Hallett Cove Southern: November 2017

This month my wife and I visited Tasmania and rode the Ida Bay Railway, West Coast Wilderness Railway and saw some railroad activity along the way. Modelling activities took the back seat however I did get to Wayne's twice.

Ida Bay Railway

Departing Ida Bay Station the trip is a two hour (return) train journey that travels the historic 7.3 kilometre track, which was originally used to cart limestone to ships at Deep Hole. You can ride in an open or closed carriage, while you journey through the scenic bush. There's a brief stop at graveyard where your tour guide tells you about some of the history. Back on the train the trip continues to Deep Hole. There is a break of about 15 minutes to walk around at the beach before returning.

Here is a link to the video of the ride from Deep Hole to Ida Bay.

Check out their website.

Wilderness Railway - Queenstown Explorer

West Coast Wilderness Railway Tasmania. The Queenstown Explorer a steam train running Strahan–Queenstown–Strahan including the King River Gorge, the “rack” section of the railway track, magnificent rainforest and a number of stations along the way.

6.5% grade!

Our coach

Travel from the heart of Queenstown deep into the West Coast mountains to the beginning of the iconic ABT Rack and Pinion section of track. The first of its kind in Australia, the system enables the locomotive to traverse the steep slopes. The Rack and Pinion is a must see for all who travel to Queenstown.

Lots of places where the clearance was tight - it was all hand dug!

A section of track with the rack

The ABT cog arrangement

Locomotive pinion

The end of the rack and pinion section

Looking over the drivers shoulder....

It was a great trip but a long day 7:45am arrival and back close to 6pm.

I put together a video with some highlights...

Here is a link to their website.

Tasmanian Railway Oberservations

Travelling around Tasmania we came across some railway action that was captured in photos. We saw lots of tracks but few trains. Many of the tracks had been closed and the rails rusty.

Devonport

Burnie

Cradle Mountain to Hobart

West Coast Heritage Centre, Zeehan

We decided that we did not have time to do justice to the centre and its exhibits so these photos were taken outside.

Devonport

Kaye snapped this shot from the Spirit of Tasmania just before departure for Melbourne.

An aside

Whilst taking photos in Burnie I was approached by a Tasrail employee doing the security thing... It turns out he owns 830 Class 868. It is in Don River Railway Museum, Devonport, it started work in Peterborough and finished in Pt Lincoln before another life in Tasmania. He sent me the photos below.

Speedometer - Arduino Based

Well I mentioned last month that I would run a clinic on building a speedometer next year and within the groups I mingle with the number required was 34!.

I ordered the bits mainly from AliExpress and have "bagged them up in sets".

I need to build one or two and take photos and write instructions as many of the recipients have never undertaken building an electronic project let alone one with a microprocessor!

Visits to Wayne's

Ops Session

We had one ops session and whilst it was warm and I was feeling a bit off colour the stress showed through my sweating...

Chris, Des & Rosslyn at Lowood Crossing

Barry & Wayne at Dunkleigh Towers

We enjoyed refreshments after the run.

Scenery Session

I introduced some of those attending to the mix used by Joe Fugate so I did part of a bank and Don had a go at a creek bed that will have pools of water and a lake.