Collecting More Rolling Stock

Even though I still haven't begun construction of the actual layout, there's still lots of things to do that go towards the eventual goal of having an opperational layout, and that's collecting rolling stock.

As well as buying an NCE Power Cab, the Epping Model Railway Exhibition also saw a triple pack of Austrains FME LCL container flat wagons come home with me. These are very nicely detailed, and the wagon itself being of mostly metal construction are very nicely weighted. The LCL containers which are removable are very fine in detail and really are a very nice piece of work.

As well as the FME's, the past few weeks have see me scouring the dreaded Ebay for all manner of things, but mostly brake vans. With the era I'm modelling each train has to have a brake van at the end of it, so to even have a modest amount of trains running I'm going to need a good supply of brake vans.

So with a little bit of luck and some last second bidding I managed to get three Powerline MHG brake vans in the past few weeks. Now these have been on the market, on and off for nearly twenty years with no upgrades, so do not represent the latest in detail standards being achived by people like Trainorama, however they can be found for around $20.00 if you are lucky, as opposed to the upcoming Trainorama MHG's which will be about $120.00 a pair.

Now the Trainorama versions will be spectacular going by the advanced samples, and I will definitely get at least one pair of these, however the three Powerline one's I have bought will allow me to do a bit of modifying and actual modelling to try to bring them up to as close to current standards as possible. It's nice to be able to buy RTR stuff that doesn't need any real detailing, but where's the fun in that all the time!

Besides with work on the layout not yet begun, it's good to have a few other projects to work on through this cold and wet winter we are currently experiencing.

Buying and Hooking Up a DCC System

After many months of reading up on all the different DCC systems, looking at the pro's and con's, talking to different people and listening to their opinions, I purchased an NCE Power Cab at the Model Railroad Craftsman (http://www.mrrc.com.au/) stand at the Epping model railway exhibition.

Three weeks later I've only just had time to have a read through the manual, and look at hooking it up to a simple test track to have a bit of a play with.

Of course the first thing I needed to do was hook up some wires to the tracks and like most things that's not as simple as it sounds.

Like often happens, when it's 7pm at night and you begin these projects you can't just run down to the shops to buy the materials you need. This was the case with wire unfortunately, with me only having some big thick wire I normally use for wiring up rather beefy ignition systems in cars. However I did have some CAT5 network cable laying about, and thought that it would probably be ok for my simple test track use. I don't think this is the best wire for the layout however and will use something a little more robust.

So after stripping the ends of two pairs of wire, I tinned the ends with solder and began to solder them to a length of Peco code 75 rail. I don;t necessarily have any trouble soldering the wire to the rail, but it's always a fiddly job and I've wondered if there isn't a better way?

When building my points, I use printed circuit board for certain sleepers, and it occurred to me that this may also be a good way of hooking up power to the rails rather than simply wiring power directly to the rails.

So armed with a piece of pcb, I drilled two small holes through it, one at each end, and cut an isolating gap in each side of the pcb. The wire was fed through the holes so it was flush on one side, and then it was soldered on both sides of the pcb. The pcb sleeper was then very easily soldered to the rails.

I had wondered if there wold possibly be a voltage drop using this method, however after attaching a 9 volt battery to the wires, I grabbed my multimeter and got the following readings.

9.49 volts at the battery terminals, 9.49 volts at the end of the wires where they join the pcb, and 9.49 volts measured off the rails a couple of inches away from the pcb sleeper. This tells me that obviously my soldering skills are not too bad, and that at least as far as volage is concerned there is no perceptable drop with this method.

I can see some definite advantages by using this method, and can't think of any disadvantages, but I would be interested to hear if anyone can think of any.

After doing all the soldering and testing the voltages and taking some photos along the way, I decided it was too late to go and unpack my Garratt and give it a run, and decided to update this blog instead as I haven't written much lately.

Maybe tomorrow I'll finally start playing with my new DCC system!

Enjoying the Journey

With moving house the amount of actual modeling done recently has been zero. However I have had the odd moment to think and reflect on things.

It's a funny hobby we are involved in isn't it? At face value we simply run model trains around a model railway layout. If only it were that simple for most of us in reality!

Of course it's by choice that we make things so complicated for ourselves, usually as a result of the research we do into the models and areas we want to replicate. The more we learn, the more our perceptions change, and seemingly small things can in fact change the whole direction in which we are heading.

When I got back into my railway modeling at the beginning of last year after twenty or so years out of the hobby, I wanted to build a simple country single line style layout with the odd passing loop and siding to allow me to recreate a generic NSW scene and run my favourite trains from the 60's and early 70's.

At that point it all seemed so simple, collect a selection of NSWGR diesel engines like the 44's, 47's, 421's, 48's etc, a bunch of random freight wagons from that period, and maybe some passenger stock. How easy would it be to get what I wanted with most of this stuff either available or coming in the near future.

And then it began. Reading through some old AMRM's I read the articles by Keiran Ryan on the wheat silo's in NSW, and Gunnedah in particular caught my eye. For the first time, the realisation of the possible enjoyment that could be derived from actually operating the layout like a real railway became obvious.

And so with nothing more than an aim to try to recreate a likeness of Gunnedah circa late 60's early 70's I began to draw up the track plan in a HO friendly way, albeit with no actual space to build it. I now also had a idea of exactly what rolling stock I needed, lots of BWH's and RU's, cattle wagons and oil tankers. Twenty BWH's and two HCH's (with tarps) are now waiting to go into wheat service, and I have half a dozen or so random oil tankers that will need to be NSWGR'ised.

So the idea of a simple country line and random rolling stock had become somewhat more focused, as had the track plan and general location. This is a good thing though as it forces you to think about what you really need and work towards it without just randomly collecting stuff that down the track may not all go together that well.

Late last year, my wife and I saw a house that we wanted to buy, so an offer was made and negotiations began. The best thing about this place (train wise) was the 7x7 metre garage in the yard. Whilst not wanting to count chickens, I immediately began to think about how I might use this space for a layout. The initial track plans I have shown in previous posts on this blog. Gunnedah and its surrounding industries would be able to be modeled quite well within this given area and so the layout was really starting to have an aim.

It struck me soon after that this space would be great for a two level layout, but what to model on the other level? I could model more of the line that Gunnedah is located on, but I wanted something that would offer some variety.

I always wanted to have a black streamlined 38 and Garratt on the roster (the Garratt I have with a Eureka 3803 coming), and was aware that neither of these are really suitable for working trains to Gunnedah, so what other location would suit these engines. Talk about being right in front of one's eyes, but the station at Hawkesbury River along with the sidings circa 60's on the main northern line were a very busy place, and operationally quite interesting. Seeing as how I travel through this area twice daily commuting to work and it's a ten minute train trip away from home, my interest in it was suddenly awoken.

However once again as I looked into things, certain aspects became apparent. Steam traffic was quickly being replaced by electric power in 1960 with the electrification complete to that point, the 38's very very rarely hauled the Newcastle Flyer through there anymore as the 46 class electrics took them through to Gosford now, and the coal stage was no longer used for very long into the 60's, so that area of operation would not be able to be used in my given mid 60's to early 70's era.

But then it struck me, what if I was to model Hawkesbury River circa 1959/60 as opposed to the era for Gunnedah being later? I could then run the era of trains that I liked from the late 50's on that section, and run the later era stuff through Gunnedah. Of course I can operate anything anywhere I want if need be, but if a truly prototypical running session wanted to be run then the option is there.

I get to have my 38's on the Newcastle Flyer, and Garratt's, 59's and std goods engines as well as 42 and 43 class diesels and electric 46's grinding up the Cowan bank on various goods trains, and the 48's and other branch line diesels running through Gunnedah and surrounding areas hauling wheat, livestock and oil. Each area service by the correct engines for the line and time period, and not having to put up with those niggling thoughts of "as if" in the back of the mind as the 38 hauled Flyer trundles through Gunnedah!

I guess this has been a long winded way of describing how the more I learn about the real NSWGR railway eras, the operational aspect and how the trains I like were used within these areas, my ideas of what I want to model have changed and grown quite a bit in what has only been a little over twelve months.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this scenario, but I really do think that building a model railway can be so much more fun when coupled with the enjoyment of researching and learning a bit about the real thing and its history. The best thing is that unlike a lot of people who are interested in various historically based things, we can actually recreate on a small scale our interest and actually operate it like the real thing. Try doing that with your Spanish armada or lunar space travel!

In some ways our hobby is more about enjoying the journey rather than simply getting to the destination.

The New Train Room

After months of the usual stress and bother involved in buying a house, we finally got the keys and have begun to move in. As much as I'm looking forward to beginning the layout, the list of things to do on the house is already growing at an alarming rate! So any progress will no doubt be slow or non existent for now. But at least I know there is a space ready and waiting when the time comes. In any case I thought I'd share a few pics of the new train room, a seven metre x seven metre (inside the framework dimensions) double garage. This will be where the layout will begin to be constructed, hopefully not too far into the future.

I'm hoping that over the next few weeks we wil get all types of weather so that I can see how the temperature varies in the garage, as well as finding out if there are any leaks. It all looks very dry inside and I can see no signs of water damage on either the framework or walls so fingers crossed it's all in good shape.

The first priorities will probably be to install some more power points, and then have a really good think about lining the walls. I'm hoping I can get away with not having to line them, but if it looks like it is necessary long term it would be silly not to do it.

Track Plan Changes - Already!

One of the great things about not being able to rush in and begin this proposed layout, is the opportunity to spend plenty of time looking and thinking about the whole concept.

Initially I was happy with track plans I have already preesented, with Hawkesbury River Station on the lower deck directly beneath Gunnedah and having a short run up the Cowan Bank to what would end in a staging yard/Hornsby. However after having a bit of a think about how it would all opperate I've had a change of mind.

Hawkesbury River station and yard have now been moved to beneath the run twards Gunnedah along the left wall, with the Cowan Bank part now being much longer, running underneath Gunnedah, around and out into the peninsula and then having Cowan station and the Up Refuge modelled instead of a bigger staging yard. This will allow a much longer run up the Cowan Bank which will make the banking of trains seem much more realistic due to the length of the run.

The other positive is that with the Hawkesbury River no longer underneath Gunnedah, opperators of Gunnedah Yard and Hawkesbury will not be sharing the same space. Likewise people shunting the stock sidings on the top deck will not interfere with the lower deck opperation as that area will merely be a run up the Cowan Bank with no sidings to worry about shunting.

The only downside of a longer Cowan Bank section is the need for an awful lot of gum trees!

Gunnedah and Beyond - The Track Plan Continued

Following on from the last post where the basic upper deck track plan was shown, here is a basic drawing of the bottom deck track plan.

After leaving the top deck and heading down the helix, the single main line will come out on the bottom deck and head into what will be basically a staging yard, that is a mixture of Hornsby and simply an area Beyond Gunnedah. A turntable will definitely be part of this yard, the exact location and layout I have not yet decided.

In this way trains that went through Gunnedah and beyond the upper deck heading towards Emerald Hill or Narrabri can have the engine and brake van swap ends in the yard and run back up the helix for a return trip through Gunnedah picking up and dropping off wagons as they pass the various industries.

This lower yard will also represent Hornsby so certain trains will start here and run north towards Gosford. They will go down the Cowan Bank where I will definitely model the disused No. 5 Boronio Tunnel and possibly one of the other tunnels for atmosphere.

Next they will run through Hawkesbury River Station, which also has a pair of sidings and in the steam days was the site of a coal stage, and another siding on the west side of the station where bank engines awaited duty. I found a track plan of Hawkesbury River circa 1959 which I have scaled into place on my drawing.

After leaving this area trains may go through a tunnel representing the Long Island tunnel and will then come out the other side and head into what will be a yard representing Gosford / Beyond Gunnedah.

If another helix is built, this staging area would represent trains coming from Werris Creek once they go up the helix to the top deck. Also as mentioned in my previous post having this helix would allow non stop running around the whole layout, and different coal trains could be run as a full and empty as they could go empty clockwise (down trains) through Gunndeah and full anticlockwise thrugh Gunnedah (up trains).

There may have to be some modelers licence used in as far as time periods go as I'd like to have the ovehead electric wires (or at least the frames that hold them up) representing the post 1960 period, but I'm not sure when the coal stage and banking steam engine siding was removed? In any case this is a case where it's my layout and I want t model the things that I find interesting and if it clashes slightly with reality so be it.

Having this section electrified will allow me to run 46 Class electrics and possibly the early stainless single deck interurban passenger trains if and when they are ever released.

Another possibility is having the 46 Class haul the W44 Concentrate train from Hornsby to Gosford where a Garratt would take over and haul it up the second helix towards Werris Creek. In this way even though the W44 never ran through Gunnedah, the top deck could be used simply to run it back around to the Hornsby yard where the 46 would once again take over.

So whilst everything will not be completely prototypical, there is flexibility there to have some interesting operation and run a good variety of trains.

Gunnedah and Beyond - The Track Plan

It's been too long since I last updated this blog, but I haven't been completely idle.

All going to plan (when does that happen?) there's a good possibility that soon I may have a 7.2m x 7.2m shed to house a layout. It will have to share space with at least one of my cars, but that shouldn't bee too much of a problem.

I've come up with something that is probably a little bit ambitious, but by the same token I'm a big believer in taking a big bite and chewing like heck.

The plan shown here would be the top level of a two level layout, with the top level featuring Gunnedah yard. The benchwork looks to be around 750mm wide, and mainline curves will genrally be around 750mm radius as a minimum.

Along the left hand side a single line approaches Gunnedah, with two oil sidings on the outskirts, BP and Vacuum. These sidings would be serviced by either up or down trains, with some tankers being taken out from Gunnedah yard. I haven't decided exactly what will be located leading up to the oil sidings yet, as there are a few things to work out, more on that further down.

Trains will then take a 90 degree curve run into Gunnedah yard. Wheat trains will drop hoppers off to be shunted into the wheat siding, there are two mills which will need hoppers shunted in and out of, there is a goods shed, two oil sidings and two loco storage roads off the end of the wheat siding. So there is considerable opportunity for operation within Gunnedah yard itself.

Leaving Gunnedah yard the track once again curves through 180 degrees to the right where the stock yard is located. Stock trains made a big portion of rail traffic through Gunnedah.

Leaving the stock yards the track curves back through 180 degrees and heads back to the right, where the sidings for the Section Silo and Amoco oil siding branch off. The Section Silo is one of those big roughly circular silos made up of multiple circular bins.

The single main line then curves back to the right and past the silo, where another oil siding is located, Ampol this time. The multiple oil sidings will also allow for a good deal of operation.

Heading past the Ampol siding the track again curved to the right and runs along to where the meatworks siding is. Once again this will allow more operational work.

From there the track splits into two lines, with the inside track simply forming a return loop which will allow trains to head back towards Gunnedah.

The outer track will run down a grade around the outside and enter a tunnel which will take it into the helix that will take trains down to the lower deck.

I haven't drawn the lower deck in any real detail yet, but basically under the meatworks and section silo will be a very rough representation of Hornsby, which will in fact be more of a staging yard with a turntable. It may seem weird going from the outskirts of Gunnedah then into Hornsby but there is a method in my madness which I will explain later.

Underneath the extension between the section silo and the stock yards will be a brief representation of Cowan Bank that will actually feature a decent grade.

Curving back around underneath where the western end of Gunnedah yard is will be Hawkesbury River station, with the goods sidings located underneath Gunnedah yard.

Coming back around underneath where the Vacuum and BP sidings are will be a basic representation of Gosford, mainly to allow for more staging track and another turntable.

I'm not completely sure how I am going to get from the lower deck back up to the upper deck at this part of the layout. I can't fit a helix as it will block the entrance to the garage for the car. Although I have tossed up the idea of building a portable helix, maybe using castor wheels or something so it can be wheeled into place! That will need some more thought.

The reason for the lower deck representing Hornsby to Gosford is it will allow me to run electric power, so 46's will have somewhere to run, I can run a Newcastle Flyer HUB set behind a 38, and it also allows for trains leaving the outskirts of Gunnedah to enter Hornsby yard, have the brake van re-marshalled to the other end and then run back up the helix and back through Gunnedah dropping off or picking up wagons from the various sidings.

So the lower deck kind of works as both a Short North section, and twin staging yards. The main trains that would use this would be coal trains which I can run empty out through Gunnedah, past the outer reaches of the top deck and down the helix, and full trains can run in the opposite direction, coming from the "Hornsby" yard and up the helix and then back through Gunnedah. Empty trains would continue down the Cowan Bank and around to Gosford where they would then make their way back up to the top deck. This way empties and fulls look right going through Gunnedah and simply run in opposite directions.

Of course this is all still speculation and armchairing, but in principal it fulfills what I want to cover and should allow for some interesting operation.