Dylan goes electric.

A bit like the post title, Victoria Street has crossed over, it now has added DCC!

I have finally accepted that for Victoria Street to improve operationally, it had free itself of the shackles of cumbersome (and extensive) block wiring.  While I could run scenarios to a fast clock, it lent itself to a repetitive rhythm of flicking switches and throttling a dubious DC controller and keeping an eye out for the section breaks in the trackwork.

So with a little birthday money and a little bit of online research, I have settled on the NCE powercab.

The new toy for the boy.

The first three candidates SW6 964, SW5 812 (both RTR versions) and X1 460.

"It's alive, mah ha ha ha ha!'

SW6 964 now fitted with DCC decoder (note light functions leads are shrinked wrapped until 

all that motor CV caper is figured out.....)

So with now these three trams running prototypical Melbourne like on Victoria Street, (nothing for ages, then three run Indian file trying not to rear-end each other). 

The decoder list now will have to blow out to suit another 4 W class cars, 3 other non standard MMTB trams(a U, an X, & Y class) , plus 2 blow ins from the bush (Ballarat 28 & Bendigo 29), not to mention my other exotics from Japan, Germany and the U.S.; therefore I will be up for a small fortune in decoders.$$$$$$.

Above all, I love the slow speed handling, and operational scope of this 'dark art'. (What the f*@& was I thinking with bog standard DC?)  

From under the wires, amongst the decoders and burnt by solder.

Glenn.

Chinese whispers.

 

As part of the illumination and interior detail project, LEDs were retro fitted into the buildings at the Railway Station Module of Victoria Street, and as I do (quite often) then take photos of them and then post them to my Flickr account.

 

Well you could image my surprise, (and to my wife, much amusement) when a group on Flickr called Chinese Restaurant Worldwide Documentation Project invited this photo of the early evening in Victoria Street.

for a closer look

http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennofootscray/7989917027/in/photostream

 

This group collect photos of Chinese restaurants that are not in China/Taiwan that sort of culture clash/mash themselves in their adopted environment.

 

The questions I ask myself is "Do they realise that this only a model?" and then "Who am I to question someones interest into something I think is somewhat obscure, for I do model and photograph trams" 

 

The world is a broad church, and things like this only adds to the rich texture of life.

 

From under the wires

 

Glenn

 



Night Moves

Since the exhibition, Victoria Street has sat on the shelf in the study undergoing a little bit of work, it required some mood lighting. Therefore a quick trip down the the road to the $2 shop (pound store) a set of cheap 100 LED Christmas light set was bought and stripped down.

Here are some of the preliminary photos of the work in progress.

 

The Railway Hotel Hotel after dark.

 

 

The Chinese Restaurant and Milk Bar.

 

 A quiet night in suburban Melbourne.

 

From under the wires

Glenn



 

 

 



A little more Sunshine

As I stated in the previous blog, there is never enough time to take decent photos at an exhibition when you are exhibiting. A fellow exhibitor has proved me incorrect, Adam from the Melton Model Railway Club who was exhibiting their Free-mo concept modular layout managed either to delegate minions to run their layout or abandoned it completely to take these photos.

http://www.wolfpacfotos.com/index.php/Braybrook-Model-Railway-Show-2012

because most of my photos somehow ended like this....

It's either time for a new camera or new glasses for the operator.

From under the wires
Glenn

Two days of Sunshine

All is reasonably well after two solid days of running at the Annual Sunshine Model Railway Club exhibition, conducted at the Braybrook Secondary College Hall. As this venue is just a few kilometres (couple of miles) down the road from home, and this is the third time that Victoria Street has been exhibited there, it made for a rather welcoming and familiar event.

For the first time I could recall at Sunshine, Victoria Street was not the only model tramway exhibit in attendance, the crew from the broad church that is the Model Bus Association of Australia also had their layout 'The High Street' running a few trams together with an assortment of Faller powered buses and trucks.

This meeting of kindred folk allowed the free transfer of trams from one layout to another such as ....

Their A2 276 in The Met livery pauses at Railway Station

A2 276 on approach to the Racecourse terminus.

While Victoria Street was being dragged into the mid to late 80's, my trams such as SW6 870 and Restaurant Tran 939 were plying their trade in the very British surrounds of The High Street.

The other aspect of the exhibition was that I could reconfigure Victoria Street by setting the modules in a different sequence to that at home, so an entirely new 'feel' and operating system became Victoria Street for the weekend.

So from top to bottom for the weekend was, fiddle yard,

the bend, the railway station, the crossing square then the racecourse.

Therefore offered a different view of the street scape.

 Another angle of the railway station.

Now for the drama report, Bendigo Birney 29 decided to toast a motor, then an hour and half before finish on the Sunday an electrical gremlin made the racecourse terminus difficult to operate, so as per prototype, all trams were 'short shunted' at he Railway station before the gates, with 'bustitution' allowing punters to continue their journey to and from the racecourse.

Here is the link to the Sunshine/Braybrook thread on railpage, has some chatter plus some good members have uploaded photos of the exhibition, (because you never have enough time to take decent photos at an exhibition when exhibiting!)

http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11369827.htm

So, All thanks to the Sunshine Model Railway Club and their hospitality, and thanks to all those who follow this blog and all its links to other sites such as Youtube, Flickr, Micro/small Layouts and Railpage who helped put faces to names, and offered encouragement and appreciation, plus those who maybe inspired to have a crack at modelling trams. Thanks again.

From under the wires,

Glenn

On the beach or on the road?

At the moment Victoria Street resembles the final scenes in the cinematic classic
 'On the Beach' (1959, MGM). A movie based on the book of Nevil Shute, a post apocalyptic drama set in Melbourne after a nuclear war (rather heavy themes, then again it was the cold war)

Victoria Street

Movie/DVD poster

Epsom Road

actual final scene from movie

No in reality, Victoria Street, is getting a good clean, and the trams a good shakedown before I drag the whole show down the road to Braybrook for the Sunshine model railway club exhibition next weekend (August 4th & 5th).

So all the punters and the road traffic are currently spending the next week inside zip lock bags as the fun process of dismantling the layout takes place.

From under the wires

Glenn

Whether to weather.

For quite a while the fleet on Victoria Street resembled the pristine operations of a museum, this did not truly reflect the cross suburban nature and theme of the layout.

In reality, trams get grubby, sooty carbon residue on the roof of car due to carbon insert trolley shoes, road grime on the trucks and bogies, some slight dilapidation in the appearance of cars heading towards the end of their running life.

Trams that seemed to be rostered on the very few cross suburban routes or running race/footy specials were like the small kid being picked last in sport teams. They are there to make up the numbers.

The next question, is how am I going to weather the trams, using an airbrush in the house would not go down well with domestic authorities, so therefore a water based, tidier solution would be needed.
Enter the use of watercolour paints, the bride has a vast collection of pallets and colours that could be experimented with. The other thing is if I go a little heavy handed with the medium, it could be washed off, the model, the bench and the new carpet if needed.

To alleviate the beading of the paint on an enamel painted or  plastic surface a dash of dish washing liquid was added to the solution to break down the surface tension.

SW6 964 working a football shuttle after some weathering.

(cigarette ads and yarra trams logo never actually co exist)

SW6 870 & W5 800 also show some neglect on the bogies and roof.

SEC Ballarat 28 shows its vintage

(This is a reworked Tyco/Mantua Trolley)

Overall I am quite happy with results, you could easily become slightly OCD with the concept and start weathering everything.

From under the wires
Glenn