VR trains on the Heywood Branch

 My goal for October is to have the southern wall track in and operating. This includes one of the signature scenes being the VR Trestle Bridge over a swamp leading to Dartmoor. The Heywood Branch had a magnificent wooden Trestle in the Dartmoor area. So here is my 3D printed version.

Eastbound J519 hauls a rake over Dartmoor Trestle

Westbound T class 377 brings empty sheep vans back to Blue Lake before shrubbery is installed in the swamp

D&S Operations Report 11 Oct 23

 D&S Media Report 11th October 2023

Operators:

Dispatcher: Ron

Charde: Reg

Marabost: David

Watchit: Ray

Tawnton West: Geoff D.

Tawnton East: Craig (again!!!), should just call it ‘Craigville’

This media report is going to take on a slightly different format. It will be written like a short
story and the title is: ‘What’s the Point’?
‘What’s the Point’, the D&S owner wondered as each time the Flying Banana left Charde or
was on the way to Charde it would derail. ‘Oh no’, yelled the dispatcher, ‘not again’ was
heard by the crew, after about the fifth time. The guilty little Brown and Cream single railcar
was being a right royal pain the rear end. Eventually the actual spot of derailment was
identified and no doubt this meant the D&S maintenance crew were to become busy once
again.

Guilty – as Charged

The Culprit – driven by the Charde operator but on this occasion the constant derailments were not his fault.

No doubt once it was repaired the point would be tracked in case future issues arose.
The efficient D&S operators continued to raise the expectations. If they were in the Defence
Force they would have risen through the ranks to all be commissioned officers by now. No
more Privates or Corporals. The way the operators are managing their stations and
controlling their trains is to a standard a General would be proud of, or in Tawnton’s case,
the King. King Geoff, albeit, inhibited with a hand injury, was still able to be proficient as
always.
Actually, all operators in most circumstances were so efficient that trains were accurately
blocked, even by those who don’t know what term ‘blocking a train’ means. Surprisingly,
well considering the D&S crew on the night, no, it wasn’t surprising, a number of trains
could depart early (Goods only), and I’m not just talking about a few minutes early, I’m
talking over an hour early. This enabled certain operators to get some valuable shut-eye in
readiness for the next train to shunt.

A quiet Watchit.

Somehow a wagon and card got left behind by someone but unfortunately the railway
detectives couldn’t locate the initial perpetrator, however, the Dispatcher thinks it may
have been from one of the operators in the Western end of the layout. There was not
sufficient evidence to charge anyone as guilty of this very minor offence, so it was swept by
the lineside.
We all know that change is inevitable, particularly in relation to the D&S, so when you next
operate on this wonderful railway you are going to witness some growth and development
in the way of a new station. Tiverton was born a while ago and now has almost developed
into a fully fledge operational line, so be prepared men – it is going to be exciting. There
might even be a ribbon cutting ceremony to commence this new dawn on the D&S.
As one famous Bugs Bunny once said, ‘That’s all Folks’.
Pics are of various aspects of the operational funfest.

                          Busy                                                               ‘Who, me’!

Marabost

Tawnton – The King and the Knight.

Charde and Marabost in the background

A busy Tawnton.

Addendum

Even though many operators looking at this next photo would think that the
Passenger train has entered the Tawnton Goods Yard by mistake (of the Tawnton
Operators), this is not the case. It is actually a ‘Works Train’, Train Order T/O GWT.
It does not contain passengers as many would assume but contains railway
employees (mainly Engineers) who were experiencing the construction of particular
‘Goods Yards’.

Cheers for now

The DS Media Manager.

BDR Operations 12 Oct 23

 Hi All, 

In the absence of the BDR Media Manager I (Craig) was asked to complete the Report on Operations from the 12th October 2023. 

Crew 

Train Control - Geoff

BorderDowns - Ray

Mainline Operators - Steve, Tony and Craig

Report

As you can see from the list a usual operator on the BDR was not present. Ron was missed, however, and not sure if this was coincidental but everything went smoothly with no mishaps, no late running, no incidents and no derailments. All operators were extremely efficient throughout the session, with exceptionally timely departures (some trains even left early, with Train Control permission of course). Bronze stars turned to Gold stars and each operator could have received one. Mrs Kerfops even appeared satisfied with the railway operations.  Here ends the report!!

***Addendum 1 to the report. It was mutually agreed that Ron gets the 'Johnny' Award for the evening***

***Addendum 2 to the report.  Lots of shunting took place throughout the session and this was completely very effectively. 

All up, it was a great session, enjoyed by all. Everyone involved certainly deserves a pay rise, considering the absolute efficiency.  

An empty Border Downs - maybe because of the efficient station master

6000 h.p. on 276 express goods

515 hustles around BorderDowns yard

Unusually short 851 Goods

905 Blue Lake passenger

8141 ex Melbourne arrives Border Downs for a loco change

Some more photos.

The 3 Wise men......

Sitting down on the job 

                                                                              Someone might have a caption for this photo!!!

The End

The 838 Lazarus

 Auscision AN 830  838, with DCC Sound, was shorting. As soon as it went on the track, bang circuit breaker thrown. . Quick check of the continuity of the wheels indicated a deeper problem. Disassembly was called for. As I pondered the process I noted some gruesome repairs had been undertaken on the handrails on the back end. I took out the screws retaining the couplers, which should fall out, but they wouldn’t budge. Hmmmm. What to do….  

Open my set of stainless steel dental tools. With gentle prising I managed to lever out the couplers, they had been super glued in???? 

I noted four retaining screws on the underside which when removed allowed the body to be removed, but it was tight. Bugger, in removing the body a mirror dislodged and fell to the desktop. Shit, the piping on the side of the under frame dislodged and joined the mirror. The driver was glued to the body not his seat and some side frame crossmembers were separated loco had done some parasailing methinks.

Repaired sideframe crossmember

Unplugged the lighting circuit from the main board and viola, the exposed ESU Sound decoder appears.

I prised the decoder off the circuit board and placed it on my ESU Decoder Tester. Immediate short.

Another Duff ESU Sound Decoder.

I had a spare 21 pin Lokpilot non sound decoder, put that on the loco circuit board , put the loco on the program track, dialled up Address 3 and put it into motion. Lights on, sweet as.

Reassembled the body save for side frames which need 24 hr to harden up  glued mirror and under frame piping, readdressed decoder to 838. 

I know it’s wrong era, but I immediately rang the owner and offered to acquire the culprit. Deal agreed, 838 now joins 833 in a green and gold consist on the GSD. Will eventually buy a Sound decoder for it. Cant have enough 830’s on a SAR Layout.

Ps I will also be on the lookout for SAR 830 bodies to replace these in the fullness of time.

BDR Operations Report 28 Sept 202

 A night to remember

Crew
Geoff the Bossman
Steve , the 2nd in charge
and the serfs  Ray, Reg, Tony & the scribe

Look how busy Border Downs was

more about photos later but the BIG news is that Ray won the Johnny Award with flying colours - not one mistake ( leaving an hour too early) but leaving a turnout at Coonara set for the silos & not the main line making this #2  & then for #3, was called many times by the Train Control & he was not awake & when he did, he denied it was his next train - until he had a good look at the paperwork !!
Geoff is contemplating getting an actual physical award made to start off 2024 properly.
 Geoff had told Johnny about the award & according to Geoff, he was OK with it...

Otherwise, the session went well with Reg regularly pointing out me that he has returned exit turnouts back to the mainline.

In fact, I had limited shunting for a change - almost like poison train driving - didn't have to think too hard....

I did mention about having liftups at the door like Wild Creek but that got shot down in flames just like when I mention steam locos  :-P
especially as Anthony up north, is going back further, in time with more steam locos.

Next session is October 12 with the following crew
Geoff, Steve, Ray, Reg, Tony & Craig - I will be at 3 AMRE meetings , very important they are , so one of the crew will have to be the scribe for that night.

There was problems with the 2 new C class locos still running slowly even with controllers off - Ray worked his magic...

Geoff had fixed a couple of track problems near the helix.

                                        Working at the Downs

 701 passenger with 312 goods shunting at Coonara               

733 empty stock train en-route to Naracoorte

               901 & 906 on Stonie entering Border Downs

901 & 906 again ( the Boss has liking for these)

                        835 & 830 on empty grain train

loco line up at Downs...

Yumali                                             

The Boss had made a small clerical error on the train list at Easton - Ray tried to hand over his Johnny Award after his first mistake but it was ignored as it didn't affect any operations.
 Tony was trying for his Gold Stars - have this one mate

I heard a whisper  quite loudly) that Steve is giving up his important paid job as SM Border Downs & going back onto the mainline next session so all drivers will have to answer to SM Ray.

Now as any other gossip/problems that may have occurred, I haven't remembered or been advised but there are many couplings to be checked & rectified - dunno how the Boss can't do them as he is retired :-P       (I can stir him up as he won't remember when I return Oct 26 with a fanfare !!!  8-) )

that is it until 4 weeks time ( as I guess I will be given this job again, grumble, grumble ;-) )

Sol

anthony palmer	Sep 29, 2023, 8:41 PM (3 days ago)
to Tony, Craig, Geoff, Ray, Steve, Bob, Don, Stuart, me, Kym, Ron

Happy Friday BDR crew.

Another great BDR session in the books it seems. Yes, some serious FOMO at this end.

In returning fire to the Media Manager's comment about that bloke from up north and increasing steam engines ...

I am happy to report that I have, with thanks to school holidays, actually managed to make two blog posts in a week! The most recent one is only two months late - not like that last one at over three months late. Yes, I need a better Media Manager than my current one - does anyone know anyone?

So yes, the write up of the July 2023 operating session on the Border District - the 52nd for those playing at home - has just been uploaded. To read all about it, including the embedded link to Brendan's time lapse of the session, head over to: July 2023 operating session

July 2023 operating session Above: The final and only named member of the South Australian Railways’ (SAR) 600 class Pacific class, 609 ‘Duk...

In terms of remaining 2023 sessions - for anyone up this way - I am now leaning towards both 21/10 and 11/11 as being working bees, to progress certain areas and scenes for future photographic coverage. This will then leave the final session on 9/12 to be an end of year op session - holiday traffic, etc.

Wishing you all a great weekend ahead - though won't mention the footy ...

Kind regards,

Anthony

Anthony Palmer

0423 166 797

GSD September Update

 GSD Construction

I established a strict plan for development of the layout with set goals for each month. For September my aim was to get the west wall framing in, build the mainline from the eastern end into Blue Lake and then complete Blue Lake Yard including wiring, point control and isolator panel.

As they say the best laid plans...... Well I haven't missed the mark by much, although it is amazing how much time is sucked up wiring and testing control panels, points etc.

The west wall framing is complete and the sub-roadbed and track is in. I found a product called Loktite Kwickgrab, which I use to glue down the cork underlay before sanding it and ensuring the roadbed is smooth as, so things run smoothly.

Looking East. Blue Lake Station is on the right, the Adelaide Bluebird sits in the Passenger Pocket. VR S Class 315 sits on the passing track, SAR930 941 ready for departure to Adelaide on the Arrival/Departure Track while Class leader 930 and 833 shunt the yard tracks.

Looking West. The Locomotive service tracks can be seen on the right with SAR 800 809 Sanding and VR J Class Steamer 519 sits cold awaiting it fireman's match to return to Heywood.

To date, all the track has been laid and wired in Blue Lake, all mainline points have Tortoise switch machines linked to Loconet and Yard switches have either Tortoise or Servo switched underneath them. Blue Lake will have two Yard Panels, East and West. The West Panel is nearly complete and wired. 

               The first cut of the West panel

Layout Design

I was looking at Google Earth and had a look a Murray Bridge Yard, or what's left of it and decided to redesign Murray Bridge Track Plan to replicate the original. Unfortunately room does not allow installing the river branch to the wharves, but the wharf will be represented on the layout.

3D Printing

Cranked up the Anycubic Kobra Plus and printed off some holders for the Digitrax controller I had to buy so that Sol could have some fun. Still haven't arc'ed up the new Resin printer though.

October Goals

Complete Blue Lake

South Wall Framing and associated hidden track for the Heywood Branch and the Millicent line.

Bridgewater track and wiring.