Alice Springs operations report, and changes.

Hi All

Roger and Shelly stayed over on Friday night, great to a catch up as usual, I also set up an operating session for Roger.

We had a couple of hours to operate, so set up one train number 347.  No switch list at this time.  However I staged industry replacements.  So the shunting exercise would be to replace like for like wagons, vans for vans, concrete wagon, for concrete wagon etc.

 Staged 166 stands at Alice Springs arrival and departure road, the Locomotive Depot is slightly over populated.

 AQWY 6001 sits at intermodal one, east end.

 As Roger shunted, the two back roads from the intermodal crane roads, were useful for running around.
Operational rules include keeping truck access roads at either end clear.

 Eastern intermodal and the locomotive depot.

 Industrial branch, west end, includes freight forwarders siding, Adelaide Brighton Cement, and steel distributors.

 The industrial branch, East to West, Dairy, BP, Caltex, Mobil, Kleen Gas.

 The AOGF is in Kleen Gas siding.

 The AHGX is positioned at the end of the Goods Shed siding.

 An overview of the yard looking East.

 CLP11 sits on the mainline.

 As a result of Roger's operating session, a couple of points were observed, that I could do better.

1. Too much rolling stock on the layout, I removed 34 wagons, makes operations more realistic, easy.
2. Train lengths are acceptable at the moment, however any additional length would make things easier, especially when the Cattle and Oil sidings come online.
3. Manually having to reverse each locomotive set, is something I would like to remove, even with double ended staging there would be manual reversal of the power.
4. Reverse curves look great, but the only one of any great size is in Alice Springs Yard.
5. No Triangle, Something I would really need, in the ultra modern version, due to the removal of the Turntable (for operational purposes I would just remove the turntable and leave the concrete footings)

So to improve on items 2 to 5, I have looked at adding three additional boards which features:

• A more defined S curve, great for visual "pleasure".
• More logical location for the Oil sidings, with Triangle.
• Separate location for the Cattle sidings.
• Incorporates a Triangle, which should give Bow River a more "Kulgra" look, and help ultra modern operations.
• South bound trains are now reversed around a long loop, and staging is properly hidden.
• Power can be reversed, via the triangle.
• 4ft of additional length for each storage sidings, thus 23ft train length, three storage tracks instead of two.
• With trains stored in each road, there is still 12ft of yard, which is clear of stored trains, and will create more operational functionality.

Below are some shots of the mock up.

 The plan.

Enjoy

Scott

Trainbuilder DRC weathered by Michael

Hi All

Michael has weathered this Trainbuilder VR DRC.
I assume this is a pre-production model, looks very prototypical, nice work Michael.

Enjoy

Scott

Auscision AHGX's weathering by Barcoola

Hi All

Here is some shots of faded weathering on Auscision Models AHGX, the results shown here are brush painted with some chalk dust, the example below is modeled off AHGX 11.

A gaggle of four weathered AHGX's

 Here is the original Auscision paint job, with just the bogies slightly weathered.

 All models were painted an all over faded green first, then the ends and underframe was painted a road grime colour.  Rust spots were added.  In this example chalks were added to reflect the weathering on AHGX 11.

 The horizontal sections of the A and B ends have been painted road grime, along with the I beams at both ends.

I still have to give each wagon an overall dusting of weathering and seal the model with a matt clear coat.

Enjoy

Scott

Trailerail Rolling stock question answered

Hi All

Jim has asked for info on AN rolling stock as follows:

Hi Scott, Brilliant stuff given me a few good idea. I have had an interest in AN since they arrived here in WA. Not having much space I decided to model a train for a shelf, the train is trailerrail as you will know was set up in Perth some time ago. I have attached a video clip below which I took in Kal. The reason for the inquiry is I wish to model the barrier wagon and crew accommodation coach along with what seems like a compressor wagon which I see three such models in these pages, can you point me in the right direction.
http://youtu.be/QnLURKa63gk

The Crew Accommodation coach is an AN brake relay van AVDP. BGB made a kit awhile back.
The "barrier" wagon is an AN articulated container wagon AQEY with a towing frame, and spare bogie carrier.  At this point I think this is a scratch build, contact islingtonplans@bigpond.com or phone: 08 8352 3339

I hope this helps you out.

Enjoy

Scott

Austrains NR95 weathering Ultra modern Barcoola style

Hi All

Here is my first attempt at a ultra modern Barcoola locomotive.

I chose a repainted NR95, with PN decals and arrows of in-decision removed.

On what would be a good long weekend for most, I was held up by a bad cold, however, Glen visited this weekend, always good to catch up mate.  The VB Fridge got a bit of a whipping.

I started this on Thursday last week, Monday I was feeling able to finish it off.

 The first thing that was done was to remove all the handrails.  I looked at is removing the NRC end and side decals and ISO 9001 decals, I used mentholated spirits and a paper towel, and a slow action enable the symbols to be removed without too much damage to the rest of the paint work.

Next is to start the fading, the colour of the NRC marigold, NR1 to 60  faded  quicker  than 60 to 120.

However NR95 is a faded candidate, again I used humbrol paints, mixed to get the appropriate hue.

The NRC Grey was the next to get the treatment, a little more white and blue will give the faded look you are after.

The bogies and frame need to be painted overall road grime, start with Humbrol Matt 32 grey and add white and a touch of humbrol matt 73 rust, and just a touch of humbrol 6 brown.  Make sure you paint the frame as well as the pipe and electrical sides. of the "fuel tank".

For the dirt streaks I used the same mix as for the fuel tank, however I cut the hue with mineral turpentine, and added a tiny bit of brown.

The roof was slapped with a wash of humbrol black.

The air deflectors on the No 2 end were painted royal blue with Signs of all kinds SOAK 74 various Pacific National logos pack 2.

The edge of the radiator assembly was also painted with a slightly cut hue of the same.

Warning signs were from Microscale decal sheet.

The handrails were then put back on , and appropriately weathered.

The 3M reflective stripes are small sections of AN yellow stripes cut up appropriately.

The Cab side numbers are rub on decals.

What you see above is all accomplished with a brush, so if you don''t have a airbrush these are the results you can get.

NR95 departing Spencer junction on SP3

Note the difference between NR95 and NR82 which is untouched.

note the difference in the NRC grey.

 While I don't encourage NRC modeling (nothing personal), this PN "Patch" version will sit quite well in the Barcoola ultra modern era, and will keep Glen happy.
As a result of my last efforts Glen as left some SCT stock to weather, so i will do mine and his at the same time, maybe even Jon's if he is interested.

So stay tuned.

Updated:
as stated by  Wagonfreak

.  The part fading on the cab of NR95 is due to being involved in a collision in Dynon with a N class, in 1997, and the Cab replacement and repaint.

Enjoy

Scott