42

Greetings

 In his book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams posed the question "What is the meaning of life, the Universe and Everything?" scientists fed the question into a Kray Computer which took 10,000 years to come up with an answer. The answer 42.

Well its been a long time since my last post on this site. Not 10,000 years, but Life, the Universe and Everything have played their role in the absence of reporting.

So where am I at with the GSD?

After a few visits by the thought police, advice was given regarding 'improvements' that could be made to the layout to enhance its operational functionality. In addition Geoff Mathias has provided me with a full set of operational schedules that will see 16 and 17 trains operate over a 12 hour timetable covering four sessions, Monday, Wednesday and Friday AM and PM services and Tuesday and Thursday AM and PM services. I have also sought to improve my 3D printing skills and have built some half decent models for the layout as well as completed some projects for friends.

Dry Creek Yard

Geoff M suggested I put a four track yard in on the opposite wall to the Mile End Yard to give extra staging tracks for the Adelaide end of the layout. This would require the installation of a bridge across the doorway and changing the area in which i do my 3D printing.

Whilst all tracks are not yet in, the base board, points and some tracks are now operational, so the Melbourne Jets will arrive and leave from Dry Creek.

Blue Lake Livestock Loading area

The Blue Lake livestock loading area has been moved around the corner from its original position to better service the Borthwicks Abattoir..

Murray Bridge

To make Murray Bridge more interesting Noske Bros have built a large Flour Mill on the edge of town and have contracted the SAR to deliver bulk grain to the mill in open wagons and take bagged flour in covered and out.

Timetable

With all the work Geoff m did on the timetables I have had to prepare all the paperwork to support its delivery.

I have printed temporary Carcards & Waybills for all rollingstock to cycle through 4 movements, as well as spares to support cars moving to different areas over time. I have printed Train Orders with a timetable on the reverse so operators know what is required of their train. I have developed Switching documentation for the Blue Lake Yardmaster that tells him what has to go where and from where a car is coming albeit industry or incoming train. And, I have drawn up the movement diagram for the dispatcher

3D Printing

Dartmoor Goods Shed

I printed, painted and set a goods platform and shed at Dartmoor

Insulation Vans

I have finally completed an RX Insulation Van from design through 3D printing, painting, decals and running. RX 9025 Celery Sue is now operational.

OBf

The design of the OBf wagon is still not 100% but I think its getting there. a bit more fiddling to do.

Locomotive Repair

One of the problems of buying second hand locomotives is you buy other peoples problems. But these machines are just simple mechanical beings that just need simple repairs. tighten a screw here, solder a wire there, easy..........

I have had a group of Trainorama SAR 930 locos on the shelf for some time needing new gears on the axles. I had replaced many already with a wide white gear I bought on eBay, but they proved less than satisfactory. I saw Australian Modeller had a better version similar to the NWSL gears I installed in Geoff M's 930's. So a couple of packets of those and viola, 930's running much better as a result.

The 520 I bought has been lying idle for too long. I started rewiring it and thought I would try some new sugar cube speakers to enhance the sound. Erm, as I hooked them up to the decoder tester I accidently put the metal parts across the track which led to the decoder becoming a steam engine in its own right. Poof, so I am up for a new decoder, but I have used the opportunity to install a Decoder Buddy I bought from NixTrainz in the US. These clever little boards sit in  the tender facilitating a plug in decoder. I have also converted all the wiring to the correct NMRA codes for functions. I have contacted Pete Mickalelk  to try and get the original sound file as he built the model and the original sound file was brilliant. Otherwise I shall have to load a US Mountain type loco file.