"Modelling the ordinary"

Brad H, in a recent post to his blog (http://armchairmodellerdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/opinion.html), discussed some criticisms levelled at a layout featured in the December 2013 issue of Model Railroader. One of concepts that attracted adverse comment was the idea of ‘modelling the ordinary’. Brad’s discussion went on to address other issues, but I realised that the phase ‘modelling the ordinary’ put some context to what I am seeking to achieve with Philip’s Creek.

As an aside, the contribution of those individuals who photographed what was ‘ordinary’ at the time and have made these available over the years must be acknowledged. Without their efforts, modellers such as myself would have little to work with other than the fragmentary memories of childhood.

For some, the term 'modelling the ordinary' may seem a disparaging way to describe their pride and joy. However, as I pondered the concept, I realised that I have been doing it for years by implicitly applying a simple test to determine the ‘ordinary’; what scenic features are included and what should be excluded. I endeavour to ensure that landscape features, buildings, the flora and fauna are not so unique as to attract the attention of an average observer in the late 1960s. For me, this means no grand buildings, no major or unique engineering features or infrastructure, and geographic features that are non-specific and generic to the Upper Hunter.

Having said all of this, there are at least two instances where Philip’s Creek falls short of the criteria that I have just outlined.

The first is the narrow gauge logging tramway. I cannot find any examples of a logging tramway in around the Upper Hunter although I’d be very happy to be corrected on this. I am also not aware of any logging railway or tramway in NSW that was still an operating entity by the 1960s. I admit that its inclusion was an indulgence and a way of combining two railway interests. While the locomotive (a Roundhouse Shay seen on the right of the adjacent photo) remains operational, the tramway will remain as it is. However, if it does ‘give up the ghost’, then tramway will be converted into what was more likely by the late 1960s, a derelict relic of a bygone time.

The second is the gully and viaduct that do not seem in keeping with the typical undulating terrain in the Upper Hunter. Originally, it was installed as device to hide the entrance to a staging area,  but the river gully seems too precipitous and I am not aware of many brick viaducts being used as a means of crossing such an obstacle. Again, I'd be happy to be corrected on this. With the installation of the new scenic module, the original reason for this terrain feature has ceased and so it will be replaced. The major river will filled and become a small creek with a culvert passing under the track formation.

Well, that's the intent. Now all that is needed is the courage to start the demolition!

The AndIan 5000 Gallon Turret Tender - A Work in Progress

Santa Claus very kindly left one the new AndIan 5000 Gallon Turret Tender kits for me under the Christmas tree this year. Well actually, the wife grabbed it when it arrived in early December and it didn't reappear until Christmas Day.

This is a very detailed  but, at the same time, a very delicate kit. It requires a level of soldering skill that probably exceeds mine to construct the model exactly as per the instructions. However, to date and, fingers crossed, I have only made a few small errors that compromised the etching detail. Once painted, hopefully, these will only be apparent if someone starts to count rivets on the chassis. However, I confess to resorting to superglue to fix some of the smaller less critical detail items.

It is a work in progress and there is still a long way to go but the major elements of the tender have been completed. The instructions have been helpful and I generally followed the sequence. However, I have left some external items to be installed when everything else is completed. A CD with prototype and construction sequence photos is included in the kit and these have been very useful during the construction.

There have been a few challenges during the construction to date. Despite the warnings in the instruction, I stuffed up the construction of the ladder. I was able to fabricate a replacement using the kit's side runners and a Uneek ladder. I also struggled with the fitting of some bronze castings.

The kit allows for the fitting of a speaker and sound decoder. I don't intend to utilise this capability but will fit pickups to all of the tender wheels and upgrade the pickups on the 50 class.

I also plan to strip back the 50 class and repaint it in conjunction with the tender. The locomotive will be renumbered as one that operated in the upper Hunter in the last years of steam. (note this paragraph has been edited to remove the inaccuracy highlighted in Phil Collin's comment below.

Woodland Scenics Track and Wheel Cleaning Tools Update

About a year ago, I wrote a post detailing my initial impressions on the Woodland Scenics tools that I had purchased around December 2012. (http://philipscreek.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/track-and-wheel-cleaning.html).

This piece provides a short update 12 months down the track so to speak.
 
The track cleaner has been used extensively and is an effective tool for track maintenance. The rubberised pads (the only ones that I used) have worn, but that is to be expected and they are not to the point of needing replacement.

My earlier post was more circumspect about the wheel cleaning tool and it languished, almost unused, over the past 12 months. On the few occasions when I did try to operate it, the tool usually failed to activate the locomotive long enough to complete any significant wheel cleaning action. However, a recent comment on the original post by Bill Roach provided a suggestion that prompted me to have another try.

Bill had sprayed the white cleaning treads on the tool with CRC 2-26. Having finally been able to locate a can of this fabled product, I was able to do the same. In addition, I also sought to address the tightness and lack of movement in the centre plate (the black middle section with the two brass contact strips running longitudinally) that had previously inhibited the cleaning process. To achieve this, I pushed the white cleaning treads outward slightly until the centre plate moved freely. Previously, I had suspected that this would reduce the contact between the wheel and the cleaning tread but this does not appear to be the case. 

The results are shown on the two photo below.

And a bit closer...

I don't know if it was the CRC 2-26 or the adjustment to the cleaning treads or a combination of the two but the wheel cleaner certainly operated more effectively, and at least now, I don't feel the purchase 12 months ago was wasted.

PS. The darker area on the first photo is due to the mug photographer forgetting where the light was.

  

Tanker Wagons at Christmas

In my last post for 2012, I anticipated the arrival of two long standing orders in 2013, the Trainorama 48 class and the SDS tanker wagons to add to the rolling stock that passes through Philip's Creek. Well at least one was achieved with the arrival of the SDS tanker wagons a few days ago.

I had ordered the 1960s version and, straight out of the box, they look great. However, it was time to consider weathering. Photos that I have consulted seem to indicate a wide range of weathering options but most seem to show an underlying rust hue. I sought to represent this with a light coat of Humbrol Rust Wash. This was followed with a black soot colour sprayed downwards concentrating on the upper part of each wagon. I may have overdone this a bit. Each wagon was then sprayed with a matt finish.

To finish, I added some additional rust on the chassis and substructure using pastels together with a dilute greasy black wash on and around each dome. Even though it has a gloss finish, much of the grease sheen has been lost in the overall black of the upper part of each tank. The effect doesn't come through on any of the photos I took and is only just visible when looking carefully. While I could add some extra wash around the domes, I think I will leave it for a while until I can get trains rolling again to see how they appear as part of a larger consist.

As 2013 draws to a close, I would like to thank those who have offered comments and advice throughout the year, and to take this opportunity  wish all those who read this post, as well as your "near and dear ones", a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2014.

cheers Phil



Moving Forward, at last!

Finally, Philip’s Creek is starting to expand again, the first time in about eight years.  My most recent post in early November provided a few photos of the new modules to be inserted between the existing layout and the Muswellbrook staging yard. Since that time, very little additional work has been achieved until a few days ago. This was primarily due to a three week holiday in New Zealand but, as usual, other issues have also conspired to impede a reasonable rate of progress.

This extension is the first phase of a more ambitious plan that will provide a slightly longer run for the mainline as well as the start of a new branchline. The branchline, inspired by the Merriwa line will eventually run as an upper level over most of the existing layout. I say inspired rather than modelled because it will pick up characteristics of the line while not seeking to reproduce elements of the line in miniature. I anticipate that it will be a rural terminus with livestock and wheat generating most of the traffic. I will also probably use the Merriwa station layout as a guide. However, that is all in the future, and the more immediate challenge is to complete the mainline extension and restore operations.

The following photo sequence shows the progress over the past few days.

The first photo shows the new module in location and, at least this time, I remembered to add a backdrop before I went too far.

The second shows the preparation of the track bed.My technique is probably different to many as I glue the track bed to the styrofoam subgrade. To get a track bed of the necessary thickness, I have cut two cork floor tile strips each 50mm wide and glued them together. To curve the track bed, I have made a series of transverse cuts, each about 35mm in length. This provides enough flexibility to create a minimum 600mm radius curve.

Each section is then held in place with nails and bricks until the glue cures (the brick train).

The section of track bed almost ready to lay track. Previously, I would have started to lay track at this point but this time, I have decided to paint the track bed with a grey paint.

Hopefully, I can get some track down before Christmas.

The Old Enemy Resurfaces

That old enemy of most railway modellers has resurfaced at Philip's Creek. I am talking about that perennial problem, a lack of time. In reality, it never really left. I had anticipated that with retirement from the full time work force, 'lack of time' would be a thing of the past. Wrong! The 'Honey Do' has expanded exponentially and the needs of elderly parents has also assumed a higher priority. These combined with a few days of part time work have meant that the time available for some solid work on Philip's Creek is very scarce.

However, slowly, Philip's Creek is being prepared for its first expansion since about 2005. I managed to scrounge some time on a weekend to construct a new module that will be inserted between the coal mine area and the 'Muswellbrook and regions north' staging area. The module will allow a slightly longer run on the main line and also include the start of a branch line that may become an upper layer, depending on how much interference there is from the old enemy. The staging area will be turned through 90 degrees and placed on top of the shelving shown in the photo to the right.


The module follows my usual practice of a light timber frame topped with Styrofoam but this time, at least, I have made some provision for a backdrop rather than tying to install it retrospectively. Previously, I had glued Homasote onto the stryofoam to act as a track bed. When my supply of Homasote ran out, I switched to canite and this performed equally as well. However, canite seems to be scarce these days and quite expensive so I am contemplating other options. Thick cork (possibly cork tiles) or perhaps mdf overlaid with a thinner cork may be the solution this time.

Unfortunately, this is where things will stay for the next month or so as another activity claims 100% of my time, and then it will be the lead up to Christmas, and then ..... The old enemy is alive and well!

In the meantime, rail traffic at Philip's Creek has now grid locked as about half of the rolling stock was moved from the staging area. If construction drags on too long, some of these may be have to be boxed up to permit some form of operation.

LCH loads - An alternate solution

Recently, I posted a short piece on the different solutions that I had used to create loads for the growing CCH/LCH fleet servicing the Philip's Creek coal mine.  ( http://philipscreek.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/cchlch-loads.html ) The CCH loads have worked well but the solution to simulate the LCH loads was not satisfactory. Because of the spreader bars at the top of each LCH hopper , there was insufficient space for some form of thin plate to carry the simulated coal without leaving an untidy gap between the load and the top of the hopper. The slight dimensional variability between different wagons also contributed to the situation. The right hand side of the photo below illustrates the problem.

I received some helpful suggestions in response to that post but I was hesitant about cutting into wagons that had just been completed particularly with my 'less than steady' hand. So I decided on a different approach. If I am trying to simulate coal, why not simulate a full load rather than just a cap  on the top. So the challenge now was to get a load of coal into and out of the LCH hoppers without making an almighty mess.


I decided to measure out  and store quantities for each wagon separately. I purchased some small cheap containers from Woolworths and they now each hold one hopper's worth of 'coal'. I also fabricated two funnels to assist the loading and unloading, the long rectangular one for loading and the square one for unloading. In reality, the unloading funnel could be any size as long as the coal can be poured from the hopper without spillage. However, the dimensions of the loading funnel were a little more critical. The base of the loading funnel is slightly smaller than the top of the hopper and two styrene supports were glued to the base of the funnel so that it would sit on the hopper.

It's a simple process that does not take too much longer than the loading of the other CCH loads but it is advisable to spread the load along the length of the hopper. To date, there has been very little spillage of 'coal' and any major issue will be addressed with 1:1 scale vacuum cleaner.

I was a bit concerned that, perhaps, I was under filling the wagons, but after a check of a loaded coal train passing through Hornsby, I noted that quite a few hoppers were significantly less than brimming. So I don't think it's an issue.

This idea may not work in hurly burly of an exhibition or on a large home layout during a major operating session. However, it is viable for layouts like Philip's Creek with a single operator.  Would I use the same technique for the CCHs? Probably not, it may be more realistic but it's not really necessary and poor old 5131 struggles with heavier loads, so I think I'll restrict it to the five LCH wagons in the fleet. However, the concept may be trialled for the BBWs where I am experiencing a similar challenge.