Turning, turning

The minor damage to the 60' turntable was rectified today, and it now just needs the paint touched up.
The handrails were bent when a bicycle fell off its hook on the garage wall, the handlebars coming to rest on them. One stanchion was split.

The handrails were eased back into a better line, and the split stanchion closed up again.

3501 (Bergs) & a D.50 (also Bergs, but a lot older) pose for the camera.

Oops, didn't notice the front bogie leading axle was derailed!

The remaining slight bend in the handrails is adjudged to be "prototypical".

 

That's all for now. Might get a chance to work on the trestle repairs soon.



 

Where to start?

Below are some images of two of the three layouts I've "built". The scenicked one was ostensibly constructed for a corporate Christmas function in 2008, for the enjoyment of the kids. Since it re-used a lot of my old bits of track, structures etc, it naturally remained my (son's) property after the event.

There's a layout under there somewhere:
The following pictures show what has happened to "Yabbie Creek" - the layout I started after finishing the HSC over a quarter of a century ago. It was to be a NSWR transition era branch line terminus. The staging yard is in the section where the drill & grinder are. The terminus is under the boxes etc on the other side of the U-shaped base boards.

The trestle bridge (Ironbark Models kit) over Yabbie Creek was damaged during home relocations. This was the first serious structure kit I built. The hundreds of holes for the nut / bolt / washer details were drilled without the aid of a pin vice or drill press ... resulting in callouses on thumb & forefinger.

The turntable (a Bruce Akrigg product from circa 1991) has been removed after being slightly damaged by a bicycle falling off its hook on the garage wall.
My wife, Alison, has encouraged me to repair the turntable and trestle as the first step on the road to building Weddin. I'll then reclaim the Peco Code 75 track, points etc, as they have hardly had a train over them in all those years.
Now to clear the decks!

The train departing...

Having been inspired by "Burrowa" and "Bylong", I thought I'd start a blog for my long-term layout project.
I'll not lay claim to a high level of modelling proficiency, and the fact that only one out of three layouts constructed was ever "completed" tells a story in itself. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy following along with the construction of Weddin.
The layout is set in the Lachlan region of NSW. While the Weddin Heights is a real location, there was never a railway through them per se. The NSWR had lines from Demondrille to Blayney, with branches from Koorawatha to Grenfell and Cowra to Eugowra, and Stockinbingal to Parkes. Weddin is set somewhere in between. Staging at one end will represent Cootamundra, and the other, Parkes (or maybe Orange). There will be a branch into the mountains to serve a shale oil operation. The conceit is that shale oil remained viable through the 1950s & 1960s because the oil fields of the Middle East were not developed due to the political instability of the region. In fact, I just like the logo of the Australian Kerosene Oil Co, and think it would look great on some tankers, or louvre vans loaded with drums of product.
Enough for now, time to head to the office.