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)

Enforced layoff

 I had to take last week off work due to a visit from the Covid fairy. I was lucky in that it was an extremy mild case with only some issues with my sense of smell.

So being under house arrest for a week I had a chance to go through "der room" and do some stocktaking. A hunt through the various boxes gave up this collection.

The line on the left have been or are being covered on the blog. I must see if the Da's are still runners.

The other row is a bit more interesting. At the front is a Kato RSD-12. Bogie wheelbase (outer wheels) is 9' so no real use for anything. Behind is a DL-109 which has Dg bogies but not much else of use. The Da is Phase 2 1431 as TMS 345 after it was Dc'ed internally in the 1980's. It just needs the running boards added along with some handrails. Last up is a lifelike SD-9. While I could use this for the Da, its also the correct bogie wheelbase for a Standard railcar.

On Shored

A cryptic comment a couple of posts back on a new company in the NZ120 area. I've been wondering for a while now when it would happen and its apparently about a month ago. My spies are obviously either asleep, running magazines or distracted by larger scales (Mike you have no excuse, 200 lines by the end of the week please).

Lewis Holden and a 3D resin printer have decided to try to try to take on Shapeways and the UPS shipping monopoly by licensing CAD files from local designers and printing them out on shore at 3 foot 6 models. So not only do we get to stick it to the big companies but the print quality is far better. I'm not sure about the prices (my cries of "you are not running a charity" seem to go unhindered alot in this country) but if he can keep it up then it just shows how much shapeways have been creaming off the top.

Designers on board so far are Peter Bryant, Simon Lister and Michael Gee. From reading the legalease the designers get paid per print, and with lower prices should be seeing more money (I think, I only just passed 7th form Economics and got the supply and demand curve round the wrong way. Probably best I'm a scientist).

I must admit its awfully tempting and I've aways hankered after a phase 3 Da to complete the set (even though the SD-7 chassis is earmarked for a tandard railcar). I don't see this as being a wider competition with Trackgang (and indeed his bogie sales might go through the roof. I wonder what his sons like with a soldering iron...) as there's items that I don't see ever being put into rubbers for lead casting.

I wish Lewis all the best for his new venture.

Back in Stock

 It seems that after quite a few years Tomytec has started making its moving bus system again.

This time round they are just doing 1 bus chassis that appears to be very flexible.

The price has gone up a bit to $26 USD but its a complete unit with a better battery arrangement compared to the mk1.

 The mk2 has the battery in the rear part of the mech compared to the mk1which had the batterys across the front. This makes it possible to hide the main part under a rear deck and may make trucks possible depending on how much plastic can be removed. certainly the front piece looks like it can be stripped right back.

The graveyard

 A comment from SteveF on my last blog post seemed to have the expectation that I was planning to build a layout based on my idea. The honest truth is that while its a layout I would love to build, I'm just not in a position to build it. There are a pile of incomplete layouts on the property ahead of this and having one more wouldn't help.

Paekakariki has been dormant since we moved in 9 years ago. While I do look at historical photos and further models, unless I win lotto realistically it's not going to happen. There's a lot of models to build just on the electric side of the layout and the steam side will need a serious amount of money to build the locos required. It's a "sunk cost" project that maybe its time to cut it loose to a fool someone else. I would not be parting with any of the rolling stock for it BTW.

Higher up on the "possibly completable" scale is my wharf layout. The basic trackwork and backdrop are done and the only major job is to do the wharf piles (for which I have found a plan) and the layout base. Heres the wharf sitting behind a layout I had forgotten I had.

The freighter is sitting safely in the cupboard.

Finally there is the On30 layout that I've been working on for 10 years. Again it hasn't had anything done to it since I moved rooms a few years back.

So, who else out there has a pile of 1/2 finished or abandoned projects?

 

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.

Magazine review time

 During the blog layoff a couple of things happened on the railway magazine landscape in new Zealand.

First up we have seen the demise of Railfan after 25 years of world class content. It was a magazine in which every issue was full of interesting articles and photos for everyone. Its one of those things where its just nice to pick up an old issue and imerse oneself in the contents. The Branchline series and John Agnews Carriage history were always standouts for me. 

The new kid on the bock is The Linesider, a retirement project from Kiwibonds. I remember a couple of years back when he said he was thinking of publishing a magazine and had done a business plan for a year to see if it was feasable. Into a second year it must at least be breaking even or just slowly sucking his retirement fund dry.

So opinion time, I think that the Linesider has started to hit its stride in season 2 with some interesting articles. The editors knowledge of the wider world of modern railways has been to the fore in the article on the new locos for the South island.

I must remember to renew my subscription.....