Painting, Soldering and Track Laying - as Well as Running an Ops Session

This week we visited Cliff’s on Tuesday.   However, I did not get there until quite late due to work commitments and so I didn’t visit his layout this time.  By the time I got there everyone had adjourned to his unit and sat around to eat and drink.  I got there and enjoyed the conversations with those in attendance.  PK was doing another MB Klein order, but what I wanted to purchase was not in stock.  So I placed it on backorder with PK.  Being the great mate that he is, he advised the next day that he actually had 5 packets of what I was after in his kit bag.  He offered to sell one to me for a good price.  So on Thursday PK rocked up at work and I handed over some cash and I was then the proud owner of a packet of Tichy Train Group 44 gallon drums.  96 of them in fact.  However, upon checking the contents, there were actually 100 inside the packet.  The first 30 of them have now been assembled - lid put on the drum, and painted silver.  The next lot will be painted all different colours, to represent the various oil company colours of the era that I am modelling.  I should work out what colours they need to be and build up a stockpile of those paint colours.

Saturday this week, was the local NMRA meeting at Darren’s place.  So Geoff, Brendan and myself were conscripted (we didn’t need too much coaching) to run trains on his layout while the other members of the Division watched, and asked questions.  That allowed Darren to be free to speak to other guys while we kept the trains running.  I think a few of the visiting members got a laugh or two from the bantering that was going on between the various crews.  But we really need to get allocated trains before Geoff in the roster.  He kept me at a crossing loop for about 2 hours while he shunted at the Branchline Terminus, before I could get there to do the same.  Geoff had a wheatie, and was swapping the various empties for fulls before departing back to the junction station and onforwarding to Sydney.  I had the shunt train and it was an absolute brain teaser with all the shunting required.  I made one big stuff up on this train.  I had to shunt down to the good shed at the end of the line and swap a loaded wagon for an empty wagon.  However, I missed the sign “Locos to not pass this point” and I lost power.  I should have had a couple of wagons as match trucks so I could reach the siding with the loco safely outside the private siding boundary.  Oh well, I will remember next time.  It has been quite some time that I have had this particular train to shunt.

I had some very good conversations with some of the members.  Some I had not met before, and some that I had not caught up with for some time.  The lunch put on by Darren’s wife and daughter was fantastic.  It was a fantastic day.  About 45 people were in attendance.

Today I went down to the shed just before lunch time and did some spray painting.  I had some steel loads to touch up, I found some more steel beams to spray paint and I spray painted 30 new 44 gallon drums for various loads around my layout and for making up on a pallet which I have started selling.  I have a few pallets left in my collection that I thought I might be able to sell off with a load.  I was inspired by Arthur Hayes’s article in the last AMRM where he created some loads for his HWA wagons from Queensland Scale Models.  I just happen to have a few spare of these on my 12mm network.

The painting results.  44 gallons drums, and various steel loads.

Once the painting was over, I had some lunch and then resumed shed activities where I had to fix some soldering issues with some wires that had come loose.  My dual gauge point on the lead into Acacia Ridge Yard from the north had the wire to the frog come loose.  So that was fixed as did the control panel for the standard gauge entry to Acacia Ridge Yard from the south, which had the wire for track 2 come loose.  The next task was to bite the bullet to rip up a curve point in Acacia Ridge Yard from track 2 to track 3 (used by the steel shunt).  The baseboard under this tracks will be levels across a baseboard joint and hopefully take out a bit of a high spot that causes some issues.

This train, consisting on 1770 James Cook, three HWA wagons and one load for an HWA wagon is what I picked up last weekend at the Pine Rivers Model Railway Exhibition.

While doing work on the track, I decided to install most of the 12mm track I picked up at the Pine River Model Railway Show the previous weekend.  I installed the new siding off the number 2 loop siding in Fisherman Islands Narrow Gauge Yard.  I then set about installing the crossover from the narrow gauge track 1 to the dual gauge track.  This was completed and tested and seems to work well.  I then installed the first crossover in narrow gauge track 1 that will connect to narrow gauge track 2.  The second set of points has not been installed as yet.  That is a job for next Saturday afternoon.  Of course I will have to install the myriad of track jumpers to the various sections of track in the narrow gauge yard so we have continuous track power and locos can continue to sit there and idle away if required.  Considering that I only have one narrow gauge loco with sound, I’m a bit optimistic about my statement, but at least the trains can run to all section in the yard when it is rewired. 

What I am doing to the narrow gauge yard, I have already done to the standard gauge yard, as seen in the photo below.

This photo shows the narrow gauge track 1 with the crossover to the dual gauge track, and the first point installed to connect to the narrow gauge track 2.  The second point still need to be spliced in.

This photo shows the new dead end siding middle left, that will allow a loco or two to be stored within Fisherman Islands Narrow Gauge Yard.

Next weekend I need to pick up some supplies at the local hobby shops and then I will head over to the Redlands Model Railway Show later in the morning.  Sunday I have other activities planned.