Melbournesparks (Alexander) came over for a visit on the newly minted tramway for a run today and brought his very nice Sydney tram motor and trailer to run along with the 2-4-2

Most powerful Steam motor of all time?

Passing the goods shed

Crossing the road

The C-16 was cut in for a loco transfer

Quadriple header!

Double heading across the bridge with some odd cargo...

Many steam motors were relegated to industrial service after they finished as trams

Alexander was kind enough to bring his track scrubber over (the yellow van) and so after he left I ran a few different track powered trains. Here we see No.9 on a trip train

And later on with No.7 Deputising

Ore wagons relegated to MOW service stored out the front of the old goods shed...

I also started on my second Newquida carriage conversion and will do a post outlining that process soon

On the 19th of October 2016 services were finally restored! To celebrate my first G scale loco number 14 (now radio controlled and mid bash) was run around to test the new bridge! It still needs some side girders so it doesnt just look like some sticks with some planks on top but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.Construction of Mk.3 was using recycled plastic tomato stakes buried in the ground with a deck screwed over the top (I will go into more detail about the bridge at a later date). The railway now has a very clear theme being renamed "the North East Victoria Railway" which is a 3' 6" gauge railway running from Melbourne to the North East in 1:24 scale. 

October 2016

Recently I got the Opportunity to visit a fellow garden railwayer, Alexander is very well known to those in the garden railway groups for his amazing trams and for the way he has managed to integrate moss into his railway as ballast! Here are some photos from the day.

Ballarat 33 meets "the beast"!

Alexanders tramway is almost as well known for the local populous as its trams...

My 4-6-0 passes a waiting car

Showing the tight clearances

number 14 and the toastrack meet in the depot

surely this motorist is getting sick of waiting for passing trains!

14 crosses "mint gully bridge" (bridge #2)

My 4-6-0 is a lightly modified bachman annie, it still needs airtanks, front deck, tender apron, and a repaint of the tender frame and chimney cap. Its been RC equipped with the guts from a RC car i made in Tafe

Car 33 prepares to set back into the siding to allow a passing move

'

set back

the tramway was almost exclusively Baldwin powered on the day, The most elusive was the Baldwin steam tram Alexander bashed from an LGB stainz, all of his stock were impeccable runners.

the first of my 3 newquida cars under conversion, still requires the end platforms being rebuilt but it has promise so work will start on the other two soon, this car must have made a good impression because the tramway had ordered two by the next day!

Both Baldwins double heading into the after noon

a triple header was later assembled, you can see more photos here: https://www.gscalecentral.net/threads/eltham-south-electric-tramway.307019/page-3

In other news I havent done much work on rebuilding my own railway due to a holiday in America I can however happily say though most of the moss survived! to finish the bridge though I need a bit of fill so if anyone in the Melbourne area has some spare soil please get in touch

till next time

Its now the last day of August in 2016, Oh how the time flies! Railway has still been out of action for the last year with the last complete run that i could decipher being in 2012. Obviously this is not ideal although two other attempts to rebuild the trestle have failed so today will be attempt number three! meanwhile the lazer cutting for rollingstock has been completed and i now have eight open wagons to be built into the lines hopper fleet. Other recent work has been repainting and converting the nequida cars to be a bit more Australian with the trial car currently being rebuilt.

I'm also looking for other G scaler's that have Australian styled railways to create a bit of a group with so if you live in Melbourne and have similar interests please get in touch!

                                       

                       The porter shuttling some cars down to the bridge during attempt number two to rebuild the trestle

       Aristocraft C16 pulling a mixed around the curve

Current state of the bridge (I will make a post outlining the different iterations and their failings in the future)

              

And finally some photos of my latest efforts to transplant moss into the front garden, I used a large leaf variety I found behind the house in the hope that its roots hold the ballast from being washed away.

Some small leaf moss was found at Rosanna train station in Melbourne and was gathered while waiting for the train home! this has also been planted which will hopefully grow between the track providing a contrast without fouling the bottom of rolling stock.

More updates to come!

A Phoenix rises?

After years of neglect I've finally managed to find time to start work on rehabilitating the railway back into what it was, Through a combination of shoddy construction and 3 years of abandonment the trestle bridge has been completely destroyed. I have begun work on building a new one using the bents of the old one and will update the blog once this happens.

More recently after struggling to find anything on ebay. I decided to address the issues I've been having sourcing anything in G scale that I can use. Using the program solidworks, I have drawn up a series of freelance drawings I can get laser cut.









standard 30ft underframe assembled and disassembled














This allows me to build multiple bodies on the same under-frame and have full control over giving my stock a "family" look that/ is so important, while also keeping things cheap.

I'll update this when I cut more out

Since my last post a lot has happened (evidenced by the fact I'm almost 18!) the bridge was deemed not strong enough by the rest of management and so the railway has languished with the bridge dismantled. An On30 layout was started from the bones of a HO one but that is a story for another time

Next update (hopefully in under two years...) ill put photos up, I meant to but my phone died yesterday

till next time
Jake

Running day

hey all
I attended another running day at AMRA and got the inspiration to run trains in the garden again

here are some pics


also I'd like to review the Newquida cars

I saw these a while back on places like MLS and thought that they could be a nice addition to the roster and if I ever had the chance to get one I would, I saw a few in shops and they where way overpriced. like second hand LGB priced finally a few came up on ebay and I got a three passenger coaches and two tank cars the cars are nicely moulded the wheels run true and the graphics are very nice although the spelling of shell could be a little better (its spelt shall on the model) they are well worth the money and seeing as they where all $30 I dont think i can complain about any of them

photos of the tank cars after the 9th