2023 Ops Session Update

On Wednesday this week, I had the dirty Dozen rock up at my place for an Operations Session.  This was the largest roll up for some time.  It did not start well as the head set system which was tested a couple of days before went down immediately.  So we had manual correspondence back to North Coast Control, who was tracking who was where.  Apart from a new operator plugging into my Powercab slot and trying to control a train, most things went reasonable well.  I did find about a dozen KDs scattered in trees, in end loader buckets, etc.  And this, when there was no Marty present.  Feedback was that everyone had fun, but I felt that the session could have been better.  We ran about 25 trains.  Hopefully the layout will be the better for this session.

Various crew members

More crew relaxing post session.

Greg (left) did a wonderful job as North Coast Control

Following Wednesday’s Ops Session, I ventured down to the shed on Thursday afternoon.  I went looking for the locos mentioned in timetable cards, or those that we O-5-O’ed during the session that needed some more work on them.  I brought 6 locos up to the house (it was cooler up there) to be reset via the portable Powercab.  I then gave those locos a wheel clean.  While in the shed, I found that a few banana wagons where not in the correct place.  There were two in the Old Cassino Yard, instead of the Goods Shed Siding.  I have now updated the timetable card to mention the Rear Good Shed Siding, in lieu of the other track in the Old Cassino layout which has a building on it for transhipping goods to trucks.  The banana train was then seen in the Norco Siding at Murwillumbah instead of the Banana Siding at that location.  The Banana Siding is before the Murwillumbah Platform, while the Norco Siding is after the Platform.  They are quite some distance apart.  The diagram on the aisle fascia does identify these locations quite visually.

I also made some changes to the ballast train timetable card, as it said to ‘propel back from Cassino to the Bonalbo Ballast Siding’, then it said ‘await line clean by train No.6’.  I think it really needs to read, ‘Await Line Clear, and then ‘Propel back to the Ballast Siding’.  But the driver did not then fill the wagons with ballast.  Now I have to pay overtime rates to fill these wagons with ballast.  Maybe this was because the timetable card said to fill them with coal.  So that was also fixed up on the timetable card.

I did hit one of my Austrains 442 locos with a file to the cow catcher.  It was bottoming out when travelling through Fairy Hill Loop where there was a change in gradient.  So that has now been fixed.  I did also get some reports of a 44 class loco bottoming out in Lismore at the level crossing and the Fairy Hill level crossing.  More research needs to be done here.  I could not replicate that.

I did hear about issues at the Bruxner Highway Level Crossing.  But have not yet investigated.

I need a new sign to place underneath the Layout’s Powercab plug in point.  As a new operator plugged in his Powercab (acting as a Procab) there and then could not control any loco on the layout.  I did not realise where he was plugged into when I started to problem solve his issue.  After about 10 minutes of me getting very frustrated, as the train ran very well on the test session a couple of days earlier, I realised the cause.  I looked like a right big dork.  The problem had me thinking as every loco I tried from this operator’s throttle, did not work.  Which was very unusual. 

Another issue that I have not had before is that one operator using a WI throttle was trying to run my CPH set.  It was long address CPH 03 and CPT 051 in a consist.  The operator could not access long addresses under 128 on this throttle.  Surely that is not an issue with WI throttle?  That must be able to be done.

I did receive some feedback from some attendees and I have been going over some of these suggestions.  I did a clean up on a few more timetable cards.  This included changing the locos in a consist as one of my locos has totally died – or at least the decoder did.  So I’m now ready for the next printing of the timetable cards.  I think I need to have a copy of my layout Operations Manual available next to the timetable cards.

On Saturday morning I ventured over the Club via a local hobby shop that had a 10% sale on.  I picked up about $100 worth of styrene.  On the way home, I dropped into PK’s place and left him my Auscision Paybus.  He now has it running just like a bought one.  I then went to another Hobby Shop and cashed in a $50 voucher that, to my surprise the guys at work gave me, and I purchased some detail items for the layout.

On Saturday afternoon I completed three trains in the timetable that were almost at their destination but needed to do some shunting.  I also adjusted 2 trains were they were left in the wrong places. I then went about moving all the trains in the timetable to their location as at 8:25am in the timetable.  This involved with running 4 trains doing their shifts in about 30 minutes.  When doing this I tweaked another 4 or so locos with start voltage and headlight changes.  So next session will start at that time, with about 6 or 7 trains out in the layout.  Not part of the Ops Session, I found three joiners that needed a bit of a solder to make them work.  These were in Acacia Ridge Yard on the dual gauge trackage.  I also ground down some instances where there was different code track next to each other, e.g. Code 75 and code 100. 

I have plans for the beginning of this week.  This includes to look at the headset power supply.  Put up some more shelves above the light pelmets, as I was given a light box for Christmas so I need somewhere to store it.  I was also given a Bunnings voucher and purchased some stuff there today along with my Powerpass card discount for being an NMRA member.  You get up to 5% off on some items with Powerpass.  I have some clothesline to make along with some plastering and painting to do around Rocla Sleeper Siding and then some work on Kyogle Station Building.

Plenty to do while still on holidays and start off the new year.  Happy New Year everyone.

The rear well.  A few looking over Cassino

The crew are looking at Clapham Yard as others try to walk through this narrow aisle.

Crew checking out Acacia Ridge Yard

Geoff is doing the cement train shunt, sitting in the walkway.

The aisle showing the two staging yards.  Grafton Yard below right and Acacia Ridge yard on top on the right.  On the left is Lismore on the bottom deck, Kyogle (and Fawcetts Creek) next level up and Fisherman Islands on the top left.

Ops Session Preparation

Friday this week was the start of my holidays.  I went to the shed and started to tick off all the items on my 'To Do' list in preparation for next week's Operations Session.  I had three trains to complete the previous timetable, that was started a couple of years back.  These trains were run to completion.  Once that was done, I identified the various electrical maintenance changes that I needed to make around the layout.  The control panel at Murwillumbah had a wire off one of the buttons.  The control panel at Cassino also had the power supply wire off.  Both of these were reconnected.  I also reconnected the incinerator wire at Border Loop.  I also found a cold solder joint in Cassino Up Yard.  That was fixed along with the Down end points at Cassino Meat Works. 

Once that was done, I identified the locos that are needed to run on the first 50 trains in the timetable.  Each loco was tested up and back to ensure that it was working correctly.  Three locos needed a bit of a heart bypass.  Twenty nine locos were tested.  Nine other locos were also tested and these are classified at spare locos.  So if I have an issue on Wednesday, I can do a 0-5-0 swap of locos with one of these ones.  I also identified a dodgy power connection in Clapham Yard on the points between tracks 2 and 3 at the Up end.  This cold solder joint was also fixed. 

On Saturday, I also identified that following the relaying of the track through Grafton Yard earlier this year, some of the wire jumpers between tracks one, two and three were removed.  So unless the points were set for tracks two and three, then there was no power to the tracks.  The same was encountered for the lead to tracks 8-13.  All these power issues have now been remedied.  While working under the layout at Grafton Yard adding these jumper wires, I also pulled a wire off the staff circuit for Grafton Yard to Rappville Loop.  That was also easily reconnected. 

I also needed to clear the track.  The XPT was out at Lismore taking up a track.  It had to get back into its hiding place at Grafton Yard.  So I tried to give it a run, but one the power cars refused to move.  I reset its address on the Powercab and I had to recreate the consist between the two XPT power cars.  A minute later and the train was running back to Grafton Yard.  It had a couple of hiccups on route.  I really need to work out why the bogies keep coming off the track when it goes around a curve.  

During the evening, I got the mobile Powercab test track out, and took it into the house and tried to resurrect the decoders in the three locos that needed a hear bypass.  First one, a 442 class loco would not run.  I put DC power (9V battery) direct to the motor and it ran.  So I did a full reset of the decoder, gave it its address again and voila.  It ran.  I cannot get my Auscision Paybus to acknowledge that it has an ESU stay alive inside it.  Either the ESU stay alive is dead, or there is a cold solder joint on the connection to the decoder.  The other locos I tried, was a 48 Class.  I’m not sure what brand it is.  Maybe a Trainorama.  But I let the smoke out.  Bugger.  I will pull it apart later tonight or early tomorrow and see what I can find.

Early on Saturday before it got too hot, the yard was mowed, then later that night a rather severe burst of weather came through and we got quite a lot of rain.  There were a few branches down up and down the street, but luckily no issues at my place. 

Today I went to the shed and placed the rail paybus and the 442 class back onto the layout ready for their part in the upcoming session.  The 'To Do' list is getting rather short now.  The last few things I needed to do, was to identify why the staff machines from Cassino to Fairy Hill were not working.  The first thing to check was to determine if they were getting power from the track.  The first power supply was converting the DCC to 12V DC.  I checked three staff machine locations and they were all good.  I got to the fourth and a wire was off the DPDT switch behind the panel.  So that was repaired and Voila, that section is now working.  Next task was to check the head set plug in points and their power supply.  All plug in points worked upon testing.  Brilliant!

Everything is basically set before the Ops Session next week.  I'm sure I can find some things to do on the layout before then over the holiday period.

Track Has Been Cleaned

My plans for an early Friday with some time spent in the shed were cancelled after a major incident at work.   I worked a full day.  Saturday morning I was able to get down to the shed and start running my track cleaning train around the layout.  I started at Grafton Yard and ran through to Cassino.  I went up and down all the sidings at that location before heading onto the branch and going to Murwillumbah.  I ran back to Cassino and then headed north and ended up getting to Fairy Hill where the train laid over for the night.  I had to get then get ready to attend my daughter’s graduation in the Convention Centre. She graduated with first class honours. 

Sunday after an early breakfast with the family at a local cafe to celebrate the graduation, I could not get motivated.  As lunch was called in the cricket, I headed to the shed.  The track cleaning train continued its way north.  It went to Acacia Ridge and only went through track 1.  It then proceeded to Clapham yard, where a tested some points and it cleaned tracks 3 and 4.  Tracks 1 and 2 have trains on them.  The train then continued to South Brisbane Interstate and went through the first 5 tracks.  It also visited the next 3 tracks and cleaned the first part of those sidings, as there were wagon stored at those locations.

The train then back tracked to Dutton Park and then made its way into Fisherman Islands Track 1.  I will eventually (maybe one night this week when it is cooler), go up and down the three standard gauge tracks and the dual gauge track in Fisherman Islands Yard.

I have identified that I have about two wires off from some control panels and various electrical items.  I also identified where there is a bad power supply to a couple sections of track.  This is a track in Cassino Yard and the siding at Cassino Meatworks.  The track joiners have stopped transmitting power.  When I wired the track, I didn't have droppers to every piece of track, but to about every 3 pieces of track, which was about every10 feet.  So in some locations I can touch the join with a soldering iron and fix those power links up.

But I still have to clean my loco wheels and test the headsets and my staff sections.  I know that I have one staff section not working, from Cassino to Fairy Hill.  So I have one wire coming adrift from one of the 6 staff locations on this section, which I need to find.  Just getting around and testing each location will keep me busy another night this week.

2023 Modelling Competition

Well this last weekend was the 2023 RMCQ Modelling competition and Christmas party.  I got there just after 10:00am and there were some tables already set up for the modelling comp entries.  So I put me entry in.  Soon the complete list of entries were being registered and the swarm of club members who wanted to see what was on offer grew.  OMG!  There was some pretty good models on offer.  There were only two rules.  The entry was to be a diorama of 6” x 6” and it must have some track on it.  We did not care what gauge it was.  We had entries in 1:12, G scale, O scale, S scale, HO scale, N scale and Z scale.  In HO we had 12mm and 16.5mm track.

At the appointed hour, every members had the opportunity to vote First Second and Third and place their entries in the bin.  Our organiser then counted up the votes.  There was hush over the Club as the wining names were read out.  Peter Akers was the winner with his N scale automated tram layout.  Yes an operating tram on a 6” x 6” module.  Second place was the Z scale entry from PK.  It was a scene with lots of Z scale items, truck, tractor, wagons, bear, sheep, fencing, trees, lots of small stuff.  You really needed a magnifying glass to see some of the small stuff.  It was a tie for third.  It was two entries from the same person.  Ken Howard had his S scale wagon being unloaded in a siding, and the other entry was a HO scale station abandoned building with a family taking photos of it.

Great effort by the members.  I think it will be same again next year.

After that we had our Christmas Party.  $5 and it was great.  Ham and chicken with some salad followed up with some plum pudding with custard and cream.  I was full.  Did I mention $5.  Great job by those placing orders for the food and the plates we used.  I’ll be back next year.

Now for some photos of the entries.

A section of abandoned G scale track

A piece of 6' x 6' tiled floor with three 4' x 2 modules under construction. a few tools are there and the first pieces of track have been laid and the gauge is about 1.4mm with is a module of HO track in a 1:12 world.

The backyard view

A water way under the 12mm track

A wagon with a load.  The building had lights.

Peter's winning Tram

Now the tram is at the other end of the layout

Some animation.  A dog with a tail waging.  The guy next to the dog had his wobbly boots on.  The other two guys had passed out.  Must have been some good stuff they were drinking.

Pk's second place entry with the Z scale mountain.

N scale track with a loco that had seen better days.

Thomas with some bad eyes.  The lava in front of the track was scary

Keb's 3rd place S scale unloading scene

Ken's other 3rd place entry in HO scale.

A very nice HO scale entry with a 12mm item of rollingstock.

The whole list of entries lines up and being meticulously studied by club members,

Christmas is in the Air

This week I had a few Christmas parties to attend.  Wednesday was our team at work.  We went to lunch in town and then did 2 games of bowling.  I won the second game.  Friday was the social Club Christmas party.  Our table was small in number but we had a good time, even though a storm came barreling in while we were on the roof.  Yesterday was the NMRA Christmas Party at the Monier Hotel.  Just under 40 people turned up and had a good meal, some chat and maybe a refreshment or two.  That is a nice way to end the year.

Today I did a small amount of work on laying some track on my 1:12 module.  That module is of a HO scale 4’x 2’ layout module.  Track gauge is works out at about 1.3mm.  It is hard to lay track in that scale.  It was just as hard trying to make the sleepers and paint them, and then attach them to the baseboard.  This module is due to display next Saturday at my Club’s annual modelling competition and Christmas BBQ.  I still have a few items to complete, and that leaves most nights next week to do it on.  I also have Friday afternoon following work.

After that event, my focus turns to cleaning up the shed and preparing for an Operations Session on the layout after Christmas.  I have a truck load of activities to attend to.  Some plastering of some new scenery needs to be completed and then painted and if time permits scenery put on top, track cleaning takes a good day, loco wheel cleaning with my new test rig, ensuring the timetable cards are all there, cleaning the North Coast Controller’s desk, and testing the headsets.  There is also about a dozen other items on my To Do list as well.  These other items are quite long in duration to complete.  So I will have only about 8 work days left to complete these tasks.

Invitations have gone out for the Ops Session and already I have 9 replies. 

RMCQ Exhibition

This weekend was the RMCQ Model Railway Exhibition at the South Pine Sports Complex at Brendale.  Once I finished work, I did some painting of ten tea bags that were to be cut into 20 tarpaulins on the weekend.  Later in the afternoon, I got all the items that I was going to need for the weekend and put them near the front door.  On Saturday morning at the appointed time, Geoff picked me up and we went together to the Exhibition.  We were both working on the NMRA Demo Stand in the morning.  The numbers at the show in the morning were brilliant.  It was quite busy.  I might have shouted myself a set of 3 x PCO wagons in 12mm for the layout.  Later in the day when I got home, these wagons made it to the layout and two of them were fitted with a 25’ QR refrigerator container.  I had no more 25’ containers left.  On the Saturday morning I spent some time and cut up and then folded up 40 tarpaulins.  Following that I did some maintenance on a number of HO scale clotheslines.

On the Sunday morning at the exhibition I did the rounds of the shops and no one had any more 25’ QR refrigerated containers.  Apparently they have all sold out.  I will just have to wait for a re-run.  In the afternoon, after Marty was given a cease and desist order from the super, he eventually moved on.  We had plenty of laughs on the Saturday and Sunday at our stand.  Maybe Brad had a hand in some of these funny antics.  When I finally took over the seat at the modelling table, I assembled my two saw horses for my Club modelling entry.  Next my modelling activities turned to cleaning up the two International Acco trucks I got from Oz Kit.  I can feel a whole lot of car/truck modelling coming up in my December-January holidays period, as I have six (6) 4 wheel drives and these two SRA trucks to complete painting.  I also plan to pick up another couple of SAR trucks and a compressor trailer.   I find the hardest thing to do when modelling is picking the colour items that we going to paint the models.  I was sort of looking forward to Platform Printing having a stand at our show, but they were not in attendance.  I was after another set of 10 trackside workmen.  I can easily hide these around my layout in various fettler camps.   If push came to shove, I could probably hide thirty workers.

Number at the show were lower on the Sunday morning, and dwindled away to practically no one on the Sunday afternoon.  There was the odd person coming through the doors but nothing like Saturday morning.  As we were packing up on the Sunday afternoon and I was finally working to my car, I reached into my pocket and found my shopping list for the weekend.  Well I guess I forgot to pick up some bogie screws.  I will just visit Tyson’s shop next Saturday morning.

I think beyond doubt, this show is definitely the number 2 show in Brisbane.  Thanks to all those involved.  It was great.

So now I have just one weekend left to complete the models for my RMCQ Christmas Modelling competition entry.    I am looking forward to seeing all the entries in the competition.

Trawmay Trip

This week was another week of inaction by me.  While I spent Saturday at the local NMRA meeting no other model railway activity was undertaken, except doing a bit of reading.  I purchased the current issue of Railway Digest on Monday.  My issue of AMRM also rocked up later in the week and that magazine takes over in the order of precedence of reading.  Both issues are halfway through being read. 

Yesterday the local NMRA group had arranged for a visit to two local north side layouts.  Darren picked me up and drove me around.  Both layouts were very different and were a credit to their builders.  We spent an hour at each layout watching the trains run and asking questions.  There might have been a bit of stirring of me also occurring.  Once we had visited both layouts, we all met up at the Brisbane Tramway Museum for a BBQ lunch.  It just so happens that trams are not currently running due to a transformer issue.  But we were able to have a private tour of the site.  It was quite interesting and very informative.

Next weekend is the RMCQ Model Railway Exhibition at the South Pine Sports Complex, Cribb Road, Brendale 9-4 both days.  On The Saturday morning I will be working with Geoff on the NMRA stand doing construction.  I will also be working with Marty on the Sunday afternoon.  Pop by and say G’day.

Hopefully next week I can get back into the groove and do some work on my model competition entry for three weeks time.

More Planning than Doing

Saturday this week was Club meeting day.  I had three jobs to do.  The first was to visit the local hobby shop on my way to the Club and pick up some steel or brass structured shape or wire for use in my diorama.  I ended up getting the wire, as the shapes were way too big.  The second job was to drop off a number of magazines to the Club and these were to be inserted into a number of goodie bags to be given out to people at the door at our Club Exhibition in a few weeks time.  So I packed the car the night before and when I got to the Club I just brought them inside and stored them on one of the tables.

The third job was to drop off a bag full of goodies into the Club wheel barrow.  These goodies get built up into about a half dozen hampers for raffle prizes at our Club Christmas Party in December.  That also happens to be our Club Modelling competition.  However, I left that shopping bag in the kitchen at home.  Bugger!  The wheel barrow is looking a bit slack and it does need a helping hand.  Now, I will need to drop my stuff off in a couple of weeks, when I am next over that side of town.  That is the date of our Club Exhibition.  I will drop by to the Clubrooms on the way to the Show.

Today I hit the road and went to visit the Miniature Train Club Gold Coast, and their new clubrooms down at Pimpama.  It is quite easy to get to, just a few hundred metres off the M1.  I got there about 11:00am, parked outside and I worked out what building they were in.  The crowd was really good.  I understand that they also signed up a few new members on the day.  Three layouts were operating, and another was a static display, as they had not yet got it running after a long time in storage.  They also had two TVs rolling through various photos showing their progress in lining the Clubrooms.  That was a great effort by the Club in finally achieving their own premises.

When I got home I started working on a few more items to add to my diorama for the Club Christmas Modelling Comp.  I will continue to glue some items together tonight or tomorrow night.  Then I can move onto the next lot of items, next weekend.

On Friday I was waiting to get my delivery of the latest AMRM magazine.  They did not appear in the mailbox.  I then went for a 2.5km walk to a local newsagent, and they did not have the November Railway Digest.  The kind staff members advised that it is due in on Monday.  Luckily when I went to the Club on Saturday PK gave me his hardcopy NMRA magazine for November.  Without that magazine I'd have nothing to read this weekend.  I expect that I might have it finished being read on Tuesday evening.

Achievements

Well this last week has seen a few milestones achieved.  This is blog post number 850.

The daughter finished her last Uni assignment on Wednesday evening this week, and we now wait to hear her marks, as she hopefully has completed her Law Degree.  She still has her part time job to keep herself busy until mid December, then a well earned holiday break, and then she starts her first fulltime employment in about January or February next year.  That was quite an achievement.

Also last Friday week I submitted my AP paperwork for Master Builder – Cars.  This was for my 7^th AP across the 4 disciplines.  On Monday night I heard that my paperwork was approved and I gained that AP certificate.  I also saw that I was approved as the next NMRA MMR in the region.  So that is the end of a short 4 year, 1 month and about 1 week period of activity in completing a number of components (wagons, structures and track), supporting information and the various paperwork for my various APs.

I assume, it will be a few months before I will get officially presented with my next AP certificate and the subsequent MMR paperwork, as there are no real meetings scheduled until January next year.  But it is small load off my shoulders.  I always said that I wanted to complete my last AP before I retired.  I was thinking of taking Long Service leave next year, so I guess I made that goal.  So my goal now is to light a fire under the backsides of a few mates in order to push them further along their AP paths. 

Today we had our Club’s Buy and Sell and towards the end it got a pretty wet.  That forced a bit of an early end to proceedings, with the public and sellers all scattering.  I sold a few items and I also purchased a couple of things.  I did alright out of the day.  I was able to pay off a few debts and now I need to start working on that ‘To Do List’ of activities for December.

Submitting Forms and Planning Next Moves

This week I did a small amount of work on my diorama entry in the December Club modelling competition.  I applied my layer of grout to the base.  Apart from that, I visited a hobby shop and purchased a loco shell.  I also visited Arthur, our local AP representative and he took some photos of my models to go with the paperwork I also put together for my 7^th AP for Master Builder - Cars.  So that will be submitted by Arthur at his leisure.  Who knows what the result of this is and when it will be ratified.  Maybe January next year I might get the next AP certificate.

I will need to continue work on my model for the Club Modelling Comp and then also start to draw up a To Do List of activities to get the layout back operational after a couple of months of inactivity before we have another Ops Session in December.  I’m sure I will have about 20-30 things on the To Do list before I’m finished.  There are a few lights not working on the layout and I will also start a list of major projects to complete, like the Kyogle Station building that I have been working on for a couple of years.

Next Sunday is our Buy and Sell at the Club, so I need to get a few things out during the week ready to take along to sell.  The next major activity is the Club Exhibition a few weeks later.  I will be working on the NMRA stand so I need to plan my model building activities.

I also have a list of 'To Be Purchased' list of items that as soon as some of these items are released, I will have to order the items. 

So I have lots of things to do, but not much motivation at the moment.  I will try and find some.

Relatively Free Weekend

This weekend while the NMRA Divisional Meeting was way up in the Hervey Bay region, I did not have much to do.  I bus trip was organised for those down south to head up north for the monthly meeting.  I did not plan on attending after spending all my shackles in Sydney on the NMRA convention.  Luckily there was a Buy and Sell on at the AMRA Clubrooms in Zillmere on Saturday morning - which I attended, and there was also some sport in varying forms on TV to watch.  At the Buy and Sell, I ran into a few Club Members there selling, as well as a few buying.  The layouts inside the Clubrooms were running and there was a BB18¼ running around hauling a 6 car set of 3D printed SX cars.

Over the weekend I sat at the kitchen table and did some work on my Club Christmas Modelling Competition entry.  So the 6" x 6" baseboard for my diorama has been started and painted.  I still need to apply a layer of grout on this model and then that part of my entry will be completed.

There is another Buy and Sell next weekend (Sunday) at the Logan District Model Railway Club and then I think the next event after that is our Club's Buy and Sell on Sunday 5th November.

Club 12mm Update

This week I had to go back to work after 2 weeks touring through NSW and attending the NMRA convention.  What a let down!  Anyway, I was able to take Friday off, as I needed to get my daughter to the airport at about 4:40am for a flight to Cairns and then Townsville.  She comes back on Monday night after talking to some people up there.

So used the time later on Friday to get my tax done.  Looks like I’m in for about a $600 refund.  I see none of that, it just goes into the back account.

Saturday was Club Meeting day and I made my way over there early.  What I noticed was that the extension to the front of the Shed was complete.  There is however further work about water proofing that and the rear extensions and putting insulation into the walls.  It is looking pretty good.

After the meeting, I went down to the rear HO shed and had a look around.  Holy 12mm batman!  There was truck loads of it on the layout.  Most of the goods wagons were weathered, and weathered very well.  I think there were a few BB18¼ steamers running around on the layout.  There was at least three sets of SX cars.  There was also two complete sets of lander cars.  It seems that we might have become the centre of the QR 12mm universe over the last couple of months.  We have quite a few new QR modellers joining the Club.

There was also people running on the outdoor live steam as well.

Back Home

After last week’s blog post we jumped in the cars and went to Marcus’s place for dinner and an Ops Session.  It was great to catch up with Marcus.  Most people ran a train at Marcus’s and had a great time.  While there, Marcus also replaced the RJ12 connection in my Powercab.  It now works like a treat.  I also purchased some new battery terminals as the old ones were tarnished by a previous battery leak or two.  These were replaced when I got home.  Nothing like a throttle that works as good as new.

Some of the crew at Marcu's Place for dinner

Next morning we started our way north, and went to four layouts on our Layout Tour Day.  We went to Rob Peterson’s, Alistair Gilmore’s (Some of us had been there before), back to Marcus’s, and then David Howarth’s.  We were running late and could not get to Ken Scales place.  We stayed that night at East Maitland.  We had a BBQ dinner after a run to the shops for some snags and other items.

At Rob Peterson's N scale layout

John Z working as one of the station masters

Trains running

Control's Desk

More trains running

BBQ Dinner on Monday evening

Next day (Tuesday) we started hitting the stations up the main line to Werris Creek.  We seemed to catch quite a few trains on this section of the trip.  We left Werris Creek for Armidale just after the Explorer left and we saw it at a couple of locations on route north.  We had dinner in the Bowls Club and stayed in our usual motel.  On Wednesday we were planning to visit Rohan’s layout, but he had a plumbing emergency that he had to deal with so we did not catch up with him.  We still had a few stops at Glen Innes, Tenterfield, Warwick and Aratula before we split up and made our separate ways home.  My car got back to my place, and then Pk took over driving Glen and Clinton home.

Muswellbrook dock with a captive coal wagon

A Hunter Set about to head back to Newcastle at Muswellbrook

Tenterfield Station

Tenterfield Station

Tenterfield Station again

Tenterfield rest break eating a sausage roll

Willow Tree waiting for a number of trains to roll through for Tuesday lunch

Werris Creek Station from the overbridge

Armidale Bowl Club

We did over 2,100 kms, saw many trains and railway locations, went to a convention, dropped in on lots of layouts, and maybe some of us actually learnt a thing or two.  I know I did.

Not being content with all this railway activity, on Friday Night Darren and myself along with Brendan went over to Geoff’s place for a night of pizza, drinks and modelling.  I started to work on my entry for the RMCQ Christmas Modelling competition.  This model will be something very different and will cause some in the competition to scratch their heads.