Once upon a time, there was an Eternal Beginner...

A Truck 11965, at Dorrigo,the underframe of these wagons were all timber, square nuts were before all the hex head stuff you see everywhere these days. Keith was telling me about their plans to replace all the 'hex' stuff with the original gear that they have boxes and boxes of ready to go. Keith put up with all my stupid questions and endless stops for photos. I really don't know who was more patient Keith or the other guys I came with?

This is one of the many shots I took of 'Bowen Creek' over the weekend, I daresay one of thousands taken since its first display. I love looking through the scene for a shot, that sense of depth really draws you into the scene.

At Dorrigo bogie wagon BLV 15593 awaits an overhaul. This wagon pre dates 1900 and is probably the last of its kind. It has original 'everything' including the bogies with timber central beams, not for high speeds at all. Certainly worthy of some restoration, wish I lived closer to be more actively involved.

In the story so far we find our heros setting off on another adventure. There was Peter , Darren, Scooter and Geoff. The four set off on a trip of modelling parallel there would be none to find equal to. The stories of the trip would be passed on to many others over time, and eventually end up as things of legend. We find our heros returned and invigorated, refreshed and a little tired...

The weekend of the convention was truly inspiring. The number of really active modellers was huge. The best part was that there were many that I'd met for the first time, but they felt like old friends in a short amount of time. To everyone that I met, thanks for making the weekend a real hoot! Also if I didn't get a chance to say Ooroo, then Ooroo! till next time.

The sharing of information, and techniques was continuous over the weekend. I've written down many notes that will certainly be referred to in the future. My thanks and praise to all that presented, or manned demonstrations for the weekend they certainly did a fantastic job.

To see the two layouts in the flesh being presented for the weekend was fantastic. I have been following 'Bowen Creek's blog for a while now, so I had a fair idea of what to expect, well I was wrong. The effort and skill that Ian and Andrew have put into this layout is staggering. They both are to be congratulated for their efforts. The two guys are doing what many only talk about in their Proto 87 efforts. Ian I'd met at the previous Ebor convention some five years ago, why he's hooked up with someone like Andrew is dumbfounding! Sorry, had to give you a little poke Andrew! A top bloke, obvious that Ian is the brains of the pairing, oops did it again, sorry, Andrew I think I brought home your comb though oops! Damn it, well you can see we got on ok.

On our way home I took a few photos at Dorrigo, well over 300 actually. A return trip in the future is definitely on the cards. It was great to be joined by a couple of enthusiastic photographers in Dean and Brendan.

I don't want to go on about the weekend for too long so, a big thank you to the New England Club for a professional, informative, friendly, fun weekend. Thanks to the suppliers that came along, I think they did ok from what I saw, and to everyone who attended, thanks again for wanting to share your works, skills and good humour with 'Beginners' like myself. I can't wait for the next one. Notice I didn't mention the antics of the T'ba blokes at all? Or the guy that was in the last session I attended for the weekend, trying to tell the presenter he'd gone over time, when there was nothing after, funny I didn't see a rope tying him to his seat...

That'll do for now, Ooroo!

Carpooling, Motels, and Models

The Bookings were made months ago, plans for models even longer, holiday forms put in, discussions, e-mails ,Blog posts, etc. Yep well it's finally here, this Friday four of us head south to Armidale for the New England Convention. I have been waiting for this one since the end of the last convention at Ebor, about three years ago I think.

So when we first heard about the chance of a convention, then confirmation of the dates I think we scared Warren a little bit with our enthusiasm for attending. the Motel was booked pretty quickly also, with staff there trying to convince me that we'd booked on the wrong weekend!??? I know! Golf was their reasoning, and we'd booked on the weekend of the women's competition. That of course mattered nought to us, but they were rather confused when i did set them straight about our real reason for coming to town, the pause was a little long ( all modellers have experienced the pause at some point, I'm sure).

The car pool made perfect sense, and Peter kindly offered to provide the transport. The discussions very recently revolved around the route of the trip, inland via Warwick then south, or towards the coast through Grafton. Inland first making the trip shorter, and remembering the loss of the hour due to daylight saving. Then there is the discussion about breakfast, beds and of course pyjamas... nothing more be said on that one I think.

That leaves us with the actual weekend and deciding what sessions to attend, and the worst bit, what sessions we were prepared to miss! Not happy Jan! Numbers that I've heard seem to be rather high, great for the organising club, and even better for the hobby as a whole. For me if I could be a bit philosophical for the moment. I think that our hobby is well and truly alive and well, not at all in trouble. It will cycle over time, highs and lows, but it will always be a real opportunity to create our own version of history, just a little bit and this convention proves how active we are as modellers.

Those that know me, know my job, and it's transfers, and the fact that yesterday I had to lodge another holiday form for friday and Monday, damn and blast! Yet another store to work at, and another group of people to experience their ...PAUSE when I tell them what my hobby is. A strange sort of inquiring normally follows, especially when I tell them that this weekend I'm going to a convention. The best question that I've been asked so far is...'What do you wear?'

That cracks me up! See you there if you're going, Geoff.

Finally some track laying!

Four bolt fishplates are very common through the branchlines of NSW, six hole fishplates were also used with only four bolts used in the centre holes.
The colour of the sleepers is very bleached out, I may still be modelling my sleepers a little dark. I think we tend to model what we think we've seen, I know my memory does escape me sometimes, that's where photos come in handy. I also note that these sleepers are of a line that had closed over ten years ago and this would definitely effect the maintenance of the line. Taken near Guyra in northern NSW.

Darren shows the timber spacing the heel of his rear foot is in the centre of the sleeper, about two and a half foot centres.

The timber sleepers that I need to complete the track work number at about 320. The process of staining continues in batches of about 40 or so. I have a fair number done so it's on to the laying.

I've marked out the spacing of the sleepers, and also indicated the location of the frogs so that it is easier to position the turnouts. I have marked the spacing as 3ft centres. The branchlines were from two and a half feet to three foot centres. A couple of weeks ago I'd marked and drilled the holes for the activation of the turnouts so that made today faster to get into.

The job of gluing the sleepers down is fairly straight forward. I put in a PC board sleeper one in seven sleepers. I am not obsessed with the alignment of the sleepers, only that they follow the general arrangement or radius of a curve. I imagine I could spend alot more time doing this more precisely however there is result vs time spent evaluation that we as modellers must all grapple with. So the sleepers with a space for the PC sleeper have been laid across the front of the module of the other side of SSC. A weight applied, and a wait for drying.

That's about it for today, see ya! Geoff.

Let the Staining Begin!

This week I thought that I should increase my stockpile of sleepers so that laying them can begin next week. I had a new addition to the staining 'kit' in a white pencil that I spotted at Riot art supplies last weekend. I thought it could be used to really make the weathering of the sleepers a little faster and easier. I've always had trouble with the dry brushing of white onto the sleepers so I thought this might make the task easier. I found that the paint went on in little dry lumps, maybe it was too dry? Not sure really.

The two photos above and below are the final products after using the white pencil after staining them with the timber stain, and also some india ink, it too was from riot as it was on a good special. I like that the white pencil just 'grabbed' on the highest part of the sleeper, and left the low bits rather darker.

The last two photos are before using the white, and the india ink was left till after as well. I still have a bit of trouble with the upload of photos, as these were in the opposite order when I uploaded them, a little frustrating, but you get the idea.

The two photos here have the initial wood stain applied, then a thinned down wash of the grey tamiya paint applied over the top. I have found that applying both pretty well straight after the other makes no real difference to the end result, and it is certainly faster. The white seems to work ok, and I'm quite happy with the result. Any hints would be welcomed!

My photo taking is as usual a bit ordinary, actually I think that they look better in the real. This week I'll have to repeat this task several times so that I've plenty to work with.

Off to Craig's place this week for the Toosdy Niters, with some discussion of the trip to Armidale sure to take up some time. We are intending to leave Friday morning and do a bit of 'railway' spotting on the way down. The convention requests that you bring something along to share, not sure what it will be yet. I think I might have to start something soon, after all it's only a couple of weeks to go!

Oorroo! Geoff.

2010 New England Convention, Who's Going?

OK, I got a little excited last night, when I opened the mail to find the programme for the convention in Armidale next month. I also felt a little stressed, as there were choices to be made about which session I wanted to attend!

I attended the last convention in Ebor, and found it an excellent experience. The concept of going to a different location, and staying with fellow modellers was fantastic. Many of the ideas and thoughts that I use now, or hope to were started at the previous convention. Ideas on layout module construction with Chuck ( from ballasting fame), Hand layed track and signalling components and eventually Proto 87, thanks to Ian Millard, DCC Control, greater detailing of models, I could rant all day, but you get the idea.

The best part for me was the positive environment, it's not too often that we have an opportunity to get together with a large group of people all wanting to do the same thing. Sharing of modelling efforts through the sessions, and especially through the models that were brought along was very satisfying.

So, this event looks to be even more inviting with the variety of sessions available. Four of us from the Toosdy Niters will be heading south to attend, and a few members from my railway club also. So the big question is will you be there also?