More progress??

Some unexpected extra energy over the weekend and a chance acquisition of an extremely large lot of secondhand Peco track meant I could finally finish the extension off. 

It needs a bit more work but this allows me to focus back on some more Australian rollingstock and to finish the mine triangle/loader.

 The second and third trains into the new loop!

Both of the railways Porters are finally together running on RC! Alexander was kind enough to leave one of his controllers here which allowed dad and I to have a short running session.

 D1 the railways boxcab waits for Alexanders Steam tram to enter the loop.

 D1 having a well deserved rest between work.

 Load test!

 D1 runs a combined empty ore and supplies train back to the mine (D3 and the mystery EE featuring in the background)

 The future mine interchange. the siding to the left will be for empties to be exchanged for loaded ones, behind the guards van is a point that will eventually join back to the siding on the right creating a triangle. This area will require its own dedicated shunter eventually, most likely one of the lines 3 porters.

second passenger service to the new station.

A rare ray of sunshine.

And finally heres a drivers eye view of the entire mainline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-wn9ECwP3Y&t=46s

till next time.

Future plans (Pt.2)

 Construction begins!

Tools of the trade.

Gently "finessing" a rock to fit the track through!

 took me about 4 hours to get everything level, unfortunately because of the material the stakes are made of they bend quite easily and after a bit of thought I decided to leave them the way they were, eventually I plan on planting plants or something underneath them so hopefully you wont see the posts

 Another view of the future formation

 Thanks to melbournesparks (yes him again!) I was able to source some old decking material that once cut up was quite a suitable bridging material.

The loop on the left and right hand sides you can see the points for the future wye, I have about 6 sets of points still to construct so these have been "locked" out of use for the time being

 the finished extension!

 First train over the full loop

The new arrival... Converted from one of the railways Steeple cab electrics this box cab was one of the lines early experiments with dieselisation. I'll go into this loco a bit more in a future post.

The boxcab hauling a train over the extension, unfortunately shortly after this photo was taken it lost RC signal at the high end of the loop and ran off the end (lesson leant, if you're running always have the bridge in) and destroyed an end beam, broke both bogie mounts, smashed the cab and broke out most of the windows. Just another thing to fix.

Till next time.

Future Projects

The title is a bit of a misnomer as I completed the first stage of the extension last week but its never too late for an update right?

When I was first Surveying places to build the railway I knew I'd have my work cut out for me no matter where I put it but due to ease of access ended up putting it in my front garden bed which has been a good fit but has made it extremely hard to expand onward due to the steep slope needed to descend the garden. After a lot of surveying I decided the only way was to cross over into an adjacent patch of grass and spiral my way down on a 1:30 which I hoped wasn't too severe for my stock.

This is the "master plan" how much of it is actually constructed is yet to be seen. At this stage track will progress to badger creek as "stage one"

 The site before work

 Site of future wye and mine interchange

 The track gang has arrived and removed a section of track ready for the interchange point very kindly made for me by melbournesparks. Thanks again mate!

The point laid in, time for a beer!
Little did I know that this is how things would stay for the next almost 12 months. Progress is as usual Glacial.

An update

Its been a fair while since my last update which has been mainly due to the fact that theres been little progress but lots going on in life outside! So ill do my best to write a few posts with updates. Firstly heres some photots from past running sessions. Most of these feature another local modeller "Melbourne Sparks" who makes some excellent models of trams and tramway equipment. 

My first loco (like most people I'd wager) still running strong although it'll be ready for some work soon

 Porter number 9 running a pass

Melbourne sparks's Sydney steam tram and trailer. Built on a stainz chassies it runs as good as it looks. Trailer is built from plywood, styrene and PVC pipe for the roof. 

 #9 crosses the grade crossing

till next time.