Last Post for 2012

Today I went down the shed to fix up a few things that went wrong on Saturday.  I had to solder one track wire in South Brisbane, two wires to a control panel at Murwillumbah and fix a few screws that needed tightening around Old Cassino.

Shelton came over to seek some assistance on his Y class which had seized.  Unfortunately I could not assist.  So we turned our attention to ironing out a few more rollingstock issues.

Anyway we ran a few trains trying to iron out a few bugs.  We ran the steel train from one end of the layout to the other and back again.  We ran a container train from one end to the other and back again.  We fixed a few coupler height issues.  We fixed a few bogies being too tight.  We packed the track in about 3 places to remove some dips etc..  We re-aligned the track in a couple of places, ever so slightly to remove a few ever so light kinks. 

Later this afternoon I went back down the shed and fixed the coupler height issue on my candy 4848.  I then ran the North Coast Motorrail train from Murwillumbah to Grafton and return.  I fixed a few issues with the motor rail wagon couplings.  A also returned another first class sitting wagon to traffic on the motorrail.  I think I will have to add about two more before the next session as well.  Tonight just after dinner I ran the paper train back and forth and again found a bogie too tight and not allowing enough swinging.  I swapped off the last wagon for another Trainorama wagons but a later one without cookie cutter wheels.  I also added an Auscision NLKY to the consist for something different and it still fits into the various loops.

There was a very sad occurance this afternoon in the shed.  44224 hauling the North Coast Motorrail while travelling from Lismore to Murwillumbah took a dive onto the floor.  It was only the Loco that took the unscheduled trip.  All coaches stayed on the track.  It made a bit smash as I was up the other end of the shed waiting for it to come into Murwillumbah.  The wife said she heard me saying something - I couldn't imaging what (?) from her position back inside the house.  The loco was in all sorts of pieces.  Both bogies came off.  The shell came off the chassis in one full piece - I was expecting it to be in about a dozen pieces.  The universals came off and the small bearings that fit the universals into the bogies were also recovered.   The clips that hold the drive train to the bogies also came off and were recovered.  The buffing plates were also broken off.  The two staff exchanger detail items came off.  Only one was recovered and was re-attached successfully.  I took all the items to the workbench and performed life saving surgery.  The KD's were good.  The front of the chassis was bent.  No wonder, it took the full brunt of the fall.  I attempted to unbend it - it seemed to work.  I re-attached the bogies.  I reglued the buffing plates back on.  All LEDs still worked.  It would not run.  I observed that one wire came off the motor.  This was soldered back on.  I tested it again and it ran.  I oiled it up, put it back on the track and it still runs just as good as it did before.  No one will ever know!

So all in all, a very productive day.  Maybe I might run another 3 or 4 trains tomorrow from one end to the other and back again.  I will eventually reset the trains to where they should be for a 12 noon restart for the next running session.

Happy New Year to all my followers and especially my Operating Crew and the Tuesday Nighters.  Let's hope I win $1,000 in lotto soon, so I can finish all the outstanding track work ready for the next running session.  But then I need to buy 2 x XPT sets, pay for my 2 x 73 class locos, pay the balance of my 81 class loco on order, then buy a few 48 class locos to replace my powerline and trax locos.  Maybe I need $5,000.  We can but dream!

May your 2013 be productive and prosperous.  May everyone have good health and humour for the following year.

My aim is to hit 100,000 hits on my blog by May 2013.