February 2017 Volume 28 No 08 Issue 308A 100% NMRA Affiliated Club

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Please note; schedules for club activities are notified in Train Talk - RAILWAY TIMETABLE - Page 38, and via email, if you have an email address and are not on our members email list, please advise ASAP so you can receive up to date news.Send to email; info-ddmrc@ddmrc.com.au

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in ‘Train Talk’ are not necessarily the opinions of the TMRC Inc. or it’s members.

PLEASE NOTE: Any personal items left and/or used at the club premises or events attended and/or organised by the club are the responsibility of the owner of said items.

The TMRC Inc. Takes no responsibility for any loss or damage thereof. MOTION:04/02/03.

MEMBERSHIP FEESOne membership level only.

Ordinary @ $90.00* For Twelve Months

Pro-rata rates per Quarter(*Includes basic NMRA membership =$30.00 for Public Liability Insurance)

6. Presidents Report (Brent Smith)6. TRAINS on the DOWNS7. Teditorial8. On The Footplate8. Aussie Train Driver9. 2017 Expo Flier10. Modelling Tips & Tricks (Walthers)11. NMRA Div 114. Streamliners of the Past 16. Heritage Bank Twba Royal Show17. New Zealand Trains in Trouble (Arthur Hayes)18. Toowoomba Swap Meet20. Railway Pics (Col Rough/Kent Wagner))22. The CODY Museum (Geoff Evans) 25. TMRC Inc. Sale & Display & All Gauge Ssale Day26. Bernina Railway

27. OOPS! 28. Modellers Corner (Bazza Freeman)29. TRAINS on the DOWNS30. Splitters Swamp Creek (Geoff Burns)32. The Dunlop Way (Ben Dunlop)34. Kangaroo Flats Vic. (Arthur Hayes)35. Jamestown (Gary Sardoni)37. Running Days (Gary Sardoni)38. Railway Timetable40. Backpage Photo (Geoff Evans)

ADVERTISER INDEX:3 Train Pictures4 AR KITS5 Wuiske Promotions7 4AK/4WK Toowoomba25 Europcar Toowoomba38 My Tool Store39 Southern Rail Models

Toowoomba Model Railway Club Inc.All correspondence mailed to:

TMRC Inc.PO Box 883

Toowoomba Qld 4350

TMRC Inc. Internet HomepagesWebsite: ddmrc.com.au

Email: info-ddmrc@ddmrc.com.au

‘Train Talk’ Volume 28 No 08 (issue #308)February 2017

ABN 32 998 681 418

A 100% NMRA Affiliated Club

President Brent Smith 4687 7607Vice President Doug Clarkson 4528 2584 Secretary Ted Freeman 4638 0397Treasurer Bill WaterhouseCommittee David Cook 0414 301 436 Grant Hirning 4635 7939 Lionel Kearney 4613 5785 Gary Sardoni 4635 5920Club Phone Number (07) 4638 1408 Mobile; 0490 388 327

ON THE COVER: Thomas the Tank Engine along with Annabelle and Clarabelle entertained visitors on Jamestown during the big Automotive Swap Meet on the 4th and 5th of February 2017. Photo and train - David Cook.

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Well, here we are in February and haven't we had some record temperatures in the Showgrounds buildings. Just goes to show that we really do need insulation!

Progress has been a little slow on the HO layout with Mike slaving away on the helix and Bill beavering

away on the installation and testing of the tortoise point motors. Bill is gradually installing them on all the major positions on the layout and the work is labourious and sometimes very hot down under the layout.

The gardens recently received a bit of a spruce up after the some far distant rains triggered a growth spurt and then the heat killed a lot of the grass. If you have a chance, at least pick up some of the rubbish that seems to blow our way, in an effort to make the grounds not look so untidy.

Gary Sardoni has been doing some fine-tuning of the Jamestown layout to iron out the bugs and is progressing well with that project.

Throughout the year, we will be actively recruiting new members and encouraging current members to come along and join in. If you know anybody that is interested, make it known so we can welcome them to the Club.

Anyway, enough nattering from me for this month!

Smithy

T R A I N S O N THE DOWNS at t h e R O Y A L BULLS HEAD INN.

See page 29 for information

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Tune in for the best of sounds for everyone’s likes 4AK and 4WK - Your stations! 2017 4AK/4WK TOOWOOMBA MODEL TRAINS, CRAFT & HOBBY EXPO

Toowoomba Showgrounds 3rd and 4th June 2017

Model Railroader Magazine is celebrating its 1000th issue in April 2017, I thought it fitting to send a little Aussie hospitality and congratulations in the form of a custom decorated AR KITS NHHF Coal Hopper.

I was pleasantly surprised when Cody Grivno sent a thank-you and this photo of the

wagon being used on their Milwaukee, Racine & Troy club layout with MR&T no. 1505.

Minutes from the February Committee Meeting have been emailed to all members, hopefully they have been received as I have heard nothing back, although email is the modern communication method, it is hard to know if people are getting their messages or not.

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New Members: Welcome aboard to the following new members, Geoffrey Lee from Oakey, Tim Allen from Kingaroy and Benjamin Martin and Angela Adams from Gowrie Junction. Please welcome these new members and show them what a great hobby and club we offer.

There is a policy at the TMRC Inc. You “MUST HAVE FUN”, say g’day to everyone and invite them to ‘get involved’, we are all in this hobby for the same reason - “To have fun” Model Railroading ‘IS’ The World’s Greatest Hobby.The production of Train Talk and Construction of the Showgrounds Museum & Display Centre has been made possible through the generosity of

February 2017

An Aussie train driver walks into an outback café with a full-grown emu behind him. The waitress asks them for their orders. The train driver says, 'A hamburger, chips and a coke,' and turns to the emu, 'What's yours?’ - 'Sounds great, I'll have the same,' says the emu. A short time later the waitress returns with the order 'That will be $9.40 please,' and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change and pays. The next day, the man and the emu come again and he says, 'A hamburger, chips and a coke. 'The emu says, ' Sounds great, I'll have the same.' Again the train driver reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change. This becomes routine until the two enter again. 'The usual?' asks the waitress. 'No, it's Friday night, so I'll have a steak, baked potato and a salad,' says the man..' Same for me,' says the emu.. Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, 'That will be $32.62.' Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table. The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. 'Excuse me mate, how do you manage to always pull the exact change from your pocket every time?' 'Well, love' says the train driver, 'a few years ago, I was cleaning out the back shed, and found an old lamp. When I cleaned it, a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.' 'That's brilliant!' says the waitress. 'Most people would ask for a million dollars or something, but you'll always be as rich as you want, for as long as you live!' 'That's right. Whether it's a gallon of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there.' says the man.. Still curious the waitress asks, 'What's with the bloody emu?' The train driver pauses, sighs, and answers, 'My second wish was for a tall bird with a big behind and long legs, who agrees with everything I say.

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Keep ’em In and Out!While nobody really knows when the first fences were made, a quick look around your hometown will show they’re still in demand today.

T h r o u g h t h e c e n t u r i e s , f e n c e s h a v e been made from whatever was handy, and you’ll still find rough-hewn timber and stones today. With the power of steam and the railroads, miles of wood fencing could be made in a day and shipped long distances. The fast-growing iron and steel industry later introduced woven wire fencing and barbed wire, as well as wrought iron fences for security and decoration. Still later, sturdy plastic and vinyl fences were introduced that are widely used today.

Well into the 1950s, simple wooden fences were considered adequate to protect construction sites, factories and all kinds of businesses, as they were simple to build and easy to repair. They were also pretty handy places to tack up signs and advertising posters of every kind and color. A modern layout will have the greatest variety from reproductions of decorative styles to modern high-security or more

environmental ly attractive fences.

Most any layout scene can include a fence of some k i n d , a n d a t r e m e n d o u s variety of kits are readily available to make them easy to build in all popular sca les . Check t h e m o u t a t walthers.com, or in your Reference Book.

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Div 1 Meetings18th February Eddie Stavleu 11 Tamborine St Hemmant 18th March Arthur Hayes 21 Madison St. SUNNYBANK HILLS

The Learning Curve - Revisited Here we go again, so some of you might remember the trials and tribulations that I had some time ago with track and maintenance of the Cajon Pass Show Layout. So if you remember I had pulled out a curved turnout which had been damaged by the continual putting of the layout together and taking it apart when it went to shows and for the significant amount of time it was in storage whilst not in my possession.

If you remember correctly the problem was, I thought, (yep here we go again), that I had recently changed over to Code 88 semi scale wheelsets and was running a freight that was continually coming off at the one point in the track where the curved turnout was. To be fair as well the guardrails of this turnout had been damaged at some stage and had been repaired by someone using Super Glue, not a good way to go. But hey it could have been me just to do a rough repair at a show, I genuinely can't remember.

So here is the thing, the old rule of thumb used to be that if cars, multiple, derailed at the same place the problem was the track, if only one car derailed then the problem

would have appeared to be the car. At least that was the rule.

The train I had been trying to run which was continually derailing was a Santa Fe Stock Express which has in its consist some 24 Intermountain Stock Cars of Santa Fe prototype, there was also one or two resin cars in this consist. On reflection they, the resin cars, never seemed to come off at the point, more on this later.

So I replaced the curved turnout with a shiny new Shinohara Code 83 number 8 left hand curved turnout. The other turnout was replaced with a Fastracks handbuilt turnout built with jigs generously lent to me by Bob Cuffe whilst mine were winging their way from the US of A. It was a straight number 8 left hand turnout. Wired both up to the tortoise and we were good to go. Track was put in place and the modules put back together.

If you have read the previous article you will know that there were lots of issues that were attended to in regards to what I thought was the problem with this module. Now on this occasion my good mate Gerarde Ryan was visiting and running a Doodlebug around the layout and I thought that since the trackage had been repaired I would run the stock train around again. Should go just fine with all the adjustments and refinements I had made.

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12Imagine my surprise when the stock train derailed at the new bright and shiny curved turnout again. Not only that, imagine the subdued (or maybe not so) and somewhat colourful comments that would have issued forth at that time. What the heck was going on, clearly this required more investigation.

The turnout was clearly not the problem, at least not now; I had previously run the Fast Mail with 60 and 70 foot baggage cars over this section of track and the Super Chief with 85 foot passenger cars with no trouble. What the Sam Hill is going on here. So my layout is set down with a minimum of a 36" inch radius curve on the four corners of the layout. It is basically an oval and the corner pieces have in some places two tracks and in others four, but the minimum was 36" radius except for one place, the Eastbound Devore siding where it was 34".

Clearly more investigation was needed to find out what the heck was going on, so with a mate there we could run the train and watch, two sets of eyes are better than one obviously. So back and forth it ran, and after a while I noticed that it was only certain types of cars that were coming off, the ones with AB Brakes fitted to the underside. The vertical handbrake K brake equipped cars seemed to stay on the track going through the inner route of the turnout, strange to say the least. Then we tried it on the outer route of the turnout with the same result for the AB equipped cars, the K brake cars went through fine, strange indeed. So on further inspection of the cars with AB brakes the problem was revealed. The picture below shows the modification we had to make to the cars.

The brake lines on the top of the picture were fine, but the brake lines at the bottom have had to be bent in and relocated. In the original format they basically went straight from their locations on the brake hangers to the underside of the bolster near the truck, turns out this was just enough to prevent the trucks swivelling enough to go round the turnout, so what I had to do was to bend the brake lines away from the outside of the car to the centre sill until the truck had room to swivel freely. The K brake equipped cars have a different setup and the brake lines are well away from the trucks.

It also turns out that the inner radius of the Shinohara number 8 curved turnouts is 32", the outer radius is 36" it seems that the AB brake cars can't run through a radius of 32" without modification, or for that matter, anything smaller than 36" radius without modification of the brake lines. At least that's what I thought initially.

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Submitted by Brent Smith

February 2017

Then it dawned why, well may you ask, if the minimum radius on the other curves is 36" why weren't they doing the same thing, derailing, on the rest of the layout where that curve is applied, after all the curves being an oval are all left orientated when travelling East. Indeed they hadn't derailed on the left handed 34" curve at the bottom end of the Devore Sidings.

Well it turns out the turnout that they were having trouble with was also located on a grade and the other 36" curves and the 34" curve are not. The motion of the truck having to pivot up as well as turn interfered with the brake lines, whereas the other curves were on the flat and level portions of the layout which didn't seem to cause any problems.

Oh the resin cars, why did they go through without problems, because they had been built by yours truly and the AB brake system on those cars had been built to ensure the trucks swivelled freely.

I guess the rules are OK but sometimes you have to look a bit further to find out what the heck is causing the problems. Ok the turnout that was replaced when it probably didn't need to be after all, although it was best that it was given the way the guardrails had been reattached. Seems the problem was the cars not the turnout, but it was probably for the best, at least I can put it down that I learned something new and was able to pass it on.

So on another note I mentioned that the next job on the layout was to install a couple of occupancy detectors on the Devore sidings to tell when the sidings were occupied as you can't readily see them when operating from the front of the layout. I had previously tried to use some modules from a chap in Mackay who sells them on eBay, but they didn't seem to want to perform for me. So after trying two of his it was back to the usual haunts, I went and ordered two Irdot sensors from Warren at Gwydir Valley Hobbies.

They duly arrived and were placed in their respective places under the roadbed on the Devore sidings. Reading the instructions, yeah I know, that came with them was a snap and I must be learning something doing all of this as they were wired up and both worked the first time a train ran over the sensors. This can't be right something working first time, but I have to report that they did and they are still working now.

So for now it is done, I am pretty much well on the way to completing the requirements for the Electrical Certificate of the Achievement Award, all I have to do is to draw up the track plan for the old layout. There never really was one as it was built with very rough diagrams for the benchwork and hardly any at all for the locations of the tracks. So until next time take care and have fun.

Rob McLear.

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The McKeen Railmotor was a 6-cylinder self-propelled railcar. When McKeen Company of Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. first unveiled the car in 1905, the McKeen was among the first engines with a gasoline-powered motor.[1] Revisions to the McKeen car led to the modern self-propelled gasoline rail-motor vehicle, and the "contours of the porthole windows, the front-mounted gasoline engines, and other features anticipated the streamline concept.

McKeen railmotor in Wodonga, Australia, 1911.Manufacturer McKeen Company of Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A.Designer McKeen CompanyConstructed 1914Number built 152SpecificationsCar length 55 ft (16.76 m) and 70 ft (21.34 m)Prime mover(s) GasolineEngine type Petrol engineCylinder count 6

Power output 100 hp (75 kW)Track gauge 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm), 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) and 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)

William R. McKeen was the superintendent of motive power and machinery at Union Pacific Railroad in 1904 when Edward H. Harriman, the head of UP, began encouraging him to develop the machine. The result of his experiments that year was a "knife-nosed" or "windsplitter" unit that slightly resembled a submarine on wheels, having a distinctive pointed nose, a rounded rear end, centre-entry doors and porthole windows. Two lengths, 55 and 70 feet (16.76 and 21.34 m), were offered, and both could be configured with either a large mail and express area ahead of the centre doors, a smaller mail and express area, or fully fitted with seats, which provided a maximum passenger capacity of 64 or 105 respectively. Cheaper and more powerful than battery-powered vehicles, the McKeen was more flexible than steam locomotives and could operate at competitive speeds.

United StatesThe McKeen was popular from 1915 through the 1930s t h r o u g h o u t t h e United States, and t h e c a r s w e r e featured on the Union Pacific and t h e S o u t h e r n Pacific.

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Victoria, Australia (Photo on previous page)

Two McKeen railmotors were purchased and delivered to the Victorian Railways in Victoria, Australia in 1911. They served throughout their life as a railmotor they ran the Ballarat to Maryborough and Hamilton to Warrnambool services, and briefly in March and April 1913 on Maryborough to St Arnaud services.

The railmotors had a poor record with many breakdowns, they only lasted around 3 years as railmotors. In 1919 they were de-engined and converted to passenger cars numbered as 1 & 2 ABCL for use on the Altona line until they were scrapped in August 1926.

Queensland, AustraliaIn June, 1911, Queensland Railways ordered five self-propelled rail cars from the McKeen Motor Co of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, at a cost of £4500 per unit. They were delivered in May, 1913. Originally seating capacity was 75; this was later reduced to 69, 55 in the main section and 14 in the "smoker". Although popular on the United States Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, the McKeen Cars failed to meet QR's expectations. All five units were written off between 1929 and 1931 and broken up soon after at the Ipswich workshops.

To reverse the car, the engine had to be stopped and the camshaft was rotated/moved to a new position. This caused the engine to run in the opposite rotation when restarted. The failure of the power unit involved several major faults. The unreliability of the air operated clutch (octeroon clutch) was a continual problem. Equally a problem was the fact that only one axle of the power bogie was driven. It would have been much better to have had both axles driven. Queensland railways in Australia had a chain drive to both axles of the power bogie on their 3’6″ gauge MCKeen cars.

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February 2017

South Island loses another railway as fire damages Christchurch to Greymouth link

How long the upper half of the South Island could be without vital rail links remains unclear after a fire closed the Christchurch to Greymouth line.

A 300-hectare fire near Castle Hill was reported in the early hours of Saturday. At its peak the fire had crews of up to 25 firefighters and 10 helicopters battling and dampening down hot spots.

The blaze burned on public conservation land near the railway bridge over Broken River. No houses were located nearby.

Arthur Hayes

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The Toowoomba Swap Meet held 4th and 5th of February is one of the largest such events in Australia, no - it’s not a model train swap meet, but an Automotive and collectible event.

We opened the club to patrons of the event from 9am to 4pm Saturday and 9am to 12noon on the Sunday.

To save the hassle of getting in on Saturday morning, Russell Hartwig, David Cook and myself stayed in the club building. Russell was assisting the Glenvale Scouts with Parts Pick-up, a daunting job that they do well.

Although we are on the outer edge of activities, we still get a steady influx of visitors, many saying how much cooler it was in our oven than out in the open inferno. David, Jeff Fritz and I sweated out the Saturday while David and I looked after Sunday. We only ran the layouts in the front room due to our minimum staffing, but interest still was high from the visiting public.

Gold coin donations were reasonably substantial over the two days, and with the Solar System in full swing, there are basically no outgoing costs.

Thomas with Annabelle and Clarabelle as company ran the full time in both OO Scale on Jamestown and N Scale on Twin Falls.

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Text Teditor-photos David Cook

As can be seen, Thomas was kept busy at all times and was always popular, on the Byers Junction N Scale layout we had some interesting trains running also, an Athearn Challenger teamed with a Union Pacific Heritage “Western Pacific” SD70Ace to haul a loaded 50 car ore train, whilst Union Pacific GE GEVO ES44AC

5515 heads up a vintage stock train.

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Submitted by Col RoughUsed with permission from Kent Wagner

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Hands on display of historic railroad artifacts.

For hands-on railroad enthusiasts, the Cody Park Railroad Museum is a must! The only Challenger 3900 series steam locomotive on public display is located right here in North Platte, a city born in 1866 when the Union Pacific stretched its rails across the prairie, racing to complete the first transcontinental railroad. Accompanying the 3977 is Unit 6922, one of the 6900 series diesel locomotives, the largest ever made.

These two behemoths have a combined horsepower of more than 12,000! Also to be seen is a fully restored railroad depot, several rail cars and a caboose.

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Geoff Evans

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February 2017

Tables FULL of trains, books, paraphernalia.

Non-member sellers and buyers and the curious welcome.

MODEL TRAINS SALE

Buyers admitted FREE at 10am.

Join us for our Breakfast Sizzle or Morning Tea from 9am.It’s more than a sale, it’s a friendly, social occasion that finishes

around 1.30pm.

Sunday April 2nd, 2017Sellers can rent a table for $20, half table $10.

Phone 0420597460 to book. Sellers must arrive at 9am.

All Gauge Model Railway Club Inc.

56 Zahel St, Carina, Brisbane.

Part of the Clem Jones Sports Centre. Behind the swimming pool carpark at the Adelaide Street end of Zahel Street.

Sunday 2nd April 2017

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The Bernina railway is a single-track 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge railway line forming part of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB). It links the spa resort of St. Moritz, in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, with the town of Tirano, in the Province of Sondrio, Italy, via the Bernina Pass. Reaching a height of 2,253 metres (7,392 ft) above sea level, it is the highest railway crossing in Europe and the third highest railway in Switzerland. It also ranks as the highest adhesion railway of the continent, and – with inclines of up to 7% – as one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world.

On 7 July 2008, the Bernina Railway and the Albula Railway, which also forms part of the RhB, were recorded in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, under the name Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The whole site is regarded as a cross-border joint Swiss-Italian heritage area.The most famous trains operating on the Bernina Railway are known as the Bernina Express.Below Brusio, the railway has, as its last highlight, the Brusio spiral viaduct, which serves only to adjust the altitude of the line. The spiral viaduct is followed by the stopping point for the village of Campascio, which still belongs to Brusio. Beyond the border station of Campocologno, which is unusually large due to its customs facilities, the line finally reaches Italy, and, after crossing the main square of Tirano, its terminal station. Here, the Bernina Railway meets the standard gauge station and line of the Italian state rail infrastructure company Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), which links Tirano through Valtellina to Milan.

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A couple of models built by Barry (Bazza) Freeman

Photos by Mikey

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Geoff Burns

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Laying some final track workIn the first photo on the left is the siding that has just been layed. This side of the layout has not received too much loving, so now it is the focus of my attention. Well that's not entirely true. I have a short to do list that I'm working my way through.

Things like, repairs to blown LED's that weren't wired up with a resistor (but run on 9volts and worked for a while), completion of the layout lighting on the short side, a movable light on the inside of the end for Locomot ive /Rol l ings tock repa i rs , reworking of point blades with a new version of holding them down. The list goes on but you get the idea.

Before moving on too quickly I'd like to thank all those people that made our hobby so enjoyable to be a part of last year. I was lucky enough to be a part of the Toowoomba Show, the Inverell Show, the

Branchline Modellers Forum, running sessions at Daz's, Anthony's, and Craig's, modelling nights, and Toosdy Niters, thank you one and all!

So what's next? as the hobby goes, I plan to work through all my projects currently on the workbench, and vow not to start anymore. There you have it in writing! I suffer with the 'joy of starting something new' syndrome, fair ly common I think, but this year, no more, it's all about completion, of projects, models, goals.

A procrastination free modelling year.

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Timber buffer stopA little project I've been working on, a timber buffer stop. The construction of the timber parts are fairly easy. I used basswood of the correct dimensions according to the plan and glued it together. The painting of the buffer stop did begin before the glue was applied as I did use a wood stain and brass brush to bring out the grain. I constructed the two sides first as you can see in the photo, then over painted with a weathered white colour. normally I attack the timber again with the brush once the paint has dried, and to finish a sand with fine wet n dry to thin down the paint. A quick wipe over with water on a sponge removes all the loose stuff, and lets you decide whether you need to sand some more.

I tried using a slightly different technique when constructing the 'metal' strapping and bolt detail. A visit to the local war gaming store had me emerge with some new paint products. In simple terms the paint has some fine powder in it so that when it dries it creates a slightly rough texture. I used it as I thought that it would imitate the effect that rust has on unprotected metal. Once that has dried various rust coloured paints can be applied.

The bolt detail is glued onto the metal stripping. The stripping is just heavy gauge paper that is undercoated, then painted

with the rust surface paint, then a top coat of rust paint. Rusty water runs on the timber were just another lighter rust colour. So then you put all that together and get this...

The project on the 'Geoffrey Scale of Modelling time' has it as a couple of hours, well maybe four all up. I still need to glue on the metal buffers and build the scenery around it, but I think you get the idea.

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Ben Dunlop

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Having a Crack!So I have purchased one of those static grass applicators from eBay.....Below are the results. The guy I purchased it from was Aussie Scenics, it was $40 with free post. It uses 2 D cell batteries which makes it very portable. It was easy to use and it gave me a couple of tickles when I wasn't paying attention. Oh and read the instructions, because when it says to short the dispenser with the ground pin after use, do so cause the shit of a thing stores a pretty good charge, even when the batteries are removed!

The area near the coal stage.

Around Boggabilla station and platform

The yellow and red clumps are flowers/weeds from Noch. They are pre made all you need to do is glue them down.

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Some images from this afternoons accident ( 15 02 2017 ) in Kangaroo Flat Victoria where Velocity 3VL34 has collided with a 4WD that appears to have been left on the railway line.

Velocity 1234 hit an abandoned 4wd near the Phillis Street overbridge nearKangaroo Flat about 2.20p.m. today. The bogie on the leading car was derailed.

Arthur Hayes

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The other side of the station.

The longer grass clumps are also from Noch.

An overall view. I think I might do it again with a dryer and longer grass to immitate spinifex grass with a green undergrowth.

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continued on page 36February 2017

by Gary Sardoni

While not a great deal has happened on "Jamestown" over the last month, activity hasn't stopped altogether. The situation hasn't been helped by the extremely hot summer that we are going through. Conditions inside the clubhouse (tin shed) have not been conducive to working on the layouts.

I keep saying that I am spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding what to do next on "Jamestown". While a superficial glance at the layout by a visitor generally results in some very positive comments, a closer and more detailed look shows that amongst the scenery there are quite a few places that are spoilt by broken "bits". In particular, many delicate fittings made from plastic haven't fared very well.

Given the age of the layout and the tendency for old plastic to get quite brittle, combined with the fact that the layout has been transported a few times to its present home, with each move an opportunity for things to get broken, it's not surprising that in close up, some parts are looking a bit sad.

One such part that kept catching my eye was the road bridge over the twin tracks at the front/side of the layout which is in quite a prominent position. The fencerails on both sides of the bridge which were made of a very fine plastic (polystyrene I suspect) were very brittle with some parts missing and other parts broken. I decided to do something about this by making replacements. All I needed to do at the c l ubhouse was t o measure up, which didn't take long, so I didn't need to hang out in the heat to work on the

layout in situ. I could build the replacements in the relative comfort of home.

My choice of materials would probably surprise most people. While polystyrene or wire would probably be the material of choice for most, I decided to use card as a building material. Why? I didn't have any other suitable materials at hand, and I had just finished a card building for my home layout from a downloaded kit, so I had plenty of card available and decided to give it a go.

(I digress slightly and will return to the main story soon). About a year ago I discovered "Scalescenes" kits, which you purchase on-line, download, print out and build as many times as you like. The paper printouts are glued to card of varying thickness (thin, medium or thick) and then cut out and assembled. Although building is quite time-consuming (much moreso than the "Superquick" kits which I had previously built) the quality of the finished article makes it all worthwhile. I highly recommend "Scalescenes" kits. My experiences with them could be the subject of a future article.)

I decided that the 'medium' card (about 1mm thick) would be suitable to use in an attempt to build the replacement fences. Using a ruler, craft knife and cutting board, I found that it was fairly easy to cut 1mm wide strips of 1mm thick card. So, in HO/OO scale terms these would represent wooden posts of roughly 8cm X 8cm (more or less depending on the scale). Gluing pieces end to end with PVA glue seemed to work satisfactorily, and a coat of acrylic paint added some extra strength. The only real difficulty was to get the top rail to sit straight while all the other parts were glued in place. I achieved this by sitting it on a cutting mat, holding it against a straight edge and then using sticky tape to keep it in position while the posts and other rails were glued into place.

While the finished product was much thicker then the original plastic fence it replaced, it doesn't look out of place on the bridge. Also, due to the fact that my handiwork was not perfect, and also the fact that the card structure is not perfectly rigid, there are probably a few prototypical twists and bends in the final product that are probably a good representation of wooden posts that twist slightly with age.

The accompanying pictures show the following: the fence under construction (the slightly longer vertical posts were glued into holes drilled on the bridge walkway), the original fence with broken and missing parts, and the new replacement card fence. As long as it doesn't get knocked about too much, I believe that the new fence should last for years. I'm quite pleased with the final result. I can now see that there are some other bridges on "Jamestown" which might also benefit from a similar treatment.

36 continued from page 35

February 2017

by Gary Sardoni (Committee Member)

By the time you read this, the February running days will have come and gone. The extremely hot weather certainly didn't help encourage members to come out and run their trains. However, we look forward to next month and hope for improved weather.

Keep the above dates in mind. The clubhouse will be open from 2pm to 5pm on these running days.

Z Scale ZeNkeville II (DC)

New HO layout(DC/DCC)

Construction work that prevents layouts from operating will not be taking place on running days and every effort will be made to have all parts of all layouts (HO, N and Z

scales) operational to maximise the enjoyment of club members and visitors. (Hopefully the layout gremlins will not be a problem.)

Byers Junction N (DC/DCC)

So, come along to the clubhouse, give your trains a run, have a chat to others and enjoy yourself.

Plus, Jamestown - HO/OO - DC/DCC, Conway Castle -N - DC, U-Drive - HO - DCTwin Falls - N - DC

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February 2017

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THIS COMING EVENTS LISTING IS PRESENTED AS ACCURATELY AS KNOWN AT THE TIME OF PRINTING, IF YOU WISH TO CONFIRM ANY DETAILS AND/OR HAVE ANY OTHER EVENTS FOR LISTING, PLEASE SEND THE INFORMATION TO THE CLUB EMAIL ADDRESS - info-ddmrc@ddmrc.com.au

PLEASE ADVISE ANY ERRORS.

NOTE: Saturday afternoons at the showgrounds from 2pm, unless notified otherwise. Wednesday afternoons from 1pm till 4pm.

ALL EVENTS SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION

* *Indicates limited access at the Showgrounds

March 5th TRAINS on the DOWNS (see page 29 for details) 6 t h C o m m i t t e e M e e t i n g . M c D o n a l d ’ s M a r g a r e t Street, 7.30pm. Members welcome. 8th TMRC Inc. Running Day at the clubrooms. 18 th TMRC Inc . Runn ing Day and Sa le Day a t t he clubrooms (see page 25 for details) 30th-31st Toowoomba Royal Show (see page16 for details)April 1st Toowoomba Royal Show 2nd All Gauge MRC Sale Day (see page 25 for details) Committee Meeting. McDonald’s Margaret 3rd S Members welcome.treet, 7.30pm. 12th TMRC Inc. Running Day at the clubrooms 2pm on. 22nd TMRC Inc. Running Day at the clubrooms 2pm on.

My Tool StorePO Box 210ASPLEY QLD 4034

Phone: 0411 605 726

Email: sales@mytoolstore.com.au

Speak to Rob about all your Modelling Tool needs.

February 2017

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February 2017

40

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