On Tour II; Southland sojourn pt I

Onto Southland, where the locals prefer their sunshine in the liquid form.

In between entertaining the nieces and nephews I managed to slip away to do a bit of touring. First up was a visit to Gorrre. The Station is on the main street and has been preserved with an art gallery and a cafe inside.

Wow I thought, I wonder what the platform side looks like?

'Hello, Police? I want to report a robbery.'

Across the track (singular) is the old 'Iconic' Cremota building complete with Sergent Dan on the side.


Also on the main street I came across this. Anywhere else in the country there would be a monument to the fallen in 2 world wars, or a statue to some politician. In Gorrre they value other things more highly....

'The places I could take this if it wasn't a family blog'

On tour I; North otago

Right, back on front of the old pooter.

The trip for the inhabitants of Chateau Dandruff (minus the spiders) started off in driving torrential rain, with a side order of flood. Things calmed down on the Canterbury plains with just gale force winds to contend with. After a stop in Timaru we ventured into the back blocks of Otago on the way to the sprawling metropolis of Winton (who's main claim to fame is that the lady of the house came from there).

First up is Oamaru. this sleepy town has reinvented itself as the steam punk capital of New Zealand.We didn't look at this bit, but did visit the Whitstone cheese shop (mmmm, cheeeeseee).
just across the road was this Bumble bee Dc parked up for the holidays.

Our ongoing trip then took us over Danseys Pass. To get there from Oamaru its required to follow the old Ngapara branch starting at Weston. This is a nice drive and I would recommend it.
At Ngapara to most obvious relic is the old flour mill. This is still in very good condition.

Unfortunately the station site is long gone, replaced by a collection of trees. I think this is where the station sat, and is the opposite direction from the flour mill.

Into Central Otago and I had to stop for this photo......


Further adventures as they come to hand.

The Year That Was

Am_Fet writes:

Sitting here in a sweltering Nor'Wester at the Ancestral Home with the Laird and Lady Druff, it seems a perfect time to look back over the year that was and try and pick out the bits that made it special. And so, with alcoholic Beverage in hand (and a fair bit of input from the head druff despite his visiting the antipodes), here is my version of the year that was:

I think the overriding impression of the year for me was "Steady as She Goes". After last years big leap forward, it really was a year of consolidation and a year about people. The convention gave many a chance to meet up in Christchurch with kindred spirits, and the "Informal BBQ's" that were held seem to be a brilliant way forward....a chance for a social chinwag plus some train running on the side. A big "Congratulations" to all those involved, and may we see lots more of it in 2011.

Our scales web presence went from strength to strength. I still think we are the best organised of any of the current scales as far as how we present ourselves to the web world is concerned, and again Wes deserves a lot of the credit for the Nz120.org site. Others are also flying the flag with their own blogs and I can thoroughly recommend it as a way to improve the visibility of the scale.

Many fine models were shown to an appreciative public this year, with probably the most kudos being for DB's DXB.....for many of us, it really was that "breakthrough" moment were the scale could proudly foot it with the best that the S and 9mm crowd were able to achieve....as a model, it probably deserved a cover of the journal all of its own!



Wee Duggie was beavering away like a mad thing on the etched locomotive front, and I am really looking forward to his work bearing fruit in the new year. I would personally have loved to have seen the test etches soldered up to create a real buzz...but the prospect of an etched DS with lots of waggling bits under the footplate is a mouth watering prospect.

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is still the elusive "genie in a bottle" that not many seem willing or able to uncork. Some DX sideframes made it to limited production, but everything else either remains in development or hidden from view (why?). This could be the one tool that really lifts the scale to the realms of the "insanely achievable", maybe 2011 will be a bumper year?

Russell of Trackgang has continued to carry the scale with his continued work both with new kits and supplying of his current lines. The Fiat was a welcome re-introduction and the new Yd is a good choice for those wanting to model work trains from the 1950's right through to the present. So will a Yj be next, Russell??

So, nows your chance...what have I missed? What were your highlights of the year? And what are you expecting to see in 2011?

Personally, I'm really looking forward to that RP'd one piece DXB top....

A Merry Xmas to you all, and may the way to your door always be downhill with a wind at your back.

Snot Bonnets Ahoy!

Am_Fet writes:

I'm always glad when the "Prototype for Everything" department gets in touch....even more so when they fill my inbox with pics that get me thinking "I gotta get me one of those!"

Latest treasure; Two bona-fide South Island DXC's together on the milkies! And one's a Snot Bonnet to boot!



Just another little treasure I can choose to model to annoy the purists....

Again, thanks to Drew for the snaps.....read more on his ongoing blog at http://steelribbons.weebly.com.

I'm going to miss that boy when he flies the coop for Aussie come April...

On tour

Well, from today, things will become even more haphazard posting wise round here. The inhabitants of Chateau dandruff will be on the road for 2 weeks, terrorising inhabitants of small out of the way places. I also have a 1/2 hatched plan to do some railway archeology while on my travels, but it remains to be seen how that's going to pan out, given that the lady of the house might have other ideas.

Wander lust

Time for a bit of an update here this morning.

Things in the real world here have been a bit up in the air over the last couple of months job wise. I've not been overly happy in my present position throughout this year, which I think has come through in some of the blog posts. To cut a long story short, I resigned my job a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those things which had been building for some time, and I just woke up one morning and thought 'today's the day'. As with any decision like this, once made, it was a load off my mind, and I was a completely new man (or back to the old me; take your pick).

Moving on from this, I've yesterday accepted a new job in a different location. Its a sensible career move and my new company is known in the industry as being an exceptionally good employer. I'll also be working for/with an old friend which I'm quite looking forward to. Unfortunately this will involve moving Chateau Dandruff (and all the packing that entails).


So, I guess that the one thing that you can expect is that things will continue to be rather haphazard over the next couple of months. I'm hoping that eventually this will sort itself out.

And as to where I'm moving? I'm not going to reveal it yet, but its a location that the best thing that can be said about it is that its close to a lot of other places...

Trackmaking XXIII

After the weekends disaster, I decided to buckle down and sort out the problem of no gaps.
first up I poured water everywhere to soften up the PVA. after waiting for a couple of hours the track was carefully pealed off. the gaps were quickly added. Conductivity tests were rather inconclusive at the time (waters funny like that) so I just stuck the track back down and put all the heavy books on it again.

Last night I connected the power back up, and was relieved to find that there were no shorts.
5 minutes of testing ensured.

'All the locos really did start at the right hand end honest.'

What I found interesting was that the Da's (which I thought would be fine)did not negotiate the points at the south end of the yard particularly well (there are some gauge issues with the wheels I think). At least they are not supposed to run through this area in the real thing. The Ed's, which I was worried about due to the home made bogies, ran quite happily through everything, with a little lateral jerking around only at high speeds.

I'm quite happy now I can run trains for 7'