Yes I've got a new one, a new phone that is. My older Samsung G6 has been replaced by another Samsung S20 FE. Now I know I missed out on the G21 and the recently released G22 but it all about the camera. I had the old one for over four years so in these days of built in redundancy it didn't do too bad. The new one still makes phone calls the same as the old one but the improved camera was the factor in updating. The ability to film in 4K even makes it better than my camcorder which boasted high def 1080p around. I remember when I purchased it way back in November 2012 mainly to be able to film my daughters wedding. Unfortunately it had broken down just before the big date and has been virtually left sulking in the draw ever since. The only drawback I have found with phone cameras is the inability to zoom in on a subject some distance away and be in focus.
So armed with the new phone I went down the shed and ran off some trial photos to see how it went. I must say I find them slightly better than the old phone but good results mainly hinge on the amount of available light. Look at how many photos look great taken outdoors in the sun.
Here are some the results taken around the usual spots of Pambula and the trestle bridge:
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| Stock special waits for the mixed train to depart |
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| Busy day at Pambula |
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| Wait for me! |
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| Pambula |
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| Stock special enters Pambula |
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| Nearly there at Pambula |
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| Mixed freight heading for Eden |
Some of the photos show a livestock train. There are six of these NM coded livestock wagons on the layout enough to have a special livestock train run. In real life there were fifteen of these wagons built and spread out over the four narrow gauge lines in Victoria. They are a nice piece of rolling stock from the Ian Lindsay workshops and a tribute goes to their builders Stephen Postma and James Black who did a magnificent job assembling, painting and weathering them for me. My rolling stock roster should now be complete with only the elusive G class garratt missing from the roster, maybe one day?
I have included two pictures of the bridge progress just to prove things are still moving along in that area. It is a complex build and I really need to think about ten steps ahead to make sure everything goes into place. Once something is glued, nailed, screwed and secured into place it can be hard to correct, so care required. That's not an excuse for the slow build but I want to get it right.
The pylons or trestle supports are not secured as yet, allowing removal of the bridge if required. The silver bit on the top of the bridge is a piece of aluminium channel being used as a temporary support until the end when it will be removed. This is the same channel as the rest of the bridge is built around.
In and endeavour to speed up the scenery work I found an old can of spray on scenery I used on the old layout. When I tried it although some spray came out it made no difference to adding to the scenery. It wasn't until I looked at the can and found out it was for HO scale and that's why it didn't work on my O scale layout. If anyone finds some O scale scenery in a can please let me know.
So we are moving along albeit a bit slowly. More updates next time.
