LCA
That stands for Lights, Camera, Action. I received a call on Friday saying that my camcorder was ready to collect. It was picked up after work and it was hard to resist getting it out of the box on the train home and having a good look.That was done after dinner and the battery was put on the charger. I re-read the manual and like any good product there is a certain amount you can nut out yourself.
The model camcorder is a Sony HDR - XR550V and seems to be top of the range for their range of hand held cam corders. It has a 240G hard drive, 12mp still photo shots, 5.1 sound and the capability of filming in very low light. Its only maybe drawback is the 10x optical zoom. This shouldn't be any problem videoing the layout though. It has a digital zoom though, but this aspect hasn't been tested yet.
Saturday morning saw the camera see daylight again. I took it for a walk to the local station to try it out on some moving trains. What I also forgot to mention earlier was that it is also equipped with a GPS tagging system. The manual on this item is full of techno babble but all you had to do was switch the GPS on and open a top flap so your camera can talk to the satelites. Of course this is no good using indoors unless you have a hole in the roof.
I only managed to film a few suburbans and intercity trains. I was hoping for a GM led freighter to test the sound but none came. Thats for another day.
I was able to view the results on the 3.5" camera screen and they looked OK. At home I plugged it into the computer widescreen monitor and enjoyed the takings. I also tested the GPS facility and when I looked at the result it correctly had me positioned north of the station where I took the video from.
Another good reason for getting the camera sooner than later was that Sony was offering a free version of Movie Studio 9 (a video editing programme) when certain HD camcorders were bought but only till the 12th July.
I am mailing off today for my free copy and it won't be until I can download the programme will I be able to put some sort of movie together. In the meantime I can look ahead on Youtube at the many tutorials on this subject.
Saturday night saw me and the camera head off to the shed to take some footage of the layout. Again I must confess the star of the clips was the only sound loco I possess - the Garratt. (Hurry up with the 40 class will ya Ron). At least filming a sound loco you can readily identify its position on the layout. I concentrated on one end of the layout, namely around the gully area as this is the most complete in regards to scenery.
Another feature of the camera and only on this model as far as I can see is that it has a rear viewfinder that can be used without having the side viewfinder flipped out. What this means is that it should be narrow enough to be placed on a flat wagon and propelled along for that on train view.
Lastly I checked out the low light capabilities. With all the shed lights off I was able to film the garratts progress along the line with just the headlight showing the way. It was clear enough to be able to discern the scenery as it passed by. Very impressive. And so far I can recommend this camcorder.
I have included a clip here of the garratt heading down the valley.
Also a few shots from the vault from around the layout

This weekend was Sydneys second major model railway exhibition (after Forestville) even closer to home when it was held at the Brickpit Stadium at Thornleigh.
My major intent was to clear the decks of surplus items and create a cashflow for some of the new products coming onto the market. Its surprising how it all adds up. The Friday night drop off came as a bit of a surprise. I regularly pass the outside of the Brickpit to and from work each day and thought they would be doing well to fill this one.
But on Friday night I realised that the exhibition was held on a single basketball court and the other three courts were busy with the sound of bouncing balls. The place is much larger when viewed from inside. The floor area was much better than the Epping Boys High School and from talking to people and feedback from forums it seems all are happy with new venue. It looks at this stage that it will be there for at least another two years (and many more I hope).
There was a good mix of layouts and trade stands and I was able to get some more MiniNature products for the layout. I also purchased some single lamps for Bodalla platform so the passengers can see where the edge of the platform is.
I had a visit on Sunday afternoon from Ray Pilgrim who has the Bylong layout. I had the pleasure of visiting Bylong last year when Blair and Lance from Texas visited. It was a very enjoyable night. I did my best to run a train but when the train reached Bega station it was uncoupled on the water effected baseboard. Oh well that can be another future Blog topic to bore you with. Ray's layout has at least some flat areas that doesn't require cliff edges. Maybe the next layout.
Hope to be taking delivery soon of a Sony camcorder and after the learning curve will post some more video clips on the blog. It will be a few years away but I would like to do a complete film of South Coast Rail, at least if I'm sent to the nursing home I can sit back and enjoy the memories.
I happened to be trackside this arvo and got a few shots of 42110 cruising around the layout. I hope you appreciate the last shot as I had to climb a tall tree to get it.

Here we go again
Well I'd like to start tonights blog off with a photo of the gully region. If you are a person that only likes good news, have a look at the photo and then close off. The photo is one taken a while ago as I didn't get any work done on the layout this weekend.
Saturday morning comes and I got a visit from Brad from Canberra (http://armchairmodellerdownunder.blogspot.com) to see the progress on SCR. Brad used to live at an adjoining suburb, but has recently moved to Canberra where he can now enjoy the extremes of weather. So until he can get his mans shed fixed up for his layout and insulated he will either get dressed up as an eskimo in winter or strip off in the heat of summer.
Due to the heavy rain during the week this was the first time I had entered the shed. All looked well as I was confident the grand I had spent on the roof was the end of my leak problems. Wrong. Looking at the end of the platforms the ballast looked noticeably darker and on closer inspection there was swelling from the old pineboard.
The last time this section copped a hiding from the weather was back in October 2007 when the Pasha Bulka was washed a shore in Newcastle. I replaced the affected section with ply (what I should have used from the start) and there was still a small strip of pyneboard between the two sections still remaining. I was reluctant to replace this bit as it had a few points on it and it will be hard to rematch up the ballast work. Well this was the section that had been water affected and now looks like will need a rebuild soon.
So much for my recent 'Last post' and the reroof. I think the problem lies with the lower roof where it butts up against the front shed. I reckon the water was flowing up hill. Any way it remains a future subject to bore you with.
I got together the last bits for the upcoming second hand stall to raise funds for new purchases for SCR. I came across a pile of old code 100 track that was from the layout and had now been replaced by code 75 track. I had offered it free to anyone that wanted it but no one wanted it. So taking advantage of the local council clean up this weekend I wrapped a pile of wire around it and placed it out on the street on our contribution to land fill. I am pleased to say that after being there for a few hours it was gone. No I'm not sure if it was taken by a guy who wanted the copper wire holding the bundle together or a nickel silver merchant, but I hope it went to a local model railway enthusiast.

I've got piles.
Sorry don't want to alarm you and no I'm not referring to any medical condition. I was doing a bit of a scratch around of the shed today looking for items that are no longer wanted and fit for an upcoming second hand stall to raise some cash for all the new products flooding the market.
It surprising how much stuff you have that is no longer needed. I will be putting a few wagons in that have been replaced with superior models.
Like most of us out there we all have boxes of kits that have been put aside for the rainy day with all good intentions that one day we will find the time to put them together.
This must be at least the second sweep through my unbuilt collection of kits. Our most precious commodity especially the older you get is time. A great example of this was the DJH 32 class kit that resided in a dark box for over 12 years. The statement that if you wait long enough a RTR will come along held true with the 32. Trainorama had announced they were doing the 32 class and thats when the fate of the blue box of bits and pieces met its end with me. The kit was sold at the Epping Model Rail exhibition second hand stall and although I had to make up the difference in cost, I was handed over a very nice model that ran as soon as the juice was turned on. The 32 was going to be my first white metal kit to be assembled.
Following the 32 class I also purchased the DJH 36 and 50 class kits. These kits met a similar fate. When the Austrains 36 came along the 36 was similiarly despatched the same way as the 32 class. The 50 class was onsold to a guy from work. I was a bit premature with the 50 class as all the forums were saying a local hobby shop were going to do the standard goods range. I now regret this descision as it seems they will be years away and it would have made up into a nice kit.
A DJH 30T kit I had was assembled by a friend ( he wanted practice - go for it I said) and the kit made up into a nice model. The only trouble is that is has not yet been painted. But a few more years of grime fallout onto the loco should see it blackened all over. This loco with regards to painting it has fallen into the same situation as assembling white metal kits. I think its the learning curve that maybe scaring me off. I can imagine soldering the steam dome and missing (Bugger just put a great dent in it with the hot soldering iron). Ah well maybe my answer is to go all diesel fleet or wait till we get ready to run steam models.Pictured above is a box of bits and pieces and kits waiting their turn to be dragged out of the darkness, be painted up and placed onto the layout. Don't we all say "I had better get one of those because they might not be around much longer." This is quite true in many cases. But imagine if we didn't do this how many kits less manufacturers would need to make. This box contains kits such as goods sheds, weighbridges and heaps of the fantastic Uneek range that have been earmarked for places on the layout.
I think when the scenery is suitably advanced and near finished, I will dig out this box again and make a start on some of the fine aspects of detailing the layout.
But for now the box is back under the layout awaiting the call.

Was there an April?
Looking at my last post it was dated March. Seems so long ago. April was a busy month not so much modelling but other things that keep you away from the shed.
Much of the time has been taken up around Bodalla, mainly getting rid of the white cliffs at the back of the platform. Its a long slow process initially to get the plaster down and then to get the colouring right.
After all thats done then comes the slow process of putting up the greenery to make the cliffs realistic.
The platform has recently started receiving the 'tarred' surface courtesy of some 400 wet and dry sandpaper.This will be mainly be at the exit end of the platform and the far end will just have a narrow strip near the edge and the classic crushed limestone courtesy of Chucks Ballast to finish off towards the cliff edge and add some variety on the platform surfaces.
The SM at Bodalla is a keen gardener and he plans to eventually have a garden good enough to enter into the annual gardening competitions.It will be a while before the platform is finished. I will be adding station nameboards, seats, Uneek station lights and station weighing scales as it progresses.The last shot shows a 49 class arriving at Bodalla with the afternoon passenger to Bega. The 44 class is a light engine movement heading for Narooma where it will bed down for the night being rostered for a livestock special the next day.
Sometimes I wonder if I will ever finish the layout, but I only have to look back on the computer at the photos taken in the same spot five years ago, and then I think 'Nah we're getting there!

White Cliffs of Bodalla
I don't need to go to England to see the White Cliffs of Dover when I can now go down to the shed and see the White Cliffs of Bodalla.
I don't know how much longer I will be able to use 'Its too hot to paint" excuse but this weekend allowed a few hours to get plastered and commence on the cliff behind Bodalla. I crunched up bits of foam , dipped them into the plaster mix and then set them against the chicken wire. I find to get the effect I am looking for is not to have the plaster too wet, other wise it comes out too smooth.
I work with three spraycan lids worth of plaster at a time, some water and a dash of vinegar, and a dash to the worksite and into action.
I didn't take any photos of white plaster, I'm sure you all know what it looks like. With a few days off over Easter I'm sure a bit of colouring to the plaster will appear. Once the cliff behind Bodalla station is complete then I can commence on doing the platform up.
Some time ago I made up a board for a local friend as the start of his Victorian branch line. It was portable enough to take outside and work on it in the sun. (Nice in winter) One of the side benefits of working in the sun is the great light it provides for photos. I've included a few on here as being stuck on a hard drive they will never see the light of day.

Happy Anniversary.
Where has a year gone? Looking back over some old blogs I realised it was now over a year ago since I started this blog. How time flies when your having fun.
As I have always reckoned blogs are a great electronic diary and good to look back on.
I decided to concentrate on finishing the signal box I started last weekend. Saturday and a bit of the night and I had all the posts and railings and steps attached. The posts and railings were cast and even with a fair bit of sanding to finish smooth the end results could have been better. I made the railings out of some North Eastern stripwood and while being a more realistic size than what came with the kit still had wood fuzz thats noticeable close up.
The water tank stand was assembled and a 1000 gallon tank was weathered up and placed on the stand. All that is missing is the water tap at the bottom.
Photos? Yes I took about fifteen but I was not happy with any of them and all are now in the recycle bin. I took some shots on macro and wow you can see how crook I finished the model off.
But if you look at it from the normal viewing distance it looks fine.
So thats another weekend of modelling gone and after around eight hours work I have a signal box for Bodalla.
While I was looking through the photos of the signal box I came across a video I took of some visitors Southern Shorthaul equipmentwhen they came to SCR last October, so I will upload in lieu of the signal box photos.

Me time
After doing a few jobs before lunch on Saturday, I decided on a bit of me time in the afternoon. Continuing on from last weekend I will be concentrating on Bodalla for a while. The main reason for this is the large amount of complaints I'm getting from passengers regarding the state of the platform.
They complain about "there's no seats to sit on", 'no garden to look at", 'the station building is here one day and gone the next". So to shut the wingers up I will finish Bodalla platform.
I was working on the lift out section of cliff stapling the chicken wire onto the former, and wouldn't you know it my $5 staple gun fired its last staple. Dropping it onto the floor also didn't help. Like all things in this throw away society it ended up in the bin and a promise to get another one on Sunday.
Unable to complete the scenery, I went to the list of things to complete on the layout before I die, and Item 765 was a signal box for Bodalla. Into the box of 284 things I need to construct I found a kit for a fibro (call it asbestos if you want) signal box. It was a Hawksmoor kit my first one to put together. I was a bit hesitant working with asbestos however the instructions told me it was a resin kit so I commenced its construction. By 9.0pm I had the walls, base and roof together waiting for Sunday for more work to be done on it. I can recommend the kit, it is well thought out and the parts go together well and fills in the hole of NSWGR infrastructure.
After rolling out of the cot around 9.0am (my weekend present to myself) it was off to the shops for groceries, back to read the Sunday paper, lunch, Landline, Gardening Australia, then back to me time.
I felt a bit guilty returning to the shed, after all there was a cupboard waiting repainting. But the draw of the signal box was stronger. I grey primed it and after it had dried, I commenced to paint it. Using the coloured picture from Branchline Modeller 3, I started with the base and then the sides and lastly with the roof. The finish is certainly not a pristine new finish but hopefully a reasonable weathered one. Also discovered a bit left over in the bag and when I read the instructions found out that I had forgotten to put the floor in. Oh well I'll have to employ taller signalmen. By next weekend I hope to get the glazing in and the handrails as well. Sitting beside the track now it looks OK.
I also bought another staple gun to complete the scenery work. The staple gun had now increased in price to $8. I had to convince the guy in the hardware shop that I wasn't running an upholstery shop and that I didn't need one of his $44 staple guns. The last one held out for about four years and I hope this one will as well.
I also must admit I like keeping an eye on all the other blogs to follow the progress of other modellers. I always head for Craigs Shed first as his blog list shows when either the blogs have been updated or thats when he must visit them. I'm glad his DCC is working out Ok for him.
Well maybe next blog I will have a photo of the finished signal box.

Tunnel Vision
Sunday night and I have just come from Craigs Shed (http://ca55ino.blogspot.com/blog) to see what his achievements for the week have been. Craig would have to be one of the most regular bloggers, but when I was reading his post tonight it wasn't until I got to the fifth paragraph before I started to understand what he was on about.
The first four paragraphs were devoted to the ddc-ish language of which I don't speak. I suppose it all makes sense to those that understand dcc. Don't get me wrong its all good but for now I'll stick with the old DC. In the future I'll be like the guy thats still got a computer that can read floppy discs. They'll be saying in future 'Take your old loco over to South Coast Rail, that old fart still has DC and you can get a run there'
Today I started on the cliff that divides Bodalla and Candelo the branch terminus. At well over two metres long, behind it runs a hidden track. So far this is the last section of the layout to see plaster. The reasoning is if a train derails behind the chicken wire I can see it and reach up and rerail it. I laid this section of track as well as I could and it has been reasonably derailment free. With Murphy often visiting the layout i was sure if I sealed the full length of the cliff, derailment would start occuring.
So to get around this, I am making a section of the cliff removable to enable me to fix any derailment problems. It will not be the full length of the cliff, so in true Murphy fashion all my derailments will now occur to the left and right of said removable section.The photo shows the early days for the removable section. Once this section is completed then I can make a start on finishing Bodalla platform.
I am also posting some photos I found in the archives taken around five years ago. How time flies.

The Last Post.
No don't get excited, this is not the last post ever, but hopefully the 'last post' about the leaky roof.
I received a phone call at work last Thursday from the hardware man, saying that the corrugated roofing has arrived.
Arriving there I saw this long length or corro that need loading onto the roof rack of his four wheel drive. With just a small 'T' piece strapped to the bull bar for support, one by one we loaded these 7.5 metre long sheets on board. A quick tie down to the roof racks and we were on our way.
We headed off down a single lane road doing all of 40 clicks and soon a wagon train of cars grew behind the 4WD.
Eventually we made it to the highway which was at least two lanes wide, allowing cars on their way home to pass.
He backed into the driveway and we then had to unload these sheets one by one again. We found the easiest way to get these to the back yard was to place them on our heads and walk them in.
Six sheets later and they were on the ground waiting for stage 2 today.
There was no rain about today, only the hot boiling sun. I started early getting up on the roof and cutting branches back as well as getting the screws lifted.
My daughter and future son in law arrived and we got straight into it. Off came the first row of iron and I was surprised to discover that every rat in the district had decided to live in my roof.As can be seen from the great hole in the above photo this appears to be the lounge room of one of the residents.
Now can you work this out. Where has all the fibreglass insulation gone to? If us humans go into the roof to install, its wear a long sleeve shirt, long pants, don't forget the gloves and never go up without a face mask and breath in all that dust and fibres which they say can kill.Well apparently the rats must be immune to that sort of thing because there were rooms, passageways and a ton more insulation missing since the day it was put in. Any way I hope these rats were all from the same family that were eliminated on a previous post. I had a few pieces of insulation left over which I managed to put in. Then on the news tonight we find out that Mr 'Midnight Spoil' has cancelled the insulation rebate. Then there were shots of hundreds of rolls of insulation that were going to be laid out on the lawns of Parliament House being loaded into the back of protest vehicles. Gees guys one roll would have done me if you had any spare.After a well deserved break and some lunch we got back into it and eventually the six sheets were laid. I was tired towards the end, and found out there is no such thing as a 'sat on a hot tin roof''. It was boiling.The photo above is the first and last shot of the roof you are likely to see. And I hope to be able to get back into some modelling soon.

Give it a break
A recent link to a Youtube site showing a clip of Nickel Plate 765 and Pere Marquette 1225 made me want to see more than just the tempting trailer. They recreated the bygone days of a freight train with the relevant era vehicles. Also staged was the placement of old road vehicles at level crossings and around trackside structures.
A chance mention of this clip to a work collegue revealed he had the full dvd and brought it in for me to watch. So I got the chance to view it this morning.He did happen to warn me that there was a bit of whistle blowing. Boy was he not wrong. Amongst some brilliant filming was this incessant need for the driver (and assuming his mate on the other side of the cab) to hang off the whistle cord. I can accept it is mandatory to do this approaching level crossings but not every bloody time the cab crew got the film crew in their sites.
This whistle blowing issue is not just restricted to this dvd. Most others I have viewed suffer the same problem.
Out of the many run pasts, maybe three had no whistle. Maybe the filmcrew were up a tree and remained unspotted. Maybe the safety valves weren't working and the crew were told to reduce pressure this way.
A cab crew member may of had a part time job of a bell ringer at the local church and found the need to play out a tune with the whistle. Just imagine if this dvd had been made in late December, they might have tried to whistle out ' Jingle bells'.
One of the options when commencing the dvd was 'Narration on/Narration off" I went with narration on so as to maybe learn a bit about what I was about to see. I think I should send an email to the producers and suggest that also add a "Whistle off" option.
Anyone else out there noticed this irritation in US productions?

Yeah Its still raining
Well this post will continue on the rain theme mainly because since the last post thats all we have had.
The decision to reroof the main shed was taken last Sunday night when my previous roof patch was looking a little moist around the gills. Yes I will go and order some more corrugated iron no matter what.
As one of my favourite TV segments recently has been the weather section, I duly noted that showers were predicted for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
I had discovered that the black crap of the roof joints that had failed in its duty to keep rain out, and was cracked after drying out yet again. Having found the tin of goop buried in the train shed, I duly climbed up the ladder towards the roof knowing this would be the last time I would be doing this. I was even happy to sacrifice a brush to the cause to apply the goop. With failing light I slapped on the goop and headed down the ladder, cleaned up and headed indoors. Saturday was going to be order new iron day.
Friday night and its home from work, a quick pizza and get ready to head off for our groups regular get together. Tonight was Phils turn and we were eager to see his new layout room that was completely renovated over the past months.
There is one thing that we can almost guarantee on our nights it that storms and rain will happen.
We got to Phils OK and saw this bright light shining down from the garage. Where are my sunnies? Well compared with the previous effort this was one of the best set ups I had seen. A ton of lighting, and painted sky blue walls. Inside was a baseboard and complete with a circuit of track which was identified as the lower staging level of what will be a two level layout.
It is going to be based on the Broadmeadow/Newcastle area and includes a small branch.
It was after a while in the layout room when the heavens opened up and down came the rain.
The problem was all the cakes, tea and coffee were upstairs, but we made it eventually. Refreshments were partaken, and a rail dvd on double header steam and a New Zealand were viewed.
The rain was bucketing down at this stage and looking out of the dining room window towards the rockwall, we now noticed Phil had acquired a waterfall, which wasn't there the previous day.
On our way home, one last check of the train room showed that it had held up to the might of the storm. Lucky Phil. I was hoping my black goop was doing its job back home.
Saturday morning came and two important things were on the agenda. One was to order the corrugated iron and the second was to photograph the restored 4204 heading north to Dungog. It was also supposed to have GM 10 in tow. I was going to go on the trip but decided to divert the funds to the roof appeal.
After a small delay 4204 appeared but not only had GM 10 but also S317 in tow. Well if you like the GM sound, Mt Colah platform was the place to be.
I finally got to see the guy that could put me out of my misery with the roofing. I bit the bullet and decided to get a single lengths for the shed and no joins. It will be colorbond and I picked out a nice light blue color to reflect heat. I haven't got a final price yet but I expect it to be more than a sound garratt. (Ouch I know what I would rather have) Not that I will be able to see the roof from the ground but it should be enjoyable to countless number of traffic helicopters that seem to report on the prangs and peak hour traffic on the local F3 freeway.
A timely visit from my future son in law in the afternoon will hopefully allow reroofing to be carried out soon. He has kindly offered to help.
High winds and rain will not be welcome. Watch the blog soon.

Go West - Warragamba needs you.
Last night I decided to visit the shed. As those of you who reside on the east coast of Orstralia would know we have had a ton of rain this week.
So as I gingerly opened the door and slowly cast my eyes roofbound it all appeared to be there and no dripping bits. Great, any shed that has come through the last couple of days without a leak is doing well. I kept looking at the two hundred projects that I need to do and couldn't decide on any of them.
Stuff it all I will drive a train round the layout, after all thats what its all about isn't it? In order to do a complete lap involves closing a hinged section and line up two sections of track. Well thanks to the rain we have been getting, the wooden hinged section appears to have swollen and the rails didn't join up. And naturally I didn't get to drive a train last night. So that was the end of that and I came inside and did a bit of computer work.
Sunday and after filling up the green bin with garden refuse, I needed a break and decided to go visit the shed again. And after another night of heavy rain I again checked the roof as I went in. All appeared well until I noticed a pool of water on the floor. I have traced this water to a build up on the outside wall and it has decided to take a shortcut through my shed. Luckily this doesn't affect the baseboard so no real damage was done.
Then aargh! I noticed the ballast looked considerably darker at the end of Bega platform. Yes wet and some pooling on the floor. If you remember a previous thread where the bats and rat poop have crashed down it appears this section was in trouble again.
Out comes the ladder and up onto the roof I go. It appears no matter how much gooey black crap you stick over the joins, it eventually dries out, cracks and back to square one. More rain in. Of course we don't notice leaks when it doesn't rain.
What the problem with the roof is that on the original shed roofing iron only came in certain lengths and this shed roof needed a small section at the end to finish off. So I have decided to only way to completely cure the problem is to order in longer sheets of gal and redo the last section. And then I might be able to stop blogging about bloody leaks in the roof.
Almost as annoying as the leaks is the number daddy long leg spiders that reside in the shed. The smart ones are hidden away under the baseboards and the dumb one are clearly visible ready for the vacuum cleaner. I missed my chance about two weeks ago when I saw a mummy long legs had given birth to about fifty or so kiddy short legs. Last time I looked for them they had left the web. I wouldn't mind them if they would only stay up on the roof but they insist on visiting the layout and making bloody webs all over the scenery and its a pain to remove.
Another spider has decided to build a home in the sliding window and has used the buildings for the Candelo Canning Factory to drape his web over. Maybe if their webs were green, then they would look like vines.
So as you can see this weekend has been a downer. Then as I was looking around the future Bega Loco area I noticed a heap of black dots on a piece of white styrene. So on closer inspection it appeared to be an ant graveyard. I can only guess they have taken up residence in the ceiling above and then when they cark it, they just dump bodies and parts and other rubbish down towards the layout from the flourescent light above. Obviously no dignity in the ant world, just get the parts and chuck them out. Surely if you were married to an ant, just keeping your husbands head to one side wouldn't hurt anybody.A little bit different to the usual model photo with a train in it, I have included a photo of exhibit A showing the above ground cemetery for ants. If they weren't dead when they were chucked out of the crack, they would have been when they hit the styrene. One wonders why all the resident daddy long legs don't wonder over and help themselves to a meal. Maybe if I put up a sign "Hungry Cracks Takeaway" they'd come.
Well sorry I couldn't be more rail oriented this post but I have to tell it as it happens.

Maiden runs

I guess one of the advantages of having a layout is the ability to host friends models for a run on South Coast Rail.

So although I don’t model the modern era I know that if a train of container wagons gets a run on the layout, at the end of the day it will be packed up and gone home with the owner. Not that I have anything against container trains I prefer the variety of the older trains with their greater selection of wagon types.

Although I don’t possess a 38 class, South Coast Rail has been the test bed for models 3801 and also 3827, both resplendent in green.

Today was 3827’s turn and apart from the vibration noise in the tender performed quite well.

Here is a selection of shots of 3827 on her maiden run on SCR.

Wascally Wabbit.

Thanks guys for all the rabbit stew recipes sent in. I have decided to include to the blog a picture of 'Rusty'.

Now while this blog is mainly on model railways, the only thing is Rustys defence and stay of the cooker is that he is interested in model railways.

If you look at the picture below you will see that he has picked out his next pile of model railway magazines for reading. As you can see that pile is going to take him ages to get through. The majority of his day is spent eating and generally sitting around looking stupid. So I welcome his new found interest in model railways and hope he doesn't demand the light being left on at night so he can get through reading the mags.

I tried the red eye reduction on his picture but his eye is that freekin big it didn't seem to work. Normally his eyes are blue and only turn red after a heavy night of drinking.

A New Year

Well its been a while since the last post mainly because there has been nothing doing on the layout to report of.

Christmas and New Year has been and gone and I am two thirds through the holiday break and I have been doing mainly sanding and painting bedrooms. Unfortunately this work has to be done.

I had gone to the paint shop again this morning to get yet another 4 litres of bedroom paint and overheard the man behind the counter telling another customer that today because it was going to be in the high thirties that "It will be too hot to paint today" This was also in response to my statement "Gee this should be a good paint drying day today"

With the "too hot to paint" words still ringing in my ears I met up with my wife in the shopping centre and told her these very words. Being the great wife she is, she had no problems with me having a 'painting' day off.

What to do. I had an idea that I wanted to try and construct some 'blackboys'. If you don't happen to know what they are you can also google 'grasstree'. This is what the thought police want us to call them now so as not to offend?

I eventually got all the ingredients together and have made the first three that have been stuck into a bit of scenery to see how they would go. I am fairly pleased with the first couple but will hopefully improve on the next batch.   They come in all shapes and sizes and by the similar sizes of these three I would say they are all related having grown up in the same area.

I have also included two other shots around the tunnel exit, one of a 421 class and the other of a 49 class in the same area

  I am not sure how much I will get done in the next week down the shed. I want to tick the boxes with the rooms redone. One room will become a study and will have the computers set up in there. This blog is being typed from the servery with all the components being spread out on the bench top. The new case was left out on the lounge one night by mistake. The next morning there was a pile of cut wires and soon the penny dropped that the house rabbit 'Rusty' had been up to his old tricks and chewed the computer cables and rendered the unit useless.

Does anyone out there have any good rabbit recipes they can send me?

Picnic Day
Yesterday was the work picnic day. My days of heading out to the area of Sydney that is always hotter than anywhere else at Penrith (west of Sydney) are thankfully over. The kids used to enjoy going there but now I am able to dedicate the day for me.
The past few years I have had Bruce (the plate man from previous thread below) come up and have a running afternoon. He has a huge range of locos to choose from and has chosen Norfolk and Western as his main American interest railroad. I had my first listen of a sound loco when he brought up an N & W 'A' class engine. This was a huge loco and we soon found out my NSWGR tunnel portals were certainly smaller than the locos outline. I am sure with the size and weight of this loco if we had a run up to the tunnel it would have managed to get to the other side and reprofiled the loading gauge at the same time, but i declined the offer. So it was relegated to a long straight stretch all day.
On the day he brought up two Delaware and Hudson RS11's on their maiden runs. After having a few laps aound the layout I suggested we give them a run up to Candelo and then up to the mine for loading.
A coalie with 20 BCH's and a brakevan was already down in Bega yard so the locos backed on and set off for Candelo. They took the branch at Bega South Junction and then started the climb. After taking the loop at Kameruka, controllers were swapped over so it was easier to drive and shunt near Candelo.

Now just to make things interesting at Candelo there was already a train of 5 BCH's in the siding and 7 BCH's up on the mine branch. This then gave a total of 32 BCH's at Candelo and the mine to be loaded.
When you look at the track design for Candelo it is not a generic NSWGR style. I tried to design a bit of mongrel into it to make it more interesting for the operator. We were lucky this day as there were no passenger trains wanting to interupt our shunting and the goods yard was fairly empty allowing a bit more room to shove loaded coal hoppers.
Well for the next hour or so we went through the motions to get rakes of 9 BCH's and a van at a time to the mine for loading. Three kadee magnets up there allow for the loco to uncouple from the train, then run round. The next magnet at the rear of the train uncouples the brake van which is then placed into the run round road. The loco returns to the train, pushes through the loader and when done shunts the train over to the runround road and reattaches the brakevan. This then taken down to Candelo and then the next chess move takes place. The loaded hoppers are stored 'somewhere' down at Candelo and the sequence is repeated another three times until all hoppers are loaded.

RS11's AT CANDELO MINE LOADINGRS'11 ABOUT TO HEAD FOR CANDELO

I won't describe the next 72 odd moves that were needed to get the 32 hoppers, brakevan at the rear and the two locos at the front of the train, but it was an enjoyable waste of time. Run round moves had to be carefully planned to leave a track clear for running around. In the end four portions were on different roads and then combined into the one big train. This is the part of the layout I enjoy.The layout has also been designed for differing aspects of running trains:

• Single track so that crosses have to be made at passing loop stations.
• The crossing loop stations have a few sidings to enable shunting to take place.
• The branch terminus has a combination of few or many shunting moves depending on train length and requirements.

It was a great afternoons running and after a break and a bit of dinner, part two of the day happened when we had another later running session with Bob and Andrew. At least everything seemed to be working OK.

One of the train we ran that night was a pristine 47 class and eight new CH coal hoppers. And again after doing a couple of laps of the layout where else to go but back to the coal mine?
The CH hoppers are really nice models with detailed pipework, their only downside being their cost. The sound of the clickety click of new clean wheels on track joints sounds great.
When the train got to Candelo a decision was made to run the complete train to the mine for loading, but because these hoppers are longer than BCH's the runround couldn't be done.

Not to be outdone Bob brought up his newly assembled and painted NA. This was an On2.5 model so track was carefully selected to allow clearances for overhang. Unfortunatly it didn't go and after removing the top it was discovered a loose contact pickup wire had come adrift. It was decided to fix the problem later and just posed for a few photos. And so ended an enjoyable day.

Plates and Palms
Todays blog starts with the letter P. P as in in Plates. And to be precise Depot plates.
These were small oval plates attached under the cab windows of steam locos and on them were the name of the depot the loco was assigned to.The plate above was from Bathurst allocated number 4. It is thought that by screwing these plated on the sides of the locos they would never get lost and find there way back to the home depot.
So imagine one dark and rainy night at Bathurst 3626 backs onto the mail and heads off towards Sydney, it gets there the next morning into Central, then out to Eveleigh to rub pistons with all the other locos that have come in off the South Coast, Newcastle and all points south. The Loco Chargeman is confused and doesn't know where they all belong. And thats where the depot plates made the job easier. That night 3626 takes the Western Mail back to Bathurst. Such a simple idea.
I just threw in that bit above on the depot plates as a warm up for the next bit. One day at work unbeknown to me a mate drops a bag on the desk. And inside I found a couple of unique depot plates that could become collectors items in a few years. They were depot plates with names unique to South Coast Rail.I have placed this plate on the layout edge not only to show it off but to readily identify where the place is behind it.
Not to be outdone Candelo the branch terminus and Narooma also scored depot plates. Luckily these have been cast in aluminium so they won't collapse the layout when attached.So thanks guys for these deepoe (american pronunciation) plates. Really appreciated.

Now for the second "P". I received through the post this week three palm trees ordered some time ago. They took over a month to get here though. So next time I order some I will order small palm trees and they should be medium size by the time they get here. They are nice models having the fronds made of brass I think. Some of the plastic ones just don't look fine enough. One has ended up in Bega loco and the two smaller ones will be planted down at Bodalla. I will take photos of the said palms when their surroundings look a bit more presentable. Bega loco is a long way off at this stage.
And just to end the blog off here are two photos taken at Bega recently.