Free the Mo

 The local group I've become involved with in Palmy is currently between layouts after they sold their big NZR layout. The current plan is to become involved with the New Zealand Freemo movement in 16.5mm guage and build up a stock of modules. The club will build the 2 return loop ends and the base module will have double track.

This got the brains trust talking about an NZ120 freemo setup. Now I know this has been tried in the past but all the others have been more "modular" in their setup. Having a look overseas the Freemo movement is much more free form and has no side to any module.

I've just uploaded the doc to my google drive, have a read and see what you think. They are based on the European Freemo N rules (as they are in metric, you can't convert anything american as you can't get the correct dimensions on supplies). theres been a fair bit stripped back. And don't forget that anything that you do have can be used as long as there is a Freemo endplate (and associated connections) on the ends ie it doesn't have to be between every board, just at the ends of a scene with anything else going joiining wise internally.

Turning things around

Right, an attempt to start writing semi regular Saturday morning posts that requires me to A) haul my ass out of bed early and B) evade brunch making duties (this morning at La Casa Dandruf its pancakes and maple syryp) untill 11am.

Even since Paekakariki has had a full completement of mainline track, I've pondered just how to get the trains back onstage once they head off North or South. Now mostly I'd just say a return loup with storage sidings but then I got to thinking, why not something better? I had kicked around in my head (theres plenty of free space) modeling more of the area south to Pukerua bay to let the electrics stretch their legs but I could not figure out how to do it. 

My initial thought was just to use the outer storage loop as a sceniced mainline section. The immediate issues are that you can't park a train on the bank (well, not quite true but I don't think they have signal failures/derailments that regularly on the real thing). I then hopped out of the box and came up with a separate mainline and storage setup.

Now this has 3 storage loops plus a couple of lines for the EE units to sit between jobs. Its all rather complex though. The other issue is that trains leave Paekakariki and immediately head north along the Pukerua bank. Not overly ideal (though its just occured to me that if it was reversed it would work fine). the whole thing folds in 1/2 for transport and storage. Theres an access hole in the middle as well.

I then considered having a diamond crossing that swaped the north and south mains so that it would work and trains would run into the storage yards and then out onto the main line. 

Trains head into the storage yard then do a circuit of the mainline before arriving at Paekakariki. Aagin if I simply reversed the first plan we wouldn't need to be here. Mr Bond then pointed out that the rail crossings of the baseboard joins were not square, and the track was awfully complex and what about maintanance.

A couple of minutes of looking/thinking last night and I realised I could strip 1/2 the points out and it would still work and I would only have square track crossings of edges.

I think its a bit more elegant, you don't loss anything by simplifiying the points layout, and its also easy to operate and maintain.

The only real issue  (damn you prototypical modeler in my head) is that the electric locos will reverse on every trip. Not an issue for the Ew's but it is for the Ed's and Dm's. The only alternative to fix this involves a lot of loco handeling/shunting off stage which I don't think is a good idea at all (unless someone can convincement me otherwise).

Book review time

A couple of weeks ago A PDF copy of a new book was shared with me. Its a surprise to find a railway in this country that I haven't heard of. In the late 1920's the Auckland city council built a dam in the upper Huia valley to supply water to the growing city. 

As part of this a tramway was built to transport building materials from The Manuka harbour 6 km up the Huia river to the dam site. The tramway then ran a futher 2.5km above the dam site to a quarry.

Unlike a typical bush tramway, the line was built to a much higher standard as it carried quite substantial loads of cement, sand and rock. Several bridges were required as well as a couple of tunnels.

The line from the landing on the Manakau moved sand and cement brought in by barge with a typical days load being 120 tons in 4 trains. This was carried in bogie wagons built on log bogies. 

Several locos were used on the line. A Price Cb was purchased new in 1927, and a Gibbons and Harris 0-4-0 and a 9 ton Barcley 0-4-0 also worked on the project. The Cb was used to move trains from the landing to the dam site and the other 2 on the quarry line. When the dam was completed in 1929 the Quarry line was lifted and the line down to the Manakau was left for access to the dam untill it was lifted in 1959.

So, thats a rough summary of the history, whats in the book. Well, for once there's much more, and quite honestly its christmas for the modeler. A map of the line with all the interesting spots covered. Track plans for the landing, dam and quarry, along with a detailed discussion of how they were operated. There are plans for the locos (or close to) that ran on the line as well as a plan for the main type of wagon used. there are also plans (and detailed information) for the major bridges, tunnels and other locations of interest (including where the line ran across a rock shelf which had to be blasted).

Admittedly the book is writen from a historians view with detailed explanations about the difference between NZR and bush trams which for the average railway modeler are a bit long winded. Thats not why we are here. The rest of the book is absolutely brilliant and my hats off to Peter Hopcroft for writing a book which should be a blueprint for historical railway writing in this country.

Hiua Dam Railway.

How many boxes over is that?

 I've been kicking this around over the last few days with a collection of wise asses men.

Could you model narrow gauge in NZ120 using Z scale mechanisms?

I get notifications from one of the Japanese model shops as their bits can be quite interesting. One was for a Z scale mech which is dirt cheap (and I didn't think Z scale was a Japanese thing). 6.5mm is 2'7" in TT so close enough to 2'6".

Dimensions are ....tiny.

And what to do with it?

Well, a powered small steam loco is out I think. However a powered wagon pushing the train round would work.

And so we come to the Takaka Tramway, one of the very few narrow gauge lines in New Zealand. Built to move wood and farm product down the valley to the wharf at Waitapu.

Plenty of space to hide a motor. A better option would be in the carriage the line had which would look OK attached to the loco all the time.

The loco itself is not much but was aparently described as "colourful". It could sit on a free bogie with side skirts to cover up the lack of wagly bits (and taking me back to my modeling of 40 years ago).

The wagons are not much either.

 The scenes worth modeling include the main street which is quite plain.

 

A look in the bits tonight gives me 5 x 1m pieces of code 40 rail (more finger cuts I guess) and enough PCB sleepers to manage (though if any readers are members of the 2mm Society I'd be interested in a shopping expedition). There's not alot of pointwork to build (yah!).

Its also been pointed out that N scale (the US version at 1:160, why ) 3'6" scales to 6.7mm which is good enough for for Z guage track. I do wonder if anyone (apart from Mr G) has had a crack at this? Its not something I recollect having seen anywhere.

Layout ideas: Heathcote

 I see its ticked over another new year. I would review last year, but personally theres not much to review modeling wise. However I have been doing some thinking over the year on possible projects (mostly around whether it's worth reserecting my Paekakariki layout. Thoughts, Drew?)

During the week I was looking through my picture and file collection on the hard drive and came across a plan for Heathcote at the western end of the Lyttleton tunnel.

From what I can gleen the date is somewhere between 1965 and 1968. The malting buildings closed in the late 1990's and the buildings were demolished after the 2011 earthquake.

So the obvious attraction is that every train to and from Lyttleton passes through the station ( I wonder if there are any timetables avaliable anywhere?). But its not a double track so trains don't just thunder through the scene in both directions. There is also the malt sidings to shunt separate from the mainline. I'm still not quite sure how the shunt would arrive as if it came from the Christchurch end it would have to run wrong line. It could possibly be taken through to Lyttleton and then come back. I'm also wondering what the tonnage through a plant of this size would be a week (in any time period). It would be awfuly tempting to build it during teh electification period...

A bit of googeling turning up a few historic pictures (sorry theres no atributions, I don't tend to write down where I find stuff and so I apologise)

The station building layout was also a bit odd in that the Up and Down platforms were separate (and the down platform was a wooden structure added some time after the first). There was also a standard signal box closer to the tunnel.

After the end of the suburban service in the 1970's the wooden platform was removed leaving a large gap between the up and down lines. this picture also shows the topography around the western portal.

My online searches this week have not turned up any good photos of the grouping of the malting company buildings (theres a stack of the demolition but nothing at all usefull). I've found one picture of the older buildings ( pre 1929) plus a couple of much wider shots which are not overly useful as the resolution is not great. The Wg is on a surburban train.

Finally here is a shot in more modern times (2012?) showing whats left today-ish.

As for building a layout it really would end itself to curved baseboards (why does everyone in this country build layouts on rectangualr boards)

From left field

 Bit of a meandering post here, but an insite into how I come up with layout ideas.

My day job in science research revolves in a large part in remembering small details from large chunks of data from many years back and recalling them at usefull moments. Its a lot harder than it sounds. Anyhoo...

First up I was sent some pictures of a competition entry from Celyn Bennet in this years convention. 

 

What makes this model historically important is that it is the first completed scratchbuilt NZ120 loco (if I'm wrong, reply in the comments section). Its a nice mix of metalwork and 3D resin printing with wheels and gearing from the 2mm association. The cab is open for a crew and its also fitted for DCC.

Fast forward a few weeks and I'm visiting an NZ magazine editor in Oamaru and in our travels we pass close to the old site of the McDonalds lime works. 

 

This short line was worked by D6 which orginally wound up at the Ocean Beach Railway before passing recently to Lumsden. It's also figured in photos in a few books, articles and calendars as the line survived intothe 1960's.

Back home last weekend and some late night googling leads me to the Whites aviation collection at the National Library website. As an aside this collection is absolute gold.

The best bit is that you can zoom in to look at important details.

The company owned a second D which was used for spare parts after the boiler ticket expired. Obviously it was also handy as a stop block.

We can also look at the layout of the main buildings...

 

 And the loco shed

So we now have enough information for the general plan, the buildings and an idea of the landforms in the area. Next post I will come up with a track plan and ideas for how it would work as a layout.

Saturday Morning

Well, Just.

This morning after a bit of a fossick through the book shelves ( I must find some bindings for my collection of Railfans) I came across my collection of information for the Rimutaka incline.

No sign of a doodle for a complete layout (I'm sure that I did one) but there was a plan for Cross Creek.

The top plan was a test sketch, obviously I thought that the extra passing loop could be done away with. Not sure why I included a second crossover as this was in the days before I made my own track. on closer inspection I've brawn over the top and so I think that the intended orientation is as shown in the first plan. There's also no notes on size and I'm guessing that it would probably fit on 8' if some compromises on train length were to be accepted. depth would ideally be 2'6"to 3' to model the hill behind to get a sense of dwarfing the station.

Suggestions

I tend to spend a fair bit of time doodling track plans. All I need is a pen, a bit of paper and an idle 5 minutes and I'm off. Most of my planning tends to be involved with tweaking plans I have already worked on to try to get a better shunting set up. I must admit that some prototypes have me stumped (the standard NZP 3 track goods yard is almost impossible to add interest to, well for me anyway).
 Possibly of more interest is industrial shunting yards. These can have an odd variety of track formations in a small area which add both visual and building interest. 

So, to keep me entertained at work, does anyone have any layout design problems that they would like examined? Scale is not a problem as I've made track in most scales. I may have to reacquaint myself with commercial track work to see what can be fitted into an area. Also the preference for operations/shunting or watching the trains go past.

Down to the sea in boats.

When building a model wharf, there are several items that are vitally important.
First of course is the wharf. Running a close second is a ship of some sort.

Now, finding a model ship has never been an easy job as the common scales for plastic models tend to be 1/2 the size of NZ120. Fortunately we are rescued by modeling techniques form early last century. Yes folks, card models.
Interestingly enough there are still a few European manufactures (or printers if you will) of these sort of kits. I have built a few of the model castles over the years which build up to good models for war gaming. I have rescaled them by using a photocopier which can get you up to A3 size. I then use the parts as the basis for a model. 

I was looking for a ship similar to that seen in the background of this picture.

 Scanning around for turn of the century steamship models was turning up a blank until happened on a model of the SS Californian in 1:400 scale. Fortunately for me (if not for a few others), this ship was famous for not coming to the aid of the Titanic as it sank, despite seeing the signal flares.
The model is purchased as a set of down loadable PDF's, which can then be printed out. This means that they can be scaled to whatever size you like/need.

The card model can be built as either a full hull or a waterline model. I will probably do it in between as the ship in the picture is quite high out of the water. Size wise, its going to come out about 1100mm long. Possibly a bit on the big side, but then you can think about doing something like this.

( I notice that I've been rather remiss in doing blog updates. hopefully things will get back to normal now that its winter and the garden is quiet)

Sunday night

Answering questions from yesterday morning

What's the longest train you expect to run point to point? 
Will you have digital coupler locking and unlocking to make shunting easier?

Hmm, where to start, especially when I have not quite established a track plan.
I'm also not planning on modeling an actual location per say. This raises for me an interesting question in that if I base my layout on a location with adaptions to get things that I like included.
The flip side is that people will forever be telling me that I've got it wrong (which does get on my goat). As an example I'll offer up a very nice paper model of the TSS Earnslaw. Now I could build this model and use it on a layout, but the procession of people telling me 'oh, so its Kingston then' or 'thats in the wrong place' would just force me to start killing people.

Anyhoo, the envisaged train length is about 10-12 4 wheeled wagons (or there abouts). I could decide to run longer trains but then I would not be able to get the operational interest that I want.
I can only assume that you are talking about remote uncoupling. I can only see having this on the locos (if at all). There's probably not the space even for that under most of my locos.

And these are not really things I'm worried about until the initial track plan is in place. More about that later in the week. I must admit that my initial plan does break down well into MMW modules.

Planning

Gardening. Nothing more need be said.
I also fear I'm on the cusp of being an armchair modeler
On the odd occasion that I have been through der room, I've mostly pondered the possibilities of layouts. Here is a rough plan of the size and shape of the room.

There are 2 4' bookcases on the right and bottom walls, and the modeling desk in the bottom right corner. the left side could be used for a fiddle yard.
Now some of you will be thinking 'build a lifting section and have a roundy layout'. I just don't think it would be interesting enough (and my woodworking skills would not be up to it). My thinking is a terminal (of some sort) on the top wall, and a through station on the bottom wall. The plan is to build MMW modules and use 600mm as the minimum radius.

In another left field thought, I'm not planning to base it on any particular prototype, but use bits that I visually like.

Thoughts, gents?

Iron Gate

Cabbage's Travels

Iron Gate stream a scene waiting to be captured.
This little stretch of coast line has always made me wonder about a model railway scene, so on the way back to Picton the effort was made to stop and get some informational pictures that may be used for a MMW 4 module corner, bend or dog leg scene.

The approach

South west corner

The iron gate??

North east corner

The get away

Iron gate stream bridge

South Tunnel exit

 And not to mention the aerial photography 

Have to take it all away to the drawing board and see what can be made of it.
Using 4 similar reversible and interchangeable modules to make a bigger scene is what the free-mo idea is all about

 The idea

The idea is based on a 1200mm radius curve but looking at it I'm going to try a few other sizes, maybe up to 2400mm which would make the modules roughly 900mm along the track.

Bite sized chunks

With moving into a smaller area the layout constrictions change. With my self imposed minimum radius of 600 mm this does limit the things you can do in a small room. The hunt then begins for stations in a corner. Just looking through the collection tonight, I found this little gem

Port Ahuriri (or Napier ) circa 1912. It has some interesting items which caught my eye.
First up it's on a curve. This scores points on the 'fit into a corner' box. There are 2 distinct sections that could be modeled. The 1st (and smaller ) is the dock which is on the opposite side of the road to a group of warehouses (all of which still exist but converted into restaurants). This would make a good small shunting plank about 6' long (including the fiddle yard).

The second is the main yard. At first this doesn't seem that interesting. However if you look closer, the right hand side the trackage belongs to the Napier harbour board, which is a private railway. In American layout planning terms, this is an interchange, or a source of traffic for the NZR. What is even more useful is the large goods shed at the front of the yard. This can be used to hide the tracks to the right leading to an off stage fiddle yard. The backdrop of industrial buildings also provides a shunting track at the back.

So, there are plenty of ideas here for a corner MMW module.

Sunday Family Movie

Am_Fet writes:

Yet again, the rabid foamer community has come up trumps....maybe their habit of pointing cameras at everything that moves (and most of the things that dont) might not be so annoying after all.  Case in Point:  Already this morning the foamer jungle drums are beating as news comes out that 2 DL's will be running light up Westmere.......and I fail to see the point.  In a few months you wont be able to move without falling over one....in fact, I'd be more inclined to record DC and DXB movements.....

Whoops, let me dismount from my hobby horse...there.....Wow, everyone looks so much taller from down here....

While the Patea layout is progressing, planning is still moving forward on the Castlecliif layout made from MMW modules....in fact, I might even post some of my scribbles this week to put the latest design thoughts up for debate.

I did come across this gem however, and it shows quite well one of the movements the Castlecliff Line will support.  Here are "The Twins" (1267+1200) coming back from the terminus with a rake of containers.

As stated previously, working around this service will be the DSG and DSC shunt teams servicing the local warehouses and industries, of which the Castlecliff has (or did have) squillions.

More 4' by 2' Madness

Am_Fet writes (again):

Over the few days since the last work session with Cabbage I have been using idle moments in between work (Switching the KiwiRail Radio Network to narrow band) and home life to work out the dreaded "What to do next" list.  It looks like the next move will be to get the backdrop in and maybe mock up the cheese store in cardboard to see how it all fits in visually.  Plus I've been looking at the loco and wagon list and plotting where each piece is coming from.

Interestingly enough, I came across a PDF I had squirrelled away from MR of a 4' by 2' layout and I think its worthwhile sharing here:

When I first saw this, it screamed "West Coast Coal".....so I went hunting around Drews blog for some inspiration:

Cor, that will do!  Drews pic of DBR 1213 shunting some HLC coal containers at Reefton in the rain would make a great start, maybe adding in the old coal loader at Rapahoe:

....although the Reefton loadout might also be "adequate " for a small layout:

So, what do we need?  A DBR would be something out of the ordinary and an interesting kitbashing project (although a DC would do just as well).  UK wagons are readily available and I think there are some HLC molds around somewhere (I know DB has a few).  Would it be worth investigating how to make everything "wet" by using a light misting of glosscote on everything?  SOme white lighting instead of warmer yellow?  Muted colours? Handling just coal could be a bit boring as well, so maybe some Ub wagons with some interesting mining equipment onboard?  Or some general container traffic could be put in as well?

Or maybe Peters Wb and some Q wagons.....Hmmmm....Did I mention I had another 3 of these modules to use for something?

MMW Modules - a plan

Am_Fet ponders:

From MD's last post comes this photo from the Fatherland:

I've got to admit this sort of layout has always got the juices flowing....a meandering, free form layout with lots of operating potential and the ability for someone to  perform a job before meeting back up with someone else at a main station and tying up for the night.

Some of you will have heard of Lance Mindheim from the states....he currently is featured in a lot of hobby publications making exquisite models of the industrial trackage in the Miami area.

He has some really interesting ideas about how to make a layout larger via operation....I can recommend you read his blog at  http://www.lancemindheim.com/blog.htm

Anyway, these two things got me thinking about how we can do this in a NZ prototype....and found just thing:  The Wanganui Castlecliff branch.

 

I wont go into the history too deeply, but it was essentially built as a private railway  before being taken over by the NZR.  It was closed under TOLL but reopened when a diary plant and inland "port" were opened at the end, so today the line is run by DC or DBR powered shunts.

However, wouldnt it be fun to model the line as it used to be but set in todays timeframe?  Just look at all these private industrial sidings!
 

Each one could be rejigged to handle ZH or ZA traffic, and some of the buildings are just crackers.  Take for example this warehouse from the NMACo:

 

And just to show how simple the track layout is.....

 

Right at the end of the line was the Harbour Board wharf and sidings which would include some real interest as far as modelling and shunting is concerned.  Hidden over the back where depots for Shell and Golden Bay cement as well, so there is the chance to run UC tankers to make life really exciting.

And you can even model it how it used to be if you were that way inclined....

Okay, so what have we got?  Roughly about 6km of actual trackage with about 10 industries to shunt, a long narrow right of way that suits the MMW modules and lots of photos on the Interweb with lots of support from streetview in Google Earth.

If I was doing it, I would look to support 3 crews of 2 people each.  You would have 2 "shunt crews" equipped with DSC/DSG locomotives who would maybe have "zones" they would shunt from the main yard at the wharf.  A third crew would take a couple of DC's (or DBR's for the adventurous) with main line traffic to and from the wharf out to staging.

I've got lots of industry track plans for anyone interested....its a fascinating wee line well worth a look, I feel.