July 28, 2013
With grandson Ernie, we recently did some night time photography. I put some temporary lights in Ti-tree and Maple Jn stations, and used a torch taped to a dowel rod to provide platform lighting.
This shot used a torch to provide infill light on the loco.
Following my tests with night time , I've installed lighting in all my passenger cars now, using mainly the 'warm white' LEDs I bought recently on eBay.
This is the end platform car.
The sleeping car close up. One compartment has a blue night light!
The sleeping car overall view
The Boston & Maine coach
the Mail train sitting car
July 14, 2013
The last 2 months have been largely spent making an epic video called the 'Grasslander' - a fictitious train ride on the 5 railways of the GRASS club members see here for info on our club
To watch it, click here
It's 24 minutes long, so be prepared!!!
I've also uploaded a short video made at night as an experiment for future videos.
click here
June 14, 2013
**** A magpie stole my gate *****
I built this (white) gate from wire and solder years ago. I just happened to look out the window yesterday, and the maggie had it in its beak.
I raced outside but it flew off with it. If I hadn't seen it, I would never have known what had happened to it.
April 25, 2013
Lilyvale viaduct has developed major cracking, so workmen have started erecting scaffolding and preparing a worksite, to repair the damage.
I made the scaffold from bamboo meat skewers held together with heatshrink tube and copper wire and superglue.
April 7, 2013
Bought 3 diecast car kits from Aldi (thanks Geof!) - a little Fiat, VW beetle and VW Kombi. These kits (Welly) are easy to put together, mainly just glueing the small parts like lights etc. I've done the Fiat, even converted it to right hand drive. Painted the seats, and added NSW yellow number plates.
April 3, 2013
It's been a 'maintenance' month, fixing stuff that's showing its age.
First the fences at Sandstone had got broken, so I repaired them and decided to replace the station signs at the same time. So I got new signs printed at the local print shop. Did Lilyvale and Melaleuca while I was at it and a new sign for the coal loader.
Then I decided to do a few mods to the cheap plastic figures I use to personalise them. This woman's pose is pretty weird, so I cut her right arm at the shoulder and superglued it back at a different angle, for a waving pose. Then I took another one a cut her left arm at the elbow - broke her wrist in the process, so I added a handbag to glue her hand to!
Made a small diorama for the ganger's tent that Pauline made for me. Added a fire with a billy boiling, a water tank and wood heap with axe. The green 'grass' is a 'scotchbrite' scouring pad.
March 7, 2013
I've been using white LEDs for headlights but the ones I've bought have a very bluish tinge. I found some 'golden warm' LEDs on eBay, so have bought some. link
They are a much yellower tinge, but not 'yellow', and better for older style incandescent headlights. Here's a comparison of the old and new.
I think I'll stick with the bluer ones for diesels and the yellower ones for steam.
March 6, 2013
A visit from Martin Smith. He wanted to try out his track powered Fairlie, so I had to resurrect some track power. Amazingly, I got a good lot working again after about 5 years, with just 2 wires broken off.
Here's his Fairlie at Melaleuca. It's a beautiful model and runs very smoothly.
Feb 24, 2013
I built a steam sound for my #9 tank many years ago from a simple Picaxe white noise generator. It was a very harsh sound. When I built my #20 tank, I managed to design a Picaxe interface which allowed the chuff to be shaped and volume controlled. This sounded really good, so I changed the old #9 circuit to the new one. This video compares the sounds.
click here
Feb 14, 2013
It's been a prosperous year on the SaTR, so the owner decided he needed a new car. Here it is being delivered - I'd hate to be the employee in charge of unloading it.
Actually my daughter gave me the kit of the Bugatti Royale Victoria for Christmas. Sure was a finnicky thing to build!
Feb 2, 2013
It's been a long time since updates, with holidays and visitors and sickness.
Unfortunatley this update is about a major crash. Loco 20, the brown 2-6-4 tank in the pic below, came off the high trestle somehow and fell 5' onto the rocks. I didn't take pictures as I was too upset. Hopefully I've gathered up all the parts and have started putting it back together. Repainting all the scratches will be the hard part.
Another carriage courtesy of Bryan. A Boston and Maine. I haven't decided whether to repaint and letter or leave as is for my grandkids in Boston.
Oct 8, 2012
The battery finally arrived for #21, so now it's operational. I put a speaker in the roof instead of the fuel tank for better volume.
Here's a link to video
Sept 29, 2012
I bought a USA Trains F3 from Bryan. I always wanted one of these 'streamliners' but couldn't figure out how to build the curved nose. This is it as delivered...
I've installed Hobbyking 2.4 GHz radio control and Talking Electronics diesel sound with my Picaxe delay circuit so that the loco moves after the engine revs up. The colour scheme was very close to my standard diesel orange and white so I didn't want to repaint. I did the lettering on photo paper and stuck it over the Great Northern letters.
I added the 'hosler' position at the rear end as per NSWR 42 class, and the light - a 10mm dia LED and a 'O' ring from a tap.
As soon as the LiPo battery is delivered I can give it a run.
Completed work on a ruined mine building from Hebel. Now to decide where to put it.
Aug 16, 2012
I made a gantry crane from styrene. Fabricated all the H beams. Decided I didn't want to model the large gears that were used on the manual prototype, so I 'converted' this one to electric operation by putting a couple of 'motors' up top and a control box on the right side. This is probably not its final position, but good for a pic!
Aug 12, 2012
With the cold weather, I decided to make a few small 'loads' for wagons, so I could work inside. Took longer than I expected to make a couple of pallets, a crate and to convert an old motor (thanks Geof) and an old speaker housing (thanks Mark).
Aug 7, 2012
The goods shed at Lilyvale is finished. It is adjacent to the loop track at Lilyvale, but I hope in future to add a goods siding on the other side of the shed so it is essentially ‘2-sided’ While I was building the goods platform, I decided to add a short length to become a 2nd passenger platform (leftover piece of Hebel). It’s fenced off from the shed platform with fence made from flyscreen and styrene strips. There’s a timber boardwalk to cross the tracks to the main platform.
This is where the future track will be.
July 30, 2012
I used to have a track power control box on a 'pole' at Lilyvale, but it's no longer needed. as here....
So I cut it down, but still needed to terminate the power wiring to the points etc. I used a small plastic food container mounted at ground level. Then I decided to build a goods shed from Hebel to cover it..
It's a 100mm thick block cut in half and the roof shaped
The doors will be styrene and the roof a styrene sheet covered by corrugated aluminium from cheap baking pans.
June 22, 2012
All my steam locos have 'normal' buffers at the front and my standard blocks of wood for buffers at the rear. It is impossible to push with the normal buffers as they lock on curves. I want to be able to double-head steamers or use them as push-ups, so I made a slip-on buffer as shown here...
The 'baseboard' at one end of Ti-tree had been lifted by a large pine tree root nearby. This was causing the adjacent lifting bridge section to become mis-aligned. (You can see the bridge at top right in its folded up position.)So to remedy the situation I cut 15mm from the leg supporting the baseboard and braced with steel bar. And I left plenty of adjustment in the metal holes for future reductions in height too.
May 23, 2012
Must be turnout building season. I made another one to replace the swiveller at Sandstone goods siding. It's installed but I won't ballast it till a few trains have run through for testing. Needs a long operating rod to move it from closer to the front of the tracks - it's a long reach!.
(That's another piece of track with no track power - I didn't bother rewiring it.)
May 14, 2012
I have built a new turnout for the Lilyvale reverse loop. (the old one was made from 'O' gauge rail and operated by a pair of solenoids, and was getting unreliable.) The new one is from brass rail with styrene frog. I decided to use a servo to operate it as I already had the Picaxe controller for the infra-red detector which controls the turnout. It was a simple program change to drive the servo instead of 2 signals to drive 2 solenoids.
BUT there were interference problems causing the servo to jitter. The picaxe and servo are separated by only about 500mm but obviously the servo signal wire was picking up interference. I finally solved it by using another wire twisted with the signal wire and connected to 0V at one end only. I hope it keeps working.
My previous servo controlled turnouts have used a 'solid' connection to the turnout blades, which meant they could not be operated manually. For this one a developed a new 'linkage' that allows the manual operation too.
Apr 24, 2012
Finally, the lettering for #20 has arrived. I was going to put yellow lines on too, but I think it's got enough yellow. Still need some more 'clutter' on the front.
A couple of short videos...
Link 1 ....
Link 2
Here's some pics of the cab - the speaker on the rear wall and the firebox front. The driver can't find the regulator handle (yet).
Apr 19, 2012
I've added a "new improved" Picaxe sound system which sounds much better than the previous picaxe ones.
The speed control is standard Hobbyking 2.4GHz - left end of pic. The motor has a series resistor added to give a more variable speed as the train hits grades or curves. This also allows the sound system to calculate the motor current and give a better speed signal to the chuff rate, so that the chuffing starts exactly when the loco starts to move. It has 2 levels of volume selected by the left stick of the Tx.
The speaker is in the coal bunker, facing into the cab.
Apr 9, 2012
Finally the new tank loco has come together. Just needs lettering and lines and a few small details like handrails. I've installed 2.4GHz RC, but no sound yet.
Apr 5, 2012
The SaTR has leased a railcar from the Wire Grass Rly. For the time being it will retain WGR colours.
I quickly fitted a basic RC system today to let the grandsons use it.
Apr 2, 2012
Just happened to stop all 3 of my black steam locos in a line today, so I thought a photo was called for.
All parts of the new tank loco have been undercoated. I'm thinking of painting it brown with cream lining. The dome (not shown) will be brass for a change.
Mar 23, 2012
Starting to get a bit more done on the 20 class tank. Boiler, firebox and smokebox all done. Dome turned from wood. Tanks are taking shape. Speaker will be in rear tank facing into cab. Electronics are in the boiler and batteries in side tanks, all accessible from underneath.
I have to decide on a colour before much longer so I can paint bits before final assembly.
Feb 4, 2012
Way back in 2000, I bought a secondhand Bachmann Big Hauler as a source of spares for my other 4 similar locos.
The grandsons have been asking why they can't play with it so I did a quick conversion to 2.4GHz using bits from the junk box. Ten old AA NiMH cells in the tender, reused the existing sound board (runs off 12V OK), but did put in a servo controlled volume control.
gears are very noisy despite copious use of vaseline, so who knows how long it will last.
Here's the batteries on the tender floor...
and the electronics on top of the batteries...
Jan 18, 2012
I made a pair of turnouts to replace the 3 way swivelling one at Sandstone. It was too prone to expansion and binding. Took me 2 days to make the 2 of them. I used my standard styrene frog system - built up from pieces of 1.5mm thick black styrene.
Step 1 is to make the fixed rails
Then the frog. Working with styrene is so easy - just file or cut the frog to required dimensions after all installed. Note how I don't use the 'wing' rails dotted yellow - they are unnecessary in models and just used for strength in the real thing.
Here's the 1st one installed. I use plastic rail for the 'guide' rails - also easy to adjust if clearances too tight.
And both of them. Despite problems with the plastic rail expanding and buckling, I've reused it (top left siding). This time it's only screwed down at the mid point of the 4' length. I'll see how it goes and if OK will just loosely ballast it. If not it will be aluminiumised!
Jan 13, 2012
Pauline has made some more clay houses for me. Here's the new house beside the 15 yr old one, and a couple of fettlers' tents.
Dec 22, 2011
Just a little more work on the tank. Aluminium angle attached to motor block to form the chassis for the body to sit on.
Dec 8, 2011
I've decided to use the new PIKO 0-6-0 motor block to build a NSW 20 class tank loco. The axle spacings are too close, so I'll shorten the whole thing by about 30mm, by moving the front wheels back under the smokebox.
Here's the progress so far.
I've ordered a 2650 mAh LiPo battery and RC gear and am 'thinking about' the sound system and where everything fits and how to access it.
Nov 29, 2011
Yesterday saw a busy run day. I only expected 3 operators and only opened the 'top half' of the track. But Keith turned up too, so 4 of us really filled up Melaleuca and Sandstone. (I was trying to run 3 trains myself!)
Here's a link to a short video of the day.
The GRASS website has more pics too. click here
Bryan had his new $100 european outline tank
Geof had rebogied his 1620 class and it now runs like a charm.
Keith had a new carriage from his US trip to run behind his Climax
Nov 23, 2011
The new Sandstone loops got a good testing by the 3 grandsons on Sunday, with the first trains for 3 months running.
My locos #2 and 3, based on Bachmann Big Hauler motor blocks, both split their axle gears. (see June 18, 2011 for other locos with this problem). So I ordered 2 new ones and fitted them today. They seem OK but full testing must wait till the rain stops.
The split gear is the white one on the left.
Gentle persuasion to remove the wheel from axle
The new gear is held by a pin through the axle instead of the original spline.
Nov 13, 2011
Finally after 2 months away, I've started cleaning up the weeds to get trains running again.
I bought back a couple of PIKO points, but had problems with one. Apparently a common maufacturing fault is the use of too long screws underneath to make the electrical connections. But they also hold the moving rails and if loose the rails do not fit snuggly against the stock rail. The screws are stupid Torx types and I stripped the head so could only remedy the problem with shims and glue. Lucky I don't need elec connection!
Anyhow it's installed at Sandstone to complete the 4th loop, but not tested yet.
Sept 6, 2011
Just a couple of pics from today's running.
Also a 'different' video
Maple Junct is not often photographed.
Aug 22, 2011
Haven't achieved much in the last 3 weeks. I added some lead to the #19 diesel and it works well.
I actually had to do some garden work! After all the rain, I had a real boggy patch near the new turnouts at Sandstone. So I cut a mini Grand Canyon through the rock and put in some white pebbles to stand on 'above' the waterline.
I've been working on a level crossing boom gate operated by a servo. I think I've invented a simple train detector based on cheap light dependent resistors. See the web page I've done for it click here:
And here's an early pic. The white wiring behind will go under the baseboard and the electronics in the signal box. The servo is in the little cabinet next to the boom. Ultimately there will be flashing lights. All the detection, servo control and flashing lights is done by a single Picaxe
Aug 2, 2011
Finally finished the new diesel loco. Getting all the RC gear in was a squeeze. Now I need some weight - LiPo batteries are too light!
Here's a link to a 1 minute video:
click here
July 30, 2011
Finally the dry weather allowed me to paint the loco. I decided to do all the painting and lettering BEFORE I assembled it this time. Here's some of the bits. Tomorrow should see final assembly !
July 20, 2011
All the parts for the new diesel have been completed and undercoated. Just waiting for some good weather to paint them.
The front headlight is a keyring melted into the styrene. The paper surround is to protect the styrene when I slip with the soldering iron! Two 5mm white LEDs will be inside the circle.
I decided to get carried away with the driver and make him rotate to the direction of travel. I use a servo and some fancy linkages to get the 180 degree rotation within the small space available. A picaxe is used to slow the rotation down so it takes about 2 seconds. This is a mock-up for testing. You can see how I had to butcher the desks to let the legs rotate.
July 9, 2011
Work is progressing on the next diesel. This will be a larger hood type, but very similar to the existing orange #13. I'm using an Aristo motor block (from their RS3) under the cab, and some spare bogie frames (I used the motor block for "Ernie" - see Dec 19, 2010) and plastic wheels for the front bogie. All the bits and pieces have been cut out and detailing started. At present I'm trying to figure out how to do the fan on the hood roof, which is actually the speaker.
I've decided the orange will be the SaTR's diesel colour scheme. This how it will look.
It's 480mm long compared to its smaller brother #13 which is 380mm long, shown here to the same scale.
I never realised I'd have to be a surgeon, but I had to perform an operation - I only had seated figures of women and I wanted a sitting man driver, so a sex change operation was performed. Here's the before (right) and after.
June 20, 2011
I've installed another turnout at Sandstone (courtesy of Keith) to form the 3rd loop. Necessitated some rock cutting. Also extended the front siding to 8'. Will need more rock cutting if I want it longer. Just need one more turnout for the 4th loop and I'm finished.
June 18, 2011
Well I replaced the 2 gears in the blue Garratt with those from Hobbyparts. They were a loose fit on the shaft so I had to drill through the shaft and gear collar and screw them on. The front unit (26 teeth) is very noisy, so I've added some toothpaste to hopefully do a bit of 'grinding'. Ran it quite a bit on Saturday.
May 28, 2011
DISASTER. After all my work putting new RC in the blue Garratt, when testing it, the gears on both engine units split. I had one spare but not TWO! I think I've found some replacements from hobbyparts.com.au. We'll see if they fit when they are delivered in a couple of weeks.
In the meantime, it's back to working on the new diesel.
May 26, 2011
I replaced the big 7 Ah lead-acid battery in the blue Garratt with two, 3000 mAh LiPo. Reduces weight by 2.1 kg!
But the old 'toy car' radiol control was not working too well, so I've converted it to 2.4 GHz. I reused the old dual sound system, and found that I had designed it all those years ago, to have a voltage controlled volume feature which I never used. So I built a small Picaxe circuit to 'read' the throttle pulses and determine if it is accelerating or coasting or braking or stopped and vary the volume accordingly. Here's the 2.4 GHz component board. It fits in the boiler.
Apr 18, 2011
Sandstone baseboard is finished.
Tracklaying is virtually complete until I get the 2 extra turnouts I need. The 2nd loop has been re-instated with the 2nd handbuilt turnout finished. Four sidings now available.
Just need some bridge work over Fern Creek and some more sleepers for the front siding.
Apr 10, 2011
Progress continues on widening Sandstone. Even though I've removed track power, I thought I might need some wiring in future for signals etc, so I put a conduit under the board.
I'm using my standard 'ladder' construction of old fence palings covered by 1.5mm thick styrene
I've ripped out all the track wiring and will probably just have power to the mainline, with no switches. The poor old control panel had crumbled away. Here's the as new and end-of-life pics
Apr 8, 2011
I've started work on the Sandstone widening for more tracks. The support pier and front beams are in place.
I decide not to have a turntable at this stage - just the extra loop and maybe an extra siding. I've ordered two PIKO points and will build one more too.
Apr 4, 2011
Vandals attack Ti-tree !!!
The dirty rats have eaten the station nameboards and parts of the doors. Seems the local rodents are now developing a taste for styrene. Also gnawed through a 44 gal drum and broke the window to get inside. All repaired now.
And a last pic of saturday, with James McInerney's 4-6-0 at Sandstone.
Apr 3, 2011
A very busy running day. I had every building out!
Here's Andrew's modified Stainz
.
Mark's 48 class
.
Keith's CPH at Lilyvale
.
And James McInerney's loco taking water at Meleleuca
Mar 31, 2011
Years ago I made a semaphore signal. Today I finally installed it. I decided to just see if I could operate it from the turnout position using a bit of fishing line. I'll see how it lasts.
Mar 23, 2011
During the last few rainy days I decide to make another turnout.
Plans for a 3rd loop at Sandstone and new sidings were drawn up but I'm still deciding whether I should put a turntable back or not. First step will be something like this.
And maybe a turntable like this, built out on a raised board...
Mar 6, 2011
I ran the Garratt for 50 minutes today with 6 bogie load. Means the loco takes about 1.4 amps average.
It then took 1200 mAh to recharge. So I guess I'll only get about 90 mins run. If I put another 1300 mAh in the cab, I'll get 140 mins.
Mar 5, 2011
The grandkids have gone, so time to work on trains.
I've taken the plunge and installed my first LiPo battery. (Bryan and Keith have used them for years).
I replaced the NiMH cells in the red Garratt, as I've realised that the >1 amp currents are not good for AA cells (after problems with my 4-8-0). I've used the same 2200 mAh rating and slightly lower volts (nominal 12V), but the higher discharge capacity of the LiPos will help. I can add another 1000mAh in the cab later if necessary. The motors now only have around 5.5V each but the speed seems OK.
I bought the battery and charger from Hobbyking and while ordering I bought a new Tx+Rx+ESC for a future loco. All up only 87AUD !
Feb 13, 2011
It's been a month since the last update, but that's due to my grandkids from US being here on holidays. No work on the trains (except for repairs!) but playing trains every morning.
Here's Lexie with her loco and bear.
Here's 4 of the 5 kids, with their locos.
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I've installed 2.4 GHz RC in the new diesel. A bit of lining and detail painting and it's about finished.
I'm working on a simple sound system, mainly to just remind me that it is turned on! There's only room for a little speaker, so volume will be pretty low.
Jan 10, 2011
I put another video on Youtube. This one shows a trip over the whole line from Sandstone to Termite and includes part of the video from 2 Jan. click here
Jan 7, 2011
Friend Bryan gave me a small diesel loco. It's been nicely scratchbuilt by persons unknown on an LGB powered tender motor block. I think it looks ugly and great. Only unusual feature is the open cab rear wall, when it has side doors on the cab.
Now the real problems are:-
There's no room for a speaker, except maybe in the cab roof.
All the 'cavities' are just too small for AA batteries. So I'm going to use a false cab floor and get 4 cells under it with another 1 or 2 under the hood. Then use 2.4 GHz RC under the hood too.
Then decide whether to close in the back of the cab.
Jan 1, 2011
I've added a new page to my Electronics section to explain a bit more about using batteries and different control systems. It includes a detailed look at PWM controllers. Just click here and go to the Battery/charging menu item.
Dec 29, 2010
My 3 grandsons and 2 neighbour boys who got G scale 'christmas tree' sets, came to play with THEIR trains. A very busy time was had by all.
Here my 3 boys discuss a tricky shunting problem. Ernie really loved his new loco.
I've been playing with MS Photo Story program which takes a sequence of still pics and makes a 'video' of them. It's very easy to use. But this one is just a panorama of pics 'stiched' together.
