oztrainz

Hi Paul, all, The models are a combination of scales masquerading as 1/43 scale O-16.5mm, modelling 2' gauge narrow-gauge industrial railway equipment used at a local NSW coal mine near Wollongong NSW. We have used locomotives ranging from 1:43 scale through 1:45 (Fleischmann "Stainz") through to 1:48 scales for the smaller "LilBat" battery-electric "underground" locomotives. The resin-body coal skips are to prototypical dimensions of all timber work and attached ironmongery but are running on 16.5 mm track-gauge, as opposed to the "dead-prototypically-accurate" of 14mm track gauge. We could live with that 2.5mm track gauge compromise. We had too many other technical "battles to fight" to build this layout at all. It runs live coal loads down a 1-in-4 (25%) grade without breakaways, tips the coals skips automatically and returns the skips back up the grade to the incline top, At full capacity, we have 3 skips on the move on each incline track and are tipping coal at a skip/minute. In an 8-hour "exhibition day", that equates to roughly 500 skips loaded underground, transported by steam tramway around the mountain-side between the mine and the inline, lowered down the incline individually, tipped and returned individually to the incline top where they automatically couple up and are hauled back to the mine in a train for reloading "underground". I need a loaded train of 11 skips arriving at the incline top about every 10 minutes or so to keep skips running on the incline at full capacity. This is DEFINITELY NOT your usual "exhibition layout". As far as I know, this layout is the only one anywhere that accurately represents the operation of a self-acting (gravity-powered) non-reversible, continuous cable incline. It's all done with "black magic". Most other incline exhibition models I have seen are "wind-out/wind-in type inclines. And I've looked at lot of them in the past 20 years since Guy Gadsden and myself had the idea of modelling the Corrimal colliery and its incline. Both here on RM-web and on many other internet forums world-wide. Our modelling period is set between 1924 and 1928, because of the locomotives and mine buildings present on site during this period. To see the layout in action, may I suggest you see it last May at Rosehill in Sydney at Regards, John Garaty Unanderra in oz

What was actually stolen at Albury Hi all again This reply covers the stolen rolling stock and what makes it so unique that it should be easily identified, if it should "surface" someplace "not in Australia". The missing locomotives and rolling stock. Corrimal's First Krauss steam locomotive, Built 1891, for a 2’ gauge railway to Zeehan in Tasmania, taken over by Tasmanian Government Railway and assigned number “H2”, was “retired” by TGR and was one of several similar locomotives that built Appleton Docks in Melbourne before being sold and arriving at Corrimal in about 1906. This model was built by team member John Cheek using my kit that I purchased back in Easter 2005. Corrimal's Second Krauss steam locomotive, purchased new in 1914 – This was the last German-built Krauss locomotive to come to Australia. I got the first in OK, but can now only post links to the subsequent photos, not the actual images as above?? https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.net/259338/7913137/P1010247a.jpg This is a modified Berg’s kit made in New Zealand. This model was modified by team member John Cheek to more accurately represent the prototype. There is only one of these. It looks like our version is more dimensionally accurate to prototype and has a vertical rear cabsheet with ROUND windows in the cab. ‘Burra -1924” – As delivered new to Corrimal Colliery in November 1924. https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.net/259338/7913137/P1010247a.jpg This model was bult in 2024 by team member John Cheek, on a heavily-modified Bachmann "Percy" chassis. "Burra 1945" and Fleischmann Magictrains "Stainz", Burra 1945 was constructed by now deceased Melbourne modeller Jay Kershaw in 2013 (left) using a Bachmann "Percy" chassis, and my modified Fleischmann Magictrains "Stainz" (right, at the Engine Shed) to represent Corrimal's 2nd larger Krauss that arrived in 1914, “Burra” now has "Burra" nameplates on its saddle tank. Both locomotives are fitted with "Prong only" DG couplings at both ends. This type of coupling is VERY Rare in Australia. Another photo of the modified "Stainz", hauling empty coal skips back to the mine. This locomotive still has the original curved cabsheet with square windows. "MiniBat" & coal skips. There were at least 3 of these locomotives and probably 40+ of the coal skips that that went missing. Loaded coal skips awaiting tipping at the bottom of the incline. These 3 have resin cast bodies. Later versions have 3D-printed bodies. https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.net/259338/8295890/P1110540a.jpg An empty coal skip being magnetically-hauled nearing the top of the incline.https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.net/259338/8196375/P1310161a.jpg The coal skips use both 8mm diameter 6-straight-spoke wheels on 1.5mm diameter brass axles supplied by David Janes{UK) and "curly spoke" wheels on 1.2mm diameter stainless-steel axles supplied by North Yard out of New Zealand. Both of these 8 mm diameter wheels are VERY RARE in Australia and are no longer available. The grey skip has the later 3D-printed body and is probably running on "curly spoke" wheels and the brown skip with a cast resin skip body is running on 6-straight-spoked wheels fitted with brass axles. The miner’s transport train with a LIlBat battery-electric locomotive - There 3 of these wagons, 3d-printed in the UK and modified with seats by myself. See upper train in photo below. The mine “supply train" – 3 wagons built by team member Prof. Klyzlr on our custom 3-D printed skip chassis. Closest train in photo below. https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.net/259338/7329950/1300266a.jpg BigBat - the large battery-electric underground mining locomotive, featuring bogies with side-rods, built by myself on a Bachmann 45-ton HO GE locomotive chassis. There is only one of these. https://d28lcup14p4e72.cloudfront.net/259338/7802802/P1260742a.jpg So far, no news of any sightings of this stolen rolling stock, If you spot any of this stuff appearing online as "for sale" please contact me urgently via the by replying on this thread with a link to where it is being posted for sale. I will be watching for ny replies, Thanks in anticipation of "any news". Regards, John Garaty Unanderra in oz

Hi all, I am repeating this here in on different forum. On the way to Melbourne, 800 miles each way from "home base", all our narrow-gauge rolling stock for our Corrimal Colliery Incline layout was stolen when overnighting at Albury, just north of the NSW/Victorian border over the night of Wednesday 13th March Thursday 14th March early morning We were booked to attend a 2-day modelling exhibition at Sandown near Melbourne the following weekend. We figure that this was perhaps a more "opportunistic raid" than a "planned raid" to steal our rolling stock. All the equipment was in 3 relatively small hard cases. The thief probably thought he was getting "camera gear" or similar tools that could be "easily on-sold" rather than what he/she actually got, which was some very specialised Aussie narrow-gauge rolling stock. In the following 2 nights there were 2 by $100K+ robberies in the same suburb of Albury. One of these larger value heists involved mobile equipment on a bogie trailer, the other involved cameras and microscopes. Unfortunately, this has probably bumped our losses to a much lower level of investigative attention by the 2 state police forces involved. But I need to get this out to as wide an audience as possible. Assuming all this stuff has not been dumped and turned into landfill already, someone will be trying to flog this stuff. We have a lot of "eyes" on it locally in Australia, but because of the "uniqueness" of some of these models, it could be flogged off internationally to a "private collector" who will bury in a bottom drawer somewhere not in Australia. Such a "private collector" would probably dig this stuff out as the mood strikes him/her and in a Golem-ish voice (from J R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings movie series") say "Precious, Precious". I wish to discourage such as sale to the maximum amount possible that I possibly can by pointing out that he he/she could be guilty of "receiving stolen goods as a minimum felony-type charge" or whatever the local equivalent might be, which just might bring law enforcement in to have a much closer look at their collection in more detail and get my stuff returned if it is found on their property. I know that this "initial quiet approach" can work. Many years ago, with the assistance of a fellow modeller - I won a go-round with such a similar "private collector (aka "thief"). I later unofficially got word back several years later after our missing locomotive were returned about how these locomotives were actually recovered. Here's roughly how it went down. It takes a bit of explaining but eventually we got our missing 4 locomotives back. At that time, I was the chairman of a smaller local N-scale model club. We were being visited by and were running N-scale trains with a much larger N-scale club. At the end of the day, we were short 4 locomotives, 2 of which were mine, the other 2 were owned by another of our members. All were NSW locomotives and all 4 were "unique" in some way. All were identified also by paint dobs underneath the chassis that we used to identify who's loco was who's in our club as we had several members who were running the same locomotives. About 4 years after the loss, one of the members from the other club, who was a very good model build in his own right, thought he spotted some of these locomotives on an exhibition layout. He politely asked if he could have a look at 2 of them and was shown the proudly by the exhibitor as "all his own work". He had a brief look at them, complimented him on his paint jobs on them, and handed them back. He had spotted the paint dobs underneath and that they were "non-standard" in their construction. Later that night I got a phone call from that other club member who had spotted what he thought could have been our "missing 4 locomotives" and I was able to confirm my colour dobs and the modifications that had been made on my 2 locomotives. I contacted our other member affected by the theft, got a detailed list of the modifications he had made to his 2 missing locomotives and sent all the information back consolidated in an email. In that email I also said that I could identify my missing locomotives in court if need be. A quiet approach was made to this gent (I use that term most loosely") and he again insisted that those 4 locomotives were "all his own work and had ALWAYS been HIS locomotives". There was a subsequent visit to this guy's home address by my mate in the other club. This time he brought with him another mate, a uniformed police officer. This time it was laid out to the guy what the penalties were for having stolen goods on his property and what the consequences might be if these 4 locomotives were not handed over immediately. The guy backed down, and we got our locomotives back. But it didn't just end with our missing 4 locomotive. A quiet audit was held of the "bring and buy section of this larger club's "club shop". The results showed that abut 25 locomotives were "missing "and that about another 50 pieces of "limited run cars" were also "missing". Unfortunately, it was assessed that it was going to be most unlikely that any of these could be easily recovered, because they were not "unique enough" to be easily identifiable. Subsequently, word was also very quietly put around to nearby modelling clubs who had second-hand stalls as part of their exhibitions to "watch this guy like a hawk" because he had known "sticky fingers". His relatively new display layout suddenly stopped getting "invites to attend" other exhibitions an exhibitor. Within 12 months he had dropped from sight in the hobby never to be seen again. The next post will cover what was actually stolen with linked photos, Regards, John Garaty, Unanderra in oz.

Hi all, The Freerails website is now back up and running. Thanks and regards, John Garaty

G'day Dagworth, It is not 8' diameter, but check this out: Quadzilla by Joey Ricard in the US In some rough distance calculations - an 8' diameter gives you about 24' of train before it loops over itself with your planned 4" rise - This is roughly a 1 in 72 grade or about a 1.4% grade. (Or about as steep as Shap but with a lot more rolling resistance caused by the continuous curve on the helix). A 10 coach train length will probably occupy just over 1/2 of a full revolution on the helix. While not pushing his product in any way, if you are serious, I'd suggest going to Joey's information centre web page and downloading the Helix Planning Guide. It should give you a good base for further development of your ideas. The use of the Powerbase plates is also probably a good idea They should add enough extra adhesion so that you are not riding the limit of adhesion on the climb.

Hi Steve, While I don't have any photos of the modifications to the rails, but I feel that I need to add some further caveats: We run single small 4-wheeled wagons over these vertical curves. There is NO WAY you could get a locomotive hauled train to handle vertical curves this extreme. Your vertical curves will probably be at least 4 to 10 times longer horizontally both getting on to and off the grade for you to be able to run a train that keeps sufficient traction on these vertical transitions and remains coupled. At the bottom of the hill, the gaps caused by the cuts in the rail expand to allow the rail foot and flange to follow the supporting structure when moving from the lower-level flat onto the grade. At the top of the hill, the gaps caused by the cuts in the rail close up to allow the rail foot and flange to follow the supporting structure when moving from the grade onto the upper-level flat. The rail head itself (where the wheel are actually running) remains smooth and uninterrupted along the vertical transition curves. The number and spacing of cuts you need to achieve this smooth transition is dependent on how sharply you make the vertical transition and the steepness of the grade and the horizontal distance you have available for the transition. For a loco-hauled train running on a less steep grade transition, a cut spacing of about every 25mm or so probably would give enough flexibility in the rail to avoid kinking the rail. You are going to have to tie down the rails to the substructure much more frequently on both these vertical transition curves than you need to on the flat or when wholly on the grade. For the sharp vertical transitions we had to use, we had to go to something like this to keep the tracks tied down. You should be able to get away with something far less extreme. P1010601a by oztrainz, on Flickr The steepness of the grade will also set how long a horizontal distance you need for the vertical transition curve. The above photo was at the top of the grade with a transition from 1 in 4 (25%) to level. The horizontal distance needed for the vertical transition was about 6" long. You are going to need considerably longer for a loco hauled train that stays coupled on these vertical transition curves. If you are building your layout in sections or modules, keep the placement of any joints between sections or modules either on the level tracks before or after the grade or where the grade is consistent. The previous photo showed the vertical transition curve commencing at the first pc-board uphill of the section join for the left track. Do not try to pull off a smooth vertical transition across a section or module joint. That's pushing one envelope edge too many for a loco-hauled train. That's probably way too much information to digest in one post,

Hi all, Efforts are underway to revive the site. It may take some days to resolve given that the site is based out of the US, and they are currently "on holidays". Please do not attempt to connect to the Freerails site until we have this resolved. Microsoft has currently slapped a big red "danger" sign on Freerails - Reinforcing Microsoft's "unsafe listing" by trying to unsuccessfully connect to Freerails in the mean time may cause further problems to an already complicated situation. This is not a desired outcome if you want Freerails back sooner rather than later. I will advise when and if we get Freerails back on line. Thanks and regards, John Garaty Freerails 2ic.

Hi Steve, There are some tricks to getting your vertical curves smooth and some other things may adversely limit your ability to run as steep a grade as you would like. This is about as sharp as you can bend code 100 rail vertically and not have it kink. It requires some major surgery to the rail, but once you get the concept, you should be OK. https://flic.kr/p/21t9MXo To get vertical bends this tight, you have to cut through the foot and flange of the rail with a thin dremel/fine-bladed saw every 5mm or so. This leaves the rail head continuous and still with enough mechanical strength to support our trains. For more gradual vertical curves, you can increase the interval between saw cuts to every 10 mm or greater. The gap in the foot and flange of the rail allows the rail smoothly bend to the vertical curve without kinking at either the top or bottom of the grade. Of far more importance is the amount of overhang at the couplings and the type of coupling used. This affects how sharp you can make these vertical transition curves and still have a train that remains coupled or does not "bottom out" on the vertical curve at the top of the grade. The problem is less severe at the bottom of the grade - you just leave stuff behind and it won't roll anywhere. At the top of the grade any significant coupler mismatch can cause an uncoupling event and an instant runaway. Many people badly under-estimate the amount of track required by these vertical transition curves that are gradual enough for your train to remain coupled. If you have a fixed point where you can start and end the grade, then, the "actual" grade between the two vertical transition curves will be far steeper than you have planned if you are simply measuring an "average" grade between those two fixed points at top and bottom of the grade. Good luck,