Getting stuck into it

I am feeling sorry for Pat O'Scale in the above photo knowing what's ahead of him. A lot of work. The pile in front of him is the ballast being reclaimed from Bega Yard. I was looking for a bulldozer to help him but couldn't find one.
Well there's no turning back now, it has all gone too far for that. And boy what a mammoth job it has been so far, certainly no five minute knockover. The plan was to demolish the layout across the front of the roller door to allow access into the shed. The only way was just to get stuck into it and slowly but surely the layout was dismantled.

Where the western end of the layout once was

In the above photo can be seen part of the usual clutter that habitates under layouts - out of sight, out of mind. The square box has been there that long it once delivered a 19" CRT monitor now long gone the way of the dinosaur. (So has the monitor). On the right hand side are the remnants of Narooma and Batemans Bay on the lower level. The top level was the skinny board that took the branch up to Kameruka.

Current location of western end of layout

The above shot shows where most of the demolished layout ended up, turfed out you might say. All of the baseboards that were pyneboard have been sent to the far reaches of the garden to wait for the heavens to rain on them and so return to the soil where they started life. Sort of an ashes to ashes type story. All of the other boards that might have a third life will be trimmed, denailed and set aside waiting their next calling. Those that don't measure up will wait until June where they will go onto the council roadside clean up pile and end up as landfill. They have a similar journey as the pyneboard but are basically on the slow train to re-incarnation.

The current end of demolition ends at the former entrance to Narooma and Batemans Bay, hopefully  drivers will be vigilant to see the sudden drop and stop. Part of the scenery has been de-nuded of scenic material, going into the take away containers for later use.
One job that seemed to take ages was the stripping of track from the boards at Bega taking nearly four solid days. The first job was to go down each track and remove the brads from the centre of the track. The heads were so small a few were often missed but found when the track was started to be lifted. Once the brads were removed the next job was to tip a bottle of water all down the track to loosen the ballast glue. Trust me using PVA glue is the best way to secure track down, after about twenty minutes of soaking a chisel is dug under one end and slowly works it way 'down the line'. Being an optimist I hope that quite a lot of track can be salvaged to help pay for the new track required. Once all the track is removed and piled up all that is left is the ballast. I then used a chisel to pile up the ballast also for reuse. (See lead photo) Most of the track on the layout was laid straight onto the baseboards and I rarely used cork. The pundits say "O, I used cork underlay because it is quiter" and then go and run some noisy sound locos over it. Who's hearing the trains now? It wasn't until day three when my hand was sorer than day one, when I came up with a brainwave.  I put a wire brush into the electric drill, and got through it much quicker.

The photo above shows where Narooma and Batemans Bay once stood, never to run again. In the foreground is a box that contains a food processor that somehow found its way down to the shed. It begun life in the kitchen but only for  a short time. I declared it a failure in food processing just after I had read in a magazine that you can convert foam rubber into foam for scenery in one of these machines. All that was necessary was to add water, set it to high speed and hopefully instant scenery. Well all was good, it produced good foam but then I thought why not add some green paint and cut out a later step in the process? So that worked OK as well but it was just after this first attempt that its return to its intended position in the kitchen was never going to happen. The wife would freak out with a green stained bowl. Suppose I could have said I was making Kiwi fruit juice? So currently its just in the way, I'm not sure of its future.
The intention is to remove the baseboards from the walls around the front part of the where the new layout will be erected. This weekend I have been going around patching all the holes that come from removing the baseboards. Some holes end up bigger than others depending on the nail size that held the board to the wall. Today I purchased a tin of ceiling paint and hope to get it on this week. Its like playing draughts at the moment, all the items that came from the baseboards at Narooma and Batemans Bay are sitting on the "Bega" board down the middle. So when the walls are painted I will put up a temporary table to receive back the "Bega" board items. So when the roof has been painted, the walls will be done.
I thought all trace of my friend the 'possum' was a distant memory but when I opened the roller door I found his calling card on the very top of the door previously out of site and out of mind. I would love to get the pressure washer onto the job but the roof and everywhere else would get flooded. So it looks like a tedious job of getting the rubber gloves, scrubbing brush, disenfectant, bucket of hot water and getting into it. Ah that might be Wednesdays job. Then the inside of the roller door can be freshened up with a nice coat of sky blue paint, its first one since the year 2000.

Now sitting perpendicular to where it once ran, the track from Bega and a few other places is piled up awaiting the pressure washer to hopefully blast the ballast off. Most of the track will be able to be resold on. On the right hand side is the box of screws that have also been reclaimed from the dismantling.

This is the box of points that have been collected do far, with probably another thirty to be removed. Now if anyone is interested in some track and points all code 75 you can contact me at southcoastrail - at - yahoo.com and I will let you know. Most of the points are in good order certainly cheaper than new ones and a good pedigree. There was also some track that didn't play ball with the track removal gang and only gave up its rail. So if anyone is scratchbuilding track in code 75, I have plenty.
So plenty of action down the old shed this week. I have also been notified that my "South Coast Rail" mugs have been despatched as described in the previous posting. Seems like a fairly quick service. I'll post some photos when they turn up.

You'd be a mug if you don't!!

One of the great joys of the internet is the ability to be able to enjoy the hobby of model railroading at the click of a few keys. Wind back 30 years ago this wasn't possible and we were probably still enjoying our Lima 44 class locos.
The creation of the 'blogspot' sites has allowed anyone to be able to create a reasonable web site presence easily. Easy being the magic word is why I started to create my own blogspot mainly as I think I said on my first posting to form an electronic diary of your progression of the layout.
Hopefully this site will never disappear so it will always be there to remember.
As followers of this site will know by now I have decided to pull the plug on South Coast Rail and venture into the world of Victorian narrow gauge.
Something many people do when they go overseas is to bring back souvenirs such as tea shirts, spoons, postcards etc. These are all mementos that are suppose to jog the brain six years after you have been to Bali, then you start remembering all the good times.
Well I have got hundreds of photos of South Coast Rail for me to look back on but I wanted something that would be more meaningful. 
I generally find the time to drop in on all the other rail 'blogspots' to see what the others are up to. One of those site is Phill Overton's site Philden Model Railway. One look at his site and you can tell he is a man of many talents.On the right hand site of the blog I noticed he had an image of a mug with Central emblazoned on it.
In an exchange of emails between Phill and myself the suggestion was made that he could arrange a mug to be made with a photo of South Coast Rail on the mug. What a top idea!. So I sent off a photo of my ex garratt 6039 chuffing along the valley. Another email came and it was all ready, so quick.

Wrap around for the mug

This can all be arranged through the "Shop" tab on his web site. Once you are there you will see some mugs. Click on one and it will take you to the page to order a "South Coast Rail" mug. (If you are desperate). I have already ordered three mugs.
Now what could be better that when you have your mates over for an operating session to be able to drink out of a mug with an identifiable rail theme rather than a dog or some other strange pattern on them.
I already have a selection of mugs that I unintentionally started to collect that reside inside in the wall unit. But once I get the new layout all going I will set up an area to show them off.
This idea of mugs also brings about another similar themed idea. I'm not sure if it is still a big thing in the USA now, but modellers used to have "passes" made of their layout and they would swap them with other friends. Now wouldn't it be a great idea if other modellers get mugs of their layouts and we started swapping mugs with each other! I would be quite happy to swap a South Coast Rail mug for a Bylong mug, a Main North mug or a Philip's Creek mug or anyone else that wanted one. So you swap mug for mug.
For those that like something stronger than tea and coffee and comes in a see through glass, you might have to ask Phill about that one.
I'll put up a shot of the mug in front of the scene where it was taken when it shows up.

Here we go!

Firstly happy new year to everybody. I hope everyone survived the celebrations last night. We had a quite night, just watching tele and viewing a Moody Blues dvd which finished beautifully right on 11.59pm last night.

So today being 2016, I thought I had better get into the demolishing mood, get down the shed and start jack hammering away the old layout.

Before I get into that I would like to thank all those who have left comments of encouragement, despair, sadness etc at the demise of SCR on the last blog entry. I hope no one got too upset re the news. There has been a great clearing out of items but still a lot to go. You don't realise how much garbage we (I) seem to collect over the years.

I have modified the header to include the words "In Transition". This will stay for a while until I get sufficiently advanced along to change it to a pure "Narrow Gauge" header that will reflect what I am actually modelling.

This will be the temporary header taken down the gully on the current layout until I can get some new work done. The NA still hasn't had any mods done to it yet. There was a recent article in the excellent magazine "Narrow Gauge Down Under" showing how to improve this model.

Well one thing that might surprise a few is that I have gone over to DCC. I have chosen the NCE  system as the majority of people I know are using it, so if I get in the poo with it help will hopefully be close at hand. Apparently NCE stands for North Coast Engineering, pity I thought SCE (South Coast Engineering) would have been more appropriate. I bought the Power cab starter kit prior to Christmas and it just sat in the shed for a few weeks. I watched many Youtube videos on the topic of setting up my particular unit. Most of them seemed to be done by teenage kids with unsteady hands holding the camera. I thought if the kiddies can do it then it shouldn't be too hard to do. So last week I unpacked all items and connected it up onto a long shelf portion of the layout that used to be the branch line. As previously advised being born and bred a DC man I realised the garratt had been sold and this I was told because it was sound it also had a DCC decoder in it. But luckily I had a Eureka CPH sound unit that I could test the system with. It had been a week or so since I watched the Youtube videos on how to set it all up, so as all men do, I went to the manual on the first page to see if it was written in "Dummies" language which I speak. I was off on a good start when the little red light came on the bizzo where you stick the wires into. So far so good. Then looking at the screen on the controller, it started speaking a foreign language, most of it in abbreviations. It wasn't sure what button to hit as there were so many of them. The most important key, one that I use on the computer  was the "Enter" key. It was asking for a short or long address and looking at the CPH it was number 26. So as a long shot I called it "0026" Believe it or not I finally managed to get some sound out of the unit. This was an exciting time for me, almost like being at the birth of your first born. I am completely hopeless at electronics and this includes mobile phones. I have what is called a "Not so smart phone". I was trying to locate my wife in the local shopping centre once, and by the time I worked the buttons out she was standing right in front of me.

Anyway back to the CPH. So I spent the next half hour totally fascinated by the DCC controller and shunted back and forth over the few metres of track. Sad that I was the only one there on that joyous moment. Reversing each time without the unit having to restart as it does in DC mode was one of the benefits of DCC. Now I have another problem, the sound on the CPH is too quite. The deeper I got into the manual the more scared I got, there were no headings that I could see that said "Volume control" or similar. So that will have to be a question another day for someone else to answer. I have bought a sound unit for one of the NA's yet to be fitted.

As I said in the opening I headed down the shed to start the demolition work. This is slow work as I am trying to reclaim most of the scenery material to reuse on the new layout. Luckily each week my wife brings home Chinese take away and the empty containers are put to good use stockpiling the various types of scenery material. (Must remember to label them all) So far I have managed to put out six plastic bags of scenery. It is not salvageable, so it goes out with the chicken wire as well.

This shot shows the opposite corner from that in the last post. The highest level track was the branch line and the next three were the various sections of the main line. There is quite a variance in the levels here but because of the length of the shed the grades were not steep. What is noticeable is the variation in the timbers I was using for the layout. I figured why spend a lot on new timber when it was all going to be covered up anyway? Contrary to what they say about pyneboard, if it is painted prior to laying track and it doesn't get very wet it should survive. Most of this section of layout is 15 years old.

This lower section of track was laid using code 100 track as it was hidden (See above shot) Again laid on any old timber to hand. The track actually went to a section I called the Power Station. This was where the loaded coal trains would eventually end up after loading way up on the end of the branch, running down to the main, changing locos, then proceeding to Batemans Bay where the train would be divided into smaller units of four or five hoppers. They would then proceed down this branch to be shunted into the "power station" for unloading. A few siding there would allow storing of empties, then they would return up to Batemans Bay for remarshalling into a long train to return to the Candelo Coal mine for re-loading. Well sadly this branch was never operated. It was initially tested but I never got back to finishing it.

Further demolition work was undertaken after lunch. Luckily for me when the manhole was put in 15 years ago I haven't increased in width too much allowing me access still to get closer to the corner. Thinking back the manhole cover used to support a pub, but now the patrons have to seek their drinks elsewhere. Not sure if the new O scale layout will support a hotel or not but I don't think any of the HO men would be able to handle the O scale schooners!

Initially I was trying to re salvage the HO code 75 track but it is hard to get it up without tearing the sleepers from the rails. I need to clear out all the baseboards up this end of the shed so that it can be repainted and the new baseboards built.

The current SCR layout was built into basically a single car garage that I extended back in 1999. It had a previous layout in it that was also demolished to make way for the current layout. In the above photo you can see part of the old baseboard that I couldn't remove. I left the old baseboard frame in position and just used it to support the new risers to carry the new layout. It is like an archival dig, where the old layout resurfaces. The rough looking cut on the right supported the track down to the power station. Unfortunately at the time of construction I didn't own a variable speed electric drill, but had an electric screwdriver. So all the frame was constructed with slotted screws. I hope these can be removed easily.

So on the first day of 2016 that's where we are up to on SCR. Hope you all stay along for the journey.

RIP SCR

Well the heading says it all. I have thought over and over of how I would word this blog. Its not easy but if I had to put the words into an executive summary it would be along the lines of "We bring you sad news that the South Coast Railway is closing down"
To any long time viewers of the blog there has been a complete absence of any new works on the railway. True new models have come along and their photos were taken on scenic sections of the line. But that was the limit of the work done.
The current layout is 15 years old. Not that old compared with some layouts. The trackwork is complete and most of the scenery has also been done. Lima 44's and 422's were replaced with the later models from Trainorama and Auscision.

The year 2000. A Lima 44 and 42 haul a train into Bega. Track laying has just begun

Now there must be a reason for this decision. Well there was no one thing that made me decide to end it all. I had done plans for a revised layout plan, was getting ready to string overhead wiring for the obtained 46 and L class electrics. But as I sat down in the shed , looked at it all, the size and emormity of it all, I knew it was time for a change. Apparently being a railway modeller and changing your mind occupy the same part of the brain so its no wonder it happens so often.
I also check out Model Railroaders forums and recently I noticed a guy called 'Middleman' who had a magnificent Union Pacific railroad. Next thing he is putting up shots of the layout being torn down and the start of a new On30 layout. Now he didn't give any reason for doing this but this made me feel better when I realised I would be doing this soon as well. There is also a gene in humans that gets satisfaction from destroying things. This feeling apparently is stronger if the thing you are destroying doesn't belong to you. Now when you have to destroy your own layout you have spent countless hours building it is a different matter. To some extent this feeling of sadness can be lessened if you are thinking ahead to what will be in that spot next as opposed to what is there now.
 So what's happening on South Coast Rail? The demise of the layout has been known to a few close friends earlier than this blog has let on.
Most of the rolling stock has gone. The garratt now resides up at Wauchope on the north coast many engines are scattered around Sydney. The complete train of twenty BCH coal hoppers was sold as one lot.
Most of the building were transplanted to new layouts, and many of them now reside on a northern based layout near on the north shore. I think I was given visiting rights to make sure they have settled in okay.
This is going to be a huge task demolishing the layout. None of the layout was designed to be moved and has been fixed into position against the walls and the supported section in the middle. In building the layout I was using any materials I had on hand. The pyneboard from cupboards was used for baseboards because it was on hand. (i.e. free) I was not fussy what size, colour or condition some of the supporting timbers were. As long as they did their job they could stay for the long run. Anyhow it was all to be covered in and over.
Another bonus to removing the layout will be that I will be able to get rid of so much crap that I seem to collect. Last weekend at the local council streetside clean up I threw out four doors that had been under the layout since 2000. If I hadn't used them in that long then I am never going to use them. I also keep my working tools, drills etc in the shed as it is lockable. Another issue is that it was last painted back in 2000, so 15 years later it is looking a bit shabby. 'Possum corner' (regular readers will know where that is) is a standout in skidmarks and squashed daddy longlegs. Repairing the possum doorway (hole in the roof) into the trainroom was eventfull. With one foot on the ladder and the other on the layout it took a bit of doing.

 

 

Now to show you that it is really happening I have included the above four photos above. These were taken near Possum Corner. The bottom shot still has the platform of Narooma.
The good news is that bags of South Coast Railway scenery are available for $3.00 a bag. Some pieces were hammered to get them into the bags but all the pieces are there, some will just take a little longer to re-assemble.

So that's the news South Coast Rail as such no longer exists and soon a new railway will emerge as the Sapphire Coast Railway. By renaming it that way I can still use the SCR letters.

On the last to posts I was trying to be very subtle by putting up a few pictures of an NA I had recently bought. No one seemed to bite, but there was the clue to what was coming. I will be modelling On30 Victorian Narrow gauge railways.
I will finish off with these two pictures with my 'virgin' NA's and the next post will outline more of the demise of this SCR and more of the new SCR. I hope no-one is too shocked by this news and you stay for the new journey into the world of narrow gauge.

Seems like there is a problem with the second log wagon support

Load trials

The South Coast railway is in an area where many new locos are taken for running in and loads trials.
Recently I had a friend Wayne bring up his newly released West Australian Haskell L class loco.
It wasn't hard to miss. I think it is where they got the idea to make safety vests in orange. To compensate for this brightness a blue band was put horizontally along the loco.
Trials were successful.  The photographer caught up with the train at Bodalla where a triple header train hauled by a B, Y and T was passed by the L class on trial.
A few photos of the trial are here below.

Looking Back

Over the last few blogs I have been giving gentle hints that all's not well at SCR. The blog updates when they appeared have been few and far between and they were mainly to show new locos I had bought. Many had been on order for quite a while. Although now retired from the workforce, and the understanding that you now have plenty of time to devote to your hobby, well it hasn't worked out that way.

All I can see for the past two years effort is the rebuilding of Candelo.

Candelo - June 2008 Original Terminus

Candelo - July 2014 Rebuilt and looking in opposite direction from above photo

 While this was enjoyable to replan and rebuild, this was only part of a complete rebuild I had planned for the layout. I had been restless for a while contemplating whether a change would get me out of the rut I was in.

I considered building a busy British terminal layout where train would come in, locos changed after being sent to the depot for recoaling, watering and turning. A plan was devised and drawn out. Now for some reason I went off that idea even after purchasing a copy of the Railway Modeller Annual for 2015.

Proposed British terminal layout

 Then there was consideration for a small intense American shunting type layout where many sidings could be shunted and trains broken up and re marshalled. I regularly visit the Model Railroader forums as well as the Model Railroad Hobbyist forum and read their monthly e magazines.

I was getting frustrated with the layout. I only had a small fleet of locomotive numbering under 20. These were still DC as I hadn't made the jump for an extra 'C' to become a DCC modeller. Rolling stock had been slowly pruned back over the past few years, getting rid of many superseded models and ones that didn't fit the era. Why would I need 6 Lima TAM sleepers? These were models we seemed to accumulate, we always planned to convert these twelve wheelers to "another code" but it never happened. We always believed that if they were kept under the layout long enough a ready to run model would eventually appear.

Another idea I had was to have just a small layout, a spaghetti bowl with a mix of electric changing over to steam/diesel to make it operationally interesting. This got to the planning stages with the proposed diagram shown here. It didn't get built but was an interesting project. Small trains and small locos to match.

The current layout was started back in 1999 after the former 20 x 12 single garage had a 4 x 4 metre extension added on. As I said to the wife when we had a concrete truck coming to pour the floor for a family room extension, it would be a shame to waste it. So that's when the shed got extended. If you find yourself in a similar position, tell the wife that it will add capital value to the house if you ever decide to sell it.

Not wanting to push my luck too far with the finances, I decided to erect the shed extension myself. I did woodwork for two years at school and hoped this would get me through the build. Google and Youtube wasn't a big thing back then but with a set square and Pythagoras theorum in my head I started the rebuild. I remember having to demolish the rear wall of the shed so it could join up with the new section. I don't think the asbestos hoodoo was a big thing back then, so the back wall was taken down and disposed of. So far so good I am still here fifteen years later. But the thing that nearly put an end to everything was when I had to remove the back window. It was rather large and after I had sawn through the nails holding it in, I then tried to ease it out and lower it to the ground. Doing it single handed, little did I realise that it must have been quarter inch glass or something similar. So when it came out free of the frame it fell straight down to the ground, knocking me off the ladder. Luckily it didn't break itself or me. A bonus was that I got to recycle the old kitchen window from the house to be used in the shed. Who cares if it was mission brown? The shed was eventually completed (and still stands today) It was lined, painted blue and more flouros fitted.

The old layout in the original garage was slowly dismantled, a new design worked out. The final plan was eventually decided upon and a panel was made. Being DC, I decided to provide a panel that would operate each section of track with a gang of 5 push buttons. These pushbuttons originally had eight buttons on them but I removed three as I thought I would never have eight operators at the one time. Don't think I have even had four controllers plugged in. This way any of five controllers all could have access to every section of the layout. 

The panel took a while to complete. It was done on a sheet of perspex that had each side protected with brown paper. The idea was to draw the final layout plan in reverse on the backside of the perspex. 5mm strips were then carefully cut out with a razor blade, gently peeled back and painted a single colour for each powered section.

Finished Panel Central control

 This took a while to do and then hole had to be drilled for the push buttons. Also the holes for the push buttons for the point motors and other various switches. I had to be careful that the gangs of push button didn't infringe on each other on the backside of the panel. Then many hours were spent wiring it all up and running out the power wires to the various sections.

Backside of panel

 

The design of the layout had to be final as it was almost impossible to add or change the panel once the brown paper was cut on the backside.  When the last of the track sections had been cut out and painted, then a spray of black gloss paint was sprayed all over the back. This then sealed it all and when viewed from the front provided a panel that couldn't be scratched off. The panel has been successful. Everything went okay except for one operating session when one section wouldn't work. But the train took off when I opened the panel and stopped when it was closed again. Rather than try and solve the problem there and then I spent the rest of the session opening the panel each time a train would enter the problem section. It was eventually sorted out. You hope when you first do the panel that if you do it properly then you shouldn't have any issues later on.

(To be continued next posting)

Whats the time? 1:48(pm)

All quite on the South Coast front

Been very quite lately along the south coast. A check of the funeral notices each day in the papers shows I haven't made that column yet. So all good.
I'll put up a few recent photos, to "keep the faith" as the Moody Blues say at the end of their concerts.

See ya next blog.