Working on the Return Loops and in the Cement Siding

On Saturday I went to the Club and handed back 4 locos that I had installed decoders in for two members.  I picked up a new job to build another timber road bridge on the layout.  I have put an order in to our resident laser cutter "Chilli Laser Engraving”.  He will cut up a length of 1.5mm 3-ply on his laser and I will be able to use it for the bridge deck.  For all the other components of the bridge I will be using my supply of bass wood.


This morning I went to a school working bee and this arvo I went to the shed because George from the next suburb was coming over to have a look and get some inspiration.  Just before George turned up I soldered up the last few wires and make Acacia Ridge Yard return loops all good again.  I just need to screw in the four wires into the Digitrax AR1 auto reverser that I use in the return loops.  However I just wanted to check something on the manual for the AR1 but the Digitrax website has been down for hours. 

I have also installed some push buttons in a new small panel for Acacia Ridge Yard that will be used to control a new point for the standard gauge line track 1 to allow diverging to the dual gauge line.  I will need an NCE Snap-it to complete this point install.  During the week I also hope to complete the control panel at Fisherman Islands at the terminus end of the yard.

So while George was in attendance, I demonstrated a bit of shunting on the Murwillumbah Branch with the cement train. I think George was amazed at the no hands operation, with in-track magnets allowing for almost trouble free operation.  This movement takes a train of 8 cement wagons via a headshunt that allows three wagons at a time to be put into the siding.  If I could not separate a couple of wagons, I just cut the wagon consist either at the wagon before or the wagon after and moved 2 instead of 3 or 3 wagons instead of 2.  That worked!  I just have the sound equipped 44 class idling at speed step four and hit the direction button to uncouple over the magnet, changing the point as we go from the main to the siding and vice versa via the headshunt.  It works quite well.  Although I might have to hit the KD couplings with some powered graphite to ensure continued smooth operation.


Other plans for this week include heading over to a local hobby shop - HobbyOne and picking up a spray can of a cement colour to paint the cement silo for the Club Layout.  I will then do some spray painting so I can take the kit I assembled some months ago back to the Club.
I also plan to finish the scanning of hundreds of photos of the Casino area that I need to complete before handing back the photos to the owner.


I have also scheduled a mini running session this Friday morning from 9:00am and will have potentially Darryl, Chris, John, Quentin and Kev from the club in attendance.  So before then I had better put the trains back into a 8:00am slot in the timetable, clean the Controller's Desk, stack the fridge and test the headset system.  I don't think we will be running a Controller but you never know.

I also have some plans about mowing the grass, spending some time at Bunnings and Masters, putting up some shelves in the laundry and doing a few other jobs around the house to please the Boss.

I've also received a callup to Anthony's next running session next Saturday. 

If you couldn't guess - I'm on holidays this week.  Whoo Hoo!  What a week I have installed.