My cup runneth over again..

 As per usual at this time of year I have engineered a week off to co-inside with the Melbourne Cup Carnival, and as per usual there is a punch list of stuff to do around the house that not only would choke a brown dog, but also a thoroughbred.

 While I am permitted to wander down to Flemington (with the bride) to catch up with mates, sample a few beverages, and give money to bookies, the off days include a burden of tasks to be completed to the satisfaction of the minister of war and finance.

 So here is my homage to the spring race season, traffic mayhem, punters everywhere,  unpredictable weather and trams.

 

 

 

Planning is in progress for the extension....

From under the wires, studying the form and from the only place that has a public holiday for a horse race.

Glenn.

Extending Services......?

While the layout 'works' at the moment, it does require a fair level of 'plonking' to rotate rollingstock at the fiddle yard end.  In reality the layout requires a depot, not a big one but one that would allow the stabling of trams and the ability to shuffle trams on certain roads to suit certain needs, without the issue of  'manhandling'.

I have cunningly devised a possible extension that may do this, first the original fiddle yard becomes another terminus, the space between the fiddle yard and the 'Railway station' becomes a chicane that allows the establishment of a small three road depot behind the 'new terminus'. (laughs manically while forming his fingers into a steeple like manner while chanting "Excellent, excellent")

This 'Chicane module' would offset the layout into the foreground, while freeing up space at the rear for the Depot.  The Chicane module therefore would be twice as deep as the other modules, but would free up some real estate for some residential development.


Now what would be the scene of the new terminus, another retail strip/beach type could work, but I was thinking more along the lines of an industrial setting. The inspiration for this terminus is the route 57 West Maribyrnong, which terminates at the Commonwealth of Australia/Defence Department Explosives Factory at West Maribyrnong, oddly enough.

This terminus features some open ballasted track, that once upon a time, had a siding for extra trams during shift changes at the factory, and then for quite a while did not see Saturday afternoon/Sunday services, which it lent itself for a great place for layovers for enthusiast's excursions. This ticks a few boxes for the scenario at the other end of Victoria St.

The Explosives Factory at Maribyrnong has been around for over a century, original making cordite, then moving onto TNT, then other stuff that could give you a nasty rash. The tramline was extended over the Maribyrnong River in 1941 as things were a little tense then that led to some urgent oil/petrol rationing, this tramline provided workers (mostly women) to service the war effort.

 

The inspiration...

An old photo of the West Maribyrnong terminus with siding,
 the explosives factory to the right, Cordite Road on the left,
 (note the single blade point for the siding)

 

The plan...

This is a rough draft, the fun part will be making it all fit.

 

 

Because a layout is never finished,

 

From under the wires with a pencil and some paper.

Glenn

 

 



 

 

 

 



Service interuptions and some analogue running

It has been a month since Caulfield and I have done nothing since then, the layout has sat in the study as I left it when I came home on that Sunday night. The last weekend I started the getting 'the band back together', all that was needed, was a flick through of the October AMRM  to realise that I still have some work to do.

As part of the reinstatement of Victoria Street, the DC option has now been fully integrated, this now allows one tram at a time to be test ran to see if it should be fitted with DCC, and also gives those other pieces of rollingstock in my collection a chance to stretch their legs.

Since the conversion to DCC some two years ago, some trams and some new purchases have not the opportunity to get out of the display case and 'cut a notch'. Thus now introducing a rogues gallery of ring ins of my DC fleet......

 

A Walters Birney done up as MMTB X 217 with arse about doors

on a Tyco/Mantua Chassis.

 

A Tyco/Mantua tarted up as MMTB U 205

(Pretty much a dead ringer)

  

 

But wait, there's more waiting to become something else...

(and they all work!)

 

A Cooee Collectable Restaurant Tram with A Bachmann Brill Mechanism,

(this has a lot of potential with DCC/lights)

 

 

A Kochi 600 Hasagawa 1-80 kit with a Bachmann Brill Mechanism,

(The panto is pushing the body down at the No1 end,

another DCC candidate)

 

A Kato Hanover/Hiroshima Tram,

(Now this is a well built model)

 

 

A Double Truck Birney (Ken Kidder???)

This will need some work as it runs the old school

pick up from one side of one bogie, pick up from the other

side/ bogie, and it runs like a dog!

 

 

A Muni Boeing LRV by Mehano, this could have potential for DCC/Lights,

but could do with a better mechanism.

 

 

This is the RTR DC stock that has been waiting to have a crack, there are also some other projects/kits on the back burner waiting for their chance.

 

From under the wires and the smell of ozone of the rarely turned motor.

 

Regards Glenn. 

 

 

 

 

A solid weekend at Caulfield

"Any exhibitor, who at a model railway exhibition has time to indulge in photography, either has a lot of minions or a static diorama."

All went reasonably well at Caulfield over the weekend, plenty of positive praise, lots of interest in the model trams and the operation of model railways in general with wifi and smartphones. A few faces were put to online names/avatars, a catch up with others who I exhibited with a few years ago at Sunshine. All in all a good vibe.

Victoria Street, while modular, travels as well as Guinness, great at home but can be ordinary away.
The rail over bridge and associated overhead received a knock in transit, all hail Blu-tac! With a somewhat latish arrival on the Friday evening, and after some issues with missing trestle tables, the set up and initial run worked well.

I had planned to print off some side street back scenes at home only to find that the colour printer had decided to print in sepia. The scenes were printed in black and white on the monochrome laser printer for size and scale, then the colour scenes were printed after set up on Friday night at the outlaws and installed first thing Saturday morning before the doors opened.

 

The Gates with the newly installed printed back scene.

 

 

Most of the rollingstock behaved, 812 had an issue with what I believe as an overheating problem, it would run for about ten to fifteen minutes before 'failing to proceed', usually under the complex trolley wire of the bend.  800 ran ok for a while, then ran erratically then the motor died, the classic case of the lights were on but no one is home, which after five years of continuous service with a Bachmann mechanism I consider that reasonable. 870 & 964 served the entire weekend, with cameos from 460, Bendigo 29, Ballarat 28 and the Oktoberfest Duwag. As always there was the odd derailment, stalling and stuttering, just to keep it real.

 

A shout out goes to my Brother in Law, Mick, who put in several hours over the two days with Victoria Street, He managed to grab a couple of quick photos with his phone, and is the supplier of the spare wifi router. Thanks Mick.

 

 

Epsom Road.

 

 

Victoria Street.

 

 

The overview on location at Caulfield.

 

Last but not least, a big thanks goes to my wife, who lost a husband for an entire weekend and most evenings leading up to the exhibition. On the final day, she appeared with the oldest and her Ipad, before too long there was a queue of young recruit drivers all waiting for their turn to 'cut a notch' with 964.

 

 

964 negotiates the gates.

 

 

Thanks for AMRA Victorian Branch for the opportunity to exhibit, thanks for those who follow and enjoy this blog and introduced themselves.

 

 

From under the wires, but really needs to catch up with some domestic duties.

 

Glenn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



  

The Sunday shakedown and a photobomb.

In preparation for the Caulfield Exhibition, testing is currently underway. So far so good, the DCC wiring bus is working, the lighting is working, and most trams are behaving.

Most of the issues are related to details, decals and advertisements, plus some scenic items.

The JMRI and decoderpro passed with flying colours, the spare wifi router did its job, and every device was employed to have a crack at driving.

 

Seven trams on the go, from the left, two on the powercab, one each on the apple devices,

then three on the android smart phone, plus the USB interface on the right, complete madness!

 

 

 

shakedown Sunday, (this will be more presentable next weekend)

  

 

 

then Sparky decided to drop in and act as starter/inspector, he will

be at home in his cage next weekend, (he is currently going through

 that awkward teenage destructive phase and learning bad language)

 

 

From under the wires and close to the exhibition.

Glenn.

Countdown to Caulfield.

A few quick teaser shots of Victoria Street in the dark, so far so good for Caulfield.

 

Outside the Pub.

 

 

Crossing paths at the bend.

 

 

A night at the cinema.

 

 

From the ever growing punchlist under the wires.

Glenn.

 

 

 

Weekend of Birneys

 

I recently picked up a DCC ready Bachmann Birney tram off Ebay, plonked it on the rails, fired up the decoder pro and started tweaking the CV, that's right the CV, as this is fitted with a rather basic decoder, it lacks the finesse of speed tables, kick rate/depth and lighting options that I have been accustomed to. The Birney goes well, a little too well and needs to be reigned in, this will get another decoder.

The recent purchase.

Eventually this Birney will undergo some modification to left hand drive, a splash of green(or brown) and cream paint and gold decals with black shadows thus becoming X 217. This will be my second X 217 after a repaint of a right hand drive Walters white metal Birney (that surely was made from depleted uranium given its weight!) This will not be DCC chipped and will live out its days in the display cabinet, with an occasional run on the DC optioned Victoria Street.

The first X1 217 (with arse about doors)

 

 

Now whether to go green or brown????

 



 

One pole or two....

From under the wires with a rather small tram.
Glenn

P.S. the countdown to Caulfield continues........