Tie Bar MkII.5!

Essentially I want to get something that at least given an impression of the real thing, as seen in the image kindly sent to me by Ray Pilgrim, which shows a set of points at Crookwell.

So I've added a second tie bar to the points just to check out the overall look and make sure it works ok. It seems to be easy enough to add and I think gives a reasonable representation, or at least it should once painted and weathered etc.

Time will tell, although I'm sure I'll find a few more ways to do this before I'm happy!

Tie Bar MkII and some LOCOFONIC ACTION

Just a quick post this time as I haven't really done much of note over the past week or so.

Firstly, I had a bit more of a play with the tie bar design that activates the points, and have been able to fine down the size a bit more, and place it a little better so it sits neatly between the sleepers.

I've cut down the width so that there is almost nothing protruding from out under the rail on one side, so I should be able to ballast pretty much up to the rail side without hindering point movement, unlike using the whole sliding sleeper effect.

I've left a long bit sticking out of one side, as this will (attempt to!) replicate the point rodding that activates the points on the real thing. It will need a bit more shaping, fining out and obviously each set of points will need it in a particular size to suit it's location.

Am I going to install point rodding to begin with, no way. Would I like to at some point, definitely, and at least if I have something there to begin with it will save having to add something at a later date.

The cuts in the copper cladding will be filled with a bit of filler so they are not noticeable, but I figured a couple of cuts would be worthwhile as any touch between the tie bar and copper sleeper will produce a shot. Not that I can see any way of them touching, but Murphy's Law and all that stuff ..............

The other bit of news is that I recently won on Ebay a 45 (yes a record!) titled "Echoes of Steam - N.S.W.R. Steam at Work 1971-72" which features six recordings of various N.S.W.R. steam trains in action.

The cover made me chuckle a bit, with LOCOFONIC proudly sitting in the top right corner. Obviously a special kind of technology specifically designed for recording steam trains no doubt!

The recordings are surprisingly rich featuring a brilliant stereo effect, and with your eyes closed you feel like you are actually standing by the tracks as these giants pass by and the sound passes from one side to the other.

Highlights are probably the double headed Garratt's on a 1,200 tonne coal train tackling the 1 in 40 bank at Fassifern, a beautiful recording at Branxton Station where hearing the calls of the local magpies set the scene as a 3246 ambles to a stop, passengers alight and board, and then it wheel spins its way off again, and finally 3818 leaving Strathfield on a wet day heading back to Central, where its powerful exhaust beats signal the arriving power and then wild wheel spin occurs multiple times as it powers on towards its destination.

I'm not sure how common this record is, but if you are a fan of steam, and happen across a copy it's well worth getting.

The Finer Points of Making Finer Points?

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel the need to use catchy phrases for their blog updates? Anyway ..........

With Sydney's crazy humid weather continuing, doing anything more physically active than blinking leaves one in a lather of sweat, so it seemed a good time to sit back at the modelling desk and build another set of points. This is the first set I've built using code 55 rail, which in all honesty was not much different to the code 75 rail I've used before. If anything I think the Micro Engineering code 55 rail is made of harder metal than the Peco rail as filing it seemed to be harder by comparison.

Apart from the change in rail, this set was built using slightly different dimensions to the NMRA specs. Terry Flynn has published some dimensions which theoretically (and have been proven) allow your typical RTR RP25/110 wheels to happily run through the points, and also allow the finer RP25/88 wheels to run through without any wheel drop through the frog or crossing V area. Basically the gauge is set to 16.26mm as opposed to the std 16.5mm, and flangeways can be set to 1.0mm, making a visual improvement over the wider dimensions actually used, and actually aids smoother running through the points.

Without the aid of any gauges to aid construction due to the different dimensions added a slight difficulty factor, but apart from some extra time it all went fairly smoothly, and I was very pleased to run a couple of sets of bogies through the points at various stages with excellent results. There's a degree of backwards engineering going on here as well, as I will use this set of points to try to get some roller gauges made to aid in the building of points to these dimensions which so far I'm very impressed with.

Another item of these points which I have had a bit of a tinker with is the tie bar. A lot of hand lai points simply use a pcb sleeper as the tie bar, which is strong, easy, and apart from the visual aspect of a whole sleeper sliding along when the points change route, it's a proven design. However, looking at the real thing, the tie bars are quite thin, and do not project outside the stock rails obviously.

What I've done with this set, it use a pcb sleeper, but cut it to length so it's just long enough to sit underneath the stock rails and only project out a maximum amount equal to the the trow of the swith blades, and I've filed down the centre section as narrow as possible to make it look more like the proper tie bars.

This first one is a little rough and not 100 percent in the right position as the tie bar needs to be centred between the sleepers a bit more, but that's nothing a quick hit with the soldering iron won't fix. Even filed down to this size it's still quite strong, and really looks quite good, or is at least a big improvement over the full sleeper look. There's very little pressure put on the tie bar anyway so I don't foresee any problems with it breaking. It will mean a slightly different method of attaching a wire to move it from side to side but that's nothing too hard.

As you can see I've also put up a pic of three different pieces of rail, Peco Code 100, Peco Code 75 and the Micro Engineering Code 55. In my mind, and logically, I know that code 55 is just over half the height of code 100, but the overall effect is actually more dramatic, with the rail actually looking more like a quarter of the size of code 100, as it's not just the height, but the width that is proportionally smaller as well. For a branch line style layout, the code 55 really does look a treat, IMHO.

New Loco's but Not Much Else!

Not much to really report on for this update, but I thought I'd throw up a couple of shots of some new loco's I've just got back from a mate who has given them a bit of weathering.

4498 is a Trainorama 44 Class, the prototype of which I fondly remember from my school days. I used to travel by train from Allawah to Kogarah which is on the South Coast line, and sometimes found myself at Hurstville on a school sports day.

Anyone who knows Kogarah and Hurstville will know that both stations have the platforms covered by rather large shopping centres, so are to an extent mostly covered in. Kogarah is situated at the top of a rather long grade from the Rockdale end, and with the wind in the right direction I could hear the 44's coming all the way up the grade with a South Coast Express in tow, and they would blast through Kogarah station with their exhaust throbbing, and most normal people would instinctively cover their ears in pain.

Hurstville was a stopping station, so from a stand still the engine would rev up with the slowly increasing throb of the exhaust, then taper off as the train began to roll, and then as the driver notched up the exhaust would again throb as a dirty black mass would be ejected from the top of the loco. In the mid 80's the 44's were usually quite grubby, and so that's the way I wanted my 44 to look. Job done I think. Now I have to decide on a sound decoder that really captures that throbbing exhaust sound.

The 3531 and 3649 are both Austrains models, with the 35 being left reasonably clean, and the 36 has been given a more weather beaten western look, where they typically didn't get cleaned anywhere as much. I'm particularly fond of the look of the 36 weathering, and might at some point dirty up the 35 just a little bit more, once I get some weathering experience under my belt.

Both are factory fitted with DCC, the 35 sound equipped already which is a bonus, ans I particularly like the whistle as it has a really nice taper in and rich reverb giving a rather nice simulation of it echoing as you hear them in "real life". \

The 36 will need a sound decoder and probably have the tender pickup additions done to improve its running qualities, as shown on Marcus Ammann's web site http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/nswmn1/ExtraPickUps.htm

I've made a little progress in getting some track gauges made to assist in making my track and points. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I'll have a sample to suit the code 55 rail and slightly different to NMRA spec gauge and flangeway spacings. These dimensions are totally compatible with RP25/110 and RP25/88 wheels which almost all RTR Australian stuff comes with these days. The slightly finer clearances suit the RP25/88 wheels a bit better then the normal NMRA dimensions. Details on these dimensions can be found on Terry Flynn's web site, http://www.angelfire.com/clone/rail/trackstandard2.html

I'm hoping to be able to provide these gauges at a reasonable price to other interested people, and if there is some demand and all goes to plan I will try to get some made to suit different rail sizes, and maybe even a small batch for those interested in hand laying true Victorian or South Australian broad gauge track. More on that as I make some progress anyway.

Apart from that, there's not much to report of any real interest!

The Realisation of a Dream ....... Or at least the Beginning of It!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that as a fifteen or sixteen year old in around 1986, I attended a modeling clinic at Revesby where I fortunate enough to see up close sections of James McInerney’s Lambing Flat featuring the Wombat Flour Mill. The thing that blew me away the most (lest face it the whole thing was very high quality) was the track. Very fine rail, highly detailed will all the point rodding and levers, it was truly inspirational and something I thought I’d love to try to replicate one day.

So here I am some twenty four odd years later, and after being a non active modeller for probably twenty of those years, a package arrived today from Brunel Hobbies with seventy one yard lengths of code 55 rail, some flux and track gauges, all ready to finally begin down that path of hand laying track and points in an effort to capture that look I admired all those years ago.

I’ve added a few pics of Lambing Flat that I took on that day all those years ago, and although they don’t show in super fine detail the track, I think they still convey the overall look that inspired me. I just hope my abilities are able to produce a result even vaguely approachig this level of quality!

Research and Inspiration

For some, doing the hard yards researching stuff is boring. Spending time looking for information that could be better spent actually doing some modeling is just not some peoples idea of a good time. Not me though. I’ve got a real love for researching things I’m interested in, and can in all honesty spend far too much time doing so once I get started.

With the spare room layout, after making the decision to go with the code 55 rail to give it that real branch line look, I’ve been spending some time looking for as many photo’s of branch line track as I can find.

Looking through web sites which contain photo libraries like the New South Wales State Library http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au can uncover a plethora of absolutely brilliant information. I usually start by using simple word searches to being with like NSWGR, railway, locomotive etc, as these will typically narrow down the subject matter. From there I sometimes find photo collections which mentions the area of the photo which then gives another key to finding more information.

Whilst searching over the past few days I came across the photo of Darnick which I’ve added to this post, and whilst it is a simple photo of a single line running through an almost desolate are with nothing more than a few houses and a gangers shed, the more I looked at it the more it interested me.

Each house is different and is flanked by a different fence, the sleepers are covered in the centre of the track but very little is evident on the outside track edges with the sleepers almost completely exposed, the gangers shed with the sleepers laid out neatly in front of the shed, between the rails and on the far side, 44 gallon drums, the trike, the water tanks, telegraph poles, and even the slight undulation and lay of the land which is not as flat as it first appears with a subtle drainage ditch running alongside the shed and towards the water tanks, and the telegraph poles appearing to have raised ground running either side of them.

For a person with not a lot of space, you could actually spend a lot of time and effort trying to accurately replicate a scene like this as a diorama, or even as a mini scene between two more major features on the layout, and I think it would be as interesting as a multi track main line with stuff crammed in everywhere.

Whilst I can’t see place on my layout for this scene, there are elements within it that could easily be used on almost any layout featuring a branch line feel, and plenty that can be learnt about the way items can be placed around a railway line.

The other area of research I’ve been doing has been in relation to track dimensions especially concerning points with the gauge and flangeway sizes. I’ve looked into the OO-SF standard which closes the gauge up from the std 16.5mm to a narrower 16.2mm, and then setting the flangeways at a narrow 1.0mm giving a much closer to prototype look. But amongst reading lots and lots and lots of information about these dimensions, there was some questions about the effect it may have on the check gauge and I got the feeling that it may not be the most foolproof of dimensions.

Another local modeler of some note, Terry Flynn, has been advocation a set of finer scale dimensions for points which are not too far away from the OO-SF dimensions, but after carefully examining them, appear to be a lot more robust and will suit the mixture of RP25/110 and RP25/88 wheels used on the various bits of rilling stock I own.

Part of the reason for the research onto these dimensions is that I’d like to get some roller gauges made to help with building track and points, and ideally if they are something that others could use, a bigger batch could be ordered cutting costs per unit. At the moment I’ve put some feelers out to get an idea on costs per unit or per batch of units, but it’s a slow process it seems, and I’ll be sure to post up any information I get as it comes to hand.

Apart from the research, progress has been slow on actual modeling, and with a relative coming to stay for a week, the spare room has been turned back into a guest room, modeling desk cleaned up enough drop the extension and close the doors to make it all look neat and tidy. Makes it hard to do anything, but that is the compromise I made when subtly trying to turn another area of the house into manland.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

One of the things I like about this hobby, is that it gives the mind a workout at times. I like a challenge, a chance to solve a problem, and when it involves designing and making something of use, that's even better.

With the spare room shelf layout, I've made a decision to hand lay not only the points, but also the track. It was a conversation on a forum about the actual size of sleepers and their spacing on both the NSWGR and Victorian railways and the comparative sizes of Peco, Micro Engineering and Tilig flex track.

I was going to use Peco code 75 which has a nice fine look to it, and probably has the best sleeper spacing to suit NSWGR track, however being essentially a branch line layout, the sleeper spacing would be a little wider than the Peco track. I could snip the spacers between the sleepers and space them out, but that would be rather fiddly.

Another thing that has made up my mind to hand lay is that it gives me the opportunity to use some code 55 rail, which really does look good to my eyes and suits the branch line track work. As a teenager (16yo or so) I attended a modelling convention, possibly at Revesby circa 1986?, and in attendance was a diorama style layout module, Wombat Floor Mills by James McInerney, http://www.cia.com.au/bullack/BL18.jpg.

The track was all hand laid code 55, beautifully detailed with point rodding and light ballasting, and I was very very impressed. It certainly looked a treat compared to my code 100 track of the time, and I remember thinking to myself how nice it would be to have the money and time to have track work like that. Of course the money isn't so much in the track, but in what was basically the need to have expensive brass engines with fine flanges to run on it. James has a web site with lots of info on this fine layout here http://www.cia.com.au/bullack/

More recently, a fellow blogger http://superfreighter.blogspot.com/ has been producing some exceptional looking NSWGR based track and points for his own layout. This is is a classic example of the branch line look that I would like to capture, with the very fine rail and slightly wonky sleeper placement that just oozes old world character.

So with this new aim in sight, the one thing I will need apart from some lengths of rail and some strips of PCB, is a LOT of wooden sleepers. With the branch line maximum sleeper spacing of 2' 10-5/8" (two foot, ten and five eighths of an inch) or 879.45mm working out to around 10mm in HO scale, simple maths says I need around one hundred sleepers per metre. I'm guessing there will be somewhere in the region of twenty five to thirty metres of track to lay, so something like two thousand five hundred to three thousand sleepers will need to be cut!

Measuring and cutting this amount of sleepers sounds like a very tedious job indeed if each one has to be measured and cut separately. There has to be a way of making the process simpler and faster. So with a look around the desk, and a bit of thought into it I've come up with a jig for churning out sleepers at a reasonable rate with a minimum of fuss.

I found a small pieces of glass measuring about 13.5 x 9cm, and simply superglued three pieces of PCB to it, two short lengths on each side and a long length across one end. I left a gap between the side and end piece of PCB on one side slightly bigger than a sleeper width.

I then soldered a piece of code 75 rail on top of the side strips a sleeper width back from the end strip. Now all I have to do is cut a single strip of balsa to the width of the sleepers I need to cut, feed the strip under the rail until it is against the rear strip, and using the rail as a guide slice through the balsa with a sharp craft knife cutting the sleeper to width in the process. I can then quickly push it out through the gap between the PCB and then slice the next sleeper to width in a fluid motion.

I found that I can actually cut two sleeper widths of balsa and cut it almost all the way through, so I can cut two sleepers at the same time and simply snap them apart after cutting. I've tried to take a video with my digital camera of cutting a single width bunch of sleepers to illustrate this technique. I'f I'd thought ahead and made the jig a little wider I could cut three widths in

I managed to get over 1,000 sleepers out of a sheet of 100x915mm balsa over about an hour and a half or so which wasn't too bad really. It was certainly worth taking the ten minutes or so to make a simple jig which allowed me to churn out the sleepers at such a rate.

Painting them may take a little longer however and I am thinking about ways to handle this. I'm sure like most other things there are almost as many ways to do it as there are people doing it, and like always any suggestions are gratefully accepted.