{"id":5715,"date":"2022-10-13T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T00:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=4f9295bea2397f0c873e34b26bc6c679"},"modified":"2022-10-13T10:19:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T00:19:00","slug":"a-trio-of-railway-weekends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=5715","title":{"rendered":"A trio of Railway weekends"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

A
\ntrio of Railway weekends<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

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At times,
\none needs a break from the workbench, with a chance to recharge the batteries,
\nand learn something new. <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Snowy Mtns Highway south of Cooma shows a landscape that looks dry, unlike the rest of NSW.  This was the view from the car coming back from Bemboka.  The clouds in the distance were an approaching cold front, which was expected to drop some snow.  From a railway viewpoint, the former railway line to Bombala is just to the west (LHS) of this picture.  <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit to
\nBemboka<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

Rob
\nAnderson\u2019s new abode in Bemboka was the site of the NMRA Div 2 meeting in
\nSeptember.  <\/span>It is a significant distance
\nfor me to travel, but Rob\u2019s former layout in the ACT was one that I admired,
\nand operated, so I was curious to see what he was up to.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

After car
\npooling via Canberra (the most direct route from Junee is via the Snowy
\nMountians Highway, a highway subject to snow, and the forecast was for snow),
\nwe arrived around 11am, with plenty of time for talking with members, prior to
\nthe excellent BBQ lunch.  <\/span>After lunch, we
\nwere invited to inspect Rob\u2019s new layout.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Robs new
\ntrain room is around 9×6 metres \u2013 similar in size to the area I have.  <\/span>Rob\u2019s layout is  <\/span>also double deck.  <\/span>He had maintained his earlier layout theme \u2013
\nbeing a fictional east-coast mainline, from Melbourne VIC, to Eden NSW.  <\/span>Rob had incorporated some design changes from
\nhis original layout \u2013 both staging yards were larger, and connected, and no
\nlonger had a duck-under to enter the room. 
\n<\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Rob is reusing some of his original layout structures to save time<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Both Melbourne, and Eden staging yards share this baseboard – which runs the entire length of the 9 metre wall.  The partition in the middle seperates both staging yards, although there is now a connection that allows continuous running.  The size of these staging yards is a massive improvement from Rob’s original layout<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Two helixes are used to raise and lower the main line onto, and off the upper deck.  These are symetrically placed in the room near the main entrance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Rob is experimenting with lighting.  I understand that additional lights will be installed to better illuminate the scenes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Train operations are controlled by this signal panel.  This is similar to Rob’s original layout<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Looking upwards to the roof construction.  Both helixes can be seen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The lighting pelmet for the upper deck is solid.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Petes
\nHobby Railway.<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

As part of
\nthe The Junee Roundhouse 75th<\/sup> Anniversary Celebrations, Pete Neve
\nhad arranged to have a running day on October 2nd<\/sup>.  <\/span>As one of Pete\u2019s volunteers, I was tasked to
\noperate the gate, and provide commentary for members of the public who came to
\nview the trains.  <\/span>Pete has 2 operational
\nlocomotives, and track which extends from an engineshed, into his
\nfrontyard.  <\/span>The track is hoped to be
\nextended later to finish a continuous loop. 
\n<\/span>It was good day, and the weather co-operated.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1915 built Hunslet Locomotive “Torpedo”. Pete saved this locomotive from a children’s playground in Queensland, after it was retired from the canefields.  Fully restored by Ainsworth Engineering in Goulburn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Pete’s other operational locomotive is a Ruston engine, built in 1955. Here it is passing Pete’s station “Loftus”.  The station is a reduced size scale model of an NSW A1 station building, constructed by Phil, and Josh Burke, another pair of Pete’s volunteers.  Loftus is a dual name.  It was originally the name of the suburb Pete lived in Sydney, and the original NSW construction name for Junee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Goulburn
\nN scale convention.<\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

Last
\nweekend, the Australian N scale had their first convention after Covid, and
\nheld at Goulburn, which is a small city about 2 hours from Sydney, and one hour
\nfrom Canberra.    <\/span>Goulburn, like Junee,
\nis a railway town, and boasts a large roundhouse, (now a museum) which was open
\nfor Conventioneers on Friday afternoon. The weather wasn\u2019t good, being in
\nconstant light rain.   <\/span>On display were
\nmany of the locomotives assembled for the previous weekend\u2019s \u201cStreamliner\u201d event.  <\/span>(many of the people visiting Pete\u2019s Hobby
\nRailway had been to the Streamliners on the preceeding Saturday).  <\/span>I hadn\u2019t been to the Goulburn Roundhouse for
\ndecades, prior to it becoming a museum, so I was curious to what was lurking
\ninside the sheds.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n


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\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Some serious workshop machinery on display – all this clutter can give ideas for convincing engineshed modelling<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Inside valve gear of a NSW B class mogul, as seen from one of the roundhouse pits<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nconvention itself was great.  <\/span>Lots of good
\nlayouts on display, including Ross Balderson\u2019s Newcastle 1899, which is a
\nmuseum standard moving diorama.  <\/span>The
\nmodelling contest had many entries, and the judging this year was done by
\npopular vote.  <\/span>As I was one of the judges
\nin 2019 for the N scale convention held in Canberra, I do not think this
\nparticularly good, as the modellers entering the contest do not get
\nconstructive feedback.  <\/span>The upside was
\nthat it is a lot simplier, and the judges get to go to all the clinics.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Around 40 entries in the competition.  The locomotive category was won by Stephen Curry with his Kitson tank locomotive (#21 on the sheet above)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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\n

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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Castlemaine (Victoria) station won the popular vote for the structures section<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
This small Inglenook layout was the focus (pun intended) for the “Using your phone camera for layout photography” clinic.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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An interesting construction technique, just using foam.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The N scale Japanese themed layout was just one of 9 layouts on display at the convention<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


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The clinics
\nwere wide and varied \u2013 and most were not scale specific.  <\/span>To m<\/span>e the one on use of phone cameras for
\nmodel photography was useful, but the one from Ross Balderson on Streetscapes,
\nincluding the talk about the Horse Manure panic of 1894, and a method to model
\nhorse dung most amusing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
I have shown Ross Balderson’s “Newcastle 1899” before on this blog, but the updates keep making it better.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Newcastle Station, showing hansom cabs, and if you look closely, horse dung.  Ross described making the dung, and road in his ‘streetscapes’ clinic – the dirt was pumice dust as used by dentists.   It is really hard to tell this is N scale, as the level of detail, particularly the etching, is so fine.  <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Newcastle Customs House.  Many of the photographs that Ross used to model his buildings had been taken from the Customs House clock tower around 1900.  Another valuable source for Ross’s modelling were period photos by Ralph Snowball.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Many of the early locomotive models on show, and operating on Newcastle 1899 were made by Stephen Curry.  Here was a small display by Stephen showing the gears and motor that will be used on a locomotive he will scratchbuild<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

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Being N
\nscale, I didn\u2019t think I would be tempted to buy anything.  <\/span>But some DCC chips, and 3D printed in colour
\nHO people will be used for a future blog post. 
\n<\/span>And I was also successful in selling my N scale Bachmann excursion
\ncoaches that I bought for testing the N scale Bethungra layout I built for the
\nJunee Broadway Museum<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

And a bonus
\nfor me was that the cheap motel I stayed at, had an ensuite that very closely
\nmatches the dimensions of the ensuite I am proposing for my train room
\narea.  <\/span>Having pictures will assist me in
\ndescribing to the builder what I am needing.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Apart from the tile colour, my motel room ensuite was about identical with the one I am proposing for my train room. The advantages for me is not only having photos to show to a builder, but having used it for 2 nights, it is workable.  Never let an opportunity pass by.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

 That’s it for now.  Until next time.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 A
\ntrio of Railway weekends<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At times,
\none needs a break from the workbench, with a chance to recharge the batteries,
\nand learn something new. <\/p>\n

 The Snowy Mtns Highway south of Cooma shows a landscape that looks dry, unlike the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":13248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2273,2274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goulburn-convention","category-newcastle-1899"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5716,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5715\/revisions\/5716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}