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.

Building a bridge

The G scale layout itself has existed for just over 3 years (as far as i can tell) and yet in that time it has probably only had about 6 months of running on it total spread over those three years. The culprit for this quite terrible performance is the long curved trestle bridge at the far end of the railway. This bridge was designed to be the feature point and as such has different height bents on a constant curve into a short straight, the bents were constructed from hardwood on a jig i made on some plywood and have survived the weather quite well being completely unprotected. The deck was the major weakness of the design being made from marine plywood which after a year managed to get moisture in it even though it had been coated quite a few times. it was so bad every time the Aristo C16 drove over it you could watch the deck deflect by over 5mm! I really should have screwed the deck to each bent which would have held it together but for all of the reasons the bridge was never very good

Mark II bridge

Due to the aforementioned problems with the wood decks i had the idea of using plastic garden edging for rails and recycled plastic garden stakes as uprights to make a kind of plate girder bridge. Unfortunately the girders cracked as soon as i tried bending it despite trying to build it with a curve in it! As mark two never got beyond construction i dont have any photos of it

Mark III

Mark 3 is a bit of a blend, the best of both worlds if you like. It uses the recycled plastic tomato stakes as uprights with a wooden deck screwed on using brackets. this has been by far the most successful iteration of the bridge requiring no maintenance in the four months of continuous operation (trains running every day!) this bridge is due for some aesthetic upgrading at some point as I loath the "railway on stilts look"

 Test fitting the bridge deck before painting (note one of the original trestle bents reused on the new bridge)

Completed bridge with a visiting lyn from the eltham south electric tramway

 Painted bridge

Train dashing across

Another update, prototype aluminium bar point has failed miserably so back to the drawing board. Once i get some cash back post Christmas ill invest in some brass rail and try again.

Last night I borrow my brothers camera and attempted some artsy shots...

Thats all from me folks! Have a merry christmas!

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