Down the Coast

This week I had a couple of days off work and I will also have a few off next week, as I am down the Gold Coast with the family.  I had planned to spend some time preparing for the Clinic I will be doing next Sunday at the Workshops Rail Museum, for the Narrow Gauge Convention.  But this hasn't eventuated.  However, I did take some train related work down the coast with me. 

On Thursday I fitted bogies and KD's to 3 scratchbuilt NOCY wagons that have been sitting around for a very long time.  I also fixed a bogie screw to an old OCY wagon that was previously lost somewhere on my layout during a running session.  It is amazine that a wagon can continue to run even though the bogie screw has come adrift.  I also fixed a coupler that had almost come off a NPRY cement wagon. 

On Friday I fitted the top lifting rings to 5 x N scale coil steel containers.  I then did the same to 6 x HO scale coil steel containers.

On Saturday the plan was to start building 2 x NHBF ballast wagons.  But these wagons are special as they have the side delivery chutes.  I had previously acquired a few pictures from the web of these unique wagons.  So work started on the base and cutting out the sides and the other components for the hopper. 

Today I added the bracing to the sides and assembled the hopper onto the base.  I then built the side frames and side delivery chutes.  The two wagons are starting to look pretty good.  I will try and finish the wagon off tomorrow.

All this activity was interspersed with trips to the beach and the pool, as well as the shops, visits from my sister, one of her daughters and her three kids, and another visit from the wife's mother and one of her sisters.  It has been very relaxing.