Kuranda Scenic Railway

Posted on September 22, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Back to Australia and North Queensland for this post, and a few shots of the Kuranda Scenic Railway.  Wikipedia tells you that:

The Kuranda Scenic Railway runs from Cairns, Queensland, Australia, to the nearby town of Kuranda.  The tourist railway snakes its way up the Macalister Range and is no longer used for regular commuter services.  It passes through the suburbs of Stratford, Freshwater (stopping at Freshwater Station) and Redlynch before reaching Kuranda.  The line is used for some freight services and other passenger services.

The railway is 37 km (23 mi) in length.  It takes about one and three quarters of an hour to climb one way.  The tropical gardens around Kuranda rail station are a well-known attraction in the area.  Downhill the line cuts through the Barron Gorge National Park.  The tourist train stops at a lookout, with a sweeping view of Barron Falls.  A number of smaller waterfalls are passed, including Stoney Creek Falls, just metres from the train.

Construction of the railway began in 1882.  The railway was completed as far as Kuranda in 1891. Passenger services began operations on 25 June 1891.  Many lives were lost as 15 hand-made tunnels and 37 bridges were built to climb from sea level to 328 metres up the Macalister Range. Three million cubic metres of earth had to be excavated during construction.

Maxine and I had a great day out travelling on the line and exploring Kuranda.  It’s a fantastic piece of railway, and the rain forest is both spectacular and beautiful.  The modelling challenge would be the liveries of the diesel locos, decorated with aboriginal designs.  Definitely a superior form of graffiti!!

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Back in the still intact UK

Posted on September 20, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Home from Turkey yesterday, having followed the Scotland independence vote on the way home.  I’m not risking any political comment on this blog, but I guess I’m glad it was a ‘no’ – I’m British rather than English.  But I was just a little amused by this unfortunate photo of the East Coast main line, predictably published by the Daily Mail.  Still, I don’t think the Scotsman had a monopoly on untruths (so no political comments, please – I just think this would make a good model!)  Moving quickly on…..

Tracking down the truth: Does this image of a cross-country train make you think of any politician in particular?

My Turkey visit was a good one.  Good weather (apart from one afternoon successfully dodging thunderstorms and torrential rain), good food and good company.  And no punctures.  Here’s a shot on that afternoon, with the ground covered with hail, looking just like snow.

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As for trains, I we passed a number of interesting rural stations, sometimes with goods stock in place.  But there was no chance to stop for a few photos.  I saw two goods trains, both headed by red and silver USA style hood diesels that are very different to the Russian style green electrics seen over the border in Georgia.  Perhaps the most interesting was a train of massive stone or concrete blocks.  Loading on bogie flat wagons was a single layer of blocks along the length of the wagon, and two layers over the bogies, where the weight could be concentrated more.

Hopefully the blog will now return to near normal (whatever that might mean), with no overseas trips planned, except for my annual pilgrimage to the N-club meet in November.

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ESNG meeting – 17 September 2014

Posted on September 18, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

I’m somewhere in the wilds of Turkey as you read this, but here are a couple of scenic views from a year ago to show just how good the countryside is, and what the roads can do to a Land Rover tyre.  I just hope the weather is as good (though it poured with rain the following day).

(Update – internet is good enough for a so far, so good report.  Weather and food both excellent….)

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From the ridiculous to the sublime (couplers #2)

Posted on September 15, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Of course there is nothing new under the sun.  Looking on the RMweb community and N-gauge forum, I find that people have been making their own transparent Rapido couplers, and that Mathieson fit their PO wagons with them, and offer spares.  I think you will agree that transparency makes the couplers a lot less conspicuous?

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And after my comments on 3-link coupling, I find that these are also available from Mathiesons.  They are semi-permanent, so no auto-uncoupling is possible, but there is potential here for us in permanently coupled sets of stock.

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An amazing N-gauge coupler

Posted on September 12, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

The challenge for the railway modeller (at least this one) is always the couplers.  You want a balance between something that works well and maybe even uncouples remotely, and something very inconspicuous.  And if you don’t use the industry standard coupler, you need something easy to build and fit to your models, and that is also reliable.

If you model American (or indeed a number of other parts of the world), MicroTrains (or McHenry, or E-Z-Mate or Kato even) buckeye couplers are just the ticket.  They work pretty well and are easy to fit.  They are a little oversized, but don’t look too bad from most angles – and if you are very fussy, you can convert all your models to Z-gauge versions of the buckeye.  For the UK and Europe, though, with buffers and 3-link and screw couplings, things get more difficult.  The standard Rapido N-gauge coupler works OK, but looks enormous in pictures.  If you want to add your own couplers there’s DG and B&B, similar designs that are generally thought to work well – and you can get one of them ready made.  People have used MicroTrains on British stock (and Dapol make buckeyes for NEM coupler pockets), but they don’t look right, except on EMU’s and more modern coaches.

I recall articles in the model press where 2mm and N-gauge modellers used 3-link couplers and a coupling pole to hook things up.  Good move if your eyes can take it.  I could just about cope with ‘O’ gauge!  However, it has to be said that 3-links are very easy to fit to a model, and of course look right.

I was exploring the works for FS160 (European fine-scale ‘N’, with 9mm gauge and 1:160 models, but track standards as or similar to those of the UK’s 2mm).  And I came across this cool magnetic coupler.  It looks like a screw coupling, but is operated by a hand-held magnet above the stock to be uncoupled or coupled.  I am very tempted to try this out – having a screw coupling on unfitted wagons seems a small price to pay for such a good appearance.  Even if the coupler is tricky to use, it could have mileage on rakes of permanently coupled stock.

I think the photographs taken from the site are self-explanatory, but for the full story, use Google Translate on this link – and if you are rash enough to want to buy some, try here (I assume this site is live).

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Cold Turkey has got me on the run

Posted on September 9, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

I’m off to Turkey for 10 days looking at rivers, or at least where an oil pipeline crosses rivers.  Same inspection job as last year, but at least I can’t get appendicitis again – or if I do, I’ll make medical history.

I’ve left some posts to self-publish, so please keep reading.  Here’s a regional photograph of a branch line in Azerbaijan, that is crossing the same pipeline about where the photograph was taken.  It would take real skill to weather track and catenary almost to destruction to match the real thing.

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Paddington 1970

Posted on September 7, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

Tidying the loft, I found an old album of black-and-white photos.  Although the photos are not of great quality, they have captured some memories back in the late 60’s and early 70’s.  These are of Paddington, probably around 1970.  Diesel hydraulics still well in evidence, and just look at the parcel stock!

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ESNG meeting – 4 September 2014

Posted on September 5, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

The schools are back and the club was busy tonight.  It was good to see Honest John back in circulation, and new member Roger actually came back.  We must have been too kind to him last time.  Mr Apps was back from holiday, and managed to collect almost all the outstanding annual memberships.

What was running?  I ran in the power cars from my 2 4-CEP Southern Region EMUs.  I have had them both for a while, but never ran them.  Typical new N-gauge (new Farish), they ran beautifully straight out of the box.  I have invested in some Dapol buckeye couplers, so will now replace the Rapido with some more realistic (for EMUs) couplers.  Scrapyard Thomas made another appearance, together with another Japanese goods train.  And Derek (Atfield) gave his latest creation a test run.  This was a London Underground train.  It started life as a Corgi 2012 Olympics non-running model, but addition of a Tomytec chassis got it running, and it will feature on the Union Street module subway.

it was also very pleasing that the repairs carried out on Sunday are all working OK, and the wiring has continuity on all tracks and all boards.  I can’t think of much else to report, but it was a pleasant and sociable evening playing trains.

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MODELING- New Weathering Technique..for me

Posted on September 3, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

An interesting technique that was new to me too. Not sure how well it would work in N-gauge though!

gene48's avatarGene's P48 Blog

I have become a fan of plastic modelers who build armor and aircraft models. No, I am not building them but I am learning new techniques from this band of talented modelers.  I know many of you share my interest in seeing what the other side does.

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I found several techniques on the web that were similar in approach.  It involves the use of salt crystals to mask a base coat on a model.   In my case, I am finishing an older single sheath boxcar that had a galvanized steel roof.  This type of metal doesn’t hold paint well.  Some roads apply car cement to the roof to improve finish retention.  Car cement is a tar-like substance.

I started out by applying a primer or base coat that is similar to the color of galvanized metal.  Once the paint is cured, I began the process by moistening the roof in spots with distilled water with a wetting agent added.   You don’t need…

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ESNG work party – 31 August 2014 – and the Andover Show

Posted on September 1, 2014 by snitchthebudgie

It’s been a train-rich weekend, and a welcome relief from an interesting week.  Firstly, I got a report completed for work that had been hanging around for far too long.  Then we had a new central boiler installed.  A good professional job, but the existing hot water tank leaked – a hairline crack opened when it cooled off and contracted, so we had to have a new one.  And when the fitters went to fire up the boiler, nothing happened.  Not their fault – the boiler manufacturers are in on Monday to find out what’s wrong – probably a computer software glitch.  On a boiler of all places.  And finally, the car wouldn’t start and needed a new battery.

So, come Saturday, I needed a little light relief, and headed for the Andover show.  About 70 miles each way, but it was good to get out and just drive.  And have a full English breakfast on the way.  The show was pretty good, with some quality modelling.  Well laid out in two big school halls as well, so there was no crush and plenty of room to move around.  Too much GWR for my personal liking, but Andover is in the heart of the old GWR territory.  I enjoyed the ‘O’ gauge and the narrow gauge offerings, especially.

On Sunday it was the ESNG work party and although only three of us attended (the hon. treasurer thought it was next month and went out for the day), we got a lot of useful work done.  In particular, the fiddle yard has needed some protection to all it’s route selection wiring for a number of years, as it lives in a cupboard with all sorts of hoovers, mops and buckets.

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It looks a lot safer now, and even a thin cover has stiffened up the ply framework.

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We also checked the electrical continuity of the fiddleyard boards and all the club corner boards.  We rewired a few plugs and remade a couple of dry soldered joints.  All now looks good for Stuttgart in November.  We finally cleaned all the track and made a few repairs to the scenery.  And of course, the day finished with a curry!

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