robertc

The rock cutting is under way too. cheers Bob

Just finished the blue fibro shed so it has been inserted with some other junk in the loco shed scene. cheers Bob

Doing some wood product structures at the moment. The coal loader is first of the rank. Based on a small skip fed one in the Hunter Valley. Scrap balsa and some corrugated cardboard ( not designed for modelling) are the main ingredients. Cheers Bob

The scenery is slowly being applied. cheers Bob

I'm not sure what is more interesting in that shot Martin.... the reason for the celery stick or the table.? :>) cheers Bob

Hi Chris. good to hear you had a good time at Liverpool. I'll make it again one day. The gauge one? 38 looks nice as do the 5"? gauge 48's. I looked through some of your photos....Where does one buy a pith helmet these days? :>) Which layout were you operating? cheers Bob

Indoor weather again so I have done some scenery work in one corner cheers Bob

Break in the rain means a chance to run a train or two. Twin Fowlers are hard at work. cheers Bob

Hi Chris, yes will soon be outdoor layout time again. I managed to get some outdoor scenicing done yesterday (lawn care) and ran a train or two later in the afternoon. After weeks of rain I had to add a drop or two of Wahl oil to the track after I noticed some hesitancy in a couple of spots. While indoors powdered graphite always won the argument between 'nothing, oil and graphite', outdoors I am undecided. I guess both methods work, meaning I don't have to charge batteries! I am impressed; all but impossible to get operators here. My regular group are all train watchers and you might as well hand them a tiger snake as a throttle :>) cheers Bob

Ballasting done apart from the tidying up stage. Cheers Bob

Some progress on the line Chris. They finally got some of the spray paint I use on the track back in stock so that has speeded things up. Brush painting it all would have sent me mad ( or madder than I am already ). Did have a break in the weather two days ago to do some outdoors chores. Hope to have the track all ballasted and back in running order in another week or so. Some of the new Asian ply has warped, no issue with the old stuff from day one. Another job to do or have a roller coaster siding.... decisions,decisions! :>) Was reading some old AMRA journals last night. Lines brothers offered to supply all service data to AMRA as well as all parts and bodies without the Triang name embossed on them to Australian customers. Not likely to see anything like that happen again !! Hows things your way? regards Bob

With the rain pouring down these days, it is indoor work time. I hate ballasting but it has to be done so the sooner I get it done the sooner I can stop whingeing.

Not having enough suitable styrene in stock I decided on some repair work for the time being just where needed. Here are the first replacement sections cheers Bob

Still deciding on total replacement of platform or replacement of sides with plastic and new top layer Chris. I had just done a small touch up on the top when I decided to take that photo. cheers Bob p.s. some positive comments on Arakoola at Telford on the Guild site

I find being naturally lazy that outdoor modelling does have its advantages. Nature does the weathering for me. oh bliss! cheers Bob

Hi Chris ,good to see you back. I never expanded that picture of the coal hopper before. I doubt that was assembled as it should have been :>) cheers Bob

No worries David, glad it helped! Anything other than HO is likely to remain very expensive here. Small market, fragmented by two scales and several isolated prototypes means very short runs. None of our manufacturers is likely to retire on the proceeds. Many do it to get the models themselves and there are just enough well heeled to purchase their excess. I'm not one of them unfortunately so my layout abounds with a lot of home made. :>) cheers Bob

Some fine dirt ballast applied. With some grey washes it should take on the look of ash ballast. Plenty of track painting to keep me occupied for a while. cheers Bob

Chris seems to be off line at the moment David so perhaps I can help. This link should give you some insight into the hoppers. http://fourwheelsnoaircoal.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/hunter-valley-coal-wagons.html In summary there are two basic versions of the ones you are referring to 1) the non air private hoppers ( seen only in the Hunter Valley) 2) the NSWGR air braked versions (seen all over the system) At least one private owner had some air braked versions for accessing their mine much further up the Hunter Valley than the rest of the mines. These had to traverse much higher country and use the govt track. Most of the mines used two separate tracks running beside the govt main lines to access the port. Here is one supplier of the private ones. https://modelokits.com/nswgr-non-air-private-owners-coal-hopper-wagon-o-aust-kits/ cheers Bob Comerford

Here are some of the points being built some years ago regards Bob

These are just hidden in the scenery. You can see the remaining grass on one of them Martin. By keeping them in the ply covers I can just drill a big hole to insert the switch. On one HO layout some of the switches were located at the baseboard edge and operated by C100 rail extensions routed under any trackwork that was in the way. Coated with vaseline before a layer of tape was laid over the rail and then ground cover over that. I have now finished laying all the track and tidying up the sleepers. A mixed bag of construction; solder, glue and track spikes. It was a lot easier the first time with my jig, gauges and Pliobond on hand. cheers Bob

Reusing the C100 track has taken up the last few days. Enough wiring done to enable test running. The point control is via switches mounted in thin ply bases using paper clips for connection. The thin ply base idea was for previous layouts that used 3" styrofoam baseboards and they were glued to it. These have been used on at least 5 layouts in 3 scales before. cheers Bob

I started on the process of making use of the track recovered from a previous layout. All made from code 100 Peco, pc board and wood sleepers. Made the transition section last night. Must raid the scrap bin for some more ply to fill in a hole! cheers Bob

Both main lines were finished today although theoretically this is an area of passing siding. The coal mine tracks are next up. Going to try reusing the old handlaid code 100 again. Points and enough droppers wired to watch some trains running this afternoon. Bliss!! cheers Bob

Waiting on some track to arrive to finish loops so some structure building is taking place. Paling fences are the current project. Good wood for the posts and rails and cheap for the palings. cheers Bob Suns out, no wind must go and run some trains outside!