Kameruka Progress
I have finally got around to spreading some dirt around the yard at Kameruka and cultivating some weeds and grass.
After attending the Forestville Exhibition and visiting the Uneek stand I purchased a weighbridge that had already been assembled for $10 more than the kit price. It came complete with weathering and was mounted on a small piece of timber. A bargain. A spot was found for it near the goods siding. I tried to removed the weighbridge hut and weighbridge from the timber to set it lower in the yard. The hut came away quite readily but the weighbridge part was etched and glued directly to the timber and it started bending when I tried to prise it away from the timber. Back to plan two = just leave it there. So it was glued down to the base board and I mounded the dirt up around it.
I have only done some ballasting around the fruit loading siding so far to see how it looked. At this stage I was scraping the bottom of the barrel and ran out of dirt for the siding. So I grabbed the empty ice cream container and a sieve and headed out into the street. Once upon a time I only had to go out the front to rake up dirt from the verge but with unexpected council progress in providing guttering I now have to walk around the corner to get a new supply.

As can be seen in the photo above the platform road hasn't been ballasted yet as I need to provide platform extensions on each end, then the ballast will be laid between the edge and track. There won't be as many weeds growing in the main line and loop as the sidings.
The word was out also that the MHG and PHG brakevans were ready down at West Ryde. A call from a friend said he was going down there on Saturday morning to collect a bulk lot for a group of modellers based around Taree, so I tagged along to get my pack of each type. The trip wasn't wasted as I was able get get the April AMRM magazine and also spotted hanging on the wall a rivetting tool that came with four different spaced wheels of rivets. I am hoping to use it in the future to provide rivets for a 75' turntable to be built one year. So watch out now I can be a true rivet counter.

Arriving back home we went to the shed to show him the progress on SCR. Although we didn't have time to run any trains the shed and layout were reasonably 'cleaner' after having our regular group over on the Friday night for a running night and catch a dvd. I will now spend the next few weeks looking for everything that I have just tidied up and put away some where.
On one of the brakevans I found out that it had a shonky wheel, so bad it would have shaken the snag of the guards plate. It must have been a 'made on Monday' model. I will have to return it for an exchange wheel.
I also gave the vans a quick weathering using Tamiya Khaki drab thinned down with isopryl alchocol, but after looking at the results in the photos it needs a bit more work on them.
So I congratulate Toms Hobbies for getting these two vans out. I can now tick off two more boxes on the "Models to Collect before I Die" list.

How time flys! I have just checked my blog listings and it is just over two years ago since I posted the first one. It seems a bit embarrasing that the track that shows up for Narooma still hasn't been ballasted. But I shouldn't worry as they say 'Its on the list!"

Kameruka - Name change?

Well I have chosen to update the blog instead of my other project allocated today which was to get the remaining section of guttering painted. It is stinking hot and humid outside so it can wait till better weather.
Kameruka - name change? I had thought for a fleeting moment to change to name the name to Coolum. Yes it would be more appropriate to call it this. Unfortunately the station location is right under a window. And stuck in the window is and air conditioner. But after the last blogs effort on trying to justify why Kameruka needed at station, it will remain so named. Anyhow Coolum is up there in Queensland.
So you get good and bad with the air conditioner. It was purchased many years ago at a garage sale for the great price of $20. For this price I didn't want to cart home some one elses scrap metal, so I asked at the time if it could be plugged in and tested. Sure can do said the man. But stupid me fell for it. As garage sales usually start early and it was a cold August morning when the unit was turned on it was a matter of cold air in through the back and the same cold air out of the front. Doh!
Another thing about the controls on the air conditioner. For temperature you get a choice from 1 to 10. So if ten is the coolest when would ever use numbers one to nine? I'm bloody hot, give me the max man. And the function control is just as stupid. Fan and Lo Cool options. Get real. I'm still hot, the knob is set on Hi Cool and probably rusted in to that spot. The only other knob is sensible one. Its the timer, and graduated in hours. Exactly thats a good measure of time down in the shed - hours.

I bought it anyway. My salvation came when a friend saw it and identified the something inside wasn't right. He took it away fixed it and bingo I then got the bargain. It wasn't until the shed had been extended until it was placed into the window and there it remains. The bad bit is it infringes over the Candelo end of Kameruka and the track passes under it. Glad there will be no double stacking going on South Coast Rail. It will be hard to get reasonable photos without it showing up. At least this model is called the G.E. Skinny. Imagine how much larger a G.E. Fatty model would be in photos. I must say this model is a try hard unit. It certainly wasn't designed for this size shed but is better than nothing. At least I can work down one end and be reasonably cooler.

The code 100 track from the Candelo end has been removed and the code 75 track and points laid in. The oil and milk sidings can be seen in the photo and the fruit loading siding in the foreground. If you thought the good shed looks familiar your'e right. It had been borrowed from Bodalla which was previously borrowed from Candelo. I have similar good sheds waiting for assembly for both locations, another job for the future.

I am going to extend the platform at either end to cater for longer passenger trains. The station was built a long time ago as part of the conditions for attending the Branchline Modellers Convention that used to be held at Macquarie University. It was a great day out and this requirement to bring along something you are working on was a good incentive to get a project up and finished. This convention operated long enough for me to have completed this station and also build a sand bin based on the ones located at Eveleigh, Taree and Cootamundra. I also managed to finish a yard lamp that is now residing in Bega loco. There was so much talent out there all on display. Sad its not around anymore.
Kameruka sits above a tunnel where two tracks crossover each other. To gain access to the tracks underneath a section of panelling has had magnetic catches installed as shown in the photo. It is a simple removal to gain access to the area underneath. And also my crook carpentry can be hidden.


Kamilaroi Railway
For those of you who have a link to the Kamilaroi Railway blog and find its no longer there, Jim has deleted the blog for the time being as his computer was infected with a virus and worm and he removed the blog in case of cross infection (can you get that off a blog?). Anyway he will be back to continue on his interesting journey of North West modelling. Will keep you informed.

The Candelo Branch
I suppose model railways can fall into two main categories: Prototype or freelance.
When we choose 'prototype' we then endeavour to model that locality or location as close to the real thing as possible. This doesn't always work out as sometimes (usually) the space available does not allow a true to scale model to be built. This goes under the heading of selective compression. To model say Goulburn, Cootamundra or Junee to their full scale length would need a very large shed.
So to get around this we can reduce the length of yards, reduce the number of sidings and even leave some features out but the model bears some resemblance of its intended location.
This can be another reason why modelling branch lines can make a better choice as they can make a 'better fit' model.
Another enjoyable part of the hobby picking a real place is the background research required to make the model as close to the original as can be. This then requires further research depending on the era you are modelling. If I was modelling Orange as it now stands, I certainly would not need as much track and points if I was modelling it back around the 1950's. Darren from Gunnedah and Beyond has touched on this issue on some of his earlier blog pages.

The second category 'freelance' is where South Coast Rail fits in. I think in my first ever blog post I may of mentioned that the Illawarra section of the line down towards Bomaderry appealed to me. I have always thought a layout based on Bombo, Kiama, Gerringong, Berry and Bomaderry would be ideal. My shed was large enough to fit it all in but I didn't want to be restricted in being chained to operating like the prototype and I also preferred the continuous style of layout.

So keeping in the South Coast region, the next best thing was to pull out a road map of New South Wales and pick out a few towns that were recognisable. This lead to me saying Bodalla, Batemans Bay, Narooma and Bega yes you'll do. It was that simple. I now had complete flexibility in station and yard design as we all know there ain't no railway there now and never will be. I now have a justification in running the Bega Mail and operating my sleeping cars. Something I would have felt guilty doing if I modelled north of Bomaderry.

Another famous ficticional line amongst bloggers is Bylong Ray has also chosen to be completely free of prototype design. (Although I believe now there is an actual Bylong crossing loop been built on the Ulan line.)

South Coast Rail is a single line layout with four crossing loop stations. A fifth crossing loop station at Kameruka can be brought into use when a lifting flap is raised to join the track at Bega with the branch.

I also wanted a branch line as I enjoy this type of operation knowing I can only go to the end and then have to come back to the junction. (Many happy returns!) This was also a good place to put a coal mine as it would mean more operation/shunting. Again the road map came out and as this branch was to come off at Bega, a quick look found the towns of Kameruka and Candelo as suitable branch stations. One thing that wasn't available when I originally developed the stations for the layout in 1999 was Google Earth. From 2005 we were able to fly over landscapes and get a first hand look at what was down there. This is also a great tool for modellers of any location.

Another great app that is provided on Google Earth is the 'street view' option. Using this I was able to tour up and down the streets of Candelo without travelling the 485 kilometres to see it in the flesh. There are many old buildings typical of country towns that would look great on the layout, but the lack of room at Candelo on my layout will prevent this from happening.

Having picked out the two stations of Candelo and Kameruka, I rather belated decided to check the internet to get some background on these places.

KAMERUKA

• Bugger all there. A fly over on Google Earth shows a few houses. Although the internet calls it a village nothing was recognisable from the air.
• The only mentionables are the Kameruka Homestead and the Holy Trinity Church. It can't be a village if it hasn't got a pub there.
• On a gallery for one web site out of 36 photos there is only one of cows that made the area famous. At least they are all looking at the camera. (Did the photographer say 'Cheese'?
• The residents should think themselves lucky as I will be providing them with a station and a yard. It will also have an oil siding, milk and fruit packing shed. (An industry introduced by me.)
• The name Kameruka in Aboriginal speak means 'wait until I return' This name probably originated when in the early days a train from Candelo heading for the Bega show was full and the guard was heard yelling out 'Kameruka, Kameruka' (Yes they were picked up later by a return special and got there for the second race)

CANDELO

• There were two theories on how Candelo got its name (1) Candelo was a staging post for wagons and many drivers would arrive at Candelo after dark. As the river crossing was dangerous they would call for a light to show them the best place to cross the river. The common call was "candle o!" and (2) It was named after a town called Candelo in Northern Italy.

• I chose Candelo as opposed to Tantawangalo as I felt it would fit on the station nameboard better and is easier to pronounce.
• It is actually a town with shops (and a hotel).
• One web site shows agriculture, forestry and fishing as local industries. Not sure about the fishing bit.

So that's a bit of background on the two stations currently on the Candelo branch. I found that I could sneek another small platform in on the line. So I went back to Google Earth and there were two contenders between Kameruka and Bega. One is a locality called Kingswood and the other Black Range. I have chosen Black Range as I don't want a phone call from Ted Bullpit saying " Your'e not modelling the Kingswood, its mine I have already taken it" So Black Range it will be.

So thats a bit of the background to the Candelo branch. Sorry for the lack of photos. I don't have any cow photos to support my modelling.

Don't you think picking Bodalla, Kameruka and Bega for station names is a bit Krafty?

Kameruka
Lately I've been hanging around Bodalla too long doing work on the cliff behind the station and goods yard. There is only so much scenery work you can do before boredom sets in.
I needed a new challenge. Where can I go next in the room? I weakened on my resolve to finish an area before moving on to another.
The next challenge was going to be an area that wouldn't take forever to finish (famous last words).
So it was that I decided to concentrate on Kameruka. It is a crossing loop station on the branch to the terminus at Candelo and also represents the highest point on the layout. I figured it would give short visitors an eyeballs view of the wheels of the trains. This height was not scientifically devised but the need to fall slightly below a window set its height. Once the track leaves here towards Candelo there is a down grade. None of my grades on the entire layout are steep due to the fact I have plenty of length to make them gradual. Even the grade down to Candelo is only slight. In fact a Trainorama 49 class can haul 16 loaded BCH hoppers + Brakevan out of Candelo to Kameruka. From Kameruka to Bega it is all down hill.
This is where operation working can rule over reality. Bank engine working can be introduced between the two stations there by making for more interesting operation.
Kameruka has been laid with code 100 track. It has been my intention to replace the code 100 with code 75 when ever I do a relay at major stations. Much of the initial track was second hand and has served well. I find the code 75 track is a close to real track I need to go without taking the next step which is hand laying track.
Back yonks ago when I was modelling N scale I was making a layout with handlaid track. It had code 55 rail imported from the US. This layout had well over 40 handlaid points including a single slip and a few diamond crossings. It was at the time when I decided to change scales from N to HO as there were improved NSW type models coming onto the market. All this track was built when I didn't have space for a layout but had plenty of time to construct the track. Now it is the opposite. I don't have the time to build the track but enough spondooly to buy the points.
The next issue was to work out the track layout for the revised Kameruka. Originally this station was the only crossing loop on the branch and the loop was of sufficient length to take branch length trains. (even to restricting the coal train lengths). Some time ago I found that I could make better use of this line by installing a lifting track between the branch and Bega which luckily were on a similar level. The only other issue with the loop was to lengthen it as longer trains from the main line were now crossing there.


The opportunity to dig up the track gave me a chance to review the current set out of sidings. I wanted enough industries there to allow shunting in both directions. The current set up had the goods shed on a dead end siding of which I cannot relate to any examples on the NSWR system. This was resolved by continuing the track on as a loop to reconnect with the branch. This means the goods siding can now be shunted in each direction. Unfortunately the sheep/cattle race has got the flick. Two good reasons. (1) I would have to build them and (2) I had a building that can be made up to represent a packing house.
With the extension of the goods siding this meant the oil siding had to go from its current location and I found I could shoehorn it in over near the milk siding. The milk and oil siding trail from Bega, that is they are a straight shunt in the Down direction, so in the reverse there is more shunting required to return them towards Bega. The beauty of oil sidings is that they only need to be a bit more than two tankers in length. I was originally going to have the oil siding come off the milk siding but the clearances were too tight. Shunting would also be complicated by needing to move the milk wagons prior to shunting in the oil tankers. Something I'm sure the milk depot would get the shits with quick (But interesting for the operator). By regigging (wow 4 G's in that word) it I was now able to fit in three oil tankers.
So after settling on the final layout and checking out the stock of track and points on hand I found out I needed another three long right hand Peco points. I tried the closest hobby shop on the phone and they did not stock them but were willing to order them in. I thanked them, said no and then remembered I had gotten some previous supplies from the Model Craftsman at Blacktown and had good service. It was Wednesday around 2pm and I rang the shop. Gary answered, had what I wanted and put it in an overnight delivery bag. And on Thursday morning I had my points ready to continue work on the layout. So for $9, much cheaper than the petrol I would have used and about three hours saved by not going there. The only real loser would have been Gary in the fact I probably would have bought other stuff there as well. Well recommended.
So at this stage the branch is out of service until the new track is laid in.
...........To be continued when more track is laid in.

The Last Post(For this year that is). How slack. I haven't had a December post and now with about one hour to go I will try and squeeze this one in before I sit down in front of the telly and watch Sydneys famous midnight fireworks.
I am on leave for the moment and have already started on getting some projects crossed off the list. Starting with putting new tiles on the bathroom floor. The old ones have gone and the 'easy lay' tiles are down. Tomorrow comes the hard one, that is all the tiles that need cutting to finish off the job. Not looking forward to cutting the ones around the floor drain.
So in between running out of glue for the tiles, I thought I had better de-stress down the shed.
Work has been going on at Bodalla at the moment. I usually do a bit here and move onto there for more but have decided to just get one area fully finished, so you will have to get bored for a while until Bodalla is complete.
I 'borrowed' the goods shed from the branch at Candelo which actually sits directly above Bodalla. It might end up staying there and I'll build another one when I get around to revisiting Candelo to finish it off.
Yesterday I laid down the goods yard at Bodalla and started putting in weeds, grass etc to make it looked finished.

So it also turned out a good night after checking tonights $31 mill lotto. (Not so good when it has to be divided by 21 shares. And it wasn't first prize unfortunately) But still way in front. Ah well back into consolidated revenue it goes.
I'll finish off the year hoping you all had a good modelling year. Next year will hopefully be the year of the 40 class and the 48's. I reckon the Viccies have had a recent glut of locos and models so back to getting out a few more NSW models.
Hope next year is a good year for you all and looking forward to seeing progress on your blogs.
I will leave you with a few shots taken around Bodalla today.

Vertical as opposed to horizontal
I may have said this before but because of my design of layout I do not have many areas that lend themselves to modelling sweeping plains and fields. So my scenery mainly goes up and down as opposed to across. If I had only wanted to go around the shed once then this type of scenery would have been possible. Hopefully my final design of the layout with two laps of the shed has allowed extra crossing stations with still a fair bit of running in between.
We always seem to set ourselves impossible timetables. I had thought that by the end of last year I would have had all the scenery finished and would be onto the building construction stage. Ahead I have to build a station building, roundhouse and a coal stage based on Armidale. These will all take many hours.
Any how I spent a few hours tonight down the shed attacking the cliffs of Bodalla. This is by no means fast work. You sort of put a bit of green 'stuff' on and then stand back to see if it works and looks okay. What would speed things up a bit more would be to actually sort my scenery material into some sort of order. Unfortunately I am not that organised, but at least its all down one end of the shed.
Tomorrow I don't think I will see the shed again as I will be tackling the front down pipe from the gutter which I found was well and truly rooted. I have managed to get most if it out and hope to have fun with a rubber O ring and marry some pvc and clay pipe together.
Anyhow I will post some of tonights effort on line of the vertical type of scenery. The following shots were taken at Bodalla

Still raining
Well its another stormy night in Sydney, so I hope I will get this blog posted before the lightning cuts power. Good news the trains seem to operate OK today and I got home at the normal time.
Besides lightning knocking out the power for the trains and signals I still have two other reasons to dislike the rain. One is the poor old shed is vunerable to leaks (but when I checked tonight none so far) and the other is that I have discovered that my down pipe from the roof guttering to the street seems to be blocked somewhere and is overflowing. So I guess this weekend will be taken up digging up the pipe and try and get to the root of the problem.
Managed to get a small amount of scenery done on the weekend. A few inches for so many minutes.
I also had a visit from Dr. Marcus Ammann recently and he brought along his bag of tricks. He was a long time gunner come and have a look at the layout, but when my garratt had decided to lay down with a short, he found the sweet spot with the wand and got it going again. Thanks Marcus.

I was recently talking with an ex work mate Jim Harris who had built a layout based on Yass Town and Yass Junction. This layout operated in a shed until recently being sold to a guy up Mudgee way. Jim is now planning a new layout based up the North West of the state namely Boggabri and Moree. So I suggested to Jim why doesn't he make a blog for the layout and share with all. He has started one called the Kamilaroi Railway. I am not sure what the attraction of the North West is but Jim now makes at least 4 modellers I know modelling this area. We have Darren with Gunnedah and Beyond and Blair and Lance from Texas all doing the same.
I have included the link for Jims layout here. He is relating currently to his Yass layout and I'm sure in time will start posting about his new layout.

Missing in Action.
Model railways is a great hobby. If you have been in the game as long as I have every time you see the familiar bods at exhibitions, their faces are getting more wrinklier, head hairs are missing, and they have to ask you your name.
A group of some ex school mates from yonks ago meet a few times a year at each others place to catch up on their layout and watch a few dvd's etc.
Last Friday was one of those nights. And I did't get there. But I remembered in the shower this morning and promptly fired off the following email as an excuse. (One reply likens it to a book)
To explain what the email is about there was a storm in Sydney Friday afternoon and lightning knocked out signals between work and home. It is not about modelling as such, has trains in it, so be fore warned.

Let me draw out the saga leading up to the alzhiemer moment.

Friday around 4.15pm. Watch alarm rings,then sorry boys have to go home. Computer shuts down ( hurry up windows). Out the door into the lift and the fellow passenger mentions amongst other things that a lightning strike had hit at Thornleigh. Bugger that’s on the way home. Should I go via the Shore line?

Over at Central the delay board shows all line ‘Normal service’ except North line as ‘Minor delays’ Yeah I can live with that. If there’s a problem they should have fixed it by the time I get there.

So I board the 4.30pm North, settle into my normal seat with the latest edition of MX. All well as far as Strathfield, Eastwood then the rot set in. We sit in between Eastwood and Epping (thank goodness it was air con and our carriage had a dunny in it). After 15 minutes or so the guard announces due to “infrastructure problems’ there will be a slight delay. Yeah right slight my arse. He said there was a queue of train heading towards Hornsby, we were on it and would slowly progress. (Right he was).

So apparently the signals were OK up to Epping and trains were frustratingly going past our window as we were on the second north bound track. So each time one would go past us, the passengers would say “there goes another one why aren’t we moving? (swear, swear etc etc)

Eventually after an hour or so we moved up to Epping platform and dumped off the Eppingites and any one else that were willing to walk home to Beecroft (etc etc –yeah it would have been quicker). Now the guard announces we will be here for a while longer and if we want to get out and stretch your legs do so. He was a good PR man for Railcorp as he also said that he wouldn’t leave anybody behind (how nice). The smokers also took advantage for a quick polluting puff outside, then come back in and smell the carriage out. There were some people who went out onto the platform just for the fresh air and there was this one guy who couldn’t keep still. He kept walking up and down the platform for about two carriage lengths. Down to the end, reverse back up the platform and then used a tall box to go around and do another lap. Poor bugger must have done about thirty laps. Any longer and he would have needed a new pair of shoes. Well at least he wouldn’t have needed to go to the gym when he got home.

The trains that come across from the City to Chatswood and over to Epping were also being turned back, so these passengers were also invited to squeeze aboard our train. They were also invited by the guard to move up the front of our train. So after about another 40 minutes at downtown Epping we got on board the smokers, walkers, passengers any stray dogs and any one else that wanted to go north for the night. The guard also reminded us (about the 10^th time) that we will be proceeding ‘slowly’ north. And just to make everybody unhappier he announced we would be all stations to Hornsby, Berowra then all stations to Gosford. Stuff them I reckoned. Why would they miss out on Asquith, Mt Colah and Mt Kuring-gai. Let make it all stations and be done with it.

As we leave Epping going north there is a signal gantry with four sets of signals, one for each track. So out of the eight red lights normally lit, I spot one green and hope that was ours. Yes it was. Just out of Epping the line passes over the M2 motorway on which the cars in the morning and afternoon peaks are usually going at a crawl to which I have an internal mind thought (“suckers”). But not tonight. We were going slow enough to probably get their number plates if you wanted to.

Cheltenham and Beecroft we dumped off passengers and slowly kept getting closer to home. Trains were going past us from Hornsby so why weren’t we going faster? Being up towards the front of the train I could see the signals, most of them had a red colour, then turned my favourite colour (at that time) green. So Pennant Hills Accept Signal was two reds, we stop, one green, we go, and then we stop again.

Bugger whats wrong now?. I previously mentioned that our carriage had a dunny. Good news if you need to use it but bad news because cronic smokers think they can hide in there and get away with having a quick puff. As this train was an Oscar set it was equipped with the latest gear including CCTV cameras. No gangways between sets that the older and V sets provided for a quick nicotine fix.

So the Driver then comes bursting into our carriage armed with a fire extinguisher and yells out “Righto who was the bright person who decided to smoke in the toilet? You have set off the fire alarm and the OH and S declares that I have to check every thing out. Who was that person?. Silence for a while, then a guy points to the next carriage and the driver storms off there. (He was going to be late home for his dinner as well)

We heard no more for a while, then we started moving off. Then a voice from the Guard was heard “ The guy in the green flouro jacket has been caught on CCTV camera smoking in the toilet of this train. The police have been notified and will be meeting this train on arrival. It is an offence to smoke in toilets and there are smoke detectors fitted in there” Well the Guard didn’t say what station the police would turn up at. And surprise surprise, when we pulled up at Pennant Hills the guy in the green flouro jacket shoots past the window. 100 to1 on that guy didn’t live there but as there is a pub near the station I reckon that’s where he went to cool his heels for a while. Can you BYO to a pub? I reckon he had a slab under his arm. He looked the type.

But what were the chances of this happening again. As the first flouro guy whizzes past the window, there is a second guy in the same green flouro clobber gets onto the train. My first thought was your’re gone mate when you get off at Hornsby, you’ll have some explaining to do to the cops. But I was ready to step into the fray with my Railcorp badge and say ‘It wasn’t him constable, the guy you want is at the bar down at Pennant Hills.

Ah I forgot to mention I have an at least ten year old mobile phone that I use only for emergencies. So when I tried to use it said “You don’t have enough credit to make this call’ So the only time I needed to use it I couldn’t.

As we went past Thornleigh there were some Railcorp guys in their vests that looked like they were doing/had been doing something. Our guard announced that the signals have all been fixed and after Hornsby the driver will be going as fast as possible to make up time. Nice thought.

Yee haa. We eventually made Hornsby. Thank goodness it was daylight saving time as it was still light. So what is normally a 45 minute trip was over two and a half so far. Then the Hornsby shuffle begins. Likened to the Bermuda triangle this is the place where if it can go wrong this is it. The indicator optimistically showed my train in 15 minutes. Ah not enough time to whip over to the shops. I knew it was getting late because I heard a short freight train heading towards Sydney go past on the only track available (the Down Main).

The station staff were kept a little busy tonight. With wheelchair people nearly ending up in the car sheds, trains cancelled and confusion reigning supreme. The crews didn’t know what was going on and neither did anyone else.

Eventually a train turned up at Platform two it now being well after 7 pm and my stomach starting to say ‘when am I going to get something?’ The indicator showed it all stations to Berowra. I jumped aboard at the last minute as sometimes these indicators had a mind of their own. Yes they could change direction and send you the other way. Taking a chance as well as a seat, I heard the Guard say “All stations to Berowra” Still being a non believer, the sight of the Asquith BP service station had me at rest. I could now relax knowing I would be home soon before it was dark.

Eventually home was reached, the security light started burning for me as soon as I was within range. After the doorbell was rung I was then greeted by my family of two (three if you include Rusty the rabbit) and started telling them what you have just read.

So did you make it to the end? Promise the next post will be on a model theme.

I'm Off
Meaning I'm off on a short break from work. Its around this time of the year when the weather is nice and a good chance to have a break before the end of the year. And right in the middle is the Liverpool Exhibition to get all inspired again and make a few purchases.
Bodalla station has aquired a small car park just in front of the signal box and opposite the local store. So it becomes a rush when a trains in and when some of the locals want to park there to get a carton of milk. There is fat chance of getting any extra car spaces there as all the available space is now taken up.A bit more greenery has sprouted up and a pedestrian walkway across the track is nearly complete.
The signal box is nearly finished. A signal box name board will help the signalman know where he's working and a down pipe into the water tank will stop the ground from getting boggy. I haven't bothered putting a frame inside the box as the door doesn't open anyway and he can't get in.When the superb Trainorama BCH hoppers had come out I was very slow on the uptake and only managed to get a four pack. I figured that this would be sufficient for photography purposes in that if the first four were visible they would show up well in the pictures. I had already about 15 AR BCH's and as usual for me, completed but no decals and detailing on. This was going to be applied 'later', but never did happen. I was also able to build up the fleet with 15 modified cut down Athearn hoppers. These at least were painted and lettered. They made up into a nice long train and when down the other end of the shed I couldn't see that they had no decals etc on anyway.
I was hoping that Trainorama would rerun the hoppers one day and sure enough last week BBB came on the forum and announced they were available once again. So I hot footed it down to West Ryde last Saturday and secured another two packs to now have 12 BCH's for the train. I will get another 4 pack later and make a total of 16 for the train.
The coal mine at Candelo comes off the branch line terminus and means that two return runs have to be made to the mine to load the whole train. This enforced shunting makes for an interesting half hour or so on the branch to achieve. The run round at the mine takes eight hoppers and a brakevan. It is shoe horned onto a small shelf suitably scenicked off from the lower branch. It has a siding which can eventually take a dedicated shunting engine for the mine working.
When I got the hoppers home they were only in their virgin black for no more than ten minutes when I weathered them with Tamiya Khaki Drab and diluted isopryl alcohol. They certainly look better.
I assembled them on the track under the coal loader and they looked good. So I went and got the video camera and tried to put together another video clip. The finished result South Coast Rail 2 doesn't have sound only the wheel sounds and stuff me when my digital watch decided to go off. Also a blackened out section where I deleted an out of focus piece. (Just pretend its in a tunnel). I am still learning the software and it takes ages to render and more ages to upload to Youtube.
Anyway enjoy the clip warts and all. You will find it here if you have ten minutes spare.

Thanks Budd
The last blog showed the very early days of the conversion of the Athearn Budd cars to something that will hopefully run better and look closer to its New South Wales counterpart.It wasn't long after the blog had internetted that I had an email from a former work collegue Jim Harris who sent down some of his collection of Budd photos. He has given the Ok to share them with the world.The first photo is the Down South Coast Daylight express taken near Erskineville Junction. I believe the ESR hadn't been built at this stage and the tracks to the left were from the Alexandria Goods Yard.
The next photo I'm not sure where it was taken. Any guesses out there? It looks like a delivery/test run. Look how clean the pilot is, no grime as yet.
The next photo was taken near Waterfall obviously before electrification had reached there.The last shot of Jims was taken just north of Kiama with the Budd set headed for Bombo which shows up in the last photo. This shot clearly shows the 'weathering' on the roof.
The last shot by an unknown photographer (I think it was off a calendar) typifies what I love about the South Coast scenery. This is as close as the lines in NSW gets to the surf and certainly would make a good modelling challenge. Also located at Bombo is a blue metal gravel quarry which would add operating interest.
The photo also shows the South Coast Daylight Express in its final form as a loco hauled train. Included in the consist are some of the 1200 class Tulloch cars originally utilised on the Riverina Express.
The site of the first photo at Erskineville is where a derailment occured and a descision was made after this not to repair the cars but convert them to a loco hauled set.
RIP Budd cars.

Hey Budd can you spare me a dime...
A line probably often said in the U S of A. My main emphasis of attack on the layout has been to get the scenery done and worry about structures and assembling unbuilt kits at a later time.Well I decided to have a change of direction and finally have a go at getting a set of Budd cars modified to work on South Coast Rail. Those of you familiar with these cars will know that they spent most of their lives on the South Coast trundling back and forth between Sydney and Bomaderry. Towards the end of their service they spent time working between Junee and Griffith. Not so long ago when the Aussie manufacturers were sprouting all the models they were going to manufacture, Eureka announced they were going to produce the Budd cars. Beauty I said I'll get a set of those. But despite all good intentions these models seem to be way in the future.
So for the last twenty years or so I have been collecting the Athearn Budd cars. One that I had purchased twenty years ago and recently at a second hand stall at a model exhibition I cracked the jackpot - a rubber band driven Athearn Budd car. Cutting edge technology when they were introduced, but wouldn't cut the mustard today.
When I got the power car home I put it on the layout for a test run. Plenty of noise but no movement. So when I got the body off there were no rubber bands- perish the thought. So I was getting nowhere, and neither was the Budd car.I was about to throw the remotoring question to the forum floor, when I happened to mention about the remotoring problem to a good friend Bruce at work. He has a fantastic memory of articles and also a collection of bits and pieces that I'm sure would put a hobby shop to shame.
A few days later he came in to work with a regearing kit for the Athearn Budd cars. So today I commenced to have a go at kit bashing, a little bit out of my comfort zone of scenery.
At this stage I have managed to get the horse shoe shaped gear train into place and a new mashima motor into place. All thats needed at this stage is to connect up the motor with the gear train, wire up and we might have movement.
Now as luck would have it when Athearn made these cars they were not made to the full length which makes a NSWGR representation more acceptable. Proto 1000 have made full length cars and these would be okay to represent the Commonwealth Railways Budd cars which were longer than NSW. I found a good coloured Budd picture today in the "Remember When" book on page 44. It has good front on detail and also shows how the front pilot/cowcatcher was painted a red colour.
Comparing the model with the photo some of the cosmetic changes needed are to replace the single horn with two single ones, fit some jewels into the lights and fit a diafram (I know thats the wrong spelling but thats how it should be spelt). I might consider fitting a new wrap around pilot. The Athearn model has recessed steps under the front door and the NSW model has cut outs. The front windows could also be filed longer. Yeah if I run a four car set I might be able to get away with just doing the end car windows.An instant improvement was to paint the bogies and undergear flat black and run over with a wash of Tamiya Khaki drab to give that weathered look. You can see this in some of the photos.
Anyhow when the four car set gets into service on South Coast Rail, that fact that it will be a near enough model won't faze me. Well I can always say this was a second modified set that was purchased to operate way down to Bega. There you are justification. I'm felling better already.

All about NSW
Well maybe thats an alternate title to the 'Modelling the Railways of New South Wales' gathering that I went to at Loftus today.
Trying to do my best for the environment I picked up an local attendee not long after the chooks had stopped crowing. A little bit further on and more carbon points saved I picked up another precious cargo, one of the presenters Mr Bob Taaffe (Mr Signals). He was to give three lectures so it seems there were a few interested in signalling. It was a case of delivering one Taaffe to another TAFE. A bit over an hour or so later we arrived at the Loftus TAFE. I was asked some time ago whether I could do some sort of scenery display and eventually agreed when I worked out I could take a lift out section of scenery of the layout, so that any time worked on it would end up for the good of the layout. Unfortunately the organiser who talked me into doing it was a no show. Did he get the call? to work??. But I was greeted by his work buddy and taken to my spot for the day.
Around 9.0am (my normal raise head time for a Saturday) we were given the rundown for the day and around 9.30am the first round of talks was underway.
I was in a room with some commercial stands such as Casula Hobbies, Bergs Hobbies, Uneek, Kerroby and the AMRM stand. It would have been a bit daggy if I only took the slice of scenery so I got a board and glued on a few samples of the scenery bits that all come eventually together. Chuck in a laptop with a scenery powerpoint presentation I had made some time ago, a few folders with SCR photos and off we went.
I did not go to any of the lectures but stood by the stand in case any one had any questions like 'How did you do that?' Scenery work is just one facet of the hobby. Some people are just not interested in it, possibly because they can't do it. Some are just content to collect trains and run them around plywood central. Each to their own.
To me scenery work is the aspect I enjoy doing. Not being a DCC man, wiring must be done but it has been. It made the day seem worthwhile when you get some modellers drop off and have more than a thirty second conversation. I spent some time talking to Allan and his son David and also Wayne.
I decided to go up to the canteen with Bob T for some sustinence. I had a cup of chino and some toasted blueberry bread with melted butter. (So yum went back for more later).
Well the day went quickly, I made a few purchases at Uneek and promised to put them into my box of rainy day items at home. So I can't tell you how the lectures went. And as we all notice at exhibitions the ratio of people with grey hair (and none) to those with any other hair colour and no wrinkles seems to be getting bigger.
I'd like to give a personal thanks to the guys who spent their valuable modelling time throughout the year to put on this event for our pleasure. I suppose its all part of life, there are always people who will volunteer and help others out and those who just go along with the flow and expect others to do it all. Around 1630 it was time to pack up and head for the road. An hour and a bit later after dropping of the two passengers I was safely in the driveway at home.
The bit of SCR is till in the back of the car waiting to be rejoined with the rest of the scenery down at Bodalla.
Thats a job for tomorrow.

Getting there slowly
Well a week has gone by and I have had a chance to fiddle with the video editing programme and tried to make some sense of all the multiple drop downs and learn a new lingo.
I not sure whether being an older fart has any thing to do with the ability to be able to turn on and use a computer, programme a VCR or set an alarm clock and understand what you are doing. It seems if you were born in the nineties that a recent addition to the gene pool is an ability to turn on electronic components and immediately be able to know what you are doing.
Kids of today are educated in the use of buttons the minute they are born. So rocking up to kindergarten and being given a laptop is no big deal.
I studied the manual that came with the video camera and although giving me the basics, still didn't give me answers to questions I had like what format will will it end up in?. Thank goodness for Youtube and its many tutorials people have kindly made for dumfclots to learn by.
After watching one usefull Youtube on editing I managed to put something together. So at the end I needed to save all my work. Now all my life I have been told to "save as" when I've finished a file. Did this work? No. I looked for and "export' option and couldn't see that either. What I was supposed to do was to 'Render' a term I had only heard used previously with the word 'cement' put in front of it.
Anyhow I tried that and in the list of dropdown of option formats noticed the word 'pal' and chose that. This is the area where I think a clearer explanation could be given. Maybe they could be arranged in pecking order from best quality to lousy at the end.
One of the formats I has chosen and finally offered to Youtube to upload had a massive file size of 1.15gb. After nearly choking the Youtube server, it got revenge and invited me back after 658 minutes to see my results.
After another visit to my resident IT guy, we worked out a smaller file size and I have uploaded it tonight.
Go easy on me, its my first attempt at editing and trying out the camera. And I know you might get sick of seeing 6039 starring but at this stage its the only sound loco I have until Uncle Rons 40 class turns up. If I use other non sound locos then I will have to scrounge around and chase up sound clips to use.
So any way see what you think, here is the first 'edited' clip of South Coast Rail.

Sunday Night AgainToo soon Sunday night has come again and that means getting on the computer and doing the rounds of the blogs, going onto forums and checking emails.
Once again Sunday night you seem to be able to rely on Craig from 'Craigs Shed' to have updated his blog and let us know what styrene he will need for the next weeks project. He has certainly got a job on his hands to finish his layout. It certainly covers one of the most scenic parts of New South Wales. He is modelling the far North Coast and I'm modelling the far South Coast.
I don't actually like Sunday nights as I know its up for work on Monday morning and its usually into bed round half ten for an early rise the next morning. Friday and Saturday nights are completely different, I stay up till when ever and rise the next morning when ever. (Unless there is something going on). Last weekend I flew to the Sunshine Coast to celebrate my brothers 50th birthday. I had the easy part, he had to come from Perth. Was a great weeeknd away and needless to say not much railroading was done last weekend.
I had actually downloaded my video editing programme during the week and decided to try and understand how it all works on Saturday night. Well Youtube got a bit of a bashing with tutorials and Google put me onto a few other programmes. It was all going well until the dreaded virus has raised its ugly head.
If my car breaks down I call for a mechanic, this time I yelled out for my son who luckily has a nack for fixing these problems. Son, has my machine got a virus protecter on it? Well I thought I had put one on it! So after a lot of fidelling I'm back on track, virus protection now in place and I'm still to get to the video editing programme. Another days adventure. I will be practicing on layout footage rather than the birthday bash footage in case I mess it up.
So not much was achieved on the layout this weekend, but feeling in a photo mood I went down and shot off a few pics. The lightings not what you'd call really bright but sufficient. The down side of this is when I come inside and review the shots on the monitor. Two hiccups. On one shot of a 49 class coming over the gully bridge looked great through the viewfinder, but on screen there were some fine cobwebs hanging off the handrails. No scrap that one. And on another shot of the 44 class coming around a cutting, on the monitor I noticed a black shape besides the track. A quick zoom showed it to be a cooka racha, dead on his back and eyes fixated towards the ceiling. Normally I couldn't see him but on the angle it was taken, he showed up. So thats the second shot you won't be seeing.
Any how a couple of others turned out so I'll put them on.