NMRA Meeting at My Place

Early on Monday morning work focussed on the continued preparation for the awning outside my shed going up on its posts.  I got up and drilled another hole (the second) in post 1 to fix the bracket to support my shed awning.  I had a piece of steel between the first two posts that set my slop for the brackets and thus the whole awning.

On Monday arvo I went to the shed and did a few odd jobs.  I ran a test wire from a my NCE QSNAP to a troublesome point, and connected it up.  It tested just like it operates –‘Crapilly’.  I think there is an issue with the QSNAP.  I also found a wire off under the layout powering my Fairy Hill Community Hall Arduino.  So that was easily fixed.  It also allowed two vehicles on fairy Lane to light up their animations.  I then worked out what was causing the ammeter in power district 3 to not work consistently.  It was a loose wire to the ammeter.  So that was re-soldered and is all good now.

I then started painting the baseboard in two small locations near Lismore.  On Tuesday I sprayed one of the areas with a diluted Aquadhere mixture and then spread dirt over the area.  Then after a bit more glue, I added various scatters.  The next task was to start installing a fence next to the railway line in the area just sceniced.

Wednesday afternoon, I had Darren and Geoff turn up (after their workday) along with one of my brothers-in-law and we all provided the necessary muscle power to lift my awning up onto the four steel posts.  Damn it was awkward to get up there.  Once up there and square I drilled four screws from the post mounted brackets into the awning frame to keep it there.  As you could have guessed, the main holes in the brackets did not line up with the frame.  So at a later date I will drill new holes in the brackets and fit two additional screws to each bracket to help it keep secure the awning from any wayward winds.  The brackets on posts 3 only had one bolt holding them, and the bracket on post 4 only had a clamp holding it.  This is so the third bracket could self-adjust the correct angle for the awning, and after we used a level to adjust the levelness of the front of the awning over the shed, we drilled one bolt hole in post 4 to keep everything at the correct position.

So on Thursday morning I got stuck in and drilled two more bolt holes in Post 3, and 2 more bolt holes in Post 4, and another bolt hole in Post 2.  So all of these brackets are held by 3 bolts in them through the awning posts.  These have all been tightened up and are pretty secure.  On Friday morning I went to Bunnings and purchased some steel strip to act as tie down straps.  I affixed one of these from the awning frame back to each of the four posts.  When I feel like drilling some more holes in the posts I will add a second tie down strap from the awning frame to the posts.  I will also add the third bolt hole to Post 1, to help secure the bracket.  The reason why I don’t like this one as I have to get basically inside my lemon tree and I hate getting jabbed by the thorns on some of the branches.  I am thinking of now adding a small weather shield on at least one side of the posts up high for some added weather protection.  I am also looking at adding some handrails beside at least one side of the steps down to the shed.  Over the weekend there has been some light showers and my steps have now remained dry and the shed door has remained open.  Success!

The shed with the awning sitting proud in front of it.

Saturday was D-day and about 40 people rocked up for our monthly NMRA Div-1 get together at my place.  Most people stood around under the gazebos when they arrived and had a chat before festivities began, with four presentations.  We first presentation had Mark Hourigan giving a talk on Dynamic Operations.  He previously gave this talk late last year at the Victorian Prototype Modeller’s Forum.  I asked that he present this to our crew and I think it was a very popular topic with the attendees.  Next up was Phil Flynn talking about adding internal detail to his NSW signal box.  Phil covered what he had included and where he got the various detail items from, or if he scratch built them.  Again a great little preso that captured people’s imaginations.  The next preso was part of our ‘show and tell’ section of the gathering.  Scott Whitiker from Bowen (O scale modeller and author of about 14 articles in AMRM on his layout build in his shed) gave a video walkaround of his shed showing the various views inside the shed and discussed progress and some of his issues he has to faced and how he got over them with his build.  In October this year, our division has a meeting up at his place in Bowen.  It will be a long weekend of activities, but I will be so far in debt that I cannot afford the trip this year.  I will eventually get there I’m sure.  Last up was myself giving a presentation on Simple Railway Fencing for the layout.

At various breaks during the day, members filtered down to the shed and had a look around.  At the end of the day I found 3 wheel sets left on the track at two locations and a 4 wheel drive left on an occupational crossing at Running Creek in the Border Ranges.  I also found a lion on the track near Fairy Hill and another African animal up a tree.  I think these incidents were 100% all Clinton’s work.  Small things …..

Today I went to Jarcar and picked up a new kit for The ‘Champ’ Amplifier.  This is to replace the kit that is currently in operation in my shed and has developed a huge squeal through the headsets.  My plan is to potentially swap the chip out from the current build and see if that resolves the issue, and if not, put the whole kit together and swap the new for the old and see if that resolves my problems.  If so, that will be brilliant and I will return to headset operations for the two upcoming Operations sessions on my layout in July and August.  So while checking the existing amplifier, when I touched something there was a change in sound from the headsets.  I measured the resistor and then resoldered it to the circuit board and there might have been a slight change in sound.  So I started soldering all the layout plug in point runs back to the connect point.  But I removed the 12V power plug source that I had dropped to 9V from the circuit, and used my old fashion 9V battery.  OMG!  You would not credit it, there is now no hum, no squeal, just silence.  I tested every plug in point and my problem is solved.  Maybre I did not have to buy that second amplifier kit now.  But at least I now have spares.

So the next issue to be resolved on the layout is the operation of a point motor at Dutton Park.  I will bypass the NCE QSNAP and run it directly off a 12V power supply and see if this fixes the current issue of non-operation.

A Post About Posts

Tuesday this week was the fortnightly meeting of the Tuesday Nighters at my place.  That made Monday cleanup day in the shed a little.  On Tuesday morning I had to clean the benches, test the urn, and get the tea, coffee, cups, milk and sugar out.  Also on Monday and Tuesday I did some painting of some 3D printed vehicles.  I worked on 3 perway vehicles and 5 x 4 wheel drive vehicles.  The 4x 4’s had their wheels painted Floquil Grimy Black with a brush.  Just that small amount of work made a difference to these models.  They were placed on the layout before the event. 

The guys came over and discussions centered around my shed entry awning.  They came to the conclusion, to not attach the awning to the shed roof, but add two more posts, and have it sit on top of the four posts.  I got some good feedback about the painted 4 x 4s.  So a review of the layout after the crew left, revealed that I had mysteriously acquired another 4 wheel drive flattop vehicle on the layout.  I didn’t see any extra KD’s or mutton birds though.  We had a good night talking about lots of stuff.

So on Wednesday I did the rounds for local steel distributors looking for steel posts.  I decided at a steel place at Coopers Plains.  They delivered and the posts were supposed to be here on Thursday afternoon.  Wednesday was also spent digging the poles for the posts.  The right hand side hole (facing the shed) was very easy.  The left hand side was a bit complicated by the existence of a storm water pipe from the side of house to right next to where the post was to go.  Bugger!  That just meant that I needed to dig slowly and use a water jet to help break up the sandy soil.  I then used a small spade to remove the soil.  Eventually this task was completed.

On Thursday morning while I was on my morning work, I got a phone call from the steel delivery driver that the steel was being delivered in 17 minutes.  So I hightailed it back home and carried the steel delivery around to the shed.  The posts were temporarily sat in the holes I dug the previous day.  I then got them out and drilled some screws into the base of the posts so that they get some extra grab into the concrete when that gets poured.  I picked up 5 bags of postcrete from Bunnings, along with some other hardware.  This included some bolts and two more ‘L’ brackets to support the awning from the post.  I also had a small amount of postcrete left over in another bag already at home.  The posts went back into the holes and I measured up the correct distance apart that they had to be and I ensured that they were square with the other two posts.  I then braced the posts so they were square and had a good old rest.

It was Friday that I bit the bullet and then filled the post holes with the concrete post mix and added water.  They were left to set.  I then read that the posts should not have any stress put on them for 7 days.  Bugger!  I was going to put the awning up on the posts today.  So I have delayed this activity until next Friday.  I will put out a call to rally the troops and see if I can get 3 or 4 of them come over at about 3:00pm to help me lift the awning onto the brackets on the posts while I then screw the awning to the brackets.

Saturday was Club day and I was very annoyed with the traffic both ways over and back to the Club.  I will go via gateway next time.  I have no idea why people will sit in all lanes and not to do the speed limit when there is no one in front of them.  While at the Club we were helping people do some programming of locos on the programming track.  Checking out the new electronics that Laurie has rigged together and pushing some of the guys to 3D print some QR 2000 Class Railmotor shells.  

On Saturday night I watched a live feed of Marty and Darren running on Aaron Stinson’s layout with Tyler dispatching.  It was great with Marty, Darren, Tyler and myself all on discord chatting watching online as the signal panel updated in real time.  This went for 2 and half hours before I bailed.  Great work by Aaron developing this.

Two 3D printed QLX vans looking great on the 12mm sidings on the Club layout.

Another 3D printed QLX wagon.

Today I started doing a bit of maintenance and a cleanup in the shed again.  This time I started with the phone system.  That was working OK.  Next I moved to the headsets.  Well I decided to pull it totally apart.  I tested it with the single North Coast Controller headset and there was a squeal in the headsets.  So I think I can confirm that it is not related to any of the plug-in panels and the long cable runs parallel to the DCC bus.  That was what I thought it was.  The test today did not have any plug-in panels connected.  But I think it is the actual amplifier module.  Maybe something went bang in it and now it is not working 100%.  I will check out JAYCAR to see if there are any more around that I might be able to buy and retrofit into this into our shed circuit.

I then moved outside the shed and I then drilled two more bolt holes into one of the new posts for the bracket and that side is now ready to accept the awning.  I lined it all up with a small 2 metre piece of steel substituting for the awning.  The third post has a bracket attached, so now I will wait until the awning it up to add the bracket to the fourth post and hopefully get the awning next to perfect level.  I will then drill two holes in post four and add a second hole in the third post, and add the bolts.  It takes a while to drill through the posts with my screwdriver and drill bit.  The more I use the drill the blunter it gets.

Posts 3 (front) and 4 (rear).  These have work done on them this coming Friday.

Post 2 has had the bracket attached.  My temporary steel angle pretends to be the awning allowing me to get the angle of the brackets correct.

Shed Entry Awning Progress

On Monday I had good intensions to action a simple painting task of one of my 3D printed SRA perway vehicles.  That stopped when I saw some photos of some of these vehicles in real life and the various colours on them.  So I had to sit back and have a think.  I did resume painting this afternoon and I have three vehicles in various stages of painting with the grill, mudguards, steps, windscreen wipers, seats, steering wheel all painted in different colours.  I still have more to do with this activity and hopefully, a couple of these vehicles might be on the layout later on this week.

Not much other modelling occurred this week.  I was too busy completing the assembly of my shed entry awning.  I had to purchases a couple of packets of hex head screws of various sizes.  On Wednesday this week (I think) the roof sheets were delivered.  The awning is complete, but now it seems to weigh quite a bit.  There was about 37kg of roof sheets.  The frame is quite light, but there must be a couple of kgs of screws in the assembly as well.  Now I just need to work out how I will attach the roof to the posts.  I’m thinking bolts screwed through the posts supporting an L bracket which will screw to the bottom of the awning frame.  I will now need to then work out how to attach it to the shed roof as well.  I was hoping to have it sited above the shed roof, but this huge weight has put an end to this free-standing idea.  I did have a think about it and on Saturday I had to call in the re-enforcements.  Luckily Darren could come over on Saturday arvo so we could have a discussion on assembly.  We might have had an amber fluid as well.  This subject will also be a topic for discussion this Tuesday night when the learned guys rock up.

I still have lots of work to complete inside the shed.  This includes LED light wiring to do around the layout, some fascia painting when I remember to buy some more black paint, and I might need to do a clean-up before Tuesday Night.

It's Raining 44 Classes

I visited a local hobby shop on Monday and purchased some paint.  I wanted to paint up some NSW perway trucks and a compressor trailer.  I bought a yellow for the compressor, and the Freight Rail Blue (Teal) for the SRA trucks.  I painted them with a brush.  The outcome was suitable but not excellent.

On Tuesday I did a deal with Anatol and purchased two second hand Trainorama 44 class locos and a Austrains 80 class to add to my collection.  These came from a deceased estate that he helped dispose of.  The 80 class was donated a decoder from an old Lima 44 that I had, which has now been set back to DC only.  I will dispose of this now DC Lima 44 class at an upcoming Buy and Sell.  I took an old Tsunami decoder out of an old thumping 44 class loco and moved it to the new Blue 4483 class loco.  However, me being very clever, I did not notice that I already had a 4483 in the roster.  But my other 4483 was Tuscan.  So I had to swap the shell over to a red terror 44 shell that I had sitting around.  I changed the decoder address to the new shell number.  I think it is now 4475.  I also obtained 4473 from Anatol, and I eventually found a donor sound chip from another 44 class.  When I tested it on DC it would not run.  Then I realised that some of my very old sound DCC chips did not run on DC.  So I tested it straight on DCC and it ran well.  So 2 more working 44 class locos back on the layout.  So at this stage I also had a current dummy 44 ready for the layout.

On Wednesday I found another old Lima 44 class that has a chip in it, that will donate its chip to another 44 class – the current dummy loco.  The old Lima 44 was also re-DC’ed.  This will also be disposed at an upcoming Buy and Sell.  I have a collection of old Trainorama 44 class shells and a few 44 class mechanisms.  One Trainorama 44 class mechanism has a broken universal.  I had planned to try and build a new universal and re-fit it to the mechanism.  I also had two broken Trainorama universal shafts.  So I enclosed then in a styrene sleeve, and drilled a larger hole in the Trainorama chassis for the thicker drive shaft to go through and I installed it in the loco with the missing drive shaft and it was tested and it ran OK.  I also had some steel wire that just fitted into some universals ends which I had previously bought from Austral Modelcraft, so that is some years ago.  I doused the join where the end and the shaft meet in super glue and two universals have now been set aside as future spares.

It had been a while since I removed the wheels on a 44 class bogie.  But I figured it out again and swapped some wheels over.  I’m getting pretty good at it now.  Screw driver in and lever a bit, squeeze the base with the plyers, move to the next place, squeeze there and lever some more, and move to the last position and squeeze with plyers again and it pops apart.  I had one mechanism that was binding in one of the power bogies.  So hopefully I donated a DCC chip and this upgraded bogie and get another 44 back onto the layout.  This is potentially 4468, as it has a position in the timetable, and it being run by an alien loco.  I then did some work on making 4473 rise again, but it is currently lacking a DCC chip unless I can find one hanging around.  But it does seem to be running quite smoothly as well.  Overnight I thought that I had a chip that I had set aside for a future brass QR DH locos that I have not budged on for about 2 years.  So I set about putting the decoder into the 44 class loco.  About half an hour later, it was complete, so I took it down to the test track and it was test – all OK.  I then brought it back up stairs to the kitchen table and added the headlights to number 1 and 2 ends.  So another 44 class can be used on the layout.  These 44 class are multiplying.

I still have four x 44 class bogies left over.  Two of these have a bit of a bind inside.  Another two bogies, are lacking the keeper plate to lock the wheels into the bogie.  But they also are lacking the top gear in the bogie, so they cannot be made to be motorised.

Two 44's sitting in Grafton Loco.

Another 44 sitting in Acacia Ridge Yard.  This had previously been in a consist on a train.  It was replaced when it failed in the last Ops Session

2 x spare 44's and dummy 44 also sitting in Acacia Ridge Yard

On Friday, after another long period of procrastination, I started installing the decals on my QR HO wagon.  Two x red spots, and two x HO decals, and two x 5 digit wagon numbers later, and then the wagon was complete.  My next task is the rust application on the QR HO wagon.  Thanks to the Wuiske Models website, there are some great photos of a QR HO wagon.  But they are very rusty.  So the plan is to replicate this rust application.  While I had my decal tools out, I decided to check out my Freight Rail Blue 44 class shell number 4483 into 4480.  So I scratched out the '3' and then found some ‘0’ decals to install over what remained of the '3'.  It fitted quite well and now from a distance this loco is not 4483, but 4480.  I should have done this earlier in the week.

4480 (a dummy) with the side number changed from a '3' to a '0'

The front view with the number also changed from a '3' to a '0'.  the number boards still need some more work.

On Saturday with all the rain around, I decided to do some more 44 class bogie work.  I removed the keeper plates on the two binding bogies.  I replaced the gears on 2 x 44 class wheel axels with a piece of styrene tube (I had already done this to one wheel), checked for correct gauge and put these axels into one of the bogies without a keeper plate and added a keeper plate and made up a dummy bogie.  On another bogie I just turned the wheels around so the gears did not mesh with the gear train, added a keeper plate and this bogie was all go.  I now had two dummy bogies.  They went into a 44 class chassis and then under the 4480 class shell.  So now I have a dummy 44 class loco also for the layout.  But with no decoder, it has no lights etc.

Now my attention turns to another wagon to add some more detail to and make it presentable for entering into the modelling comp at the upcoming NMRA Australasian Convention in August.  I was also tidying up a desk in the office and found some photos on this particular wagon.  So I really need to do some more building before adding the detail.  But I have a plan.  I have made a list of steps in order to attack the rebuild and started putting the various items aside for this to occur over the next few weeks. 

The Original AN wagon for rail haulage.

The wagon with a new rib on top of the walls.  Other end detail added.

The other end of the wagon with some detail being added including a brake wheel.

Another task that I tried to do, was to make the rail loads sit down better in the wagon.  I thought I could imbed some small magnets in or under the rail loads and more magnets under the wagon, to pull the load down flat.  But it bows up a bit.  I will continue to work on this issue.

In a Spiral

After a great weekend of model railway activity in Toowoomba last weekend, I found it hard to do much this week.  But I did find another bin chicken, scrub turkey, kangaroo and a wombat from Platform Printing, and gave them a paint.  These items are ready to place on the layout. 

My juices started flowing on Thursday when I started to put together what will become the weather protection in front my train shed entry.  I assembled the two side lengths, (I already had the front and back steel beam lengths assembled.  I then made a square box and screwed it all together.  I plan on ordering 4 sheets for the roof and screw the three intermediate steel beams to support the roof when the roof sheeting gets here.  I also assembled three intermediate beams to help stablise the shelter and keep it in square, and screw the roofing sheets to.  Today I made a couple of trips to Bunnings and utilised my 5% discount from being an NMRA member with my Bunnings Powerpass card and purchased some steel strip to be used to tie the square box together with two diagonal braces, and also some fittings to help it sit the square box structure above the two posts it will balance upon.  I should have my four roof sheets this week or next and then the three intermediate beams will be secured at the correct place inside the frame.  I will need to call upon a couple of mates to help me hoist this thing up into the air as I screw it up in the air.

Late last week, there were a couple of really great photos posted on various Facebook Groups of trains on the Cougal Spiral.  The views were very similar to what was on my layout.  I model back in the late 80s early 90s and back then there were not many trees around this region.  However those photos showed just a minute covering.  So on Sunday morning, I went to my tree stash and picked out a few small trees and installed them around Cougal Spiral and between there and Border Loop.  I was most impressed that this small number of maybe 20 odd trees made a big improvement to the areas concerned.

Slow Week, Then Full Mind Blowing NMRA Weekend

Modelling activity this week was very much non-existent.  On Tuesday we all gathered at Arthur’s place and ogled his new Amby West layout.  This is a 12mm QR layout that he has been making buildings for and laying track on for quite some time.  We believe it may make a showing in September as a local Brisbane Model Railway exhibition, but it will also be available for viewing before and after the NMRA Convention in August this year.  Arthur got two voluntolds to do some shunting on the layout on Tuesday night.  I think they made a couple of mistakes but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

On Thursday I had Shelton rock up and showed him my version of ‘Shelton the Photographer’.  I ran a train through the gunzel section and the flash photographers were going off at the loco and train in the section.  I believe Shelton will be making a debut in the National NMRA magazine in the next month or two.  The real Shelton thought the implementation was great and he was taking photos of the model scene.  I think he will be making his own version as I gave him a copy of the electronics diagram to make it work and also the Arduino code for the flashes.

I was inspired after viewing Arthur’s layout on Tuesday Night.  He had a bin chicken sitting above a 44 gallon drum on his new exhibition layout.  Some modelling that I did do was the go through my 3D printed animal draw and see what I had.  I found three bin chickens and a bush turkey.  I was sure I had more, but I could not find them.  So I painted the bin chickens white and then used Grimy Black on their legs, tails and heads.  They turned out quite good.  I used the grimy black also on the bush turkey and then used some red paint on its head.  I was most impressed how that turned out as well.  I understand that Platform Printing will also be exhibiting at the NMRA Convention in August and they produce excellent models of these subjects.  I think I will be acquiring quite a few more so I can distribute them around the layout. 

This weekend was a modelling trip to Toowoomba with a visit to 6 local layout owners on Saturday and Saturday dinner and then a Sunday trip to the Toowoomba Model Railway Club’s clubrooms at the Toowoomba Showgrounds for our usual monthly get together.  This was where we held our normal Saturday meeting but this month on the Sunday.  What a great weekend.  My travel buddies with motel buddies as well.  We were in the same travelling group to the 6 layouts and we all were inspired by something at each of the 6 layout locations.  I won’t say 6 layouts because Aaron had more than 6 layouts on display at his own home.  Inspirational!  It was good to talk to different people from our NMRA division on the weekend. 

I’m ready to do some more modelling this coming week.  Hopefully I will find my missing packet of bush turkeys and bin chickens.

Small Improvements Around the Layout

Monday was a public holiday in Brisbane.  So it was a catch up day.  I was made an offer for some styrene that a friend was getting rid of, which he gave me first choice of, so I had to do an inventory of my stash.  There were some packets that that I already had, some packets that I wanted and some packets that I needed.  There was also some packets that I would never use.  So I got back to him.  The transfer didn’t eventuate.

At the Buy and Sell last Sunday, I picked up a second hand Procab throttle for a good price.  I plugged it in and the keys strokes were very sluggish, if they worked at all.  You had to almost push your hands through the front of the throttle to get them to register the key press.  So I pulled it apart, and washed the rubbery membrane in soapy water and then cleaned the circuit board with cotton buds dipped in metho.  I then gave it another test and the difference was chalk and cheese.  Now I’m on the lookout for a new radio board to make it portable.

I picked up a Weico white metal car for $5 at the buy and sell.  That was after the guy in front of me bought 4 (the one I got was a duplicate) and the guy that told me where these delights were had bought about 8 others.  The ford ambulance that I got was placed on the layout at the scene of an accident.  I might have to scratch build a gurney to place behind the ambulance.

The accident scene at Kyogle with the new ambulance under the bridge.

Another pick up at the Club last Sunday was a decoder from the Club shop.  It was to replace a burnt out decoder in a Powerline 48 class.  So I started to remove the old decoder and replace it with the new NCE DASR decoder.  I gave it a test and it is running.  So the 48 class goes back onto the layout to its stock train and the 442 loco that had deputised for the 48 goes back into the spare pool.  However, I had an issue with that 442 loco.  I had wired up the front cab light OK, on function 1, but the rear cab light on function 2 would not function.  I could not work out why it would not light up, then I got thinking.  Maybe it was on another function number, I hypothesized.  I tried function 3, 4 and then it lit up on function 5.  Then I had to try and find a manual for a Lenz decoder.  I eventually found some CV’s to read and potentially what values to change them to.  So I did that and after a couple of days of trial and error, it now working on function 2.

My growing list of spare locos.

Over the last weekend I saw Rohan running his DEB set on the Southern Highlands layout in Glen Innes.  Although I could not attend that event, I was extremely happy to see the Herbert family in attendance there, particularly Warren and Kathleen.  Rohan had a dummy loco hauling his DEB set.  I have a couple of dummy locos hanging around the layout and that gave me an idea.  My issue is the siding that I house the DEB set on at Grafton Yard, does not currently have room for the dummy loco as well.  So I did some work and made room.  I have set up a consist between the front power car and the rear dummy power car.  I think I will needs to put the front power car on the programming track and check out its CV 21 and CV 22 settings.  What I cannot do on my DEB set is get the head lights working when I run the set in reverse, controlled by the rear dummy power car.  It needs to respond to at least the headlight and horn settings, as well as potentially the marker lights.  I will look at the various functions and work out the settings required.  I really do not want to have to control the DEB set from the front power car in reverse.  That is difficult for people running on the layout to work out what one of the two power cars is the real one, what is the dummy.

My second delivery for magnets arrived, along with some SPDT switches.  Boy those magnets have some stick.  I am now wondering if I should use these to lock the roof down, I will surely rip something apart when I try to remove the roof.  I will have to do some more thinking here.

On Thursday I decided to conduct a citizenship ceremony and a couple of dozen citizens appeared to move into the Cassino district in various locations on the layout.

The work crew at Old Cassino

A landholder fixing a post with his mate.

Some guys going for a wander but hoping to catch some trains.

Running Trains and Treading Water

Motivation for this week has been down.  But I did do a bit of wheel cleaning and oiling on a couple of locos.  I pulled one 12mm loco apart and it had its wheel pickups not connected on one bogie.  So it took me a while to re-install this.  I did and gave the loco a test run.  I’m still going through the testing of my 12mm locos.  I am still working on the 12mm timetable testing.  That got boring and my attention turned to other activities.  I will go back to that this coming week.

My order of miniature magnets turned up.  Boy are they small!  I glued a couple to the Cassino Station building roof frame, and glued some to the roof as well.  Being so small, they did not create a large enough magnetic field to join the two pieces together solidly.  So I ordered some more larger magnets.  They will probably be here later this coming week.  I will see how they go.

Later in the week, I found a driver for the NSWGR DEB set.  It started at Cassino Yard and ran all the way to South Brisbane Interstate station.  It did have some issues climbing the grade out of Clapham Yard just outside Loco Pilly.  The set would grind to a halt up the grade.  It had me stumped.  I thought it was one of the rear carriages, having a wheel gauge causing some additional drag on the train though the last set of points it was travelling through.  It turned out the power car was sitting above a section of track that was dual gauge.  The third (inner) narrow gauge rail was a little bit high, proud of the of the two standard gauge rails.  It had broken away from the copper clad sleeper to keep it in gauge and level, and its excess height was rubbing under the power bogie of the DEB set.  As this section of track had been recently converted from dual gauge to only standard gauge, and I left the third rail in place to save some work, I could just remove that small section of rail.  Once this was done and the DEB set run over the section of track again, it ran with no issues.  The DEB set then ran all the way back to Grafton Yard and fits into the allocated siding. 

Late in the week, I spent some time in the shed scanning for useless pieces of junk to see at the Buy and Sell today.  Sunday was my Club's Buy and Sell day.  I actually sold quite a bit of stuff.  Oh did I mention that I bought quite a bit of stuff as well?  But the end result was I could pay back some debt to the boss. 

A New Old Loco

Well I finally fixed the point in Cassino Yard.  The wire throw rod had come out of the hole in the actuation bar.  So it was replaced.  I will need to place a note on the fascia, as this point has a very small throw compared to the leer that is controlling it.  I also added a little bit of extra fascia to a section of the helix, that is rather open.  That was also given a paint and I think it looks quite good. 

The additional fascia section.

I was planning on running some trains on last Saturday, but everyone that I asked had other plans.  Mayber I should have asked earlier.  So I left my running of trains to occur on Monday this week, as I got distracted last Saturday.  I completed about 6 trains and progressed another 4 trains.  As of Monday evening, there were currently 4 trains left on the layout, in order to complete the timetable started a couple of years ago.  These were completed on Tuesday afternoon.  While running trains on that day, I uncovered a power issue in Acacia Ridge yard and fixed it.  It was a rail joiner issue.  I also have another rail joiner issue on the main line, at Cassino where the Loop line joins the mainline and the track to the Loco branches off, right next to the Cassino Signal box. So I fixed that on Tuesday afternoon.

I’m also making a list of other things to complete, before my open day in June for our Div 1 crew and other visitors rock up for the August Convention open house. 

The last few trains were run to completion on Tuesday.  I was missing a loco.  I found it upstairs.  I put it on the programming track and it started to cook the decoder.  Whoops!  I will buy a replacement one when I visit the Club in a couple of weeks.  One other loco that I was tinkering with was running very slowly.  So on Wednesday I took it apart and gave it a bit of an oil.  It seems to be running a lot better.  I found that one of the wires off one bogie needed to be re-soldered as well.  So that was also done.

I decided to pull out my 81 class loco from storage and get into fixing its lighting connections.  I could find any decoder manuals online.  I tested some of the lights with a 3V battery so I know what to connect up, but I just don’t know where to connect it to.  I looked inside the 81 class shell and worked out that the light boards for the headlights and number boards were screwed in.  This gave me an idea.  So I unscrewed them and pulled out the light boards.  I tested them with a 3V battery power supply.  The LEDs on these boards were wired back to front.  They had a common negative, instead of a common positive, so I could not control them from my decoder.  So I removed the LED’s from the light boards.  Luckily I had some (I think they were 0804) LEDs the same size as the ones I butchered trying to remove them from the light boards.  But I reversed the LEDs.  I tested them and they worked.  I connected them up and I had working headlights and #1 end number boards.  I had nothing connected to the number # end number boards.  I thought I was missing a wire connection point somewhere on the decoder.

I posted on the NCE-DCC GroupsIO forum for assistance, and got a response.  Thank you very much Terry!  I then did a second take at my decoder and I found out that I had connected up a wire to output 4 on the decoder.  But given that there was 365,000 wires inside the loco, I did not realise that it did not lead anywhere.  I traced the wire and found it just ending.  So I wired it up to the wire from the #2 end wire coming from the number boards.  Wouldn’t you know these now worked.  This deserves an extra great big Doh!  I started wiring this loco 10 years ago.  I did some testing and it runs well.  The lights also work.  I then had to find the KD’s that were to be re-installed into the loco along with the KD cover and the screws.  I had no hope.  But I had some items that looked OK.  So they were installed and the loco in now in my fleet.

8155 sits at Acacia Ridge Yard with headlights, number board lights and white markers at the number 1 end.

Now I am just waiting for my 2mm x 1mm magnets to turn up in the post.  I’m also waiting for some SPDT switches to turn up as well.  Next week, will be trying to fit the roof of the Cassino Station building, using the magnets to make it sit down tightly on the frame and then I will wire up the platform lights for Cassino.

Today I had some more clean up jobs to do.  I made a slight change to a timetable car with additional text.  I also had an issue last time I ran trains that the control panel at Acacia Ridge that controls the fan out of all the point coming into Acacia Ridge Yard from the south was not working.  I thought I would have to climb under the layout and do some wire tracking to find the two Digitrax DS64 that controls these points.  But I tested them this morning and all is working.  Maybe there was some dampness is the air and caused it not to work.  I also got around to re-charging my Android phone to test my layout wifi.  Every time that Marty character rocks up, his dodgy wifi throttle has issues.  I successfully controlled a loco from every location in the shed, facing in all directions, at these locations.  Maybe the wifi signal struggles to penetrate Marty!  I had also looked at the RJ12 connections to the Wifi-Trax device, and connected and unconnected these a few times in case there was a bad connection here.  So it seems all OK now.

Also today I was thinking about my timetable, when it dawned on me that there was one train that was not in its correct starting place for the next timetable.  My tamper was sitting at Acacia Ridge Yard track 4.  It should have been in the Construction Siding at Old Cassino.  So I gave it a run from Acacia Ridge to Old Cassino.  That was about a 20 minute run.  This vehicle does not go very fast.

The track machine is at the fettler's camp on the construction siding at Old Cassino

I am also looking at doing a test run of the narrow gauge timetable for the first 12 narrow gauge trains.  If I can do this before Friday I might be able to permanently include these trains in the timetable.  I’m sure there will need to be some adjustment to the timetable graph as there is now separate tracks (standard gauge and narrow gauge) from Clapham Yard to Dutton Park, Dutton Park to Fisherman Islands, and from Dutton Park to South Brisbane.  There are also a couple of extra narrow gauge locations to be included certainly on the narrow gauge timetable cards.  This should be quite easy as I will just create a different layout for the narrow gauge timetable cards.

Finishing Odd Jobs

Monday was cut out the control panels day.  I used some 3mm thick white coated cheap board that I had left over.  Then it was around to installing the master switches in each control panel and then drilling holes for the point motor push buttons.  The panel I was building was three copies of the same panel to be located at three different locations.  I happened to purchase 9 push buttons from a second-hand seller at the last Buy and Sell I went to.  A bargain!  The 3 push buttons for each panel were then screwed in.  I also started cutting up the jumper wires from the master switch to each of the push buttons.  It wasn’t until Wednesday that the panels and their jumper wires to the various point push buttons were all soldered together and the panels were attached to the layout fascia.  Next step is to work out how to run the wires from the three panels to each other, and then back to the mini panel located under South Brisbane.  Just as I was about to look at what locations I had to screw the wires from this bus into on the Mini panel, I realised that it was not the South Brisbane Mini Panel that they were to be routed to.  But the Fisherman Islands Mini Panel.  So the wire that I had made for the run to South Brisbane, just happened to be the correct length (maybe 1 foot too long), for the run to Fisherman Islands.  Talk about Lucky.  This was discovered before I soldered any of the wires to the panels.

The second panel from the left is teh new one.  I will eventually put some tape to replace the pencil track plan.

I felt like doing something different on Friday, so I set about doing some fencing.  On one side of Fairy Hill Loop, I had strewn fence posts made from (simulated) rail lengths, with 5 holes cut in them, years ago.  So I finally got around to drilling holes in the baseboard and installing this fencing from Fairy Hill Farm to the cattle loading race in the siding on Fairy Hill Crossing Loop.  I then decided that I wanted to put some fencing on the other side of the railway line.  This was a mixture of simulated rail lengths and a wooden split post fence.  When this was complete I did a small section of fencing do divide up a paddock on the opposite side of the track to the Cassino Meatworks, between there and Hotham Street level crossing.

Looking from the Fairy Hill Signal Box towards Fairy Hill Farm and north to Kyogle.

This shot is looking across the tracks towards Fairy Hill Farm

I also started running the wires for the three control panels for the Park Road- Dutton Park triangle.  On Saturday morning I finally got the wires all connected to the panels and I tested one point from two of the three buttons on the panels.  They all worked.  However, I’m having problems with two point at Dutton Park, and them not throwing again.  I’m not certain if this relates back to a NCE QSNAP-2 that controls these two points.  If I had a spare QSNAP-2 I could swap it around and see if it works any better. 

I made up two small boxes for my now larger timetable cards.  The first was painted yellow and attached to the layout fascia right next to the current timetable card holder.  The other one had some magnet strip attached to the rear, and when the glue dries, I will try to attach it to the fridge in the shed, which is located next to the North Coast Control’s workstation.  That way it might give him a little bit of extra room to work with at his Controller’s Desk.

The new Timetable Card box

The new box for North Coast Control, magnetically attached to the fridge.

I have been planning to install the lights on Cassino Platform for quite some time.  So today I drilled holes in the platform and fed the carious wires through.  The next step is to turn myself upside down next week and solder these together and then to a power supply.  This same power supply will control the station building awning lights as well.

The two new lights on the southern end of the Cassino Platform

The lights at the northern end of the Cassino platform

During the week I also got around to finishing off my ATLP 2022 boxcar post also on Wednesday.  It appears just before this post.

The station awning at Lismore with the new out-of shed next to it

Behind the Lismore Station, there is the new carpark

ATLP 2022 Car Visits Cassino

The Around The Layout Podcast boxcar, ATLP 2022, had previously arrived in Adelaide having worked over the Border District (see the Border District blog here for details: ATLP 2022 visits the Border District). However, when news that the South Australian Railways (SAR) had trialled ALTP 2022 with an actual load, both the Victorian Railways (VR) and New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) determined they wanted to do the same.

Arrangements were made for ALTP 2022 to be transited from Adelaide back to Melbourne on SAR TN 47/VR Train Number (TN) 46 Fast Goods. This working passed through the Border District again, but it appears our usual scribe was caught napping and missed the movement (they are still crying gunzel tears as a result). It is believed SAR ALCo 935 hauled the train from Adelaide to Tatiara Downs, and VR GM S301 hauled the train into Melbourne. In Melbourne, the VR also tested ALTP 2022 on hauling paper products, working empty to and loaded from Maryvale in the Gippsland. 

With VR evaluations complete, ALTP 2022 was bogie exchanged from broad gauge (5' 3") to standard gauge (4' 8 1/2") at Dynon, and sent northwards to Albury (NSW) on VR TN 4521 Through Goods, departing Dynon at 21:40 and arriving in Albury at 03:40. With a loco change from VR to NSW power completed in Albury, the train continued north at 05:10 as NSWGR TN 452 Through Goods. ATLP 2022 was shunted off a little further north at Ettamogah for loading with newsprint paper roll products. The following day's working of NSWGR TN 452 Through Goods collected the loaded ATLP 2022 and conveyed it forward to Sydney.

In Sydney the car was shunted to be part of the load to Brisbane on the paper train.  It must have snuck through the northern suburbs of Sydney in the early morning and the first the train spotting community knew of it was when the wagon was spotted at Grafton Staging in road 6 on No. 15 The Down Paper Train lead by 4416 and 44240.  

ATLP 2022 is spotted in Grafton Staging on #15

The train has started north and is just exiting Grafton Yard

The train travels north heading towards Cassino

The ALTP 2022 wagon was first wagon on the paper train.  Loco 44240 was having troubles with its engine.  It had to be restarted a few times.  However, when it finally got across the Richmond River Bridge, the injectors must have cleaned themselves out, and it sprung back into life and started running well again.  There was a slight issue with the wagon going under Bakers Road overbridge.  It just cleared it.  Luckily the paint crew can repaint the bridge where the scrap marks were left from the wagon.  

Gaining height on the layout spiral #15 has passed Bakers Road overbridge and is about to entry Rappville Loop 

The train easily traversed the Richmond River Bridge.

The Richmond River bridge is just south of Cassino

Successful running resumed until it got to Simpson’s Parade overbridge at Cassino.  It again just scraped by under the road bridge.  

Simpson's Parade overbridge above, as the train takes the Yard

The no. 15 paper train stabled overnight in the Cassino Yard in road 1.  The Cassino Yard was full with the stock train in number 2 road in the yard, and the recently restored NSWGR DEB set still sitting around waiting for a qualified driver to take it to South Brisbane Interstate Station on a combined NSW and QR ARHS tour.  In the platform road we had 48128 with #20 Up freight with four sugar wagons, empty container, an empty open wagon, empty petrol tank, an open wagon with two containers onboard and a louvre wagon.

The ATLP 2022 car stands out in the yard due to its dimensions.

No. 15 left Cassino Yard and made its way to Park Road Siding as the Paper Train with the ATLP 2022 onboard.  

When the train reached the Nammoona ballast Siding, it turned a few heads.

ATLP 2022 is seen here passing the Nammoona Ballast Siding

Passing the Nammoona Ballast Siding

The next landmark passed from the dead center of town - at Fairy Hill.

The train is passing Ron and Marg's Bed and Breakfast

Quite a turn out has occurred at Fairy Lane

Now Passing Fairy Hill Farm

At the far end of the Fairy Hill Farm, the train is about to entry the southern end of Kyogle township and Kyogle loop.

Having passed the Kyogle Loop, the train travels over ANZAC Drive where an accident has occurred

Here the train is traversing Cougal Spiral, one of two on NSW railways trackage.  the maintenance crew do not seem interested

Past Cougal Spiral is Border Loop.  Just past here, the train from New South Wales into Queensland, and the clocks get rolled back 1 hour due to no daylight savings in Queensland

More activity occurring at Running Creek as the paper train continues north

At another crossing of Running Creek a Yowie is seen in the bush

The Risk is also having some track work undertaken as the train passes

The paper train is just exiting the transshipment as the train enters track 1 at Park Road Siding

Upon reaching Park Road, ALTP 2022 and the other wagons were all unloaded.  The rest of the wagons returned south, as number #16 empty paper train.  The ALTP 2022 car was left on the number one siding.  

It was later collected by #56 shunt, which becomes #58 shunt at Park Road Sidings.  

Number 56 shunt is coupling up to the ATLP 2022 car in Park Road Siding track 1.

It was then transferred by the local shunt train and taken to Acacia Ridge Yard.  It was here that it was bogie exchanged to narrow gauge – 12mm - 3’ 6” for a trial by the Queensland Railways. 

The ATLP Car has entered track 1 at Acacia Ridge Yard,  It will set back onto the dual gauge track and be bogie exchanges to 3'6" bogies for travel on Queensland Railways (QR) trackage

The QR train is made up and read to depart to South Brisbane Station

The ATLP 2022 car was sent back to South Brisbane Station and shunted into a siding. 

The car has made its way to Clapham Yard, heading to South Brisbane

The train is arrive at South Brisbane.  It will be shunted to a siding and loaded

ATLP 2022 was filled with railmotor parts at South Brisbane and sent back to Clapham before it was shunted into Rocklea Siding.  

The car arrived at Rocklea Siding and was unloaded

From Rocklea Siding , when empty the car was picked up and delivered back via Clapham Yard, to end up to Acacia Ridge Yard.  It was here that the car was bogie exchanged back to the standard gauge. 

The now empty ATLP 2022 car has arrived back at Acacia Ridge Yard and is about to be bogie exchanged back to standard gauge bogies

ATLP 2022 was sent to a siding to be loaded with crates of Queensland mangoes and is now waiting for the fruit train which is coming from South Brisbane Interstate station on the standard gauge

After being bogie exchanged, train number 6, the up Fruit Express is picking up the ATLP 2022 car as last wagon for transfer to Fleming Markets in Sydney

The car is now leaving Acacia Ridge Yard from the dual gauge heading south

ATLP 2022 was picked up as last wagon on the fruit train at Acacia Ridge Yard and taken south to Grafton Yard, before being sent onward to Flemington Markets so the great unwashed south of the Queensland border can get a mango or two in their local fruit shops. 

The car has made it to Grafton Yard, before it continues further south to Sydney's Flemington Markets