in track 2.  The loco the makes its way back along track two and attached to the loaded 6 wagons at the beginning of track 2.  It then moves via the crossover from track 2 to track 3 and terminates in Acacia Ridge Yard track 3.  In a few minutes the now empty steel train at the departure end of Acacia Ridge Yard track 2, travels all the way south to Grafton Yard taking the second track at this location as well.  When this has been completed, the loaded steel shunt train hauled by a sound equipped Auscision 48 Class loco travels out of Acacia Ridge Yard onto the dual gauge and heads towards Clapham Yard.  Just before Clapham Yard, it reaches Rocklea Siding.  At this location, after the set of points is set to allow the train to shunt back into the siding, it does this movement into the steel siding at this location.  The loads are then removed from each of the wagons here, and transferred to the empty steel train in Grafton Yard, wagon by wagon.  The now unloaded steel train in the Rocklea Siding makes its way out onto the mainline and waits for the points to be reset back to the mainline.  At this point, it then shunts back all the way to Acacia Ridge Yard into track 3.  The loco detaches, and then runs forward using one set of mid-yard crossovers, out onto track 2, then makes its way to the other end of Acacia Ridge Yard, here it reverses and takes the another set of mid yard crossovers from track 2 to track 3 and then re-couples up to the now empty 6 steel wagons.  These wagons remain here in track 3 until the cycle of the 6 steel trains starts all over again, and these wagons are added to the end of the empty steel train when it comes back into Acacia Ridge yard from Grafton Yard.

After doing all this work, I forgot to test all the tooth brush bristles that I had installed the previous day.

On Tuesday Afternoon, in preparation for Tuesday Nighters, I tested all the tooth brush bristles that I installed on the previous weekend.  They all worked very well.  About 9 guys came over and after they had a walk around the Shed, I decided to run my steel train sequence from Grafton Yard to Acacia Ridge Yard for their amusement.  It was a very good night.

As the weekend rolled around and with Friday night being a modelling session at the local Hobby Shop, I could not motivate myself to attend.  I think Darren and Geoff went, but I could not align the planets.  On Saturday, I did not get to the shed at all.  However today, I did get down there for about 40 minutes.  I reset the timetable backwards in time for three trains.  One of my container trains was sitting at Border Loop, but I backed it all the way back to Cassino.  The Railbus that was at Cassino moved around to Old Cassino to help pay the branchline staff.  The Brisbane Limited moved out of track 3 at South Brisbane Interstate and into the platform, before then heading south and is now sitting at Clapham Yard track 2 waiting for a cross.  So what does this all mean?  Well, it means that the fast clock time, is now at set to 3:05 PM.  From my childhood, I know that the Brisbane Limited actually went through Yeerongpilly at about 3:30 – 3:35pm, so my version of timetable history is about 30 minutes out of sink – at least for this train.

I am thinking about what can be the next piece of work I will undertake on the layout.  I am currently looking at the baseboard between the disabled wagons sidings and the area across the track from the Coal Stage.  This is about a 3’ x 1‘ area that is currently unsceniced with basic polystyrene as a base.  I will install my model of the Cassino Cab Company headquarters at this location, and do a bit of scenery around the outside.  However, at the moment, all I can do is look at it and not jump into doing any work on it.  Maybe next week, the juices will be flowing again.

I am looking around all my spare wagons trying to work out what wagons are suitable for positioning in the sidings located at Kyogle.  I am also thinking that I might be looking at running a train from Cassino to Kyogle to position and remove these trains during the timetable session.

I see that according to the Auscision website that the sound version of the NSWGR Paybus will be sent out next week.  Hopefully, I will have it in my hands before Friday.  That way I can give it a run next weekend.