Snow time

Well, with the heavy snowfalls all over the place I was still surprised to see snow on the ground at Schloss Dandruff tonight. It started about 4 pm and was quite heavy by the time I went to drive home.

"No Drew, thats not the Man-sion..."

Tonight I arrived home to a box from the US,


The contents of which were...

"Hmmm, no not that sort of Zephyr"

I was all set to get out into the Man-sion tonight but 2 things defeated me. The 1st was the power pack, which while capable of 240V inputs, did not want to mate with the local power outlet. The second was a local power cut which reduced us to the miracle of fire. I did manage some reading though.

"I'm just missing the blanket over my head"

On Tour; Dorkland

This week I've spent several days on a work trip. While this has involved mostly listening to experts talk about sciency stuff, eating bad food and drinking, I did find some time for a bit of trainspotting.

I was on top of the hill, and it was a short walk down to Newmarket. far faster than driving the distance anyway.

I was walking down Newmarket rd when i noticed that you can see the infamous new triangle from a car park. off I wandered assuming that I'd just get tossed out if someone had a problem.
no sooner had I arrived at the fence than a train headed off out to west Auckland.


This had just passed when another train arrived from the west.

Well, apart from the wire fence, not a bad spot to watch. however, there were people sitting in cars looking anxious, so I moved on to let them conclude their drug deals in peace...


What did strike me about the station is that its very European, and quite reminiscent of Swiss and German stations that I've been through, with a modern concourse above the platforms, and display screens to show what train is on which platform.

The other end of an SD set. actually quite modern looking given its only an old BR mk III coach. Why we can't build something similar here is beyond me.

I tried to get some pictures of the AD railcars, but I was never in quite the right spot when they turned up.


Finally, an SD set heads off towards Britomart. I saw 6 trains in about 15 minutes. While it was 5 O'clock, it was still quite impressive.

For something completely different, this would be a great station to model. Lots of trains, modern surroundings, and the possibilities of some freights out onto the North Auckland line.

Break time

Just a note to say that I'm off on a work trip for a couple of days, so I'll be going quite for a while. hopefully back to full speed on friday.

Back from the front

I'm just back tonight from a 2 day trip to the windy wairarapa, manning the front lines at the MMW stand. The show itself was quite good. Mark was secreted round the back and so it was left to me and Michael to be the acceptable face of modeling. While I was planning to again have a timeline I forgot to record anything so will just use pictures.

Here is Dandruff industries section of the table. A full selection of locos and wagons. The track section that I was working on. The price Cb was used to frighten larger scale modelers. answers were "its a price Cb, not a shay", "It has a DCC chip", and "No, it doesn't have sound may i poke you with my red hot soldering iron instead?" also note the large tea cup and nice sammies. a big thanks to the ladies in the kitchen for refilling my cup without question for 2 days. If they had lamingtons I would have given them an A plus.

On the tarckmaking side I was able to sit down and make a tarck formation from go to whoa. this gave me a chance to experiment with some areas that I have previous not quite been happy with. I must sit down and write up the definitive 'how to do it'.

One visitor was Graham with his Df as seen on NZ120.org. comes complete with dirt and sound. Its nice to see another modeler who is willing to weather his models a bit.

Scenic textures Brian Roulston moves faster than lighting while working on a diorama that he completed during the show over 2 days. A couple of chats about 'super fine' ballast, either side of some reminiscing about the old days in Dunedin when we were younger, may well bear fruit later in the year for loco depot ash grade ballast. The fine ballast will be great for the yard and mainlines.

One of the layouts of the show for me was Grant Morrels Kerosine creek.

An overview of the layout showing some of the beautiful scenicing. Its given me a few ideas for a small bush layout for the price Cb.


The loco depot featuring a selection of famous bush locos. A price E and a MMW dubs A as well as a couple of truck based locos.

My overall impression was that of a good friendly show. It was about the right size with a good selection of layouts and traders (a couple of book shops that got some of my money).

There were also a few wide ranging discussions on various possibilities model wise ranging from the wildly impractical to the only moderately impractical. more food for thought when I finish making track.

weekend

Just a quick note this morning to say that I will be at the Masterton show for the next 2 days. if you drop through stoop and say hi. I'll take some pictures as well.
Now I'm off to make lunch and load the car up

Colour me dirty

With some discussion on colour that steam locos should be painted, I'll submit my take on the matter.

A bit more grotty than the average main line loco, and it still needs some more stains from leaky valves. I also need to add a load of wood to the back.

History time

From Glenn Antony tonight.

"Here are some photos I took at the Timaru Model train show at the weekend. Its some of John Rappard's "Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway" modules dating from 1988 (or there abouts), which are now owned by the Timaru group and have been reconfigured into a roundy-roundy circle with a branch line to the wharf."

Passenger train passes through St Leonards. A kato tank loco

South end of Dunedin railway station including a small port scene

Dunedin railway station c1870's. This was taken from a sketch/woodcut (I think, it certainly bears quite a few similarities to the original. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a copy of it)

Port Chalmers. Kato tank engine on the main, and what looks like a Wf on the siding.

Port Chalmers from the other side.

These pictures do convey something of what a groundbreaking layout this was. Running period locos and stock looked really good on it.