New blog being followed

I have added Rollingstock News to my Blog List. Not a bad site!

Thoughts from the drawing board on the tunnel entrance

I have been contemplating this over the last couple of days. One thing I might try is the following. I was looking at the CG Textures site (www.cgtextures.com) and don't mind the look of the beam and brickwork under Metal -> Beams (image number 12) as the basis of the tunnel entrance 'roof' support beam. I will see how I can manipulate this in Photoshop (with the help of the missus who actually knows what she is doing in this application!). For the tunnel entrance sides, I have downloaded Scalescenes TX-48 Squared Rubble sheet. I will use balsa as the form work and glue the paper to this.

Well that is the plan anyway. Let me see what actually happens!

Stay tuned.

Tunnel mouth disappointment!

Well for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to complete the tunnel mouth to Kensington Hill. Last week I was suffering problems with the wing walls. I had tried both card and balsa to no avail. I finally gave in and decided to not bother with them! Friday last week comes and I have time in the evening to go to the shed and do a dry fit. I had put some 'soot' weathering on the top of the tunnel entrance then sprayed matt varnish to seal the paper. Then into the tunnel hole waiting for the brickwork. Looked very good even without the wing walls. I temporarily pinned it to the polystyrene and decided to test the curvature with some middle sized wagons. This is where it went downhill (pardon the pun). It would seem that the track curves just inside the tunnel were to severe for the wagons and the tunnel entrance sides, as they brushed the sides. Damn!

Back to the drawing board. I might have to scratchbuild the tunnel mouth to a wider dimension than what Scalescenes produce. I will have to do some research into different tunnel materials to see what best reflects the period/s being generally modelled. Brick, stone work, concrete, etc.

The one I have just made may still be able to be used in a different location on the layout, or stored away for future use somewhere. Stay tuned.

Model Railways in Australia # 7 article

MRA published my article on fitting a sound decoder into a GWR prairie tank engine. This is my first Australian magazine published article. A similar article appeared in Hornby Magazine last year.

Project links added

As I suggested in the previous entry, I have set up two project blogs which are now accessible from the Links section.

Recent work and ponderings

Sorry for no update last week, I was crook so nothing happened! I continued with the Scalescenes double tunnel mouth on Saturday night. All that is left are the wing walls, any last minute tweakings of the construction to fit the aperture in Kensington Hill that is waiting for the tunnel mouth, and the coat of clear varnish to protect it before installation. Once I am happy with the final product, a photo or three is probably worth putting up to show off my handy work!

On another note I have been pondering future projects. As a result of linking up with Eastmoor (see blog link) I have been doing further research into Pocklington. The track plan of the station and yards would I think be a great subject as a possible exhibition shunting yard plus a through main line either continuous loop or point to point fiddle yard. As for scale and period, it would depend on available rollingstock for the region, which was the pre-grouping NER, post-grouping LNER, or BR (NER) post nationalisation. I am open to either OO or British N scale. Further research is required and I might spawn another blog for the 'Pocklington Project'.

As for my NSWGR layout, I have been doing some research and I have three possible candidates for layouts based on prototype locations. Murwullimbah and Byron Bay on the North Coast line, and either Dubbo or Narromine. These two prototypes could be point to point HO scale, or specific to the location in question, depending on the room I have left in the shed. The other option are two 'mythical' locations based on their prototypes but which would give me modeller's licence to gin around with the locations. The first one is based on Byron Bay's earlier historical periods when it was a small port/terminal for dairy goods, timber and at one point whale products. I would call it Cavvanbah after the original name of the settlement. The second one might be based on Narromine which had wheat and livestock yard facilities. I would call this one Narrowmind. I am hoping to head down to Dubbo in May to see my sister, so I might take the opportunity to visit Narromine and get a feel for the place before I make a decision on the location to model.

My last musing for the week concerns an interesting rail vehicle, namely the CargoSprinter. This is a small container transporter currently used by CRT in Oz, which is based I think out of Albury in NSW. However the prototype is used in Europe and Britain for various things such as PER work, container transport, emergency vehicles, etc. Marklin used to produce a set but it can be quite expensive on the second hand market. I think the CargoSprinter would be easy to scratchbuild (famous last words) as it is basically five container wagons joined together. The end wagons have driving cabins which could hide a SPUD each. Each cabin is fairly angular so I reckon styrene would be the go. A bit more research on dimensions required and if anybody reading this can help out that would be great. I will spawn another blog called the 'CargoSprinter Project' to manage this from.

Well as you can see I have been busy doing more thinking than modelling this week, but this happens!

Why Eastmoor?

I stumbled on Eastmoor by accident as I was doing some family history research. My Dad's family on his father's line traces their origins to Market Weighton and Pocklington in Yorkshire. Mind you we are talking back in the 1800s. These two villages (?) were picked up in a Google search within the Eastmoor blog. As I have mentioned I am interested in UK models as well as Oz modelling, I was thinking that I small point to point layout featuring these two locales might be on the future planning schedule as a tribute to my forebears. So hopefully I might pick up some ideas from viewing this blog, as well as possibly some photos of these two stations and their surrounds. These will probably be mostly historical in nature as I believe these two stations have been closed down, if not demolished, as the line was decommissioned under Beeching.