I took the easy way out this week by trying to adjust the trackwork on my dodgy dual gauge point. I ran wagons through it and they all worked. I waited a couple of days and brought out the power pack on Wednesday and successfully ran 12mm and 16.5mm locos through the straight track. I tried to run a couple of 12mm locos through the point through the diverging path and they all derailed. They could travel from the diverging end to the toe, but not the other way. Bugger! So I did need to get PK’s point jig out and build a new one. I cut up the sleepers and gapped them on Wednesday afternoon. I then cut off the various lengths of rail and just placed them in the jig. Later in the day I went down to the shed and used my grinding stone to chamfer the two point V’s and then cut out the stock rails where the point blades meshed with them. I then reduced the point rails to fit into the stock rails. At this point I lost interest and went onto other activities.
On Thursday after picking up my Railway Digest from the local newsagency I soldered up the various V’s and attached them and the stock rails to the sleepers in my dual gauge point. Bit by bit I soldered everything else together. Everything seemed good with the point. I could not run locos as the insulation gaps were not cut. But wagons went via all routes.
On Friday I spent some time rummaging through the shed for items to sell at the Buy and Sell and put all this aside.
Saturday was NMRA AGM day for both the Australasian Region and our Division. We knew the outcomes before we started, as all positions had either one, or no nominations. I got there early as I had to help get the Div 1 FreeMo modules out of the container and put them up in the garage for viewing. I then transformed into a parking controller, ensuring everything attending got a good park. The meeting was a good civil, organised event, with a Div 1 Show and Tell, then the Special General Meeting for the AR up first, followed by the AGM for the AR. Then the Div 1 AGM. At the Show and Tell, PK cut the insulated gaps in my dual gauge point. The day’s activities were all streamed to the region and our division. That was followed by some presentations, with one presentation, done so remotely by Aaron from Newcastle, on the topic of remote operations. We had Tyler in Tasmania, as Controller and Anthony and Geoff at the meeting running trains on Aaron’s layout, on the large screen at the meeting. The day ended it all with a tour of the inside of Paul’s FAM coach in his back yard. When I got home I had to resolder a couple of rails to sleepers, and in doing so, I bridged one of these micro cuts that PK did – Bugger!
Sunday was another early start with our Buy and Sell on. I sold a couple of items, but that bad man Barnacle Bob was selling some unbelievably good books for cheap prices, and I had to assist with rehoming some of these. That was fine until I found someone selling a stack of code 83 points for fantastic prices and I had to also rehome them for my future exhibition layout. I also received some order for some styrene steel loads. I have not built these for a while, but I will build a few of these to be ready for the upcoming AMRA Exhibition in July, where one guy will pick them up from me. On the way home, I detoured by PK’s and had a beer, and he recut an insulating gap in one of the rails of my dual gauge point. PK also loaned me a packet of styrene to tide me over before I pick up my delivery this week. When home I started on the task of reading all the new books I picked up today from Barnacle.
This coming week I will pick up the styrene that I need for a building project, and put one packet aside to give back to PK.
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