Following a bereavement in the family just after our train group's Christmas breakup, Peter R coming to visit, a variety of medical issues for me and my wife, a family wedding in New Zealand which meant us being away overseas for a month all led to my hobby activities taking a rear seat.
Despite all that some activities have occurred which included: extending the Hornertown west shunt main, relocating the western wall clock, mocking up a servo controlled turnout to show Barry, planning and running Session 2, calling into Model Rail Radio, implementing waybills, planning Session 3 (of the 8), a weekend excursion to Steamtown at Peterborough, enjoying four train trips in New Zealand and attending an operating session at Wayne's.
Track work
Following feedback from my operators I had to extend the Hornertown West Shunt main. I had been told that to improve the efficiency of shunt movements they need to be able to have an additional car in the shunt string. I removed some of the scenery and extended the track ready for Session 2.
Previously I mounted the clock on the Western Wall at the top of the backdrop. The mounting was not stable and overtime it dislodged several times. Peter R and I permanently relocated it to the upper level fascia when he visited for a few days.
Clock Relocation
Previously I mounted the clock on the Western Wall at the top of the backdrop. The mounting was not stable and overtime it dislodged several times. Peter R and I permanently relocated it to the upper level fascia when he visited for a few days.
Servo Controlled Turnouts
Barry is now planning his layout "in earnest" and it was time to demonstrate to him the use of servos controlled by an Ardrino. So I developed a simple arrangement to show him all the elements we could use for control, power routing and indications.
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| 5V relay on left and small breadboard with frog power indicator LED's. |
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| Small breadboard with Arduino Nano, change state switch and turnout position indicator LED's |
Putting it all together
Subsequently he gave me his first yard design to work with....
It will be fun to do in the future.
Session 2
Following the successful completion of Session 1 I prepared the paperwork for Session 2 which included 43 movements. Barry, Don, John, Peter J, Peter S, Wayne and I had a good afternoon. With only a small number of adjustments required to the paperwork I have decided to move straight on to Session 3.
Thanks to Peter J for grabbing a few photos of our activities.
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| Barry, Wayne, Me and Don |
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| John |
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| Don and Barry |
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| Wayne having crib between movements |
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| Me at the main control panel |
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| Peter S and Don |
Model Rail Radio Show #152
I made a brief appearance during the show and it was nice to catch up with Tom and the crew.
Implementing Waybills
I have been hanging off introducing the waybills until the operating sessions stabilised so I did not have too many things changing at once.
I bit the bullet so Wayne and I spent a few hours placing them into the car card pockets. so the In Hold Out boxes are now in operation at each yard!
No doubt I will get some feedback from the boys that will require some tweaking but hey it is underway!
I bit the bullet so Wayne and I spent a few hours placing them into the car card pockets. so the In Hold Out boxes are now in operation at each yard!
No doubt I will get some feedback from the boys that will require some tweaking but hey it is underway!
Ops Planning - Session 3
I had to get this completed before my next operating session on 19 May. I am pleased to report that the paperwork is done and hopefully will run ok on the day. Spacky and Jock will join another six of us at the session.
There are 47 scheduled movements see below
Here is a link to the Train Graph in Pdf form - remember to zoom in...
Spacky is cooking a BBQ here afterwards in appreciation!
The weekend of 6/7 April saw Barry, Don, Chris, Leonie, Spacy, Jock and me meet at Peterborough mid afternoon. After a few drinks we had dinner at the Peterborough Hotel before going to the sound and light show at Steamtown.
Sunday morning we returned to do the tour which lasted about two hours.
After the tour we all went to The Tin Shed at Peterborough for Morning tea (well lunch for some) before we headed home.
Kaye and I travelled to New Zealand for our Son's wedding so stayed a bit longer to have a look around and ride Dunedin Railways Taieri George Train and all three of KiwiRail’s Great Journeys of New Zealand The TranzAlpine Greymouth to Christchurch, The Coastal Pacific Christchurch to Picton and The Northern Explorer Wellington to Auckland.
There are links to the videos I have put together. It was unfortunate that KiWi Rail had to close the open observation coaches due to unsafe behaviour of previous passengers so all videos and pictures had to be taken through carriage windows.
Full Video
Highlights Only
The first session was held on 28 March. We were running session 2 of Wayne's new series of 5 sessions. Things worked pretty well and we had an enjoyable afternoon.
Spacky is cooking a BBQ here afterwards in appreciation!
Steamtown Trip
The weekend of 6/7 April saw Barry, Don, Chris, Leonie, Spacy, Jock and me meet at Peterborough mid afternoon. After a few drinks we had dinner at the Peterborough Hotel before going to the sound and light show at Steamtown.
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| At dinner |
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| L-R Don, Me, Jock, Spacky, Barry, Chris and Leonie |
Sunday morning we returned to do the tour which lasted about two hours.
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| Triple Gauge Turntable |
After the tour we all went to The Tin Shed at Peterborough for Morning tea (well lunch for some) before we headed home.
NZ Trains
Kaye and I travelled to New Zealand for our Son's wedding so stayed a bit longer to have a look around and ride Dunedin Railways Taieri George Train and all three of KiwiRail’s Great Journeys of New Zealand The TranzAlpine Greymouth to Christchurch, The Coastal Pacific Christchurch to Picton and The Northern Explorer Wellington to Auckland.
There are links to the videos I have put together. It was unfortunate that KiWi Rail had to close the open observation coaches due to unsafe behaviour of previous passengers so all videos and pictures had to be taken through carriage windows.
Dunedin Railways Taieri George Train
Full Video
Highlights Only
The TranzAlpine Greymouth to Christchurch
The Coastal Pacific Christchurch to Picton
The Northern Explorer Wellington to Auckland
Op Session at Wayne's
The first session was held on 28 March. We were running session 2 of Wayne's new series of 5 sessions. Things worked pretty well and we had an enjoyable afternoon.
Till next time.....
-ooOOOoo-
