Bob's Visit and NMRA-X

On Tuesday this week the Tuesday Nighters gathered at Barnacle Bob’s place for our fortnightly meeting.  We got another look at this fantastic layout.  I have quite a few photos to add to this blog entry at the end to show off the layout.  I took some of my new HO and HOE wagons to Bob’s place and loaded three onto a siding.  Bob soon dispatched a loco over to where they were and took them for spin.  Well, they needed some additional weight.  The coupler on some had locked up so that needed some work and the bogie screw was too tight on some and all these things together made them run quite poorly.  But they get round and back again even if they had to be re-railed a few times.  So on Friday afternoon, I added some sheet lead weights to the bottom of the five 12 mm wagons.  I moved the couplers back and forth to break the glue hold and did a quick job to free up the coupler swing< when the couplers were installed, a touch of glue must have got inside my coupler pockets.  Nothing that cannot be quickly overcome.  I also adjusted a couple of bogie screws.  Next job was to dull coat the insides of the wagons.  So I have given then a basic run at home in Acacia Ridge Yard and they might still be too light,  I will look at installing some more lead weight next weekend.

While we were at Bob’s I glimpsed an old pot belly stove.  I asked Bob is it was one that I made and he advised yes.  It scrubbed up quite well.  So the conversation turned to making it have a fire inside it, just like my incinerators.  Challenge accepted!  So I rummaged around at home on Saturday and found some styrene to make up some new pot belly stoves or three.  The plan is to buy some more LEDs (I didn’t get around to doing anything this weekend) and maybe also have a door that can open on the front of the pot belly.  So I have made up three new stoves, and cut the door out.  One night this week I will try and make a hinge on the door so it will open and close.  I will then install the LED, connect it to a power source and see if it can boil some water.  Watch this space!

Today was the latest NMRA-X convention online on Facebook and YouTube.  I was rostered on at 11:00am to talk about Building Pallets.  My presentation was a very simple demonstration of how to build some HO scale pallets and features some prototype photos and model photos of using pallets around the layout.  Now that this activity has been completed, I need to prepare my next NMRA-X presentation next year on creating a timetable graph for an operations session.  However, before this task, I need to do a few more things on the layout.  One job is to install some more crossovers in Grafton Yard on my concentric return loops.  I also have to do some more testing of the narrow gauge timetable, given that the numbers of wagons keeps growing.  I also need to potentially add one if not two more 12 mm sidings to store these additional 12mm wagons.  Another task I need to do before the next Operations Session is to build maybe another 5 flat wagons for various loads like sugar bins and cement bins and a few more items coming soon.

I believe I have about 5 weeks to set all this up and get read for an operations day.

So here are some photos from Barnacle Bob’s layout visit on Tuesday night this week.

Some beasts in a yard fattening up.

Close up of the beasts.

This wind mill turns and it looks like water is pumping into the open trough.

A baby osprey is nesting up the mobile tower.

The local school sees some action.

Inspector Bob is supervising the car being removed from the creek.

Crickey!  Vegemite sandwiches.

This shot shes the detail of a ditch next to the road overrun by weeds.

An incinerator roaring away.

Work site.

Shopping trolley lost in the mangroves.

Fire extinguisher at the work place.

Two tree fellers with a chain saw.

Seconds later, the tree comes down.

Concrete being laid.  The cement truck has its bowl turning.

A boat with rods in the back along with life vests.  Bob thinks of everything.

My pot belly stove.

Rural fire station will bell out the front.  Next door is the local toilet block, with light posts guiding the way around the outside.

Rubbish in the mangroves.

Someones boat with a tree growing up through it.  A crab is walking through the shallows in front of the boat.

Security access point in the business to open the automatic gate.

A tyre in the mud on the banks of the creek.

Someone fishing off the jetty.  He has pulled into two mud crabs.

Silver Bullet crossing the automated level crossing.  Detection circuitry and logic by me.

is that PK in the trailer?

Some ducks swimming in a very dirty creek.

Bee hives in the bush.

An old derelict church.

A gantry crane to load/unload logs at the saw mill.

A very nice log wagon.

Jack chopping some firewood.

A rubbish bin on the wharf.

The garage has a working hoist and some spare tyres for sale.

Some of the crew inspecting the layout.

Looks like some business has just been transacted.

A HO and 2 x HOE wagons.

Some more junk on the banks of the creek.

A skeleton of a cow in Mosquito creek.

Another shot of the lights outside the toilet block.

Washing going up and when completed, I'm Mary will sit in one of her chairs under the shade tree.