Planning for the Future

This week I didn't get up to much productive model railway activity.  The week started with a trip to Mike's place for our Tuesday Nighter's Meeting.  There were 11 in attendance.  It was a really great night, with everyone sitting around a table talking across the table all at the same time.  There were about 5 or 6 conversations occuring at the same time.  Just brilliant.

I managed to nick off from work early on Friday and installed some decoders into three steam locos that my mate David had left at my place quite some time ago for me to make them usable.

Saturday this week was Club day.  So off over there and quite a lot of conversations were had about the new HO clubroom layout.  Progress continues to be slow, but there is progress.  We keep getting people bringing up suggestions and thoughts that have voted down in the past by the majority of members.  I guess they will not learn and some just cannot visualise some basic concepts.  It is there way or the highway.  These are the trials and tribulations of belonging to a Club I guess.

Eventually today I finally made my way down to the shed and started to install 4 new point motors in the yard area of Cassino.  These points are at the extremities of a person's reach from the Cassino base board.  While I can reach them, I am concerned as I add more scenery, the leaning over may damage the scenery and structures and while I can reach these points to operate them, some guys attending a running session may not be as nimble as me.  SoI decided that I'd buy a digitrax DS64, and utilise some unused inputs in one of my NCE mini panels, and add a small mimic panel (yet to build) to control these points from, and motorise these hard to reach points.

All the point motor holes were cut, the point motors installed under the points and wires solders to the point motors.  These wires are currently just left hanging down below the layout.  They will be connected up to the DS64 when I eventually get one and get some more wire.

David come over this afternoon to pick up his locos and I was discussing some plans for the future.  At the moment I have a very small section of dual gauge track in Acacia Ridge Yard - very small!  I will extend this north invoking modeller's license.  While the standard gauge track did head north of Acacia Ridge, it was only very recently that it was dual gauged.  The track was separated, with the Uniform Gauge separate from the narrow gauge.  My track will be dual gauged all the way until at least Dutton Park.  The track will head north from Acacia Ridge, travel through Clapham Yard, which will be at least a crossing loop, and maybe a couple of sidings, but the sidings are not in the picture as yet.  I could have a small loco depot for Loco Pilly (Yerongpilly), and then have the tracks diverging at Dutton Park.  One branch will head towards Brisbane Marine Terminal (BMT) or Fisherman's Island.  This will have up to 3 tracks with run around facilities.  It might have seperate narrow gauge and standard gauge run arounds.  The other track from Dutton Park, will head to Park Road Sidings.  This is where the paper train of my modelling period terminates and used to provide Qld Newspapers with its newsprint.  From here the track will also head into South Brisbane Interstate Station, which will also have a run around loop and could also have a siding or two.  I still remember sitting on Gloucester Street Station and Vulture Street Station, and also on a train between there and Yerrongpilly Station of an afternoon, and watching or paralleling a standard gauge train while coming home from school just after 3:00pm in the afternoon.

One thing I'm certain of is that I don't think I have any room for most of this future plan.  The future extension will be on baseboards maybe 6 to 9 inches wide, just a few inches above the current top deck.  There will definitly be minimal scenery.  I can but plan and dream.