Station painting continues, plus some distractions

 Wagga Wagga Station painting, and a derailment at Bomen.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for my last post.  It was far too long, and apart from a nice 3801 picture, not much new.  It did however, give me a chance to complete the tedious task of painting the Wagga station, without having an overly long gap in my blog posting schedule.

3801 visit

After turning on the Cootamundar triangle, 3801 returns light engine to couple on the rear of the train returning to Junee.  I was fortunate to ride on this train (April 9, 2021)

A chance to get into the loco cab was not to be missed.  This view from the long line of people at the Junee Roundhouse awaiting their turn (April 8, 2021)

Wagga station painting

2 coats of "streetwise" red sprayed with my airbrush.  I probably should have used an undercoat, as the red did not cover that well. 

The first coat of cream ("Bamboo Cane") contrast colour applied.  Having the window and doors fixed to the walls made the painting task a lot harder.  Note the roof was removed, and the station spun to suit my painting style. Even so, trying to paint the details, without the paintbrush slipping onto the red was very exacting work, and limited by my concentration to roughly one hour sessions, maybe twice a day. The odd glitch, touched up with some red.   

After what seemed like a month, the painting is now done.  2 or 3 coats of cream colour brushed.  The roof, and chimneys, being removeable, were rather straight forward - roof iron sprayed Tamiya aluminium, with the only brushwork being the attic vents, and the gable ends.  Aluminium also brush painted on the guttering.  Some dark green colour also applied inside the the window and doors for the main entrance, and on the platform side  (not shown) 

Glazing the station

I have made a start.  These pictures illustrate my technique

I used a post-it note behind the window openings

With a pencil, I drew an outline of the windows.  This outline is a bit rough, but it is only needed as a guide for the 0.010 clear styrene to be placed over the post-it note.

A different type of paint brush - a "bow pen" is essential for drawing window frames.  I bought this handy tool in Hong Kong in 1985 for $HK20. The width of the line is adjustable over a wide range, and can take all paint types 

Tamiya dark green paint is used for the frames.  The bow pen line is very straight. The rest of the colour is brush painted on the clear styrene to the lines drawn on the post-it note below. After drying, position your window frames against the window openings, and if not right, make adjustments

When happy with the frames, glue the clear styrene to the inside of the station walls. The result was all but invisible - which is why I have used another post-it note to show the framing

Bomen Derailment.

Last Thurday morning (April 15th) at 2:50am, an SCT freight train derailed after passing the former Dampier street level crossing.  Media reports said that 5 locos were involved.  Soon after daybreak, I saw my first picture

This picture (also appeared on the Junee Facebook site) shows a mess. One loco on its side, another 90 degrees to the track, with its end, and wagon just on the mainline near the loop point just visible (lower LHS of picture)

The line south of Junee to Melbourne was immediately closed.  The night down XPT which was to cross this train on the Bomen loop, was issued an emergency  stop order, and it reversed back to Junee.  The down steel train arrived later, and was marshalled in Junee until the line was cleared.  

I couldn't let this photo opportunity pass, so I headed to Bomen for some of my own pictures.

From what I could make out, the train derailed on the catchpoint/derail, that you can see in a picture I had taken of the site a few years ago.  Most of the train though had not derailed, as it was sitting on the Bomen platform track, and not the mainline

View of the line, looking north from the Bomen station.  The loop point can be seen on the mainline, and the catchpoint is visible just beyond the Dampier Street level crossing.  I am planning to model this level crossing, although the loop passing track is far too recently added for me to include. However, details such as the derail are needed to protect the mainline. 

Of course, the cause of the derailment is subject to an inquiry.  But the 5 scenerios that could have caused it are

1) Driver passed a red signal

2) Signal failure

3) Loco was already derailed prior to the catchpoint, and the derailed wheels hit the derail.

4) Brake failure

5) Track problem

Why the train was on the Bomen station line, and not on the mainline may also be asked.

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I noted that the steel train was leaving Junee on Saturday morning (April 17th 2021), so the mainline was back operational just 2 days after.  Well done.  However, the bomen platform track took some extra time.   I passed the site on Monday April 19th, and the cranes were still there

This derailment made the national news, and disrupted trains on the busy Sydney Melbourne route for over 2 days. 

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Until next time