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Saturday 23 May 2020

The coal loader at Narellan has had a major breakdown and coal is being shipped from Camden. 4101 is in the original loading bank siding with 2 x steel S trucks, regular S, 2 x K and an HG guards van. A couple of tippers are bringing in coal - a highly unlikely scenario but hey this is modelling.


Steady Progress.

There has been reasonable progress over the last 4 weeks. The Narellan module is now on its frame and legs and Kirkham module built.


Narellan on the left, Kirkham roughly in the middle and Elderslie to the right.

The Kirkham and Elderlsie modules have been formed into a single module, reducing the number of legs and electrical plugs required if they had been individual modules. This module is a combination of curves and straights that swings through approximately 135 degrees on a gradual climb of around 1 in 60. The distance between the two small stations on the model has been dramatically compressed. A couple of features from the prototype will be incorporated including the road crossing beside Kirkham platform and the culvert on the Narellan side of the crossing. The first point into Narellan yard also starts on this module, with cattle grids and road crossing on the Camden side of the yard.

A recent discovery is there was a creek crossing under two of the tracks towards the Camden end of the Narellan Yard, with openings sitting on concrete abutments and pier. These openings were supported on 15" x 6" RSJs and 12" x 12" timbers with some timber decking including a handrail. There also appear to be check rails as can be seen in this  photo from the Weston Langford collection below.


If you look closely you can see the openings under the tracks behind the CCA - photo courtesy Weston Langford
the Narellan module on the left and Kirkham/Elderslie on the right showing the different construction. Note the creek as mentioned above has been cut through the baseboards to allow building of the small openings.

The Narellan module while still L girder construction is different from the previous modules in that there are no risers as the overall yard area is virtually flat. The baseboard sits on 42mm supports positioned to allow installation of point motors, cattle grids and under track magnets.

From a track planning and building perspective I have had to work backwards from the Narellan coal loader towards Kirkham to get the best fit for all the features to be modelled including the openings mentioned before. The curves throughout the layout are 30 inch radius and set with a machined template.

Lessons from previous construction work.
All track wiring and links between track joins will be done before scenicing including point frogs. Some of these areas were done after ballasting on the original Camden module.

There were two catch points on the coal siding - simulated catch points will be installed when the track is laid and before any structures are put in place. There are several catchpoints around the Camden yard and these still have to be retrofitted, potentially a difficult task now.

Many people strongly advised against having grades on the layout, the Camden line has probably some of the steepest grades on the NSWGR and modelling them adds a lot of additional realism IMHO. There is a very steep pinch into Camden yard on my layout which in hindsight should have been flattened out a bit. The topography was based on orthophoto maps and gradient diagrams. I have now set a maximum gradient of 1 in 50 averaging more 1 in 60 where appropriate to the location. The total line length is around 18 metres and with various grades over this distance the fiddle yard will sit very high.

Reliability Issues.
Points are operated by DCC Concepts Omega Motors - these are a brilliant design particularly the inbuilt switches however I have had 5 out of 7 installed motors fail so far and have not been able to avail myself of the lifetime warranty. In the light of Shinohara ceasing production and the point motor issue I am leaning to any further track work particularly the fiddle yard being done with Peco Code 75 and the well tried and proven Peco point motors which I will be using on my N gauge British layout.

2 x  DPDT throw switches have fallen apart internally, rather disappointing as they have had very little use.  Connections were soldered to these switches and in the future solder connections will be replaced with small push on terminals or alternatively the switch will be on a small loom with a plug to facilitate easy replacement.

Uncoupling is done via Kadee undertrack magnets, some are stacked. Most of my rolling stock is current generation rtr and many of these wagons have weights that are attracted to the magnets which causes havoc with shunting. I may end up removing the existing weights and replacing with non magnetic material either aluminium or lead - would be interested in other modellers experience here.

Other Progress.
The coal loader is taking shape with some of the super structure added and work started on the conveyor and the truck unloading shed. A recent discovery from the October 2016 issue of Steam Scene is a colour photo of the coal loader.


Narellan Coal Loader photo courtesy of Bruce Irwin and Valley Heights Rail Museum

The coal loader will continue to be built on a separate 7mm ply base and screwed to the layout when completed. This allows me to build and detail in the warmth and comfort of the house now the weather is cooling down. The location of the coal loader on the layout also makes it awkward to work on.

I have had a quick win with building Elderslie Station, all the small waiting rooms  were really just little sheds from what I can estimate to be about 12' x 7'6" to 8'. These were not the standard A series buildings. All the small station platforms were built from sleepers and are reasonably quick to build.


Elderslie station was a reasonably quick project taking a couple of nights. The platform has been roughly placed in position to determine scenery requirements and sort out trackbed.

The piles for the trestle approach to Macarthur bridge are in the process of being routed so hopefully next blog update there will be continuous track from Narellan through to Camden.

Poplar trees were prolific around the line and I have just purchased another dozen from Andmakeitso. Ron does a great job on his trees and they are very cost effective.

I have enough timber to complete the curve out of Narellan so plenty to go on with for now. The NSW government plan to lift travel restrictions on 1st June so a trip to Bunnings at Bateman's Bay to purchase the remaining timbers to complete all the benchwork will now be possible.

Happy modelling, stay safe, sane and lets hope life might return to some normality in the near future.

  
another view of 4101 at Camden,noting a different consist to the top photo.







5 comments:

  1. Nice work going there Kim. Re under track magnets, they will uncouple your wagons as the couplings pass over them. I suggest gluing the magnet to a hinge so that they hang down when not required and won't uncouple your wagons. This is one mistake I made. I still don't have my loco's back yet !!

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  2. Thanks Jim, sounds like a great suggestion will try and incorporate this in Narellan, had also considered electromagnets - trust you get your locos back soon
    regards
    Kim

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  3. Both beautiful sharp and in focus shots of your 41 class. Depth of field is good. And nice work elsewhere
    Bob

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  4. Thanks Bob - depth of field always a challenge
    regards
    Kim

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