Latest update
It's been well over twelve months since my last blog. It's just easier
to update on the various Facebook groups, but then the posts are hard to find
down the track.
Since my last spiel in May, 2020, progress has included:
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Molly waits expectantly for Chef Roy to provide a treat |
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With Roy, David & Mr X |
- 4304 sound chip fitted and mods
done to split up the marker lights
- July 2020
- 5595 returned to service by
Gary Gentle - including fitting of non-sound chip
- Boat shed emptied ready for
renovation
- Social weekend with the "Beyond Bitumen" crew, accompanied by Hoges
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Gunzel412 at Carcoar |
- August 2020
- farewelled the 2016
Outlander, welcomed a new one
- the last duty of the old
Outlander was to pick up a layout acquired for cannibalisation for parts to
be used on Weddin Jct
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Collecting "Merriwa" from Gary's place, with a car trailer hired for the purpose because my 8'x5' box trailer was too short |
- went chasing C class in the snow with Hoges
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C/C/BRM/C at Wallerawang |
- September 2020
- Boat shed renovation
completed, allowing stripping of workshop
- Alison & the kids
visited for a few days
- October 2020
- Road trip to Lightning
Ridge & Pokataroo with Glenn Ryan, Richard Lane & John
Gray, then on to Brewarrina, Cobar & "The Overflow"
on my own
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The new Gunzel412 at the Lucas Bridge on the Castlereagh, between Gilgandra & Mendooran
| "Glencoe", former Lucas property on the Castlereagh near Gilgandra |
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With John Richard & Glenn, "on location" at the film set for The Goddess of 1967, Lightning Ridge. The building was destroyed in a freak storm in December, 2020.
| Sheepyards Pub |
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Our convoy at Pokataroo |
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How's the serenity? Kayaking on the Barwon at Brewarrina
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LBK84, on Cato, south of Narran Lake, east of Brewarrina |
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LBK84, on "Cato" |
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LBK84 on "Cato" |
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Between Brewarrina and Wave Hill |
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Girilambone, under restoration |
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Girilambone loading gauge |
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Tourist shot |
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B61/4532 approaching Nyngan with a ballast train |
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Near Nymagee, en route to "The Overflow" |
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At the gates of "The Overflow" - mission accomplished! |
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Mens' quarters, "The Overflow" |
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Chasing coal trains on the Ulan line |
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Chasing coal trains on the Ulan line |
- turned 50 - a great day out
aboard "The Picnic Train" to Kiama with train & work
friends - and received a Eureka 5096 in recognition of the big day!
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Aboard "The Picnic Train" ready to depart |
- November 2020
- "Beyond Bitumen"
postponed from March and May finally eventuated, joined by Hoges & Phil
Howchin
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Phil in the pilot's seat, Hoges "calling the road" |
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At Lucas Lane, Coolamon |
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Beer o'clock at Ettamogah |
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Called in at Pete's Hobby Railway on our way home |
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Kev welcomed us aboard & fired up a CLP for a bit of V16 fun |
- December 2020
- cleared some space in the
shed to store Alison's furniture during her transition to a new home in
South Australia
- luck the layout building
had not commenced!
- Alison & the kids
stayed for a couple of weeks to try to simplify their entry to SA by
moving out of Greater Sydney
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Kate busy with my 50th birthday gift from the Polish contingent |
- January 2021
- Family moved
- Repaired the silo from the
Wyong club layout
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Repaired load-out chute |
- Did some gunzelling in the
upper Hunter
- Independent FR994 completed - my "Corona Challenge" project
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Scratchbuilt interior for FR994 |
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Interior for FR994 |
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Interior installed in FR994 |
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Underframe detail of FR994 |
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Roof detail of FR994 |
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Basking in the sun |
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Basking in the sun |
- Repaired the underframe of HCX1187 & replaced a missing door handle
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Making replacement door handle - after first repairing the jig! |
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New handle installed in HCX1187 |
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Reinforcing beams for the floor of the HCX |
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This'll stiffen it up! |
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Clamped overnight while the araldite set |
- School train worked by 3250, comprising FR994/HCX1187 running on "Upper Hunter"
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3250 with the school train at Branxton |
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School train crossing the Paterson River |
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School train at Woongarrah |
- Fitted a CTRL-P replacement tender underframe to ARM 3806
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Disassembled, and noise-suppression cap removed for DCC conversion |
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Painting the underframe & bogies
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Components for extra pick-ups
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Preparing bogies for securing of pick-ups
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Drilling the tender weight for additional pick-up wires |
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CTRL-P tender underframe drilled for pick-up wires, rubbing blocks removed |
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CTRL-P tender bogies with extra pick-ups fitted |
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New underframe ready for detailing |
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Adding brake rodding to tender underframe |
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Painting the pick-ups to disguise them |
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Painting the buffer-beam |
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Threading the pick-up wires through the underframe & weight |
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Re-assembled tender underframe
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- started work on the necessary mods to give it marker & headlights, following Gerry Hopkins MMR's technique, with some additional insights from Chris Lord & Michael Hobson
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One white and one red SMD LED fitted for tender marker lights, with 1k ohm SMD resistors on the PCB strips |
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Fitting fibre optics for the tender marker lights |
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Shortening the smokebox weight to make space for the headlight & marker light SMD LEDs & fibre optics |
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Drilling the smokebox door for the headlight and marker lights. Ultimately, the markers were replaced with Kerroby white metal ones |
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Drilling out the tender markers for the fibre optics |
- A great Australia Day
catch-up with mates from the NSW School Railways Clubs' Assoc at Roy's
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With David, Matthew, Mr. X and Roy |
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Still playing with trains! |
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My Minimodels four-car sets at Bradfield |
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Chef Roy turned on a suitably-themed pav for Australia day |
- Made a start on breaking up
"Merriwa", a bit of a shame to undo the work of other
modellers, but that was the reason for its acquisition
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The John Holland crew has been busy dismantling the yard at Merriwa |
- Had I not decided on a junction
station and stuck with my original plan of a branchline terminus, things
might have been different...
- Ferry gunzelling
- February 2021
- removed the dodgy reed switch from 5096 that was causing continual decoder resets
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5096's tender, with offending reed switch removed |
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5096 running on Upper Hunter |
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Heading for Ray's Gap |
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About to attack the helix |
- more work on the lighting for 3806 - surface-mount LEDs and resistors etc
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Ozzy headlight & smokebox door wheel, Kerroby marker lights fitted |
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Bi-colour SMD LEDs fitted to rear of smokebox door
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Bi-colour SMD LEDs attached to rear of smokebox door, with short pieces of fibre optic inserted through the drilled-out marker lights. Golden wight SMD LED fitted to headlight, which ahs been painted with a silver paint pen for reflective purposes |
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1k ohm SMD resistors prepared for headlight & marker lights |
- won a prize as the best Michael Portillo look-alike at a fun BBQ hosted by Matt & Genevieve
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With Matt, Gen, Dom, Hoges & Polish Richard, and our Portillo alter-egos, complete with Bradshaw's guides |
- March 2021
- attended the inaugural running session at Dave Xuereb's "Holsville & Coronavale Railway" - great pizza, once again Mr X!
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A foreign interloper lurks in the yard |
- April 2021
- joined the layout tour
organised by my local NMRA members
- visited Alison & the
kids in Victor Harbor - first excursion outside NSW in eighteen months!
- managed to get a bit of steam action while there
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One horsepower tram approaching Granite Island |
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Rx heading towards Port Elliott |
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Rx arriving at Goolwa |
- May 2021
- spent a day with the boys from the Guildford MRC photographing their model of Goulburn
- Chased 3801 to Mt Victoria aboard an ex-PTC Atlantean double-decker
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The Cade |
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Top deck view at Blackheath |
- took 5595 for a run on Paul
Morcom's Picton & Goulburn layout
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5595 with a down goods at Picton |
- Completed the 2021 "Beyond Bitumen" event with Hoges & Phil
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Approximately 20 creek crossings in a very short stretch south of Tamworth on Day ! |
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Manilla |
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The Water Diviner, Barraba |
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Leaving Armidale on Day 3 |
- June 2021
- another operating session
at Mr X's place - and more pizza!
- he was working on extending the mainline run onto the central peninsula
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What a crew! |
- July 2021
- more progress on 3806, fitting detail parts from Ozzy and Kerroby
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Ozzy cylinder cocks |
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Ozzy regulator
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Ozzy regulator linkage
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Ozzy regulator, turbine & regulator linkage |
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Ozzy tender filler light, after modification to shorten it to match the conduit |
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Threading the wires to connect the chip in the tender to the various lights and speaker in the engine |
- August 2021
- managed to get the speaker & chip fitted to 3806, re-assembled and load Chris Lord's sound project
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Reducing the height of the weight to accommodate the speaker immediately below the funnel |
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The thinned-down weight with polyester tape applied for insulation
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Speaker acquired for an Auscision 48, but surplus to requirements, cut down to fit into the smokebox on top of the weight |
- stripped out the workshop ready for renovation
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Inside the workshop, facing south, before stripping the lining |
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Inside the workshop, facing north, after stripping the lining from the walls. Layout room to the left |
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Inside the layout room, facing east, after stripping the lining ... termite mud everywhere, but no active ones seen - so far! |
- September 2021
- finished the handrails on SHG22589, added the toilet glazing
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Guard's end |
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Passenger end |
The Wyong District MRC operating sessions are in abeyance again due to the lockdown, but we're hopeful of resuming on a capped / rostered attendance basis as things ease. Following images from are running sessions earlier in the year, including "International Day".
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3004T goes for a spin at Barrington |
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3250 drops downgrade and over the Paterson River with an NCR set in tow |
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3004T with a pass at Woongarrah |
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Strange bedfellows at Branxton Loco |
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Peoples' Liberation Army arrives in Barrington |
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Big power in the form of a QJ 2-10-2 passing Barrington |
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The QJ has departed Broadmeadow yard and heads for Branxton |
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SMR 22 with a rake of empties |
Miscellaneous modelling has included more truss rods for Roy's DUB Set 63, and repairs to the pick-ups on one of his Minimodels single-deck power cars, as well as completing detailing on my RUB set 140.
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Ozzy turnbuckles - ends drilled out for phosphor-bronze wire |
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Turnbuckles soldered to phosphor-bronze truss rods |
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Truss rods fitted |
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Truss rods fitted |
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Pinning a broken pick-up on one of Roy's single deck power cars |
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Scratchbuilt headstock / gangway floor (right)
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Fitting scratchbuilt headstock |
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Sydney end buffing plate fitted
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Comparison between diaphragm springs before and after fettling to fit |
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Diaphragm spring in place |
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SBS interior |
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RUB Set interiors going through the paint shop at the Miranda Car & Waggon Works |
Well, it's taken a while to actually get this post done - including investing in a new laptop, as the work one now has too many impediments to personal use installed by Corporate IT - such as blocking access to post to FB and Blogspot!
Hopefully the lockdown will soon be over so we can get back to layout visits, exhibitions and bricks & mortar hobby shops!
Stay safe, stay well, get vaxxed.