Further Down the Track

It was the past week that made me wonder why am I doing it? On the ground on my bum with hands extended up to the bottom of the layout trying to get a wire through a hole.
I must be a masochist wanting to go through this rebuild. I was happy with the original design of Candelo, being an interesting place to terminate and shunt and also the accompanying coal mine to add to more shunting interest.
So I have done the easy part the track relaying. Up with the old and down with the new. The only "hard part" was the stretching of the body up and over the layout perched on my Aldi steps. This was for the laying of two industrial sidings, the oil and meat products. Candelo will need these to add some shunting interest.
The next part of the picture was the reconstruction of the control panel. (DDCers can stop reading now). After finishing the art work for the panel it was laminated, cut size and glued to a new piece of ply. Then the push buttons and section switches from the old panel were recycled to the new panel. Its surprising how the amount of wire multiplies when viewed underneath. A day or so spent on the stool with the radio or music in the background for company had most of the components rescrewed and rewired on the new panel. What I was trying to do was to reduce the amount of rewiring by taking sections already wired. To some extent I was trying to see if existing wiring from the old Candelo would already be in place to save re running new wires. But trying to trace out existing wires was almost impossible due to me using the closest wire to hand and with a large roll of red and white wire available it looked like a tribute to the St George Dragons underneath.
Now there was also another problem, a major one. Best described if I liken Candelo to a triangle and on the hypotenuse sat my bookshelf of rail books and reference material. And behind that out of site out of mind was a pile of boxes from all my newer railway purchases. Naturally all shapes and sizes.
I had gone now beyond the point of no return and it had to be done. Even if I had turned to DCC I would still have had to get "under" to wire in the points.
So for the time being I needed a new position for the book shelf. This was found under Bega and eventually the books were all in their new home.
Now returning to the new hole under Candelo I was able to get to the pile of empty rolling stock boxes. Also not surprising was the amount of dirt that gathers over time. I yelled to the spiders that the vacuum cleaner was due soon. This was akin to dropping leaflets over a town before the bombs were due. When removing the bookshelf I remembered the floor wasn't painted either, out of sight out of mind.
Further along the layout directly below the control panel was another "street clean up find". It was similar to a book shelf in that it provided two shelves for putting junk on. So onto this project, cleaning it all up. There were photos, plans, copies of Roundhouse magazines, black and white railway photo negatives most nearly 50 years old, some which I have never printed and probably never will due to time constraints. I wonder what those shots of Lithgow roundhouse and Cowra look like back in the mid 60's?. I think most of mankind seem to be some sort of hunters and collectors.
My intention is to eventually get right round the shed and turf out as much as possible. A good start has now happened. Under Candelo on the floor it now looks good, only trouble is the crap is all elsewhere.

With now clear access to the rear of the panel and the layout from underneath I started to run the wires out to the various sections. Soon a loco was placed on the tracks, power applied and wow it actually worked. Eventually all sections were wired, now I have to move onto wiring the points. As I have decided to make the points with a switchable frog, this will require further diving under the layout to wire every point to a switch. On reflection of this wiring work required ahead, it makes me wonder why Peco couldn't build these switches into the point already and save us all this extra work. I am doing this to ensure reliability for the future. Come on Peco put your thinking caps on.
So the rewiring is well under way and with all the work going on at Candelo poor old Bodalla has become a dumping ground for tools and bits and pieces. So after Candelo is finished Bodalla will certainly require going over again.

On another matter that is not close to my heart, I hear that DCC is celebrating its 20th birthday. Apparently Joe Fugate from Model Railroad Hobbyist is commenting on the fact that 20 years with the current technology could be getting old hat.
Maybe its time for the next revolution? They are saying that Railpro might provide the answers?
So by the time I am ready to jump onto the DCC bandwagon I might be tracks ahead??
If anyone is interested I have for sale the series Byways of Steam from issue 1 to 20 including Encore of Steam which covers the workings around Orange. Asking $295 for the 21 issues. Enquiries to Byways of Steam

Progress

Well progress has been made, slowly but surely towards rebuilding Candelo into an interchange station. But to make Candelo an interchange station will make its geography wrong if it is to go further down the coast towards Eden. A look at the map above will show that Candelo currently works as a branch line terminus with an intermediate station of Kameruka as a crossing location. It branches off from Bega which currently is the last station and heads inland.
So why would a railway engineer if he was building a line from Bega to Eden go via Candelo way inland? What I am intimating is that Candelo might have to be renamed to another name closer to the coastline. Or maybe I should just bring the line back from Candelo to the coast opening up the possibilities of having a station call Toothdale? Or maybe go via Wallagoot? or Jellat Jellat? Ah such crazy names.
So what all the above means is that Candelo might not end up being Candelo in the end. But for the time being until that decision is made it will be referred to as Candelo.
After laying out the paper points and loose track, the placing of buildings to see how it would all pan out, I have finally got all the track laid. Previously Candelo was laid with what ever track and points were available, with over 100 points on South Coast Rail savings had to be made somewhere and this was the home of old and second hand track. This has now changed and it all has been relaid into Peco code 75. I was able to source some second hand points from Shelton in Queensland. They have been stockpiled ready for future use. As outlined in my previous blog I have made a concession for DCC and wired them so it may happen in the distant future. But we are all ready to go if it happens. For the moment it will stay as a DC layout. (Is that like your mate inviting you to his place to watch a black and white TV?)

The above photo shows the coal mine junction and parts of the yard. The track configuration above was exactly the same as with the code 100 track. I thought it would be a simple direct replacement of points and track but apparently not. There must be slight differences in the two codes geometry, so a bit of track cutting and shoving was required to get it all in. None of the point motors dropped onto the new points either and all required repositioning, Now with the wiring of the points for DCC this also requires a switch to operate to change the polarity of the points. Previously I had just relied on the point blades to power the point. It worked most of the time but when it gets dirty between the blades and the stockrail it fails. As it will be electrified here in the future I certainly won't want to be trying to get my hand under the wires to clean points. It certainly makes more work but the end result will be worth it.

Looking the opposite direction from the first photo, from right to left is the Main line, then the loop, loco road, and extra afterthought with the 422 and B class and two storage sidings on the left. These storage sidings are where the coal trains will leave their wagons waiting to be loaded at one of two coal mines in the area. On the Main line can be seen two Budd cars where the platform will be built. I can see that this will be not easy as it is a window sill that needs to be converted to a platform. It is approximately the right height but when a train is at the platform even if it is too high it won't be visible as the viewing side is on the left.

Now the taller you are the better it is for reaching over the layout. As a basketball reject, I made a wooden box up that I could stand on to better reach over the layout. It worked well, but recently I noticed in the Aldi cattle dog the above set of steps. I think they were around $25-$29. Wow what a bargain. SCR has had luxury come to it. The treads are wide and it is very sturdy. I thought it would be aluminium but found out they were steel construction. As can be seen it has a top handle that prevents you toppling over. It also doubles as a seat. A great buy.

A couple of locos try out the sidings. Two locos or a garratt will fit into the siding where the B and 422 class are sitting. The dirty grubby building is a Trainorama house? that I am going to use as a Loco Chargemans office. It will take a while before the gardens are ready. The 36 and 42 are sitting on Storage road No. 1 and the vacant road is Storage road No. 2.

The big black hole is where the Candelo turntable use to be, its new position is circled to its right. A good reason for Candelo to exist in the new world is the loco depot plate for Candelo.

If you think I am installing a set of speakers in the above holes you are wrong. The new turntable hole is now ready.

Now the new position for the turntable has been cut and filled. I was wondering originally how I was going to fill the left turntable hole as you can see the track was to pass over it. After a Homer Simpson moment I realised if I have to cut another hole, this would give me a piece to fit the original hole!. Now if you have a close look at the turntable and it is not recognisable its because it is a leftover from my N scale days. Its is close enough to a 60 footer and will take a 36 or 42 class loco. I have a motor for it so I hope with a bit of work it will do the job. I don't have a spare $300 just to get a ridgy didge one. If it works all good.

Another lower shot of the loco area. Looks like some one has been shunting the locos.

A few more shots of the loco area. The station building is over on the window still awaiting conversion into a platform.

This photo shows the location of two industries shoe horned into the corner. This area in the corner has been dubbed "the far reaches" of Candelo as even with the set of new steps it is a far way to stretch. It certainly won't be super detailed in this corner. The building will become a meat processing plant which will receive TRC's and the other siding will become the fuel siding. Both only provide room for two vehicles in each. This is enough to justify the two industries and add a bit of shunting interest to this location. Way up the other end is the milk siding still in its original position. Unfortunately there is not enough room to include a goods siding, but with three industry sidings, a coal mine junction and loco changing going on this place will be busy enough.
It might be noticed that I don't use any underlay be it cork or other under the track here. As it is a yard, proto typically if you study photos most yards have no shoulder around the track, so a good enough reason for me not to have one. Out on the main line is a different matter.
So the next step is to strip out the old wiring and rewire into the new control panel. I will be using the existing panel frame and fit the new one to that space.

There was movement at the station........

Well the first two photos are self explanatory. The second one shows that I finally succombed to a Trainorama 42 class. After they had all been sold out from the shop, I managed to find one for sale recently so grabbed it for SCR.
It is seen here posed beside the VR B class at Candelo.
All I am waiting for now is some time to do it all.

What was and what will be

Well the last post was out of the blue. One minute Candelo was all OK then the bulldozers moved in.
Candelo was one of the last stations to be finished? on South Coast Rail. It was certainly end of the line stuff. It consisted of 3rd hand code 100 points of all makes and nationalities. It was partially ballasted and bare track. Some of the points were electrified and worked from a small local panel. Located at the end of the line was also a coal mine.

Candelo although never completely finished in regard to scenery, ballasting and all points wired was a great place to shunt. When a twenty wagon coal train arrived and needed to head to the mine for loading, it required a bit of thinking to get it all loaded. The run around at the mine would only take 8 wagons and a van which was mandatory in all mine shunts. So this needed three separate runs to accomplish the full loading of the train. Getting the train back together in the yard wasn't straight forward, nor was it meant to be. I purposely designed the bugger factor into the layout to make shunting interesting.
So as can be seen from the previous blog entry the bulldozers have been and gone and the yard is completely flattened ready to take the new track layout.

 Looking towards the station, coal storage siding on the left and the track to the back dock and goods yard. I was tossing up whether to put these embarrassing shots up but decided it will make a good contrast with what will end up there.

A long shot of the yard. The track on the far right is actually laid on the window sill and served the Candelo Canning Factory. Unfortunately this will disappear in the new design, but Kameruka around the other side of the room has a fruit siding that will have to take the extra loading.
One of the deciding factors to redesign Candelo was the can't wait for introduction of the Auscision 46 class. So now this station is going to take on the roll of a transfer station from steam/diesel to electric loco a sort of mini Gosford. The area is not very wide so the redesign will be fairly straightforward. Candelo mine will be as is now and is already laid in code 75 and thankfully won't need relaying. I am still incorporating a double slip in the design as a space saver.
What will be in the new Candelo? It will consist of a through main line, a loop line and a loco siding. Industries will be an oil, milk and meat siding to give a bit of shunting operation here. A turntable will be put in to enable single ended diesels or steam to turn for their respective jobs. An extra coal siding from the present one will enable the total of 20 BCH hoppers to be stored here in between shunts to the mines. An extra mine will be built nearby. This addition will then require the Candelo panel to have its own controller as mine shunting and loco change overs will make this a busy spot.
I might lose a few fans here but I am still stuck in the DC era but as a compromise when laying the new yard the points will be wired as to be able to be converted to DCC should that lottery win come my way.

So the above photo is the result of staring at a blank canvas for an hour or two wondering about the new track design. Old pieces of track and Peco track paper templates are laid out to get an idea how it will all go together. I needed a passenger platform at Candelo and only had two options of where to fit it. One was on the curve at the far end which would have eliminated the two oil and meat sidings. So where the previous Candelo Canning factory was I realised maybe that I could squeeze in a platform onto the window sill as it was almost platform height. It will take a bit of work to make it look OK. I might have to put up a small backdrop, otherwise the jungle outside the window becomes the view.

A selection of buildings has been put into place for the loco area. I have dirtied up a Trainorama house? building to use as an enginemens sign on room, along with a few other miscellaneous bits and pieces. The typical palm tree and yard yard light also make an appearance. I will need an ashpit to be built into the loco siding along with a water column for steam.
I am going to attempt to modify an old N scale turntable and get it operating. If it doesn't work it might mean a bit of light engine running to the nearest table for a turn.

This shot shows where the oil and meat siding will be tucked into the corner. The meat factory building is one I obtained at a second hand stall, cut it in half and ended up with two for the price of one buildings. What a relief!. The turntable is not in its final position as it needs to be sunken into the baseboard. The circle of board will be used to plug the existing hole.

A helicopter view of the new yard with a VR B class sitting in the loop and a 44 and 422 class in the loco road. The station building (along with the crap) is sitting where the new station will be.

This shot shows the entrance to the yard from the Kameruka end. All I am waiting for now is a box of track and the laying can commence.
One thing is for certain before any attempt to put up overhead wiring the track and scenery will need to be 100% complete.
So for the immediate future Candelo will be the flavour of the blog. So from the back of the queue to the front.

Above is the proposed new diagram for the Candelo panel. Local/Main wording indicates where the DPDT switches will be to enable this area to be completely under local control.

Hey Dad

Disturbing news has just come through regarding that nice little town of Candelo. A local reporter from the Candelo Times Jack B. Quick and his son Notso raced up to the station to check out a rumour that the last train had left Candelo and the track had been ripped up!
It is sad news indeed and we will let the following pictures tell the story:

Well it certainly looks like devastation. My advice would be either to subscribe to the Candelo Times for the latest as it happens or keep following this blog.

Luckily yesterday the last railmotor quitely departed Candelo with only the SM aware of this significant day. With a few bent light poles, a few cobwebs starting to show, no ballast in the platform road maybe this branchline station has had its time.
I'm sure there will be further news soon.

A day out...
A weather check for yesterday Wednesday said it would be fine and around 25 degrees. Not too bad for an Autumns day. Today was I finally to get to see the Weavering Model Railway.
The trip by train there co-incided with the last day of the Royal Easter Show at Homebush and although the train was eight cars it was necessary to stand as far as Strathfield where the train virtually emptied out.
Arriving at Central we spotted a second bonus for the day where waiting to depart for the Illawarra and places beyond was the Southern Aurora. The triple header train had a 44, 43 and 442 class at the front end and a train of silver carriages, 'spoilt' by just two red car in the consist.

 After watching the train head south we went over to the layout for a run. But as things go when you get a group together the chat session usually gets priority. So after an hour or so gas bagging the clock was creeping up towards lunch time and a decision was made to adjourn to the local pub for lunch.
Steaks and schnitzels were had and surprisingly washed down with non alcoholic drinks. Perhaps we all thought we were still employed by the government agency that so strongly prohibited any trace of drink getting anywhere near a set of lips.
Finally into the room and before us was a room that stretched forever it seemed. What was once a single garage of 20' x 13' had recently been extended double now at around 40' long. I guess no matter how long the space is we as modellers can soon fill the space with layout. 
Part of the layout was left from the original this being a terminal appropriately called Central.

This consisted of three platforms with a middle run round road and adjacent car storage sidings. In the photo the branch line station Wilogobung sits above the tracks. The tracks below the 73 class lead to Macdonaldtown car siding which are shoehorned under another portion of the layout. The track design is cleverly designed so the car sidings are accessible to the three terminal platforms.

The above shot taken from the opposite direction as the previous shows the junction trackwork. A 32 class is attached to an 8 car LUB set waiting to come into Central for another run. All the points are motorised which makes operation easier.
The owner has changed over to DCC operation from DC. As I am still "old school" with DC I had a few quick lessons on how to get things moving. NCE controllers were used which to my observations seem to be the predominant system in use. Ah maybe one day!
One of the things I was most impressed with was a 422 class fitted with sound. It was just like the real thing. I want one!. I liken the sale of locos without sound to selling motor cars without wheels. Sure make it an option for sound but please make it an option!.

3390 has coupled up to a LUB set and waiting for the road into Central. There are six roads here for carriage storage and all were full. Another bonus with DCC is the ability to have carriage lights on as can be seen above. I must say that it looked most realistic and would have been great to see in the dark. Although wiring and point motors hang down here in the scene, when operating it all seems irrelevant and not a big issue. Code 100 has been used for most of the layout but the branches have been laid with code 75. As the owner states that this delineates where the "big" locos can't run.

The branch line station of Wilogobung with a sound 620 class having just arrived. Basic scenery has been done.

Another branch line terminus with 4720 doing a bit of shunting a wheat train. I got to do a bit of shunting with this train putting two rakes together and hooking up to a new Austrains OHG on the rear.

 And just for a bit of fun we ran a 59 class on a Spirit of Progress train, although you can't see the blue cars behind the power van.

A 40 class sits on a HUB set ready for another run. I'm not sure that I would have bought a weathered set of these cars. They looked too dirty for my liking, not how I remember them. A coal stage is in the background. This will form part of a new loco area.
Well after a good few hours spent we headed off back to the station on our way home. Thanks to Pete our host for the day and we all really enjoyed seeing your empire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great deal....

I was down the local shops recently and slipped into one of those so called "two dollar" shops and had a quick look around. Well they got that wrong with many items now over the magic "two dollars"

I was up aisle two and while I was breathing in so another person could squeeze past I noticed this package on the shelf. It was a small packet with the title "Deckakard" and referred to a "universal levelling system. There were two in a box for $3.99. After I thought about it for a moment I realised that some legs on the layout were not as level as they could be and for a lousy $4, I grabbed them, took them to the cash register and went on my way home.

When I got home and opened the pack there were a total of 54 card like pieces. They measured 90mm by 60mm. Strangely there were no instructions in the pack. I assume they thought that they were self explanatory on how to use them. So with 54 cards you can to pack up gaps under legs from 0.05mm (1 card) to 13mm (The full deck).

I was disappointed when I opened the second pack to actually find a card missing. I felt like I was a few cards short of a deck. I was always told that when the chips are down to pick yourself up again.

So I turned up again at the shop and explained about being short decked. The shop assistant  told me to wait at the counter and went off to a back room. After a while waiting my patience was wearing thin. An old maid wandered down from the back room and after smelling gin and rummy on her I was ready to poker. I reached into my bag and put my cards on the table.

I always call a spade a spade and I knew I held all the trumps with the Fair Trading laws on my side. I said to her " I am not playing with a full deck of cards and have been dealt a bad deal and would like an exchange please."

Now as strange as it may seem she had an ace up her sleeve. She showed this  ace of spades to me and then I said yes that's the one missing. I now felt that I held all the aces and left the shop with no spite or malice and went home to try out the system.

As soon as I got home it was time to try out the Deckakard system under our outdoor furniture. You may think the ground is level  but as can be seen this chair required quite a few cards to stop the rocking. 

It was also put under a table. Being of plastic nature it will only have the four legs grounded when heavy items are placed on it.  The gap was large and took up nearly half of the first pack. The beauty of this system with the thin cards is the ability to get a precise level. You don't really need to measure the gap, just keep putting them under the leg until the rockin is a stoppin.

Down in the layout room one of the stools was particularly bad and uneven so two legs had to be packed.  Now it is very stable and you don't feel like you are about to fall. Notice how the closest leg  has more under it.

 

 You can take a chance that you have bought enough packs home to fix all the levelling problems. But if the occasion arises that you have only one card left you have to "know when to hold them and know when to fold them" It is not recommended to go above two pack high as this would either indicate poor carpentry  or a big hole in the floor.

And lastly two of the cards in the pack have these words on them: