69843

Things that never work out as planned is always how this seems to go..... Not long after I put up the last post, I started to talk to the chairman of a railway group here in NSW. Not long afterwards, I started out with helping to restore the two car railmotor up there. Long story short, this is why I have not done much lately (well, that and fluctuating mojo) But anyhow, back to the modelling studio. The little bits and pieces are what matter. One of the things done lately was to fit the skylights and chimney flue to the snowplough, as below. This just leaves the buffers and the handbrake/base as the last major items. Then it is a matter of checking the fit of the parts, and then getting a prototype to the UK. Snow in my part of NSW is a bit lacking. Although not to say it never snows here at all, just not near me. Another job that has been done is this: While that does not look out of the ordinary, that is actually the freshly re-scaled 7mm version. Several tweaks will have to be done to accommodate changes for 1:43.5 scale, but they should hopefully breeze by. I have also been working towards completion of the replacement A1/3/4 chassis block, having made some tweaks to get it closer to the setup of the original. Hopefully this can be swapped out for the standard "red box" frame, with the valvegear, cylinders etc. just requiring transfer. And now to something for the gentlemen enthusiast: Smiths speedo cufflinks. While still very early on in the process, I hope to have these done sooner rather than later, just as a different item. I will likely not include the black mounting bracket in the finished design, but it will have everything right down to the needle. Though I'm divided whether to have it read 0, x speed, 100 or off the dial. That's it for this time. I do hope to have another update soon, but don't expect it before the 19th-we're on a tight deadline for the railmotor to run its first trip

What are we not telling the missus now?

After having been head down, bum up these last few Saturday's helping fix a 304.8mm/foot railmotor, it's always great to come back here and enjoy the photographs for a relax and a catch-up especially with this Saturday off. The ones above are great Gilbert, and I in particular like the third one down. Gives a real feel to the scene beyond just the trains and tracks. And Manna-that 47 story gave me a good chuckle. Always great for someone of my age to hear little anecdotes like that. The human side behind the locos and stock.

Hmmmm.....most of those variants could be done with a couple of little changes....

No I didn't forget. Honest... I ran out of petrol! I--I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!! (With apologies to 'Joliet' Jake Blues)

Gilbert and I did discuss this point, and the answer Gilbert gave of 'Perpetual daylight' meant that they are designed as non-working lamps. However, your point about lighting from the base is an interesting one, and one that I do think should seriously be chased up and investigated. I can't put it better than Tony's quote of "This is what can be great about this hobby, helping each other out to improve our models or modelling". On the point of fragility, it is the Achilles heel of the lamps, yes. I have tried to design them to be as close to scale from the photos Gilbert passed on to me (was a slight pain without dimensions, but with a photo of a Peppercorn A1 next to one, and a diagram of same saved on my laptop, it was just a matter of using some rough lines of sight and guesstimation) but this does mean some fragile areas, yes. However, I fully agree with yours and Larry's points about casting them. There is nothing that I can see would hold back that idea from my end. I'll try and do the write-up of the lamps some time very soon, but shall keep it separate from the thread here, lest I clutter it up with semi-useless information! And I do intend to make these available for sale soon if there is interest for them here, and elsewhere. Gilbert's order has proved that they have printed fine, and have exceeded my thoughts on it. Hopefully my guinea pig respected tester can now finish them up, to add that missing touch to the platforms of Peterborough North and 'brighten' up the layout for the better

Gilbert, Andy, Tony and anyone else who comments, Thank you for the kind words. I am absolutely floored by how these have come out. I am seeing them for the first time as well, as I felt it best to wait and see them. I am more than happy to do a write up on the creation of these, and will do so at some point in the future for all that are interested. I hate to keep this short and sweet, but it's 12:20pm here, and I'm off to chase a Garratt come morn . More when I return. And Gilbert, it has been an honour to deal with you. And I hope to do so again in the future.

She will be running to Botany on Saturday. Times TBA The BAMs and CDAY 1 were being dropped off for the RTM/CFCLA Kookaburra Kids Express

Well, I can't say more than "I'm back". Unfortunately the last few months have been both hectic and problematic for various reasons which I won't go into to save some time. Let's just say that I even lost my mojo for a while, but it's back and I'm back to CADding . Oh, and OO9, but more on that later Right, down to business: There are a few things from earlier lists I have decided I am no longer going to do, purely as I don't wish to duplicate items that are already out there for no reason. There are a few exceptions to this rule however, just because there's a few things I'd like to draft up anyhow. There is also a few things I plan to do in HO, but I will need to investigate wheels first. It's not easy to get hold of 6ft 8in driving wheels in HO to the correct pattern..... So, what has been worked on? Well, the NER Snowplough has now been fitted with the rear braces and almost all of an interior (no handbrake being the only thing missing). While there is more further forward of the bulkhead in real life, this has been left with a hollow internal chamber to allow a large amount of weight to be fitted.....what, you expected it not to plow? . All that remains to be done is the skylights, flue from the stove, buffers/hook and final detailing. Yet again, I cannot thank Bryan Blundell enough for giving me a mine of information and photographs of the real No.18. As I cannot travel to see it, this is an ENORMOUS help to me. Without him, the level of detail on the model would not be there. The Peckett W6. Yes, it's run on for a while, but this is due to the fact that I keep finding areas to work on and improve to allow a better end product for the user to enjoy. The frames have been thickened, and a few other detail tweaks have taken place. The chimney is now hollow down to the weight pocket in the saddle tank, eliminating the ugly holes on the front seen earlier. This saves having to worry about filling them in, thus making it a bit easier for novices in the art of kit building. A lip has also been added around the base. Some tweaks to the detail parts have also been made. The files will be combined for printing, to make things easier. The Hunslet 16" has stalled for a bit, as there are a few areas of detail I wish to look at before preceding. Luckily this does not require details from the UK, as we have one right here in NSW, at the Rail Transport Museum (as seen on the Christmas 'card'). The only standard gauge Hunslet 0-6-0ST in the whole of Australia I believe. However, some details have been done, such as crinoline bands on the boiler. Also, the time has been taken to sort out motor mounting and gearbox fit And as to Fury? The poor thing hasn't had much work done as it was left on the old laptop when I swapped over! Luckily the laptop was not sold or destroyed, but is on an extended vacation in the US with a family member. A few emails later, and the file is now with me again. This means I can finally start working on it again, and I have in fact done so, fixing up a few issues along the way. The cab is 'loose fit' at the moment, to allow it to be worked on separately. It will be fitted once the work is done on it. That about covers it for the moment. There are a few other things I have been working on, including an 'illuminating' item that will appear very shortly on a prominent RMweb layout. I'm hoping those have gone off without a hitch. I know that they have printed, as I received an email this evening letting me know that they had. Which is a relief! The only other noteworthy item of news is that some of the items now will be done through iMaterialise, due to changes in Shapeways materials. This isn't all items, but will be the bigger ones such as the Peckett, Hunslet etc. Smaller detail items will likely stay with Shapeways. So again my apologies for my absence and the slowness of progress, but sometimes going that bit slower can make something a whole lot better...Oh, and thank you for anyone that actually makes it this far! I hate having to type long posts, but it has certainly become necessary here. And now? Goodnight! Edit: And the big news I hinted at then promptly forgot to mention? How does a O gauge Peckett W6 sound?

Surely that sleeper spacing is wrong. What are you using, WR standards for an SR job? Rubbish!

From memory, the rule for keeping a car LHD (in NSW at least) is the vehicle can be no younger than 30 years of age. We certainly do have plenty of LHD cars down here that fit into this description. Mustangs, Corvettes, Chargers, Firebirds etc., just to name a few off of the top of my head. I will try and find the ruling. Edit: Here we go http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/documents/roads/safety-rules/standards/vsi-40-left-hand-drive-vehicles.pdf

While doing a little digging last night, I stumbled across some footage from one of the more elaborate April Fools jokes from 1989....

Needs a little something to finish the scene I think. Care to illuminate me on it Gilbert?

2 lawyers walk into a bar. The bar is now doing 20 to life for aggravated assault and attempted murder

Well, something different to end the week. While I do not currently have a picture of it, Southern Shorthaul Railroad S317 has been rolled out of Lithgow State Mine Railway today in a VERY different livery to the norm. It is essentially the old AN passenger scheme as used on the CLPs, but in place of the Green on the hood section, it is Black. The SSR logos (in roundels) replace the AN logos, and standard SSR numbering font used for the numbers on the sides. The Silver remains, with a thin Yellow stripe running front to back on the base of the body, inter-spaced with Black, and an all-Yellow pilot. Photos copyright Nathan Carter. I apologize for the quality, but they are off of a phone:

I will not question your brilliance, but your sanity? Seems about the same as mine! Yet another fine display of ruining established history for the better mate. A mighty fine brute

Jeez mate-that's fantastic!

Book launch, Castle work, 4144 steaming and work on model items-my goodness I HAVE been gone a while!

(*tap tap*) Is this thing on? No? Excellent Well, the last two months have not gone the way I had hoped. Teeth being pulled, not having my old laptop anymore, and various other matters chewing up time. Suffice to say I am back, and will be getting back into the swing of things very shortly. Keep an eye out on here for a BIG update, but not necessarily in content size..... Zane

This is wonderful news. I may have to start an O gauge collection up very shortly

Ok, so the Garratt did not run up the branch on the Saturday. That was essentially unavoidable due to the way that Picton is built track wise, the need to fit in between regular service trains and the need to move it around once it got to Thirlmere. When 6029 arrived at Thirlmere, it was unable to use the main station, as loop line trains were operating out of it all day with 3016T and 2705 on the head. Thus, it had to use the Trainworks platform. If 6029 was to have hauled the train up from Picton to Thirlmere, BOTH 6029 and the diesels would have had to switch ends at Picton so as to allow release of 6029 once it got to Trainworks. This would have also meant having to pull the carriages out of the Trainworks platform and on to the main section of the branch while 6029 was moved to the amphitheater and then shunt back in to the Trainworks platform after detaching HL203 (on hire to THNSW). It must be remembered that 3237 was on its way down with the Thirlmere Flyer at this stage as well. Then, once the train returned to Picton, 4403 would have had to change ends yet again to return the train to Goulburn needlessly complicating things. As to pushing the diesels uphill, this is (I really hate to say it) a stupid idea. Yes, there are diesels that are used on the rear of trips for when the load is over the capacity of the engine on a certain point of track, but using a steam locomotive, especially one as large and as delicate as 6029 for this duty is a whole new set of rules. Ok, so those there on Saturday were unable to see 6029 work a train up Thirlmere bank. However, as was always known, 6029 was working all day Sunday, and put on quite a show as well despite the failed stoker. And as to the non-operation of other engines, how many do you want working? On the Thirlmere branch, engine shuffling and multiple trains is a severely limited prospect. 3642 was not needed until after 3237 came from Sydney with the Thirlmere Flyer, and did a few demonstration spins on the turntable as well. 3016T and 2705 were on the loop, and as mentioned earlier, 3237 was on the morning Flyer on Saturday. As an aside to this, you had 3265 there that couldn't do much else but be the display engine, which was pretty much always the plan. And as to 6029 not doing anything else on the Saturday apart from being moved onto display, what else did you want her to do? Go on a loop-line train? All in all, we had 4 out of 6 locomotives on the Saturday running, and 2 on display for others to look over and enjoy. As to not coming next year, was one locomotive not running on one of the two days really all that much of a problem? Over the two days, we had all 6 steam locomotives from 3 major groups running on various duties. I would say, on the whole, that this year's FOS was successful. As to the Picton thing Gary, I can tell you, you were not the only surprised one!