Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today

Once again, way too long between blog posts, but that's not to say that I haven't been following the many blogs and admiring the work all you guys are doing out there.

Model railways as a hobby, to me has always been a long term journey, not just a short term destination, it's something that typically does happen over a long period of time, especially if an ambitious or sizable layout is part of it, or building up a collection of super detailed hand built or modified RTR stock.

It's also a hobby where lets face it, the availability of what you want rolling stock and motive power wise is not always available, or is on the horizon, but a long time in coming, and so it can take a long time to gather those pieces that fulfill the time period and location that we choose to base our layouts or collections on.

I was reasonably "into" my trains in my teen years during the 80's, and built up a nice little collection of NSWGR based items, mainly 60's and 70's era stuff in general as the current Candy colours, fiyr letter code and no brake van era didn't interest me as much, even though it's what I saw roll past whilst standing at Kogarah or Allawah railway station on my way too and from school each day. Thankfully there were still plenty of dirty old Tuscan/Indian Red 44's, 421's and 422's hauling the South Coast passenger services past to keep me happy at the time.

My late teens, twenties and most of my thirties saw other hobbies and priorities take over, but in January 2008 my interest in my trains was rekindled after opening the box containing my teenage years train collection, after not being opened for the best part of twenty years. They were laid out on the sideboard and pics taken, and that was it, I was hooked again.

Not long after that I started buying the Australian Model Railway Magazine again, and was happy to see that NSW prototype models like the Austrains 80 and 422 Class, and more impressively the Trainorama 44 Class were available, the 44 in particular showing 1980's "brass like" detail at a very affordable price. One was very shortly afterwards purchased!

Followers of this blog will then know that gradually I figured out that Gunnedah was what my long term goal was as far as a layout went, and the 60's era was what appealed with a mix of late steam and early diesels to feature.

Progress was slow or non existent on beginning the actual layout, but, I continued to collect items whilst other life priorities came first, but all the time knowing that there was no hurry, I was still in my late thirties, and had plenty of time to "get around" to building that dream layout.

Fast forward to today, having just turned 43 years old on the 29th of August, and whilst I don't like to use this forum as a conduit for less than happy news, as hobbies should be about enjoyment and fun, the news is not all that happy. In January this year, after having twelve months or so of a weakening left shoulder and arm initially, then some rather disturbing muscle mass and dexterity loss, I was finally diagnosed with Motor Nerone Disease, otherwise knows more popularly in the media as ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), and the reason for the Ice Bucket Challenge seen in the media recently, which is designed to raise awareness and funds for research into this at the moment incurable disease.

To this point I've lost most of the use of my left arm strength wise, now being barely able to lift it on its own let alone with anything in hand, and my hand has lost about fifty percent of dexterity in it, with my fingers gradually losing the ability to grip and hold things, and unable to straighten them up properly. Because of this any actual modeling has become quite difficult, soldering near impossible so building my own track and points in so longer possible, and in general any task which involves both hands is just not possible.

I'm not whinging, and not defeated in general, but with the progress of this condition now beginning in my right shoulder as well, it's obvious that in time to come it will follow the left and gradually become less than useful. From there who knows, it's hard to predict what will happen next, but in general it's likely it will progress to the legs, and long term it will take away the ability to talk, eat, and breath, although it doesn't effect the brain to any degree, so you get all the fun of being fully aware of what's going on well past the point of being able to communicate.

Thankfully for now I can still work, and overall function ok, am not in pain, and have a wonderful wife and daughter who are always there to help when I need it. But the reality is, as far as Gunnedah goes, it isn't going to happen now. I'm going to sell off a lot of stuff, but will keep some selected items and hopefully will be able to throw something small together in the coming months to be able to at least give some things a small run.

Again I hate to make this an unhappy post, but I guess my positive message is don't put things off any longer than necessary, enjoy today, and try to make sure that you don't waste time, because you just never know when it will run short.

Cheers
Darren

Old World Inspiration

Well, hard to believe it's almost twelve months since my last update, and harder to believe that in that past twelve months my modeling time in total has probably been less than twelve minutes in total, such has been the year that's past.

That's not to say that I haven't kept a close eye on all the other blogs I follow, plus the news groups which are no end of entertainment with the obscure, obtuse, nutty, pedantic, argumentative and downright rude posts that are written, all in the name of enjoyment no doubt, but you have to wonder sometimes the stress levels some of these posters much be getting whilst trying to battering ram style force their opinions down every other persons throats!

I must admit to dabbling in the odd "discussion" where I think there is something of note to add, but usually just sit back and enjoy the show.

On a positive note this year has seen two pre-ordered products arrive, firstly the Eureka HUB Set, and later on the Auscision 422 Class locomotive. It was nice to see something arrive that had been ordered some time earlier in the case of the HUB Set, and quite some time earlier in the case of the 422 Class from Auscision. But far from being annoyed at the delay, it was probably more relief that I had ordered these items when funds were more plentiful, as at the moment "cash for toys" is not quite as easy to come by.

Still to come in the pre-ordered stakes are an Austrains 8101 in it's "original" Tuscan/Indian red colour scheme, of which there have been no images posted as far as I know, so what will arrive is somewhat of a mystery! Word on the street is that this may arrive before years end, fingers crossed.

Then there's 4801 from Trainorama, who knows where they are up to and when they might arrive, but again it's paid for and will get here when it does.

And finally three 40 Class loco's from Eureka are still awaiting delivery, one in each colour. Again the 40 Class saga has been well documented with various factory problems in China, but I'm sure they'll get here one day, and will be mostly worth the wait.

But I digress somewhat from the actual inspiration for this long overdue (but sadly lacking in progress) post. A few days ago, I opened my browser set to my Google home page, to find the Google header logo in a very "Art Deco" "Streamlined" style, which instantly reminded me of the streamlined locomotives of the time. After looking into it I found out it was to celebrate the 120th birthday of Raymond Loewy, who was a very famous industrial designer back in the day.

Loewy was credited with designing the PRR GG1 electric locomotive for the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1936 PRR GG1 Electric Locomotive, and then the PRR S1 Steam Locomotive in 1938 PRR S1 Steam Locomotive

He did not design them in engineering terms, but used his industrial styling talents to bring the railroad out of the the dark dingy age and into the future. In addition to locomotive design, Loewy's studios performed many kinds of design work for the Pennsylvania Railroad including stations, passenger-car interiors, and advertising materials.

Part of his influence was instrumental in EMD's locomotive designs, which in time brought to us in Australia the fantastic looking Victorian B ans S Class diesel locomotives, the Commonwealth Railways GM Class, and the NSW 42 and 421 Class diesel locomotives.

No doubt the streamlined styling of Loewy also strongly influenced some of our local steam loco's, like the Victorian S Class, the NSWGR 38 Class, and the South Australian 520 Class.

So there, for anyone who likes to know "where things come from", that was a little bit info on where some of the designs for the most iconic locomotives came from, and all from a simple logo on the Google search page.
 

Too Long Between Drinks!

I've been meaning to add a blog post for a while, but I hadn't really taken that much notice that my last entry was in January! I'd like to say time flies when you're having fun, but this year has mostly been anything but for various reasons.

It's been one of those years where life does its best to challenge you, various illnesses in the family that have involved hospital visits, my job has been more stressful than normal, and my wife's position where she has worked for eleven years has fallen victim to the all too common "transferred to India" syndrome, effective February 2nd next year.

However, it hasn't been all bad, so lets not get all depressed about it, there have been some highlights as well, but almost nothing I have to say on the modeling front, which is a major reason for no updates.

For the first time in years I missed both the Thornleigh and Liverpool exhibitions, both due to things outside of anyones control, and while I did miss going to both of them quite a bit, maybe I didn't miss them as much as I thought I would.

It is probably a result of everything else that's been going on this year that have just taken away my attention from what I'm doing, but my train brain just hasn't been as switched on as it has been over the past few years. Am I losing interest in the hobby, not really, as I still thoroughly enjoy reading everyone else's blog updates as much as ever, and still try to get the latest edition of AMRM as soon as it hits the shelves.

However, the one thing that's probably played on my mind a bit more this year than most, is the continuing lack of delivery of projects that have been "coming" for quite some time now. I'm not whinging about it, and completely understand the reasons why etc etc, but gee it will be nice when the P.O. Box starts to be filled with trains again. Maybe this will spark a renewed enthusiasm and get me back on track, excuse the pun.

In any case, I should try to make some point of this post rather than rambling on with the "woe is me's!"

I think this hobby is one of the few that if you are into in any real way, it's part of your life in one way or another, for life. I remember getting my first trains when I was about five or so years old. They weren't new, but a buch of trains that I think were my Dad's at some stage. They were mainly Tri-Ang from memory, a mixed collection of 4-wheeled freight wagons and one bogie well wagon of some description, that if I remember correctly was metal and not plastic.

The stupidity of my teenage years saw most of these swapped or sold to buy "proper" N.S.W. trains like a Lima 38 Class, 12-wheelers, various A.R. Kits wagons etc. I also suffered a break-in to the garage where I had trains set up when I was in my mid teens, where a few of these models were stolen. Among them was what I think was an early Dublo model of a British Class 20 D8000 diesel.

This big green diesel was my favourite when I was young, the colour, the shape, and it had this strangely interesting"burning dust in the heater" smell about it when it ran, as well as a bit of a groaning grinding noise, which to me made it sound and smell just like a real one! I've added a pic of just what mine looked like, and truth be known if I could buy one in H.O. I'd proudly run it with my N.S.W. prototype stuff, just as a reminder of the old days.

The other pic is of me, Christmas day circa 1976 I think, with my consist of brand new Tri-ang V.R. B Class, with four Hornby Trans Australia carriages, and the rag tag bunch of old British freight wagons I'd inherited in tow. I couldn't tell you how many times they circled the pine board layout that day (it was probably until the little blue power pack grew so hot I was told to give it a rest possibly), and others to follow, but many many hours ours of enjoyment were had.

I also think that this is one of the great things about this hobby, that you can get as much enjoyment as a kid just watching a bunch or random trains running around chasing their tails, as you can from building a fine scale representation of a real location, with period rolling stock and every little detail in the scene you can manage.

The other good thing is that modeling is not always about the result, but simply the journey it takes you on through the various stages of your life, where life's other priorities may at various times dictate the amount of hours of finance you can put into the hobby, but none the less you should still be able to do something interesting to suit those constraints.

So while this year has been one of very little time to spend actually doing anything tangible, hopefully next year will allow a bit more time to get back into things, and continue what started thirty five odd years ago.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Whilst the weather outside isn't really all that frightful, and it's too humid at the moment to even think about having a delightful fire crackling away, I thought it might be interesting to try out a method I read about lately for replicating snow.

After having the spare room where my modelling desk is converted into an actual bedroom over the Christmas break I've not been able to get to any of my modelling stuff. However last night after getting home I got stuck into de-bedrooming the place and dragged out my small test diorama that I did some hand laid track on last year and attempted to turn the temperature down.

Something I've mentioned before, is my personal dislike of almost every layout representing sunny days with clear blue skies and typical summery conditions. Granted, if you are modelling most Australian locations, that's a typical thing to model, however in certain places, you do get filthy storms, rain, and snow.

Now I'm not talking about a winter wonderland where everything is buried under three feet of snow and there's no other colour but white to be seen, but more when you have that light drifting snow that doesn't cover everything, but seems to gather in clumps, and randomly covers the ground and structures.

So, armed with some baking powder, I began sprinkling it randomly onto the ground cover and track work, being careful to keep it fairly light and not too thick, so as to represent what you would see after the snowing has stopped and some has already melted.

In general the baking powder does a great job of mimicking the texture and slightly sparkling colour of snow. Gently wiping it off the sleepers so it sits mainly on the ballast and against the track fairly closely replicates photos I have of these types of snow falls.

The next thing that I think needs to be done, is the whole area needs to be hit with a bit of a gloss finish, to try to replicate the slight sheen surfaces get when they are damp, but not fully wet like after rain.

Coupling these features with a dark stormy sky, and possible some lighting with a blue tinge, should go a long way to adding some real atmosphere and representing a gloomy, damp, freezing cold day on the railways, and not the typical bright sunny day.

Obviously depending on the area you are modelling, snow may just not be part of the plan, but if you happen to be modelling one of those areas where snow is semi common during the winter months, this could be something that tickles your fancy.

Silos, Steam Train Tours, Wheels, and a Merry Christams!

I feel somewhat slack when looking at the date of my previous post, Wednesday, June 29, 2011. The second part of 2011 has not been so fruitful for modeling, and although few little things have been done, there has been nothing worth of a blog post.

In July my wife and I went on a trip down to Robertson via the Southern Highlands behind 3642 with 4490 assisting, and travelled in the rebuilt GMS 1, which has been built from the ground up pretty much into a beautiful lounge car with an open observation platform at one end.

The trip was very relaxing, and the service provided for this carriage was exceptional, with very nice food, and plenty of it! Anyone who knows Robertson would appreciate that in July it’s far from the warmest place on Earth, and that typical Southern Highlands “breeze” blowing didn’t help in making it all that comfortable walking around Robertson. Surprisingly though, traveling out on the observation deck was almost completely wind free and quite warm, with basically unrestricted 180 degree plus views.

I bought a whole bunch of RP25/88 wheels in various axle lengths to replace the RP25/110's or similar in some of the RTR items I have, mainly some of the smaller 4-wheel items like S Trucks and RU’s. I popped some into one of the Lima TAM’s I have, but I think what I will do is put the RP25/110’s that I replace in some of the other items into the TAM’s as the heavy bogie sides really obscure the wheels to the point where flange depth aside you’d be hard pressed to tell what wheels are in there.

I went to the Liverpool Exhibition in October, and whilst I enjoyed wandering around for the first time on the Sunday morning, which was so much more crowd free that the Saturday typically is, I felt that this years exhibition was somewhat lacking in anything really new or interesting.

The large O Gauge layout Arakoola was brilliant, and a highlight for me, and although I don’t model in 7mm, the result, if you have the room and the skill is impressive. The locos and rolling stock appear to have much more bulk about them, they actually look heavy, and move with so more momentum to them than the smaller scales.

With continuing house renovations, and a slight change in purpose for the spare room, progress on the shelf layout has completely stopped. In fact it has stopped to such a point, and with the changing purpose of the room now being more of a family room, I don’t think it will go any further, and what little was done will be largely removed.

However, my wife being the generous and understanding person she is, somewhat surprisingly suggested an alternate space for my modelling, a basically purpose built 7.2 x 3.6 meter room that will be situated in the back yard next to the garage.

For those who have been reading this blog from the beginning, you might remember the 7.2 x 7.2 meter garage that was initially going to be where I would built my layout. In that time the mess from moving in has gradually been removed, and more space is now available in the garage, but the reality is without spending a considerable amount of money on lining it, as well as stopping the dust that seems to come in through the roof and around the tops of the roller doors, it is not really the best place to have a layout.

Along with that, the layout would have to share space with two cars and lots of spare parts, as well as all of my tools, a work bench, and other items that really have nowhere else to live. In the end it would be a compromise, not so much on space, but with heat and cold, as well as dust and debris, all of which are a major enemy to the operational effectiveness of any layout.

If everything goes to plan and the 7.2 x 3.6 meter dwelling appears in the near future, the challenge is designing the layout to fit what I’d like vs what can be done without making it an operational disaster. Gunnedah will take centre stage along one long wall, with nice sweeping curves at either end, however fitting in the other areas I’d like to model is going to require some lateral thinking.

I’ve drawn up some initial plans that I might post up later on, and after that I’d certainly welcome any advice or thoughts.

The past week saw me head to Melbourne for two days with meetings at the new head office located in Richmond just near the River. Upon arriving on the Thursday morning a quick tour of the building for us Sydney folk was arranged, including the roof. The best part of the roof visit was the wonderful view of the Barrett Burston Maltings site including the rather impressive concrete Silo’s. There’s a bit of history and information here for those interested. http://www.onmydoorstep.com.au/heritage-listing/12809/richmond-maltings

As Gunnedah has a silo within the yard, as well as the larger silo outside of town, I’ve become keen to study their various designs, and take any opportunity to capture the unique texture and coloring of them, as well as the weathering styles they develop.

Apart from all of that, there’s not much else to say, except to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Hopefully 2012 will see lots more posts on my blog, but even without much progress of my own this year, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your blogs and the wonderful ideas and techniques that have been shared, so keep it up.

You Can't Always Get What You Want ... But If You Try Sometimes ...

You might find, you get what you need.

With the recent release of the Austrains FS/BS/BSR passenger cars, the debate over the now familiar multi-pack selling method has once again poked its head up.

These cars come in three different packs, each with three cars, one FS/FS/BS set in Tuscan & Russet, one FS/FS/BS set in Indian red with dark roofs, and one FS/BS/BSR set with silver roofs. Not a bad way to offer them if you have to sell them in a three pack, but it still leaves a bit of inflexibility if you want a little of each style, but don't want to buy three packs which at the end of the day will set you back $900 (soon $990 with the upcoming price rise).

I found myself in this position at the Epping exhibition, primarily wanting two sets of FS/BS cars, but due to my modelling era, wanting a lone Tuscan & Russet car for the mix as most would have been repainted into the Indian Red by the early 60's. I also wanted a BSR, but then I'd have to pick the silver roofed cars, and would have one less car for making up the mail trains that don't use a BSR.

I had a bit of a think about it, and figured the most workable scenario in the end, would be to get a T&R set, and a dark roofed set. At worst I had a couple too many T&R coloured cars, but not knowing how long the sets would be available I didn't want to gamble on maybe getting another set at a later date when the bank balance had recovered from the exhibition!

I figured that anyone who only bought the T&R sets would most likely want all of them, however thought that there may be a few people who like me would want just a single T&R car in their lash up but would rather have the two Indian Red sets if three whole sets weren't in the budget..

The other thing was, looking at a typical mail train of the era, the FS/BS cars were often complimented by the 12-wheel TAM sleeping cars. Lima released these cars onto the market in the early 1980's, and although time has marched on, they are still the basis for a decent looking model once a few details are taken care of. Better wheels, full height roof vents, interior, couplers etc, nothing too high tech or particularly expensive at the end of the day.

The Lima cars are semi readily available on Ebay, but the prices vary somewhat, you've then got postage charges, not to mention no control over being outbid and having to pay crazy postage prices sometimes. There had to be a better solution to getting a couple of TAM's as well.

So it was over to the Aus_Model_Rail group, and up with a post on a simple solution to getting what I, and hopefully someone else wanted. Did anyone want to swap a T&R car for a Silver Roofed car, and a T&R car for a pair of TAM's? No money need exchange hands, just a simple barter among like minded modellers.

Within hours I had my answer. An offer to swap my T&R car for a Silver Roofed Indian Red car, and another offer for my other unwanted T&R car for two brand new in box TAM's. How easy was this. But it got better!

On e-mailing back and forth it seemed the person with the silver roofed cars had bought two sets of silver roofed cars, so also had two BSR's as well. I thought why not ask if he wanted to swap one of my dark roofed cars for a BSR, and to my relief he was happy to do so. He got rid of an extra BSR and I got one.

So in the end, after putting up a simple swapping offer on a forum, and without exchanging any money I ended up with:

1x Tuscan & Russet BS
1x Indian Red FS - Dark Roof
1x Indian Red BS - Dark Roof
1x Indian Red FS - Silver Roof
1x BSR Buffet Car
2x TAM Sleeping Cars

I dare say there are many many modellers out there who are in the same situation with these multi-packs, having more of something than they want, which in some cases could have stopped them getting something else they want due to limited finances.

So instead of just whinging about the multi-pack selling, speak up, get a simple message out there, I have this, would like to swap for that, and you might be very surprised how easy it can be to get what you want. This is the third time I've done such a swap, and each time has worked perfectly, so for me it's a no brainer.

But Weight ....... There's More!

Thanks to Peter Mackenzie's post on the Aus_Model_Rail Yahoo group, the mystery of the excessive weight has been revealed.

Basically there is a huge big weight inside the tank, about 66 grams by my scales which is the full length of the tank. Way too heavy, and hard to imagine why it was designed to be that big?

In any case Peter's method of removal is shown below, for those of you who aren't a member of Aus_Model_Rail.

"The end cap of the tank at the handbrake end is not glued and can be removed
with little effort.

There is a screw in the middle of the underframe, this retains the weight -
remove it.

The weight should now slide out, the ladder at the open end will need to be
eased out as it fouls the weight.

You can now cut the weight to your desired size or replace with something else."

I found that cutting the end wings off the weight (second picture) and using the fully circular centre section gives a weight of about 26 grams, which equates to a total wagon weight of about 45 grams which is ballpark for what you'd want.

However, I chose to fill my wagon with an appropriate volume of real oil, as I would hate to be one of those toy train players who fill oil tankers with lead!