How steep is too steep?

 Experimentations for model trains climbing grades

I am at the stage of adding the ramp behind my staging yard to climb to the lower scenery level.  This ramp will be hidden, and hard to access, so I thought I would check that my longest train would climb the grade before installing the benchwork that will be extremely hard to fix later. 

The ACT ARHS 2413 transfer train approaches North Jindalee heading towards Cootamundra on May 24th 2002.  I found my prints whilst looking for something else, and I knew the Junee Roundhouse Museum would be interested in 2413, (one of their exhibits), so I scanned the prints for them

Track design

The ramp runs from the double crossover, up to Shepherds.  It is about 6 metres in length

I had drawn these diagrams a few years ago, and doesn't reflect the extra sidings in the staging yard.  But it is good to show the ramp location in relation to the rest of the layout

The ramp location is closer to the wall than the Albury staging tracks.  Click on an image to enlarge

Now, I had hoped to gain 20 cm clearance above the staging tracks, although a 2% grade would only give me 12cm.  I still have the option of extending the grade around Shepherds, and into Bomen, although this being on a curve would require grade compensation.  

So maybe, a 2% grade could be increased to 2.5%, or even 3%. 

This headed me down the rabbit hole of locomotive hauling capacity.

Test ramp.

I made up a 4.5 metre test ramp, and fitted it with 5 lengths of peco flex-track 

Ramp made from 2 lengths of surplus timber.  The blue metal angle was just right to ensure that the ramp would not bend at the join.  I set the ramp angle at 2%

The meaty end of the ramp.  Many decades ago, I made a transister model train controller, and fitted it into a cyclops brand train control, utilising also the cyclops transformer.  It is my go-to DC controller, as the output is smoothed DC at higher voltages. 

Testing the train up the ramp

The first non-dcc loco I located was the Auscsion VLine X class.  

My longest train that I anticipate running, is the 10 carriage Southern Aurora with one or two diesels.

The Auscision Southern Aurora, purchased in 2016.  Each carriage weighs in between 142 and 148 grams - making the whole train just under 1.5kg.  Auscision have rerun this set  

However, when I tried it out with the full train the X class stalled, with wheels spinning.  A reduction of 2 carriages allowed the train to climb the 2% grade.

This was a disappointing result.  

My immediate options then:-

    - Add weight to the locomotive

    - Double Head

    - Reduce the grade

    - Run with fewer carriages

All the above come with some disadvantages.  The double heading option though was the most likely, although that would mean increasing the length of a couple of staging tracks - one at Albury, the other at Junee.

Another suggestion from the NMRA members in Canberra was to try out the DCC Concepts Power base, which was something I knew nothing about.  A link to a video showed a huge improvement in hauling capacity of an Eureka AD60 garratt climbing a 1:30 grade.  WOW.  I ordered a starter pack from Australian Modeller store.

But the delay did allow me to check out the train length, and test some other locos

One loco - length of train is 2930mm.  Add another 210mm for the second loco.

So, a doubled headed Aurora train would need a staging yard siding length of 3.3 metres.  Fortunately, I have a siding that long.  

The next non-dcc loco I chose happened to be a Victorian G class.  This locomotive weighed in at a hefty 558 grams.   The X class by comparison was a lightweight, just 301 grams.    The G class pulled the train up the grade easily.

DCC Concepts Power Base

Australian Modeller must be recommended for excellence in customer orders, as my starter pack arrived within a few days

The DCC Concepts Power base - 2 packets of magnets (12 per packet), and one packet of metal strips, enough for 5 metres of ramp

But how to fit the magnets to the loco?  All the you-tube videos I watched showed magnets fitted under steam locos, none showed a bogie diesel.  One of the on-line forums mentioned about attaching magnets into the fuel tank, but that is not an option with Auscision, as the fuel tank is the location of the lighting effect slide switches.  But there was space just behind the pilot, and below the coupler pocket that would be suitable, if one was able to make a bracket.

Magnets loosely placed at the ends of the loco, behind the pilot of the G class

Making the bracket

I made the bracket out of styrene strip.

The bracket is made with evergreen styrene strips - 20 x 250 thou, and 60 x 250 thou.  The gap for the kadee coupler mount is 7mm, the bracket wings are 6.5mm, and the height is 11mm.  Screw holes are to match the chassis holes.  This bracket could be an ideal 3D modelling project

The X class chassis with the styrene bracket positioned over the kadee mount.  

The chassis mounting screws hold both the bracket, and the body securely

The 3.2mm thick magnet is glued to the bracket with 2 part epoxy glue.  The magnet is positioned to be at pilot height above the track

Testing with the magnets

Well, success.  There is a noticeable magnetic attraction when the locomotive is placed on the rails, and the X class happily pulled the full train - only slowing down at the end of the video when the front of the loco ran past the end of my temporary installed DCC Concept Power base track plates, and started wheel spinning

So, I increased the grade of my ramp to 3%, and again, the X class hauled the train.  So did the G class without magnets.

Of interest was the power draw.  220mA for the X class, and 300mA for the G.

Possible problems.  

The magnets will pick up all manner of ferrous stuff from your track, and cleaning the magnets may be troublesome.  Also the Auscision chassis mounting screws are magnetic, so getting them into the bracket hole might be quite a challenge.  And unsure if the magnets will affect the Kadee operation. 

Summary.  

I will fit the power base metal strips below the ramp trackage, and continue them onto the section of rail track near Shepherds.  Whilst I don't expect too many locomotives will need magnets fitted, having the strips in place will future proof the ramp.

DCC Concepts Power Base is a great product.  And I will probably install the power base under my helix tracks when the time comes to build the helix.

Another purchase

Acquired off the well known auction site, this power supply will provide power for future non DCC accessories

Formerly owned by a radio amateur, this superceded Jaycar brand switching power supply will supply a lot of power for the future layout accessories.  I am testing the voltage with my trusty ancient Tandy brand multimeter.

Until next time, construct another model or two

 

Albury Model Railway Exhibition 2025

 Murray Railway Modellers - Model Train Show 2025

Pacific National NR40 and another NR rests in Junee Yard in late April 2025

On Sunday, May 18th, Pete and myself headed 2 hrs south to attend the annual model railway exhibition at Mirambeena Community Centre at Lavington (Albury). 

Campbelltown is a N scale layout, originally constructed by the late Mick Lovell in his home garage.  Fortunately, the layout was extracted, and rebuilt for exhibition, rather than lost in a skip.  I understand this was its first outing.  The real Campbelltown is now served by electric trains from Sydney, and the country feel is now lost to history.  

The branchline to Camden branches off and heads up the 1:19 grade to Kenny Hill.  This route is now the multilane Narellan Road, and any evidence of a railway line over the hill has been lost.

Rejuvenating the layout would make a fascinating story, and I hope that this tale could be published.  

Barambogie is a freelanced layout for displaying scenery, and running trains

A new corner section displays quite a good number of structures in the town.  (Spot the Harry Potter bus)

Shame about the layout identification sign in the scene

Cockroach Valley, by Kevin and Dot Bush has been around for decades, but the layout is always changing and improving

Another busy town, with lots of structures.  

Kookaburra Park is a new layout built by Darryn Coulston.  Darryn retired his earlier Kookaburra Park.  With experience, the new Kookaburra Park has addressed some of the former layout's shortcomings, whilst reusing some of the structures to speed up the construction process.

Vintage Hornby are OO sized trains made prior to 1964.  The layout showcased, besides the trains, many of the lineside accessories that Hornby made.  These trains were built to last, and it is encouraging that they were running flawlessly whilst I was watching.

The sunshine that came through the roof window has unfortunately washed out the colour from part of the engine shed in my picture.  The layout lacks basic scenery, although this aspect of railway modelling was rare when these trains were made. 

Wimmera Plains by Silvano Marchesini is a prototype freelanced layout, loosely based on the Wimmera region of Victoria. Originally a home layout, it was converted to an exhibition layout with help from the Grampian Railroad Modellers of Stawell. Silvano has made many of the structures from scratch.

The layout is a large oval, with an operating pit in the middle.  Without any backscenes, the station in the background can be viewed.  

Bears Ears and Mosquito Hill were what I call moving dioramas.  These dioramas are good to try out new ideas in a limited space, with limited time. Both layouts were accompanied with an A4 size display booklet, that could be read to see how the layouts were made.  Nice idea.  

Ettamogah by Peter Allen and Greame Schulz is another layout that has been around for a long time, but is constantly being detailed. Modern and not so modern trains were being run.  The real Ettamogah Rail hub is visible from the Hume Highway.

Truck rollovers are unfortunately becoming quite common on the Hume Highway this year.  The detail here was worth a second look. 

Trees might hide the trains, but they have been modelled very nicely.  

Other layouts were Tomy Plarail (Tomy), and Railway in a Case (Z scale)

Retail support

Going to a railway exhibition, would not be complete without some retail therapy.  

SDS

Trackrite

Train World

Not pictured - Junction Models, Road & Rail, Ian Alce, RW Hobby, Railway Mercendise & Custom Printing, George Agapitos, Railway Coins, and S/H stands run by Murray Railway Modellers.  And of course, there was a Cafe, selling drinks, and food.  

To me, an exhibition is a way to talk with fellow modellers, and gain ideas that could be useful.  And it is also imprtant to support those retailers, who have supported the hobby.  And it is win-win, as much of what I bought is useful for my own modelling.

My purchases.  The selection of tools was $10 from the second-hand stall, and S/H but near new was the Auscision WTY Wheat hopper pack

Train room activity.

I managed to install some items in the ensuite, to get them off the floor of the train room.

NSW Carriage Mirror, kindly donated by Les from South Australia, has been through the wars

The back of the mirror shows that some of the silvering has been totally removed

I added some very shiny Aluminium foil to cover the hole in the silvering, but the damage is obvious.  And on the glass, someone has scratched "MARK" - which I didn't notice until I had polished the grime off the glass.  All part of history.  I had earlier installed the NSWGR luggage rack on the wall - this rack is a reproduction, acquired at the Cootamundra swap meet last year.  Note the reflection in the mirror are the block shelf instruments above the door leading to the garage. 

We are getting there slowly.  Installing the mirror and the luggage rack has almost completed the ensuite; just some painting to do in an awkward spot that I cannot reach as I am not tall enough, even standing on a stand that fits inside the shower. 

Conclusion.

Thank you to the Murray Railway Modellers, the exhibitors, and the retailers who made the Albury Exhibition most enjoyable.  It was a good day out.

Until next time, build a model (or two)

Albury Staging Yard - Track laying begins

Yard construction with Fasttracks turnouts

Finally, after 161 blog posts, I lay some track!!

4836 accompanied the Picnic Train to Junee earlier this month.  Not sure I like the new livery, but the engine was looking very smart.  Roof mounted A/C, and enhanced handrails were visual differences from the original Goodwin/Alco build from the 1960s

Last bit of preparation

I completed the painting of the plywood benchtops, using surplus ceiling white paint

The void in the corner of the room is the location of future operating position of train control/dispatcher.  It may look a bit tight, but there is enough room for a swivel chair

Part of the benchwork for Junee staging

Last year, I had drawn out the design of my staging yard on brown paper full size.  Yes, it could have been done more accurately with computer software, but having an actual plan helped with the benchwork.  I left the brown paper on the floor. 

The chalk sketches of the future staging yard trackage last year, before construction of the benchwork

Further preparation of the Fast Tracks turnouts

On recomendation from Pat, I added a strengthing tie close to the tiebar (It is wider than the fasttracks copper clad ties, as drilling this for a screw might be a future enhancement .  I also added some Peco sleepers to all ends of the Fasttracks turnouts - that will enable pinning the track in the time honoured fashion. 

Locating the turnouts

Using the chalk sketches, I did a test fit of the turnouts.  It is important to starting with the turnouts.  

Nothing pinned down at this point.  Note the Atlas rerailer.  The rerailer is there just in case of a wheel drop - this staging yard will eventually be covered by the Bomen station level, and access will become much harder.

After some fine adjustments, the track was pinned down.  Some might note that I have chosen to NOT use any underlay.  My reasoning is that underlay will take away a few mm of vertical clearance, there is a cost involved (both of money and time), and I don't feel that noise of trains running on the staging yard will be a problem, as the staging yard will be covered by another layer of layout.  It could be a mistake.  I have just read about a technique using asphalt matting (as used in automotive repair shops) as being a sound deadening base for track.  Hmmm.  Something that I might use for later.

A handy tool

A few months ago, a read about a tip on working with Peco track-connectors/fishplates.

A bent rail, with a peco fishplate attached to the end

Using the rail as handle, slipping the fishplate onto the flextrack end is a lot simpler, and far less frustrating than using pliers, or by hand.

Track laying

A conventional fan-out for one side.  I must make special note of the flex track.  It is "GT Track" brand - something I bought for $2 a length when the Sydney October long weekend train exhibition was housed at the Sydney Showgrounds in the Eastern Suburbs (that is over 40 years ago).  The track, and sleepers after 40 years were still in good condition.

Both sides of the (temporary), walk-in aisle.  You can see the chalk line guides on the paper underneath - the track above approximates the guide.  The Peco flex track used here is brand new - purchased from All Aboard at Bowral, before that hobbyshop closed.  I am using new-unused track for the staging yards, in an effort to reduce  any potential problems with re-using track from former layouts.  Note. The blue rag above is on the future Tumbarumba branchline deck

The final group of turnouts for the Albury Yard is over 3 metres away from the other turnouts - the linking track being the "middle" track.  I know this may seem strange, but I tried a more conventional arrangement with my chalk scratchings, and it reduced some of the length of some of the sidings.  So I am going for functionality, over form. 

To connect to the first Albury staging yard turnout, the track curves around on a 72cm radius from the double crossover and rerailer.  The reason for the double crossover, is to enable trains to be backed from Albury Staging, to Junee staging in preparation for the next operation session - without having to seperate the loco from the train.  I covered the theory of this in a blogpost way back in August 2017.  The disconnected  track at the rear is the one that will climb a ramp up to Shepherds Siding, and onto Bomen, and Wagga.

More track

A view approaching Albury staging from the 72cm radius curve.  The yard tracks visible are not yet been pinned down

Testing

Below is not the best video, but I needed to test a train being pushed into the sidings acorss the Fasttrack turnouts.  As I didn't have power, I was pushing the carriages with one hand, whilst holding the camera with another.

I bought these vans S/H, and I think they are On-Track brand. 

I am pleased to report that this test was carried out over all sidings successfully.  The only glitch happened when the tiebar moved under the train, and this should not be a problem when point motors are fitted.  I might however, make another modification to the turnouts - and fit some styrene strip under the middle tie of the turnout, to limit vertical flexing under the weight of a locomotive.

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Train Room addition

8 years ago, Tracy gave me a birthday present, which I have finally installed.

No doubt of who's room it is.  Before I could add the sign, I needed to repaint the entrance door.  The unusually warm days we are experiencing were ideal.  The paint I bought was tinted/prepared by Ian Alce, at his Dulux paint store in Cootamundra.  In a former life, Ian manfactured an extensive range of NSW injection moulded N scale rolling stock kits.  His Dulux store in Cootamundra, also contained a small hobby section, and I tried to visit every time I passed through the town  

The sign was specially commissioned from Deeg MetalWork of Rushworth Victoria.  It was handcut from mild steel sheet.  A work of art, and great to be finally able to display.

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The perils of Auction buying

At the beginning of most months, Trains, Planes and Automobiles of Katoomba conduct a Monday evening auction.  It is always worth a look, as they regularly list train items from deceased estates - and occassionly items sell for bargain prices.  

TPA picture -  copied off the internet.  Very blurry

In the auction in April 2025, lot 272 was listed as a Mansfield Brass 442, with a start price of $200.  Well, even with single poor quality photo, the painting looked superb.  The box was a Mansfield loco box, so with confidence, I then placed an absentee bid for this, and a number of other items.

Well, I was successful at the auction - the hammer price was $230, plus $45 in buyer commission, and another $35 shipping (I also won an NCE 05 cab handset).  $230 is an extremely low price for the Brass loco - in the past, I have paid over double for a Mansfield 442

The loco arrived, and I immediately saw that it was NOT as listed.

A side by side comparison.  My Mansfield 442 above, the "fake" mansfield 442 below.  The chassis differences are obvious.  And yes, one of the bogie sideframes had dislodged in the post - easy fix

The "fake" Mansfield 442 is actually a DJH/Footplate kit, that dates from around 1990 and cost $255 new then.  That kit used a K&M Engineer chassis.  

I sent TPA an email expressing my disappointment, and suggesting some improvements to their operation.  To TPA's credit, they offered me a refund on the model, and my postage to get it back to them.  (don't know if I would get a refund on the $35 postage I originally paid)  I actually declined, as the assembly and painting of the kit was superior to anything I could do myself.  And I also had an unboxed Mansfield 442, which now can use the spare box.  

It would take no longer for TPA to get a crisp image of the loco, than the blurred image they used.  This was straight off my phone camera, and cropped 

 It is not the first time that I have had problems with TPA, but overall in the last 6 years of participating in their auctions,  I am ahead.  But, one needs to really know the subject, (because TPA generally don't have much of an idea with HO trains), and the current ebay prices, because it is easy to pay too much for junk at a live auction, with little comeback if things go wrong.

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Next Steps.

The Albury staging yard will be to finish the sidings, wire around all the fishplates, and install the Cobalt SS point motors, the NCE Procab, and test with a live loco.  I will also have to acquire some more fishplates - I am close to running out.   

Until next time, build a model or two.