Albury Staging yard design finalisation

 Albury staging  yard -or- chicken scratchings on the floor

6029 visited Junee in June 2019.  This image of the engine being prepared outside the roundhouse has nothing to do with this blogpost, just thought I would share a happy memory

Stub ended yards at both ends of the mainline, are a feature of an "X factor" layout design, which allows for trains to be remarshalled easily at the end of an operating session, without the need to traverse the entire layout.  I wrote up the design theory on an earlier blog post written 7 years ago.

https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2017/08/x-factor-layout-design-theory.html

 

The diagram from the earlier Blogpost shows how the yards connect to the mainline.

The Albury staging yard will be a stub ended yard comprising 13 tracks.  That is the current plan. 

The trackplan gives an idea of where the staging yard tracks will go.  This diagram was more illustrative, than accurate - and failed to include the doorway to the garage. 

Drawing out the yard tracks - Take 1

Since drawing out the Bomen station, and loop to confirm that the aisle access is adequate, this also provided me with the maximum dimensions for the yard "baseboard".  I placed brown paper over the Bomen level drawing, and chalk was then drawn to represent the yard tracks.

5 stub tracks at the rear, and 4 at the front.  There is a 1 metre steel rule near the skirting board, to give an idea of the siding size.  Note. The staging yard brown paper hide the paper and other lines are for the Bomen station level, which will be built 20cm above the staging yard tracks

The fan for the 9 short staging yard tracks 

The fan for the long 3 metre staging yard tracks at the other end of the wall.

I let the design sit on the floor for quite a few weeks, whilst I pondered.  I was not overly happy with the turnout positions, as they would be awkward to access when the bomen station is placed just 20 cm above the yard tracks

Take 2.

Making changes with chalk is a lot easier than after you have laid track.

A modification to the location of the 9 siding fan brought all the turnouts closer to the edge of the future baseboards, and thus I hope, will be easier to access.

Like before, I let the design sit on the ground for a while.  The shortness of the sidings near the skirting board seemed a bit short.  Was there a way they could be increased in length?

Take 3

Removing one of the rear sidings, and adding an extra siding to the front group has effectively increased the length of the 2 short sidings - the new siding at the front is now just over 2 metres long. 

Each of the yard track "baseboards" will be around 40cm wide.  That will easily accomodate 5 tracks, plus the wiring.  I am trying to avoid wiring underneath the staging yard tracks as much as possible. 

More structure placement

The Murrumbidgee Bridge

Just two 159' spans of this 4 span bridge were made.  Disppointing aspect to me, is that the 5km long approach viaducts will be considerably shortened   

An ebay purchase of a scissors crossover is positioned behind the backscene of the Murrumbidgee River bridge (chalk shows the location of the bridge

The scissors crossover is a bespoke piece, made by the UK track wizard Patrick Nichols.  It uses 4 modified peco medium radius turnouts, a shortened crossover, to achieve a track centre of just 51mm.  It wasn't my first choice.  Somewhere I have stored two Shinohara scissors crossovers, but after I spent far too much time searching for them, I guessed they would turn up only if I bought the Peco version.  

NSW 40 class - Another ebay purchase

Pair of 40 class engines at Wagga in 1955.  (Photo by Stormont).  

One cannot have too many engines.  

4004 - a Lloyds kit

The seller advised that he had purchased 4004, assembled, painted, and ready-to-run from Lloyds around 20 years ago.  " A good runner, and DCC fitted" was the claim.  

I know the model well, as I also made one from a kit.  Eureka models have subsequently imported  excellent injection molded 40 class made in China, so the older kits have lost some desireablility.  

On my small test track, I discovered the DCC chip was a ESU-Loc pilot (non-sound), with a very large keep-alive capacitor.  However, 4004 was not a good runner.  To cut a long story short, one of the geared axles in the K&M mechanism was split, and after removal of this gear, the engine now runs sweetly.  I may not need to replace the gear, 4004 has enough weight to run fine on 5 axles - the prototype actually only had 4 powered axles, the centre wheelset on each bogie being unpowered.

Another delivery

Les, who now lives in Adelaide, and well known for the South Australian modellers convention, contacted me with an offer I could not refuse.  A NSWGR carriage mirror.  This would be a great addition to my train room ensuite.  The only concern was getting the mirror to me without breakage.  Les though had the answer.  His friend Geoff was planning a big road trip, and included me on the itinery with the fragile mirror.  But I was not prepared for what Geoff was driving.

Geoff was on his way to Townsville to race side-car motor-cycles (stored in the trailer).  He had 2 months to get there.  I had a quick inspection of the bus - it is an amazing conversion to become a travelling home

The mirror has lost some of the silvered backing, and this shows up as dark marks in this picture.

Before I install the mirror, I will try and do some quick restoration using aluminium foil.  A full restoration, to completely replace the mirrored backing is something for the future.

Train room update.

I am pleased to report that the train room is nearing completion.  

The ensuite is now ready for use.

And the warning sign regarding use of the WC is now affixed to the wall above the cisten.

Metal weather strip to protect the edge of the floorboards onto the concrete path beyond the door

Painting the door and trim around the doors and windows is taking time.  The gloss white is such a pleasant change from the tired pale yellow.  A second coat will be needed on the doors.

Not everything has worked out.  There has been some significant subsidance of the earth packing around the septic tank.  Understandable, as the bob-cat couldn't really pack the dirt firmly, or the septic walls would have been crushed with the weight of the bob-cat.  My plumber assessed the damage, and fortunately, there wasn't any.  He suggested filling the holes with fresh earth.  This process has started with 6 wheelbarrow loads of sand.  The recent rain has made a few more holes, so I guess I will need some more sand. 

Conclusion

Getting a train room has been a long process, but the end is now in sight.  Money spent thus far is just over $39,000 - which was more than I was expecting, but still fairly cheap for a room fitout.  Of course the layout build is still on the agenda, and I  am looking forward to starting. 

Until next post, build a model or two.