Fire and the Consequences of using Styrofoam

I am a fairly regular viewer of Ken Patterson's YouTube channel "What's Neat". While I tend to gloss over some of the segments of each broadcast, I usually pay attention to any discussion concerning scenic techniques that Ken includes.

However, one of Ken's You Tube clips in late March came as a bit of surprise when he announced that there had been a fire on his layout ( Description of fire and immediate aftermath ). Ken had gone upstairs to make cup of coffee with locomotive still operating on his layout. The locomotive shorted on a point and after a short time the short turned into a fire. The fire burnt vigorously until Ken returned and was able to extinguish it. By then, a fair amount of damage had been done. 

Like me, Ken has used foam products extensively to create his land forms as well as a base upon which the track had been laid. This foam ignited quickly creating a thick black smoke which spread throughout much of his home. It was this aspect of the incident that has caused me to reflect on the potential for a similar situation at Philip's Creek. 

I have used styrofoam on Philip's Creek since its inception in 1996. Initially, with the prospect of future moves, the primary motivation was weight saving but surprisingly, it proved to robust, easy to create landforms, albeit very messy, and very stable in various climatic conditions. As the prospect of frequent moves receded, the other factors assumed a greater significance and I have continued to use it as the primary construction medium for the layout. 

Even with Ken's recent experience in mind, after 30 years of layout construction, I have no desire to undertake the extensive rebuild that would be required to remove the styrofoam from the layout. So I need to look at ways to mitigate the potential fire risk. For me, this comes down to four elements, operating the layout, circuit breakers, fire detection and fire suppression. 

There is always a temptation to duck away from the layout while a train is running to attend to something, whether that be to grab a cup of coffee, as Ken did, or answer a call of nature. As Philip's Creek is a point to point layout, it's impossible to absent oneself for too long otherwise there would be a cataclysmic crash in one of the staging yards which is almost guaranteed to create a short circuit and the situation that Ken encountered. However, the helix does offer a period of two to three minutes, where one duck out. It is a temptation that must be resisted. Note to self:  Leave the garage - power off!!

Like Ken, I have not installed any circuit breakers on Philip's Creek and it is a task that I need to address. I should probably install three one of each on the bus wires heading to the lower and upper level and helix. However, there seem to be several options and I need to do a bit more research. It's on the 'to do' list.

The third lesson relates to smoke detection. I already have one detector in the garage but I'm contemplating whether a second one might be of use. The current detector sits on the other side of the garage and conceivably, a fire could start to take hold before it is activated. Another, in closer proximity to the layout, may be appropriate.

The ability to suppress the fire quickly is the final factor to consider. Ken was able to put his fire out quickly using a hand held extinguisher.  Although the fire brigade had been called, it was only required to check that the fire had been completely extinguished. With that experience in mind, I have now purchased and installed two 2.5 kg powder extinguishers. Hopefully, they will never be required!

 

 

With all this going on, to some extent, it has overshadowed the practical completion (never completely finished) of the Mount Windeatt refurbishment. A few photos below show the module as it now is.

 

  

 

 

Playing with AI

It's almost impossible these days to ignore discussion about the impact of artificial intelligence and its growing influence on our day to day activities.

Recently, I have been dabbling with some aspects of AI and its uses related to another interest of mine, family history. In particular, I have been using AI software to upgrade old photos and interpret or transcribe old documents. With this experience, I decided to try an experiment on one of my Philip's Creek photos. I have used ChatGPT previously but, more recently, I have started to use Google Gemini.

My backdrops have been painted and I was interested to see if a backdrop could be upgraded to a photographic image. My start point was this photo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After copying it into Gemini, I asked the app to replace the backdrop and this photo was its first effort. While impressive, I thought it was too hilly and too heavily timbered for my layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I asked Gemini to change to background to a landscape based on northern NSW and this was the result. Not bad, but with the benefit of hindsight, probably I should have specified the upper Hunter River valley. 

But, for the purposes of the exercise, this was sufficient.

 

 

 

 

Now, I was starting to get a bit over confident but one lesson from my other work needs repeating. AI makes things up if left to its own devices. Two experiences from my family history research bear repeating. One photo, taken in the 1940s, showed a taxi driver standing next to his cab at the entrance of a garage. There was something else in the garage but it was not clear enough to be enhanced, so the AI system added some very modern cardboard cartons in lieu. In a second one, a beach scene, again from the 1940s, it added some extra people not in the original photo. In both situations, this extra content was added without instructions.

The final test was to see if I could add some extra realism to the locomotive. I asked Gemini to add steam and smoke on the locomotive to this photo consistent with a NSWGR 38 class. The photo below is the result. I am quite happy with the outcome but it confirms the current understanding that one can no longer be sure that a photo is an accurate representation of fact.

So, what will I do with this capability? It probably won't involve a mass alteration of existing photos. Rather, I'm hoping to use it to create bespoke backdrops to upgrade the existing painted scenes to a photographic quality. I'm not sure how I'm going to achieve this and it won't happen any time soon as I need to finalise the refurbishment works. It's one of those jobs that are stacking up and it just reinforces the old adage that a layout is never completed!  

 

Mount Windeatt with a BAM

Progress on the scenic elements of the Mount Windeatt makeover has been slow as the recent hot weather has made work in the garage a bit challenging. That said, the topography has been finalised and the surface of the module now has a basic dirt cover. Some of the major buildings, the sawmill, office, water tower and station building have also been fixed into place. All of these buildings were recycled from the earlier iteration but one new building, an engine shed for the logging railway, has also been added. 

While I don't see the need for locomotive facilities beyond coal and water for the NSWGR station of Mount Windeatt, the stand alone logging railway would probably justify a bit more infrastructure to support its operation and so, with this in mind, I sought out a locomotive servicing facility. 

During my search, I stumbled across a company called Brilliant Aussie Models otherwise known as BAM ( https://www.ebay.com.au/str/thebamcollection ). Unlike many other current manufacturers, their models are produced on printed card. With memories of the LJ models, some of which are still in service on Philip's Creek, I was happy to give them a try. That said, their approach is different to the earlier LJ products in that they use a slightly lighter grade of card and recommend extensive stiffening of model components. This was not a problem for me as, over time, I had began to reinforce the LJ models anyway. While I first encountered the products on Ebay, the company provides a substantially greater range in its catalogues sent out with other supporting documentation.

Most of the company's more specific railway infrastructure products follow South Australian and Queensland prototypes but the residential and commercial models have a much broader appeal across all states. That said, the engine shed model that I chose was a Queensland design but this was for use on a private railway which probably would have grabbed designs and ideas from anywhere in Australia.

The company provide a significant number of electronic instruction documents which cover various aspects of the construction process. I have to confess that I skimmed these when they arrived and subsequently only referred to them a few times during the construction process.  What I found much more useful was the practice building (a small shed) that had been included in the kit. It allowed me to refresh some old skills.

The kit was not difficult to construct but I did not rush the process and so, probably took longer than others to complete the building. The workshop annex was not part of the kit and I fabricated it from styrene off-cuts. Other pieces of styrene and wire were added as window frames and sills, fascia, gutters and downpipes. I also fabricated the doors from styrene.

One of the advantages of the card buildings is that  painting of the major elements is not required and only minor details require attention. To finish the model, the building was weathered using a combination of pastels and airbrush.

 

 

Would I purchase more of these models - most definitely, just not right now! The immediate focus must be to finish the Mount Windeatt refurbishment. With the engine shed installed, it's time to get the ballasting done before the static grass, completion of the backdrop and other details. 

But at my pace, that's still a good few months of work yet!