Weekend rambling

Saturday morning, and the lady of the house decides a trip into the wilds of the Wairarapa is in order. I had only envisaged a trip to Masterton, so her desire to go as far as Martinborough was a surprise. Of course its only a short detour to....

'Last of the breed'

'They wern't that colour in service'

I think that this is still the best small museum in the country. Its well presented, well lit and clean. There are plenty of pictures and other bits of history. Also of interest is this.


Its a model of Summit yard on N gauge track. it was started many moons ago by the late Maurie Duston, and is moving towards completion thanks to another NZ120 modeler.

I think I could be spending a bit more time here.

Comment time

I've been following a thread on the NZ railchat group that has developed in the last couple of days from an initial bomb throwing thread by a man unhappy that the journal arrives irregularly, and that you seem to have to know people to get things done (oh, and on 4 1/2 hrs sleep a night and 14 hour work days. I'd be seriously considering changing careers at that point). It slowly developed to the suggestion that people should write a potted history of their railway modeling so that beginners can see how 'master' modelers of today got started. while I applaud their ideas, keenness and drive, I fear that they will run hard up against the brick wall which is print media. Just what am I talking about? lets say I was to write today and article on my modeling history and assemble some scanned pictures of old models, and posted it off to the features editor tomorrow. The process would then go; pictures not hi res enough and need to be rescanned making the size about a gazillion megabytes. The article would come back with editors 'alterations' to bring the article more in line with the rest of the content and losing all its individuality. (As an aside here, I've just re-read one of my series on NZ120 history articles that was modified and that at the time I couldn't be bothered arguing with alterations to. there are several bits that, if I had written them in my PhD thesis, would have been liberally doused in the markers red ink).

OK, assuming that your article is accepted for publication next week, it might surface in the September addition of the Journal, if you are lucky. That's nearly 6 months time lag. meanwhile everyone has forgotten this and moved onto the next big idea.

I think that the Guild missed a golden opportunity with its new website to add a forum area for people to talk about their modeling. The current website is more of a version 1.2 rather than a version 2.0 that it could have been given a bit more thought. Why they didn't take that extra step, given that a subset of NZR modelers managed to, is completely beyond me.

Another package from the old country

Yesterday I arrived home to a small plain brown package from the old country. Inside more goodies from the gnomes at the 2mm association. And frankly, I'm blown away again.


Just to provide some perspective, the wheels are 7.5mm diameter, the crankpins at the lower left are 0.5mm diameter and the tiny washers are 1mm in diameter.


the wheels in closeup with a crankpin inserted into the hole. The method employed by the 2mm guys is to make sure the rods work, then solder a holder on the outside and cut the excess material off the crankpin.

I must admit to be very daunted by the incredible miniature engineering on display. On the other hand its very insiping to look at which is the largest hurdle on any project.

I've also recieved some more rail in the mail so it will be soldering irons to melt in the not too distant future and hopefully get the final module done.

Foreign Correspondent

Am_Fet Reports from the wilds:

The Fettler Family Roadshow has now rolled into Taupo after stella performances at Napier (hence the State of Emergency being declared). And Tuesday afternoons outing took us to the Taupo Museum...

Now, usually provincial museums I can take or leave....there's only so many displays of 19th century butter churns you can look at and still retain consciousness. So I was pleasantly surprised to find it....interesting. And even more surprising was the fact that Bob Stotts tramway layout has found a home within:



The photo (taken from my 0.3 megapixel blackberry) shows the sympathetic setting, namely an old logger hut with implements on the wall and a monitor playing Memory Lines "Rails in the Wilderness" DVD. Zac was definitely smitten, and it was a pity nothing was moving....but the modelling is still top top notch and stands up well against more recent layouts. And as a teaching tool it was superb.



Now, the really awesome thing about this layout was...the backdrop! The layout was mounted just above waist height, but the backdrop ended about (my) eye level and was nothing but pictures of trees. The backdrop itself did not connect in any way to what was in immediately in front of it, it was just generic forest....but what a difference! The layout looked so much brighter and greener, and it was until you took the time to look really closely at the models did you notice the faded colours and dust. When you look carefully, you can pick where the scenery ends and the backdrop begins:



So thats the take home nugget from todays lesson....simple backdrops can make a difference, even to old and tired layouts.

Not trackmaking

I was going to continue talking about making more points today, but then I though, 'I've done this before'. Maybe its just getting boring. so after an hour in the man-sion I'm back inside, and after last weekends tours I'm looking at Rail car plans for some odd reason. I have the mech for the Standard,and could probably knock up a mech for the Tin hare....

So, are there any questions the you readers have on hand making track? Or any other questions for that matter

Backdrop idea

While hunting large lumps of Asian scrap iron last night, I took this picture, and something about it clicked.
currently there are piles of containers stored 3 high in the middle of palmy yard, and I assume that similar stacks can be seen in other places. these might make an interesting backdrop for a narrow shunting layout.

Big Game hunting

Well, after yesterdays part fiasco, today promised more with a Kiwirail open day. A detour into a garden cleanup (must investigate the cost of concreting) at least provided a way out. A visit to the refuse transfer station which just happens to be next to the Palmerston North station (the architect should be shot for crimes against humanity).

As I drove up, I spotted a full width cab. A moment of excitement until I realised that it was only a class 30. However...

There it was in all its clean paint glory.

Apparently it was towed down in the middle of last week and has since been the target of local railfans (with the response for photos being a phrase that starts with a word that rhymes with 'duck'). The only problem was that without a Hi-Vis vest there was no way I was getting only the other side of the tracks to get some other photos.

'I'd translate but I was away from school that day...'

Also present was a Silver Fern running trips to Feilding and back. From the demand they could have run a carriage train as well. I heard it was standing room only.

'Hi-Vis yellow is ugly isn't it'

I also had a chance to catch up with some other railfans on the platform (one who greeted my with the welcoming 'P*ss off, this is my patch'), which made me rather late home.....

Now minus a few brownie points for being away so long, I got to head back out to pick up some shopping for tea. This also allowed me to cruise down to the loco depot viewing spot, where I assumed that the rake of stock would have been moved. I had discovered that the locos were being moved after 3 O'clock, but again was too late. And to cap it all off they were down the other end of the depot.

'Its the one behind 30203, honest'

OK, so lets try a cruise to the other side of the line into Milson. A drive down some back streets (filled with railway houses, I must go back) gave me a bit better spot, but not by much, and to cap it all off, they were moving away from me, so must have come from a much better position.
Bugger again.

You can sort of make out the larger size compared to the DFT next to it though.

I also caught the Fern returning from Fielding.


So, not a bad day, just could have been better. A distinct lack of historical prototypes, and the diesels just don't really do it for me I'm sorry.

From The display side of things I heard that A few of the Kiwirail 'Big Cheeses' were present to see how it went, with a look towards doing more of them round the country. I think that there should be more trips put on for teh family groups. It seems that despite the change in power up the front, kids still think its fun to ride trains.