T-Traking!

In between looking after kids on school holidays, catching up on chores, working in the garden and doing orders  I've been working on one of my other modelling obsessions... T-TRAK!

I love T-TRAK for its simplicity and easy of use for getting new people into N scale, the fantastic KATO track, its extreme modularity and the camaraderie that has grown up around it in Australia where we have a very active group.

I have "pushed" the T-TRAK limits a number of times now, making wider, longer and more "prototypical" style modules. And now I think we (for again Phil and Ashley have helped out) have built the ultimate module... until the next one!

Being a country lad I have always been intrigued by the busyness, intensity of train operations, and all the detail of the city. This suits T-TRAK really well! I have been going through suburban track diagrams for a few months getting a feel for the network at various stages of development

Recently when I had the flu I was on the Micro Layout site http://www.carendt.com/ looking at traversers and train turntables for “Nowa Nowa” and randomly looking at layouts and ideas when I came across “Gumstumping” http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page38a/index.html

Paul at “The Buffer Stop” in Melbourne often has his version at shows... then a thought hit me, this concept is similar to how “Victoria Park” just north of Collingwood in Melbourne was... and I could probably do it on T-TRACK.

Out came the plans (courtesy of Mark Bau’s excellent site http://www.victorianrailways.net/)

and I downloaded Anyrail (http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html) and made the following plan:

I needed to fit within a 5 module area and I wanted to maximise the “Gumstumping” effect so added an extra switch back under the main running lines.


I then built and tested it over a period of several weeks to arrive at this final design.

Now to start on the scenery!

I will have it at the Wagga Wagga show in November.

Y oh Y...

One of the most requested models in N scale is the VR Y class. An excellent etch has been available for a few years from N Scale Australia, but unfortunately there was no suitable mechanism. A few enterprising people have kitbashed/rebuilt mechs to work, most notable Paul Blake, usually using the LifeLike SW9/1200 mech.

Then the other day Chris Pearce from Spirit Design sent me the following pictures, using the concept that Paul Blake developed but laser cutting into plywood...

Chris sent me some pre-production samples to play with.

The first one I built as per his design above which features two layers of plywood and the plywood brackets and quickly had it running. The motor requires the worms to be moved/removed and the flywheel needs to be removed then added on again (a NWSL puller is essential for this). Hard wiring the bogie's to the motor improves running, and a decoder can easily be fitted (will do that next). Fitting a Y class etch to the mech was very simple as it rests on the plywood top and the side skirts hide the plywood. It looked great running, but I felt the mech was a bit high (a common problem with N scale).

So next I modified the design so that the second layer of plywood was cut down so that it fitted inside the body, while the body rested on the lower layer. This dropped the body by about 1mm. I also cut the ends so that you didn't have to keep removing the couplers when you pulled the mech out. This photo shows my two mechs.

Here is a closeup of the modified mech I have highlighted in red where I cut away the second layer so it fits inside the body. The timer on top of the motor pushes the motor down so the worms engage the gear towers properly, otherwise the motor tends to lift and you loose power.

Here it is fitted to an undercoated body.

It works really well! You get to see through the grills as well. It happily pulls a small train, I plan to add more weight though, there is room in the hood and the cab.

While aimed at fitting DCC into the Lifelike SW9 it is interesting the use of an Atlas slow speed motor, NWSL wheels and Kato brass worms. This would be good if you can find old LL mechs, all you would need then is the bogies...

http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/2007/010707.htm

Cheers

Rob

20ft station

In between doing tax and getting ready for the Caulfield show I had a bash at a Spirit Design 12ft portable passenger station. As usual the Spirit Design kit went together nicely and really looks the part.

One of these was used as the yard office at Nowa Nowa:

This is how the model looks at the moment:

The model was undercoated grey, then painted with Tamiya XF-21 Sky, and XF-7 Red with white for the barge boards.

Needs some weathering and noticeboards.

Cheers
Rob

Van Goods Shed

One of the question I was was the construction type and general layout of the vans good shed which stood next to the water tank near the road over rail bridge. Photos like this one have it in the scene, but not in the centre of the screen...

Today though Gavin (who has a stack of Nowa Nowa, Orbost and other photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/gunzelgavin/

Put up the following pic:

Taken in 1986 it is a great shot and really helps with the shed, the water tanks and a lot of details of this end (most people took photos from the bridge, so details at this end of the yard are scare). Other interesting things are the rock fill under the bridge, the grassy slope (we have modelled it to steep) and of course the water tank.

Another project  I can now start on when I get time.

Gavin has also posted a great set of photos of the Goods Shed... it looks like I'm now going to have to make a new one now :( as i have enough things not good enough that I'm getting unhappy.

In some ways I'm regretting having constructed as much as we have, based on the scant information at the time. But previous requests had meet with little info. Having a layout to show helps people to understand what is being done...

cheers
Rob

Waygara Sawmill Sidings Nowa Nowa Part 2

Well info and photos are really rolling in. The post yesterday triggered a memory in Darren French and he sent me the following photo taken on 28-03-1987, just before the line closed:

The train is seen heading back to Bairnsdale, Nowa Nowa station is behind it, with Boggy Creek just around the curve.

He also indicated that Tostaree closed in 1978. The Sawmill at Waygara operated to the end though... pictures to come on that later!

Station Plan

Here is the plan of the station area:

 Here is the Waygara siding plans:

Waygara Sawmill Sidings Nowa Nowa Part 1

While looking through the videos linked in the YouTube post below there were some great shots of the shunting at Waygara, but also an interesting movement from Nowa Nowa back the other way towards the township itself. I thought this was strange, I knew of sidings at Tostatree and Waygara, which are towards Orbost, but I knew of no sidings the other way.

then while looking for info on loading docks info that Gunzel has sent me I stumbled across some correspondence from APM in 1972 indicating that they had taken over the infrastructure of the Waygara Timber Company, including:

Timber mill site - Waygara
Timber storage and crane site - Waygara
Private Siding - Nowa Nowa
Loading Platform Nowa Nowa

Information on the loading platforms in the station yard being a current point of interest I read further.... and got more and more confused, until it finally all came together...

There were two more sidings in the Nowa Nowa area that I had no idea about!

In 1965 The Waygara Timber company indicated that it was amalgamating 2 of its four sawmills (The main one being at Waygara itself, another at Sardine Creek, which shipped out through Waygara and the Tostatree and Nowa Nowa mills which were to be rebuilt 1/2 mile north of the Nowa Nowa station.)

They requested the VR to build a new siding, at about 203 Miles from Melbourne, basically where the main town is, i.e on the other side of Boggy Creek from where the station is. This would help to relive some of the presure then being felt in the main Nowa Nowa yard (with smaller saw millers, the outwards limestone, inwards super all using the small yard).

These new sidings faced "down" towards Orbost on the nth side of the main line. Each siding was to be capable of holding 3 trucks, for a total of 6 trucks. These were shunted by a movement from Nowa Nowa (if you look at the videos one shows 2 T's departing with 3 wagons, crossing Boggy Creek).

This sawmill was an impressive contributor to traffic on the line, producing around 2000 million super feet of timber (9500 tons annual), of which 10% of the production was sleepers for the SAR.

In addition to the plans for the siding a plan for a loading platform was approved in 1966 and subsequently built.

In 1967 the siding was completed and placed into service. It was a very busy and profitable online business for the VR!

Now I need to look for info about Waygara and Tostatree sawmills!

Cheers

Rob