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

More Cassino Station Building Progress

I started off working on my To-Do check list on Monday.  I fixed the broken wire on a control panel in Clapham Yard.  I found the cold solder joint in the narrow gauge section between Dutton Park and Park Road and that was hit with the soldering iron and fixed.  I started planning the control panels for the narrow gauge triangle between Dutton Park, Park Road and Fisherman Islands.  The control panels building did not eventuate.  Maybe this week.  I also started looking into a loco that was playing up.  

When not doing any modelling I was spending time resurrecting a few locos that had been pulled off the layout due to either bad performance, or decoder brainfarts.  So bit by bit I got a few locos back in the world of the living.  I got one old Trax 48 class usable again.  I then got a motorless Jumbo usable with full lighting functions available for traffic.  So this can now be either a lead or secondary unit.  It is currently on a ballast train in push-pull setup in Lismore Yard.  This was followed by a couple of 80 class locos and then 3 more Jumbo.  There are a couple more to be scheduled for a tune-up and that will be in the near future.

Sitting in a passing track in Acacia Ridge Yard are 4 of the NSW locos that have been through an engine overhaul.

I also ran the ATLP 2022 boxcar back to Grafton Yard.  I then ran the empty fruit train back to South Brisbane and the locos back to Loco Pilly.  The ATLP boxcar was brought to the NMRA meeting on Saturday and handed over to Glen.  I believe it will be given back to Marty on Sunday at their Club get together.  I will eventually do a Blog post on this cars' travels on my layout when I can find some time to put it all together.

Most of the rest of the week, was spent doing work on the roof and awnings on the Refreshment room end of the building.  I did some painting on a few pieces.  I started making the section around the breezeway.  I am still looking at how I can fit the roof securely and also have it removable.

I also spent some time this week on printing my new timetables cards.  The original format of these cards have served me well for over 10 years and were A6 in size on perforated paper.  After December’s Operations Session, I spent some time re-doing everything here as A5 timetable cards.  My eyes are not getting any younger and some of my operators are older then me.  I was struggling to read the cards that I wrote, so something had to change.  So I printed the timetable cards on A4 perforated paper giving two timetable cards.  But I had forgotten to do a test print of a single page first, and the print of the two timetable cards on the A4 sheet was not centred.  Bugger.  The second timetable card was on both sides of the perforation.  So I had to spend some time doing slight adjustments to me file to ensure that I could just re-print the files onto these A4 perforated sheets and get two perfect timetable cards out on a single page.  I was also having differences when printing the actual EXCEL version compared with a PDF file.  The PDF version was just printing using about 75% of the available real-estate on the page.  That had me beat.  So I think I have now got it working, and I will re-try a full print this coming week.  No I need to build some new timetable card storage boxes on the layout fascia.  More work.  It keeps mounting up.

On Saturday we went to the local NMRA meeting just down the road in the next suburb.  That was very convenient.  There was a good turn up and there were three presentations.  Garry the host for the day took us through the machinery in his company workshop and demonstrated the equipment in action.  OMG!  You use the correct tool for the job, and it is very easy. 

One of the other activities that I was going this week and especially today was working on the roof of the Cassino Station and Refreshment room building.  This is starting to come together.  I’m not sure how I will make the roof sit down onto the building as I will need the roof detachable.  Maybe some small micro magnets.  So I just ordered some of these on eBay and I see how that work.

From the southern end of the cassino platform we see the roof on the station building.

At the other end, we see the refreshment room with its roof on.

The breezeway between the station building and the refreshment room still needs some work.

The refreshment room from the north.  Back platform on the left, and DEB set in the Loop.

Another view of the Refreshment Room side of the building.

Looking at the other end of the Refreshment Room with the breezeway on the left.

Trying to look into the station building from the other side.

Another shot over the wagons in the yard.

Looking into the refreshment Room from the main platform.

Again from the main platform side into the station building.